Okay so back in June I bought a 380 EZ for my wife to use. We took it out to shoot. We had one malfunction in 100 rounds. The last round in the magazine fed right through the pistol & out the ejection port before the slide could close. I did some research read here about scuffing followers, etc. I did scuff the followers on the magazines. Life happened & ammo got hard to find. Haven't been shooting much. We made it back out to shoot again today & we had one malfunction out of 100 rounds. This time it was once again the last round in the magazine. It stovepiped. The gist I got when I searched here before was that S&W didn't really have a fix for this. I don't want to keep spending hard to find expensive ammunition trying to get a new gun to work. I am pretty frustrated. I bought this to be carried. I need it to be reliable. I am thinking what do I have to lose by trying.
Thinking About Calling S&W-380EZ
- Thread starter Mike J
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max503
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For years the Colt Pocketlite was my Grail gun. Then I got one. It did about the same thing your gun is doing. I got rid of it. No way would I carry a gun that did that.
imarangemaster
Member
A "Grail gun " for me was a Kahr compact 45. Finally got it, and it would only function 98%, and that was with standard velocity 230 grain FMJ. Anything else, it was a single shooter, or at best a large two shot derringer...
I called Kahr Customer Service and complained. They told me to call back after 1,000 round break in if it still had problems.. BS! I traded it in on my first S&W Sheild 9mm.
My neighbor recently bought a Kahr compact 9, and he had an identical problem. He spent $200 on a local gunsmith to get it to work correctly (mostly!). NOT a fan of Kahr....
I called Kahr Customer Service and complained. They told me to call back after 1,000 round break in if it still had problems.. BS! I traded it in on my first S&W Sheild 9mm.
My neighbor recently bought a Kahr compact 9, and he had an identical problem. He spent $200 on a local gunsmith to get it to work correctly (mostly!). NOT a fan of Kahr....
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I believe I am going to call & see what they will do. They might not do anything but I am going to call & ask nicely. We'll see what happens.
Add a strip of duct tape to the top of your followers to increase friction. Easily removed without damage. Also, load only 3 rounds per mag to get to the bottom of each mag without using so much ammo.
This has worked for many of us. If it does work, remove the tape and rough up the followers more than you have.
Request new springs & followers from S&W under warranty.
This has worked for many of us. If it does work, remove the tape and rough up the followers more than you have.
Request new springs & followers from S&W under warranty.
pakettle
Member
Had the same problem never could get mine to run right, traded for a 9mm end of story!
So I called. The representative asked if I wanted to send the gun in. I told her I did. She said it would be 8 weeks. I am going to send it in. Not going to try to troubleshoot it myself. I am going to give them the chance to make it right.
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Good Luck, hope they get it right for you.
If you've read up on the issue, you know I fought this battle to no avail. Other than the scuffing to increase follower friction, nothing helped. S&W didn't find anything wrong with my EZ when I sent it in...and, other than sending springs, followers, and trading magazines with me, did nothing to try to help. I ultimately sold my EZ (with full disclosure) to a guy that works at my gun range. I have no intention of ever buying from S&W again...epic fail on their part.
This my upset you, but your absence from the purchase line to buy a new S&W firearm will not be noticed. I have only bought used S&W firearms for the past 25 years with only 1 exception, a new stainless steel 1911 45 ACP target model in about 2006. I received the "good customer" discount because of frequent purchases of used guns.
I'm not upset at all. I don't care whether S&W notices. I still own two Smith revolvers that I purchased "used" years ago...both were manufactured in the 80's and are shown in my avatar.
I liked the idea of the EZ, but the magazines are still not ready for prime time and S&W isn't addressing the problem. Customers really deserve better from Smith and I'm thrilled to be rid of my EZ.
I just thought I would update this. I did call S&W & they promptly sent me a shipping label. I didn't send it in for 6 months. I was pretty annoyed so I just left it alone for a while. I did however send it in a few weeks ago & got it back yesterday. The sheet of paper in the box says they polished the barrel & chamber. Will it make a difference? I am going to try to find out this weekend.
Edited for Grammar
Edited for Grammar
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familyman357
Member
Good luck. I hope yours works now. I was a relatively early adopter of the 380 EZ. I too had problems with rounds popping up/out. I messed around with the pistol a lot and therefore spent a whole lot of money on ammo for testing and I never could get it to run as reliably as I thought it should.
I understand they need to "underspring" the pistol in order to get the "EZ" part, but it's just too undersprung.
I don't regret letting that one go. It put me off on S&W for quite a while too.
I understand they need to "underspring" the pistol in order to get the "EZ" part, but it's just too undersprung.
I don't regret letting that one go. It put me off on S&W for quite a while too.
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I haven't been on here for a while but I thought I would come back & update. I took it out & shot it after I got it back & had the same issue. I was mad so I let it sit for a while. Let myself calm down. Frustrated with S&W. So after I settled down I called & requested new magazine springs. They sent me new springs & followers.
I took the old springs out and cut one of them in half. I placed half of tge cut spring inside each new spring & reassembled the magazines. I didn't put the cut spring all the way at the bottom of the new spring but probably about 1/4 of the way up from the bottom. I didn't have a lot of time today but I did test it & did not have any last round feed issues. I shot 50 rounds loading 2 rounds at a time in the magazine. i did not have any feed issues. Maybe it is cured. I will test some more but I think this might work. Just thought I would share in case anyone else is still having problems with one of these.
I took the old springs out and cut one of them in half. I placed half of tge cut spring inside each new spring & reassembled the magazines. I didn't put the cut spring all the way at the bottom of the new spring but probably about 1/4 of the way up from the bottom. I didn't have a lot of time today but I did test it & did not have any last round feed issues. I shot 50 rounds loading 2 rounds at a time in the magazine. i did not have any feed issues. Maybe it is cured. I will test some more but I think this might work. Just thought I would share in case anyone else is still having problems with one of these.
Paul in Nevada
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But would you trust a spring inside a spring on a defensive firearm? I would be afraid it could bind.
I remain astounded that S&W would absorb the cost of giving out free parts that are doomed to fail just like the originals. You would think they have passed the break even point of simply redesigning the spring and follower, not to mention the continued damage to their reputation.
You would probably be surprised at the relatively small number of owners who actually complain to S&W versus the huge numbers who don't shoot enough to experience a problem or simply dismiss the problem. Even given that disparity, I am surprised S&W has not produced a stronger spring and quietly put it into use. I am even more surprised that a third party has not produced an extra-strength spring.
Paul in Nevada
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I have emailed Wolffe, MCARBO, and Magguts. In each case I got a polite reply telling me they have no plans for such a product in the future. If more people reached out maybe we would see something.
I think maybe the largest market for this pistol is people who don't shoot a whole lot. That might explain why this issue doesn't get more exposure.
Making sure it works is why I am testing. It is really annoying with the current price of ammunition that this is necessary. I don't think it will bind due to the way the springs nest inside of each other but I had been thinking about rigging something (piece of wire or ?) to attach the shorter piece of spring to the larger to keep it from happening. It will be shot some more to make sure everything works.
I did a search one day on gun spring manufacturers. I found one that said on their page they would make whatever the customer wants if you provide them the proper information. I didn't pursue it as I was waiting on the pistol to come back from S&W. I might try to find it again. I suspect though that unless a person were to order a large quantity it might be cost prohibitive. Of course if we were to get enough people together to do a group buy it might not be so bad. Later tonight or tomorrow I will see if I can find that site again.
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