Smith and Wesson M&P magazine tubes need to be cleaned fresh from the factory.

[TGO David]

Fellow M&P owners take note:

Today I ran my M&P 40 in a defensive pistol class taught by the guys at Critical Incident Strategies. Aside from being able to take the class this time with my wife, one of the reasons I was looking forward to this, my second time through the class, was to see if the M&P could hang with the Glocks in terms of durability.

Somewhere at around 300rds through the firearm and more than a few haphazard tactical reloads with mags dropped freely into the soft dirt, one of my mags followers became lodged about halfway down the tube rendering it completely FUBAR.

All it took to get the magazine back in action was pouring some bottled water down through it to wash out the dirt and crud, but I made a mental note to come home tonight and disassemble and clean all of my M&P mags. What I found was pretty unsatisfactory.

I'm not sure if S&W manufactures the mags themselves or if they outsource it to someone like Mecgar or Promag, but whomever does build them also slathers them with a good bit of light weight oil. I can only assume that they do this for rust prevention in warehousing and transit, but the new S&W mags (like mine) are coated with a polyresin product similar to Lauer Weaponry Dura-Coat. In short, they don't need oil for rust resistance.

In fact, oil inside your magazine tube is a bad thing. It attracts dirt and eventually turns into a thin, grimey mud that will bring your mag's follower to a stumbling halt. Just like it did to mine.

Absolutely every one of the eight M&P mags that I took apart tonight had this same smear of oil inside them. A few had so much oil that the inside of the baseplate was wet to the touch with it.

I ran a magazine tube brush through each, followed it with a dry paper towel and cleaned away the oil. With the mag tubes dry and clean, I reassembled the mags, numbered them with a paint marker, and put them back into my range bag.

Hopefully tomorrow they will operate without incident. But I felt that this was something that definitely needed to be passed along to other M&P owners as it should be the one of the first things you do to new M&P mags, in my opinion. Mag tubes should be clean and dry, not wet and oily.

[Rightwinger]

I would say its the standard for all magazine makers as I took apart two Kahr magazines and two Mec Gar tonight after an afternoon shooting. Same thing. Brand new magazines with lots of oil and now oily residue. Did not affect anything today but I could see where time, usage and them collecting dust and firing residues, it could become problematic.

[musicman]

Other than generous oil in the mags, how did the gun run?

[Guest siegfried]

The mags in my m-9 are sand-resistant beretta!

[TGO David]

Other than generous oil in the mags, how did the gun run?

No hiccups. The mag problem was the only problem and it happened outside the gun while topping it off.

[musicman]

cool! That's good news. Have you been happy with how it feels, shoots, etc? (minus ruining the front sight!)

[Guest m&pc9]

I just cleaned my mags on the one I bought a month ago. And they had lint build from just carrying a month. Thanks for the info.

[eapking]

Thanks for the tip David. Will be checking my MP mags right now.

[Guest sharpshooter01]

I'll have a look see at mine too. Thanks for the heads up!

[TGO David]

I ran the M&P again all day today. The only issue I had was caused by (I'm almost 99% certain now) my fleece jacket getting caught somewhat in the slide as I was returning it to battery on an empty chamber. The M&P ran flawlessly other than that, and my accuracy improved quite a bit after semi-straightening that front sight post.

I'm going to order a replacement front post this week.

[eapking]

You ever get a light-strike on your M&P? I have a full size 9 that I've probably put 800 rds thru. If I don't clean it each time out it will do it. About 1 in every 50 rds. Ammo (range) is typically the orange box Tennessee 115gr. I really like the feel of this gun, but it scares me a bit when it goes click instead of bang. Thinking of the implications in an SD situation.

[TGO David]

You ever get a light-strike on your M&P? I have a full size 9 that I've probably put 800 rds thru. If I don't clean it each time out it will do it. About 1 in every 50 rds. Ammo (range) is typically the orange box Tennessee 115gr. I really like the feel of this gun, but it scares me a bit when it goes click instead of bang. Thinking of the implications in an SD situation.

No, I haven't had that problem with any of my M&Ps. It sounds like you either have some junk in your firing pin channel or you have a weak firing pin spring. Either way, I'd give serious thought to sending it back to Smith & Wesson and having them go through it for you. Chances are it will be a free repair as they have an outstanding warranty and customer service program.

I have seen other makes of handguns come from the factory with a bit of machining slag stuck in the firing pin channel or right over the firing pin hole in the breech face, which would cause this to happen.

The M&P should run fine no matter what grade of ammo (read: even nasty, dirty burning Com-Block ammo) so to me a failure to fire once in every 50 or so rounds is not acceptable. I've seen too many M&P's with *really* high ammo counts and very little cleaning to accept that the gun is just finicky. It really needs to be looked at and made right.

Here's their contact info:

How can I get my S&W handgun repaired?

Please contact our Customer Support Center for instructions on how to return your handgun for repair:

1-800-331-0852

(Inside USA) 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (Monday - Friday).

[Guest EasilyObsessed]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be sure to check out all of my magazines. I have some of the older versions as well as the newer versions, I'm curious if there will be a difference between them.

[Defender]

I often use a small can of compressed air (from my computer cleaning kit) to blow out dust and stuff from my carry mags as well as my carry guns...i don't know if this is recommended or not, but it seems to work pretty good between cleanings...can some of you experts tell me if this is ok?

[TGO David]

I can't see where using an air duster would be a bad thing since it's a dry propellant. Using an air compressor, on the other hand, could theoretically deposit oils and moisture in your mag tubes. Body shops are particular about using water/oil separators inline with their air compressors to keep that stuff from reaching spray guns and in turn getting into paint.

Anyway, yeah... I'd say that blowing your mags out in between cleanings would be a good idea.

[eapking]

Thanks much David. Bought it used (supposedly never fired). Assume the warranty is a dead issue. Know of any gunsmiths for S&W? Or should I still go back to S&W?

[TGO David]

Thanks much David. Bought it used (supposedly never fired). Assume the warranty is a dead issue. Know of any gunsmiths for S&W? Or should I still go back to S&W?

S&W honors the warranty for the life of the firearm, not the life of the buyer. You're good to go.

[Kegger]

I've seen this issue with several M&P users.

Brake cleaner works great to get the oil and stuff out. Don't even have to dry it afterwards.

[Guest m&pc9]

I've seen this issue with several M&P users.

Brake cleaner works great to get the oil and stuff out. Don't even have to dry it afterwards.

I use brake cleaner also. But I have seen somewhere to always use the non-chlorinated kind. But I do blow mine out afterwards.

[Smith]

I use the Gun Blast Polymer Safe stuff on all my new guns. If I remember right I usually blow a lot of junk out of the firing pin channel. I like using the Jig-a-loo dry spray lube on things like the mags. It goes on dry won't gather debris but stays slick. Kinda like a dry version of WD-40 and it's cheap.

[Guest c_o_jones]

My "free" rebate mags had some weird film but I cleaned them extry good before I ever used them.

[texfrazer]

Thanks for the heads up. I am currently deciding between an M&P and a Glock (not that this plays into the decision), and it's always good to know as much as possible about the potential choices.

[TGO David]

Thanks for the heads up. I am currently deciding between an M&P and a Glock (not that this plays into the decision), and it's always good to know as much as possible about the potential choices.

Not to turn this into an M&P versus Glock debate, but I have both and see places for both. The M&P is a lot more ergonomic and addresses some issues that I've long had with Glocks. Specifically: Glock lack of ambidextrous controls and lack of way to disassemble the firearm without having to pull the trigger.

So far I am extremely impressed with the M&P's evolution over the past few years. I owned three of them right when they came out (9mm Compact, .40SW compact and .40SW) and currently own another full-sized .40SW. The early production runs had some issues. The later production runs seem to be doing much better.

If I had to absolutely choose between one or the other... I'd probably choose the M&P and probably do it in .40SW just like the one I presently own. The ergos alone make it more adaptable to whomever is shooting it. I love my Glocks, but the M&P has a lot going for it. If it's still going strong for me another 1,000 rounds from now, I'll be completely sold on it.

[texfrazer]

Thanks for the info! The wife said that if I sell either the PT945 or the P94, she might agree to a double purchase - maybe one Glock and one M&P.

[xd shooter]

The rep was right David. When I got home Saterday after the great day at Hero Gear & checked out Angel's mags. The factory mags were spotless & the 2 rebate mags were full of s***.

Thanks for the heads up!