Hey guys - first post here, and I'm hoping someone can help me with an M&P Shield 9mm problem. I was at the range today, and the last round of a magazine failed to fire. I don't think it was a misfire; if I remember right the trigger was just mush when I tried to fire that last round. While still at the range I tried several times to fire it with no success. The problem now is, I cannot rack the slide back from its closed position. I've tried it with and without a magazine, with and without rounds in the magazine, with the safety on and off, every combination I can think of. The slide isn't just stuck; it is absolutely locked in the closed position. When I try to rack it, it has about 1/8" of play with a noticeable "click" in both directions. Trying to force the slide back doesn't work; it is firmly locked in place with a live round in the chamber. If anyone has an idea what the problem might be, I would be most appreciative. Thanks in advance for your help...
Shield 9mm, Can't Rack Slide, Live Round in Chamber
- Thread starter Larry1945
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Without seeing it I have no ideas. Sorry I cannot help. I will say this:
You've hinted but not come right out and said it: The striker may be cocked! Thus the gun could fire. We transport guns in cases and the gun inside the case points in all different directions. Your gun needs to stay where it is or be transported in a very thick metal case, with the case backed up by a bag of sand or gravel. I expect you know that already but I won't assume it. That gun could fire at any time. Another option would be laying flat on a thick metal plate and surrounded by bags of sand. But the right answer is to fix it where it is, while it points at a dirt pile, or a Steep hill, or a bucket of sand. Safety glasses are in order.
I had this happen on a 1911 once. I followed the loading data including the cartridge OAL, but the bullet, though the right weight and nominal shape, had a broader nose than the one used to develop the recipe (obvious in hind sight). It hit something on the way into the chamber and got pushed slightly off kilter and then jammed. The slide was not 100% forward. Locked up just like you said. The solution was for force the slide completely home. It took a lot of muscle.
You've hinted but not come right out and said it: The striker may be cocked! Thus the gun could fire. We transport guns in cases and the gun inside the case points in all different directions. Your gun needs to stay where it is or be transported in a very thick metal case, with the case backed up by a bag of sand or gravel. I expect you know that already but I won't assume it. That gun could fire at any time. Another option would be laying flat on a thick metal plate and surrounded by bags of sand. But the right answer is to fix it where it is, while it points at a dirt pile, or a Steep hill, or a bucket of sand. Safety glasses are in order.
I had this happen on a 1911 once. I followed the loading data including the cartridge OAL, but the bullet, though the right weight and nominal shape, had a broader nose than the one used to develop the recipe (obvious in hind sight). It hit something on the way into the chamber and got pushed slightly off kilter and then jammed. The slide was not 100% forward. Locked up just like you said. The solution was for force the slide completely home. It took a lot of muscle.
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Fulton722
Member
Check the small spring imbedded in the lower portion of the steel guide rail part in the polymer frame of your S&W Shield. It is just to the upper right of the take down lever. If this spring works loose, it may lock up the slide. The spring should be black, indicating that it is NOT touching the slide, as ones that are touching the slide will be shiny. This spring is visible even when the slide is on the frame.
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Man, for the life of me I cannot see a spring of any kind near the takedown lever. I examined it closely with a flashlight and can't see anything that looks like a spring. I do see what looks like an imbedded black strip of something in the notch just above the takedown lever - it doesn't look like a spring, but maybe that's what it is. Anyway, it's black and doesn't appear to be out of place at all...
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What Fulton722 said is correct,but it is not a spring with coils. It’s a bar spring that fits into a slot on the frame.
You should be able to see the slot. What has happened to some guns is the spring is not completely pushed into the slot and the bar spring pops out and prevents the slide from going back.
There is a post that goes into this in great detail with pictures on this forum.
1. Go to Forum Search. Touch “search” top bar above community on home forum page.
2. Enter: Shield slide won’t go back.
3. It’s the third post down. “Fix your Shield before it Fails” Dated Oct 23,2017 *144 Post *9274 Views.
Treat this gun as if it could go off at any time. I am no gunsmith but Pondoro has a good point. It is possible the striker is resting on the primer and the gun could discharge.
Doesn’t help you now,but if I get a round that doesn’t go bang I give it one more try and them it is disposed of properly. JMO
BE CAREFULL!
You should be able to see the slot. What has happened to some guns is the spring is not completely pushed into the slot and the bar spring pops out and prevents the slide from going back.
There is a post that goes into this in great detail with pictures on this forum.
1. Go to Forum Search. Touch “search” top bar above community on home forum page.
2. Enter: Shield slide won’t go back.
3. It’s the third post down. “Fix your Shield before it Fails” Dated Oct 23,2017 *144 Post *9274 Views.
Treat this gun as if it could go off at any time. I am no gunsmith but Pondoro has a good point. It is possible the striker is resting on the primer and the gun could discharge.
Doesn’t help you now,but if I get a round that doesn’t go bang I give it one more try and them it is disposed of properly. JMO
BE CAREFULL!
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Thanks Execpro, but I really don't think that spring is the problem. I can see it pretty clearly, and it appears to be fully seated in its groove like it's supposed to. I don't know what the problem is; this is a new one on me. It fed the last round in the mag just fine and the slide fully closed on it, so at that point the gun should be cocked. But when I pulled the trigger, nothing...just like when you pull the trigger with the chamber empty after a dry fire. It's the same thing the trigger does before you rack the slide and re-cock the gun. But you're right about the safety issue - I think the gun is cocked with a live round in the chamber, and right now there is no way to uncock it or rack the slide to remove the round. There's a S&W armorer in a local indoor range here; I'm going to take it in Wednesday and have him take a look at it.
For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure this is not an ammo problem. I shoot new ammo (not reman) from Freedom Munitions and I've never had a problem with it in this gun.
For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure this is not an ammo problem. I shoot new ammo (not reman) from Freedom Munitions and I've never had a problem with it in this gun.
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bigwheelzip
Absent Comrade
This is a picture of 2 springs side by side. One spring is fully seated and flush to the face and the other is proud of flush.
My Shield Recoil Spring Assembly (RSA) failed, with the end of the spring slipping over the spring seat and jamming the slide tight. Took a smith to get it free.
Good Luck.
My Shield Recoil Spring Assembly (RSA) failed, with the end of the spring slipping over the spring seat and jamming the slide tight. Took a smith to get it free.
Good Luck.
Just make sure the first words out of your mouth to that nice armorer fella' are "There's a live round in the chamber . . . "
Yeah, they've already told me that when I get there tomorrow, do NOT bring the gun into the range. I'm supposed to leave it in my truck, go in and ask for James, and he will come out to my truck and get the gun. You can't be too careful, for sure...
You are in for a very rude awakening if you start to search for folks that have had problems with Freedom Munitions ammo. It's not good, not at all.
I haven't yet heard the suggestion to try and pull the extractor hook off the case rim and see if that doesn't allow you to draw the slide back.
If that works, then prop open the action with an appropriate size piece of wood and insert a rod down the muzzle and carefully tap tap tap that junk ammo rearward out of the chamber
I haven't yet heard the suggestion to try and pull the extractor hook off the case rim and see if that doesn't allow you to draw the slide back.
If that works, then prop open the action with an appropriate size piece of wood and insert a rod down the muzzle and carefully tap tap tap that junk ammo rearward out of the chamber
RGVshooter
Member
You don't because that's not the problem. And that's not how you correct this...
I'm willing to bet that if there is indeed a live round in the chamber then it's possible that what the problem is a round with too much crimp is jammed in the chamber. You're going to have to muscle that slide back.. Put some elbow grease in there and give it a couple very sharp tugs rearward. OR place the muzzle down against a wood table edge (finger off trigger obviously) and press firmly down on the grip.
If the trigger feels mushy, what happened is you may have pulled the trigger when the slide was not fully in battery, releasing the firing pin but since the slide is stuck the trigger did not reset. Just place the muzzle edge down on the end of a table and press down hard. Give it a couple good pushes and I'll bet the slide will go back ejecting that bad round... It's not Freedom munitions, that could happen with any brand. But mostly with reloads with what I've seen.
I have seen these before with somes guys that reload that have a batch of reloads with too much crimp.
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-IF- the problem is junk ammo stuck in the chamber (and without the pistol in front of me, I cannot be sure) then the spring loaded extractor should not be all to difficult to get off the case rim... it is a lever, putting direct pressure on the far back end of it should lever up the front end of it, and allow it to be free of the case rim.
I have tried repeatedly to muscle the slide with no success. Like I said earlier, the slide isn't just stuck, it feels locked. When I try to rack the slide, or push down on the grip with the muzzle on a table, there is an audible "click" after the 1/16" or so of play is taken up. The feeling is like you would get if you pulled on a locked padlock - there is a bit of play, but when that play is taken up you know it's not going any farther. I've tried racking it a couple hundred times with as much muscle as I can muster, pushed down with a ton of my weight with the barrel resting on a countertop...nothing. That puppy hasn't even moved. I'll let the S&W armorer look at it tomorrow and see if he can do something with it...
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Okay Sevens, I was able to press down on the back end of the extractor lever with a Torx screwdriver and raise up the hook on the front end, but that's with the gun laying flat on a table. I live alone, so without a vise or another pair of hands I can't do anything but press down on that extractor. I need someone to pull back on the slide while that extractor hook is raised up. I'll take it in to the armorer tomorrow and between us, I'm sure we can get it figured out. I'm really curious now if it's a bad round or if it's something more serious. I'll let you know...
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Okay, I have my Shield back with no harm done. Turns out it was an ammo problem, a terrible round, courtesy of Freedom Munitions. I've included a photo of that round; if you enlarge it you can see the problem. For one thing, the primer is not fully seated - it's not flush to the case rim. Even worse, there is a small blob of what looks like solder right in the middle of the primer. The armorer wasn't sure what happened; he said he’d never seen a round that looked like that after clearing a jam. Whatever it was, it completely locked up the action and rendered the slide inoperable.
He cleared it by standing the gun up with the barrel on the edge of his workbench, then hitting the back of the gun hard - really hard - with a big nylon hammer. It took two or three good whacks to break it loose. I tried that at home, but I don't have a nylon hammer that big and I just couldn't apply enough force to it. It took him all of about 5 minutes and he didn't charge me a dime. He looked at that round and just shook his head and laughed. I took six rounds of ammo with me so he could test fire the gun after clearing it, and they sailed through with no problems.
I've learned a couple of things from this experience: One, that's it for Freedom Munitions. If their quality control can't catch a round like that, I'm done with them. And two, I'm going to eyeball every round I load before it goes in the magazine. No more trusting factory ammo, from anyone.
So that's it guys; thanks to those of you who followed me along on this adventure and gave me your thoughts. I'm a couple of days older and a whole lot wiser than I was before this happened...
He cleared it by standing the gun up with the barrel on the edge of his workbench, then hitting the back of the gun hard - really hard - with a big nylon hammer. It took two or three good whacks to break it loose. I tried that at home, but I don't have a nylon hammer that big and I just couldn't apply enough force to it. It took him all of about 5 minutes and he didn't charge me a dime. He looked at that round and just shook his head and laughed. I took six rounds of ammo with me so he could test fire the gun after clearing it, and they sailed through with no problems.
I've learned a couple of things from this experience: One, that's it for Freedom Munitions. If their quality control can't catch a round like that, I'm done with them. And two, I'm going to eyeball every round I load before it goes in the magazine. No more trusting factory ammo, from anyone.
So that's it guys; thanks to those of you who followed me along on this adventure and gave me your thoughts. I'm a couple of days older and a whole lot wiser than I was before this happened...
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It's worth saying and making a very clear distinction-- the ammo you were using is often termed "factory re-man", or remanufactured ammo. AKA "factory reloads."
It is used brass. It is reloads. It is similar to what a hobbyist handloader such as myself does EXCEPT these fools do it poorly, at high volume, with awful quality control, and they do for profit.
Freedom Munitions is low quality, questionable cheap ammo with a laundry list of documented problems, failures and incidents. They are currently in the process of bankruptcy.
There is no free lunch. There can be decent factory re-man (Black Hills built their company from the ground up, day one, by making and selling decent factory re-man) and currently, there are other re-man options that don't have the junk reputation that Freedom Munitions has.
It's my firm belief that the road to nirvana comes from learning how to handload yourself and carrying the burden of 100% of the QC.
It is used brass. It is reloads. It is similar to what a hobbyist handloader such as myself does EXCEPT these fools do it poorly, at high volume, with awful quality control, and they do for profit.
Freedom Munitions is low quality, questionable cheap ammo with a laundry list of documented problems, failures and incidents. They are currently in the process of bankruptcy.
There is no free lunch. There can be decent factory re-man (Black Hills built their company from the ground up, day one, by making and selling decent factory re-man) and currently, there are other re-man options that don't have the junk reputation that Freedom Munitions has.
It's my firm belief that the road to nirvana comes from learning how to handload yourself and carrying the burden of 100% of the QC.
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