Sending SW SD40 in for repair already! Multiple Failures to Fire. What say you all?

[acosenza2]

So I took my Smith and Wesson SD40 (purchased NIB in Oct.) to the range this past weekend since the weather seemed to be the best all winter. The last time I had it out (also very cold) I had attributed the few FTF's to too much oil in the gun (which I use a very conservative amount) or to the fact that I had the ammo in the trunk for awhile.

This past weekend however I had bought a new box of Remington UMC .40 ammo and went to the range and had an entire magazine's worth of FTF's. My day went something like this: Bang, bang, bang, click, tap rack roll, click, tap rack roll, click, tap rack roll, bang, click......at the end of the day I was able to fire about 25 rounds and had 14 that did not fire.

On the advice on an older gentleman at the range I had picked up the spent casings as well as the ones that did not fire and we looked at that. On the ones that did fire you can clearly see that the firing pin struck right in the center. The ones that did not fire you can see that the firing pin struck them on the sides of the primer, very close to the casing. The older guy told me that it could be a problem with the firing pin, or something is not lining up correctly. See the pictures in this post. The pic with two bulets shows the FTF's and the single casings is one that fired.

No matter what the problem, I no longer trust this gun with my life. I called Smith and Wesson twice and I keep getting a message to either email them or call back later because of high caller volume. I sent them an email on Monday and still have not heard back from them either. I will try to contact them again today. Hopefully I can get this resolved quickly and back to the range for testing before making this my carry gun again.

Here are the pics:

[rwb1500]

So I took my Smith and Wesson SD40 (purchased NIB in Oct.) to the range this past weekend since the weather seemed to be the best all winter. The last time I had it out (also very cold) I had attributed the few FTF's to too much oil in the gun (which I use a very conservative amount) or to the fact that I had the ammo in the trunk for awhile.

This past weekend however I had bought a new box of Remington UMC .40 ammo and went to the range and had an entire magazine's worth of FTF's. My day went something like this: Bang, bang, bang, click, tap rack roll, click, tap rack roll, click, tap rack roll, bang, click......at the end of the day I was able to fire about 25 rounds and had 14 that did not fire.

On the advice on an older gentleman at the range I had picked up the spent casings as well as the ones that did not fire and we looked at that. On the ones that did fire you can clearly see that the firing pin struck right in the center. The ones that did not fire you can see that the firing pin struck them on the sides of the primer, very close to the casing. The older guy told me that it could be a problem with the firing pin, or something is not lining up correctly. See the pictures in this post. The pic with two bulets shows the FTF's and the single casings is one that fired.

No matter what the problem, I no longer trust this gun with my life. I called Smith and Wesson twice and I keep getting a message to either email them or call back later because of high caller volume. I sent them an email on Monday and still have not heard back from them either. I will try to contact them again today. Hopefully I can get this resolved quickly and back to the range for testing before making this my carry gun again.

Here are the pics:

Uh, there was a point where you did?

[NuclearSociety]

Damn... could you imaging pulling and hearing ***CLICK***...

I wold be infuriated with the service and I would let them know that.
That really sucks man and I hope it gets resolved asap.

[acosenza2]

Uh, there was a point where you did?

Yes. I had about 500 rounds through it. Before a FTF. It is my first so I had no idea what to expect. I won't be so stupid next time.

Damn... could you imaging pulling and hearing ***CLICK***...

I wold be infuriated with the service and I would let them know that.
That really sucks man and I hope it gets resolved asap.

I couldn't imagine if I would've found this out while trying to defend myself. I am furious that it is only 4 months old and having these problems. Not to mention it is their Self Defense series. I am also furious I do not have a response yet. Hopefully the rest of their customer service excels!

[JoeyBones]

Off-center hits are making me think inconsistent lockup in battery from some reason or another - Maybe sloppy tolerances b/w locking surfaces (barrel, slide, locking block)?

EDIT - Since it appeared after several hundred rounds, perhaps in incorrect heat treat of one or more aforementioned locking components?

Send it back... That's not the kind of issue I would even consider "resolved" without replacing major components (i.e., a new striker or spring here or there would not make me feel any better).

Good luck.

Regards,

Bones

[mrnyman]

Yep Joey Bones hit the nail on the head- inconsistent lockup, the next failure is going to be a firing out of battery which is always nasty, get rid of that gun and buy a quality gun, after you let Smith & wesson provide a new one, the few dollars you save is not worth your security or life, Smith and Wesson is overwhelmed with calls because their Auto Pistols are mostly Junk, If you want a good Smith auto pistol buy one of thier Gen 2 or Gen3 Pistols , they havent made a good Auto pistol since the Sigma, Ironically the Sigma is thier cheapest Pistol and it is their least problematic Pistol.

That is why i NEVER carry a gun that is on the Market for less than 5 years- NO MATTER how nice it looks.

[acosenza2]

Off-center hits are making me think inconsistent lockup in battery from some reason or another - Maybe sloppy tolerances b/w locking surfaces (barrel, slide, locking block)?

EDIT - Since it appeared after several hundred rounds, perhaps in incorrect heat treat of one or more aforementioned locking components?

Send it back... That's not the kind of issue I would even consider "resolved" without replacing major components (i.e., a new striker or spring here or there would not make me feel any better).

Good luck.

Regards,

Bones

Yep Joey Bones hit the nail on the head- inconsistent lockup, the next failure is going to be a firing out of battery which is always nasty, get rid of that gun and buy a quality gun, after you let Smith & wesson provide a new one, the few dollars you save is not worth your security or life, Smith and Wesson is overwhelmed with calls because their Auto Pistols are mostly Junk, If you want a good Smith auto pistol buy one of thier Gen 2 or Gen3 Pistols , they havent made a good Auto pistol since the Sigma, Ironically the Sigma is thier cheapest Pistol and it is their least problematic Pistol.

That is why i NEVER carry a gun that is on the Market for less than 5 years- NO MATTER how nice it looks.

Thanks for the input. What exactly is "lock up"?

I do plan on getting another gun, it has been a plan for awhile now, but I didn't plan on selling the SD; I believe I will now. I had been considering a Gen 3 Glock or maybe stick with SW and get one of the M&P's. Or maybe I'll get both if I sell the SD

[JoeyBones]

Thanks for the input. What exactly is "lock up"?

When your slide returns to battery after stripping a round from the magazine, the barrel (and thus the chamber, the live round, and the round's primer), should all be in alignment with the straight path that the striker will travel within the slide.

Basically, think of a straight line b/w the path of the striker and the center of the live primer; That would be correct lock up. If those components (barrel, slide, locking block) do not "lock up" correctly when the slide is forward, then your primer can end up out of line slightly from the path that the striker will take en route to hitting the primer.

I hope that made sense... It's the kind of thing that can be hard to put into words, but is easily demonstrated...

Regards,

Bones

[Beardog]

Joey bones is correct, and to try to further explain lock up...
Your pistol is designed to fire from a locked breech in this case, meaning that the barrel tilts up and down locking and unlocking itself and chamber as the slide is moved forward and backward. What the guys above are saying is that your pistol is not in the right "locked" position when you are firing it as you can see by the movement of the primer hits. If you fire the gun in enough of a unlocked position the pressure from the cartridge will not be contained and a out of battery explosion "kaboom" could happen causing damage to the gun and more importantly you.

[acosenza2]

When your slide returns to battery after stripping a round from the magazine, the barrel (and thus the chamber, the live round, and the round's primer), should all be in alignment with the straight path that the striker will travel within the slide.

Basically, think of a straight line b/w the path of the striker and the center of the live primer; That would be correct lock up. If those components (barrel, slide, locking block) do not "lock up" correctly when the slide is forward, then your primer can end up out of line slightly from the path that the striker will take en route to hitting the primer.

I hope that made sense... It's the kind of thing that can be hard to put into words, but is easily demonstrated...

Regards,

Bones

Joey bones is correct, and to try to further explain lock up...
Your pistol is designed to fire from a locked breech in this case, meaning that the barrel tilts up and down locking and unlocking itself and chamber as the slide is moved forward and backward. What the guys above are saying is that your pistol is not in the right "locked" position when you are firing it as you can see by the movement of the primer hits. If you fire the gun in enough of a unlocked position the pressure from the cartridge will not be contained and a out of battery explosion "kaboom" could happen causing damage to the gun and more importantly you.

Thank you both for explaining that. It makes perfect sense to me now that I know what it means. That also troubles me quite a bit. I do believe that when it does come back from SW I will sell it, unless they do some major replacements, then I will only keep it as a range gun until it can prove itself.

So now the hunt is on for a reliable carry gun.