M&P/Striker fired pistol maintenance ....

[adoddere]

I've had my M&P for about 18 months. I've run about 5,000 rounds through it. At about the 2,000 round mark, I dropped in an APEX Tactical RAM, DCAEK, and forward set trigger and sear. Aside from that, I've only broken it down to clean and maintain at the "field strip" level.

In all that time, I'd never had a failure to feed, failure to fire, or failure to eject.

This weekend I ran it pretty hard. I went through almost 500 rounds on Saturday, then field stripped it and used a CLP product to clean it up in a hotel room. On Sunday, I ran another 500 rounds. During that 500 rounds, I experienced about 6 failure to fires, and one failure to feed. It was during dynamic drills (as opposed to static range fire), so I wasn't able to examine each situation at the time, as I was clearing the failure and moving on with the drill. Afterward, I grabbed one of the rounds and it appeared to have a light stike on the primer. I was shooting factory Winchester rounds during the entire "failure" outing.

My question is this: Could my sudden rash of failures be related to a gun maintenance issue? Seems like too many rounds in a relative short period to blame it on ammo issues. What should I check? Are there parts that would be worn at this stage that I should replace/inspect/clean?

I love this weapon and before today had absolute confidence in its reliability. Suddenly, I'm perplexed -- today's failure rate is obviously unacceptable, so I'm trying to figure out what I need to do. Your thoughts are appreciated.

[ShaulWolf]

Have you fed that particular ammo through the gun prior to this? If not, then it may have been the ammunition rather than the gun. A good cleaning with a stiff bristled brush should knock out any debris around the hole for the striker as well.

[eddie412]

i would replace the striker & recoil spring with 5,000 rounds through it i can guarantee it will fix it. give s&w a call and they'll most likely send it out to you for free.

[orionz06]

Replace all springs. Until a few months ago they were all 5k life springs.

[adoddere]

Thanks fellas.

[adoddere]

UPDATE ...

Ok, I just broke her down to the bare parts and did a thorough cleaning. There were no obvious defects, and less dirt/grit fouling than I would have expected. I hand tested the striker assembly and recoil springs, and both seem robust.

I'll order replacement springs, but to be honest, I'm not sure my weapon had a problem as everything seems to be working quite well. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I just happened into a bad batch of Winchester 9mm ammo.

Since it's not my defense of life weapon, I'm willing to let it play out and see what happens from here ....

[ShaulWolf]

You can always test out another batch of ammo if/when you can and see how it goes with the springs you currently have. This way you'll be able to tell if it was the gun or the ammo before swapping out the springs.

[RXM]

Depending how old your M&P is, S&W went through multiple revisions of the striker (IIRC a total of 4). Call them up and let them know you're having light strikes and they should help you out.

[mrnyman]

Yes, pay attention to maintenance, the M&P is not a Glock dont treat it like one and dont expect it to be like one.

Light primer strike on a striker fired weapon usually means a clogged up firing pin channel due to dirt and grime, Glock used a elongated spear type firing pin tip for a reason.

Frequent maintenance is the key for any American made product wether its Guns, cars, Trucks or Lawn mowers.

[orionz06]

Yes, pay attention to maintenance, the M&P is not a Glock dont treat it like one and dont expect it to be like one.

Light primer strike on a striker fired weapon usually means a clogged up firing pin channel due to dirt and grime, Glock used a elongated spear type firing pin tip for a reason.

Frequent maintenance is the key for any American made product wether its Guns, cars, Trucks or Lawn mowers.

They have proven, in my experiences, to be just as reliable and can be treated the same. They can handle the same clean every couple cases and swap springs every couple cleanings schedule just fine. They also seem to handle mud better, based on a sample of 8 guns, 4 of each and 2000 rounds fired in a weekend.

Not suggesting you treat them like trash but they are simple machines with very simple requirements to function. Understanding what will and will not impact their function will go a long way.