SW9VE - Tip of the Hat to S&W

[Denvernoob]

I figured I owed some props to S&W on the SW9VE.

I'm not a handgun guy. I love guns, just never got into pistols.

I got the SW9VE as a gift in 2008. Besides a .22 revolver it is my only handgun, and therefore it is my home defense gun, camp gun, sidearm for hunting... everything gun.

Well after 14 years without a single malfunction, the gun started failing to eject on occasion. After inspection I noticed a small chip out of the extractor. So for the first time ever, I had to look into fixing the gun.

What I discovered is that I have been woefully neglecting the gun for all these years. I never bothered to read about proper care.

In fact, I thought I was taking care of it. I would field strip and wipe it down, clean the barrel, give a little shot of CLP straight into the firing pin hole, right on the safety block, right into the extractor. Wipe it all down - done.

I never stripped the slide, and was lubricating it. Big no, no!

While learning how to replace the extractor I learned about my errors, and when I stripped the slide I couldn't believe the amount of crud in there. The extractor had been chipping brass for so long it looked like the collection tray on a drill press with all the little brass shavings in there.

It was a concerted effort, and a lot of Q-tips to clean the slide and leave DRY. I even decided to leave the original, chipped extractor in there because I removed so much gunk I figured it would work. And it did. I shot 200 rounds today without an issue.

Not being a handgun guy the pistol really wasn't shot too much. But that's not to say, not at all. It had plenty of blasting sessions and general target shooting with the cheapest 9mm I could find. I would guess the gun has 5k to 7k rounds through it.

Hell of a gun for the ~$300 I paid for it nearly a decade and a half ago.

While I'm not much of a customer, you can say that I am a fan.

Thanks, S&W

 

[Echo40]

Yep, you gotta clean out that striker channel every now and again, don't lube it either because it makes the crud that works its way in there stick.

That being said, the fact that it went between 5k and 7k rounds before giving you any trouble is impressive. Folks like to dump on the Sigma for being an inferior clone of a Glock, but based on what I've read posted online by actual owners over the years, it sounds like it has inherited the Glock's reliability at a lower cost and with improved ergonomics.

I still carry my SW40VE during cold weather and despite the fact that I own more expensive guns, I never doubt in the SW40VE's reliability.

 

[Ruger Nut]

After every range time shoot, I clean my firearms from top to bottom, even the magazines. Yeah, call me MR. ANAL, but you can be sure I will NEVER be caught in your category..........EVER!