S&W M&P headache...

[Alpha7]

Contact this feller

He will have parts for it since he is a Smith and Wesson Authorized gun smith

LSG, Mfg|Gun Parts|Warranty|Gunsmithing

Frank Smith

LSG MFG

10059 Hwy 1476

Comanche, TX 76442

325-885-2700

franks@hughes.net

God forbid you have to send it off but if you do just remember Smith takes care of the shipping both ways.

[Alpha7]

So, think I've learned my lesson...

Recently I switched over from being a long time Glock shooter to the S&W M&P... The M&P with a trigger job is pretty awesome, when it's working that is.

You see, the striker broke in mine a couple days before Christmas during dry firing it, after looking into it seems the M&Ps breaking strikers during dry fire is pretty common, snap caps may help but won't ensure it won't happen.

So, since I'm super lucky, S&W was shut down until 1/4/10 for the holiday break, but I called their customer support department on that morning and asked for a replacement striker... I was told "no problem, on it's way" and also that snap cap or not dry fire my cause an M&P to break it's striker.

Well, today is now the 11th and still no striker so I called their CS line once again... Turns out according to the agent I spoke to today that there's no way a new striker has been sent out yet since they've been backordered from their supplier for over a month and they have no idea when they'll have them to ship out... WTF? So no striker and no idea when?

I asked if they had strikers on their assembly line for new guns? "yes", well then can you send me one of those? "No, those are for the new guns you'll have to wait...".

So, even though my gun has been down without this part for over two weeks already I still am no closer to getting it back functioning again... awesome. So much for the legendary S&W customer support I've heard so much about...

Decided I'd just call some local S&W dealers and surely one of them would let me trade in the gun minus it's striker towards another weapon (at a loss of course)... Nope. Got off the phone with 3 well known shops in the area, none will help me out even though I'd have to spend at least $100+ to leave with a new weapon... IMO that stinks and just makes it worse, I just assumed a shop would stand behind a brand they carry and wait for the part while making a sale rather than make the customer deal with it... apparantly not.

Guess I'm just SOL until S&W gets some strikers in and sends me a new one... who knows how long that'll be...

This will be my last Smith and Wesson.

If anyone knows a S&W dealer somewhat near the Nashville area that would help me out please let me know...

Also,

As clint eastwood said the the movie "Heartbreak Ridge" "Assumption is the mother of all screw ups"

[lowbud]

The way I see it. This is typically why we pay "possible" premiums dealing with local shops. It's for the relationship, not the out the door price.

People assume there's no risk buying items wherever they can get the best deal when in all actuallity they are. In this situation if the gun had come from a local shop.. we wouldn't even be hearing about this.

[Alpha7]

Looks like brownells is out of stock on their striker assembly as well. They have plenty of striker spring guides but I guess that wont help ya. Midwayusa is scheduled to have them back in stock 1-24-10 according to this link Smith & Wesson Striker Assembly S&W M&P, M&P Compact 9mm Luger, 357 Sig, 40 S&W - MidwayUSA

[Guest Moody]

That's too bad about your firearm, but honestly I see eye-to-eye with Daniel. As a person that operates a small business, we see alot of this (some coming in with something not working, from a manufacturer that we stock, and wanting us to deal with it for them, instead of the manufacturer). Sometimes it's justified, sometimes, it's not.

I wouldn't swear off S&W, honestly, because they're one of the best, if not, THE best firearms company in business from a customer-service perspective, and as others mentioned - given the time, they will make it right. Sorry for your troubles with them - hate that you had to get the run-around.

[Capbyrd]

I just want to back Daniel on this one well. I think you are asking too much of the shops if you expect them to "take the hit" for you while you prance around with a new gun.

I have personally dealt with Daniel and would love to do more business with him as well. I think that Daniel and the staff at G&L are great customer service representatives and recommend them to everyone.

[molonlabetn]

This is one reason I have increasingly become a fan of firearms (or anything, for that matter) for which parts are readily available, and are straightforward to fix myself. It may be a couple years before the M&P enjoys good parts availability... just like the XD line finally has after several years of similar stories.

[Guest 10mm4me]

I just want to back Daniel on this one well. I think you are asking too much of the shops if you expect them to "take the hit" for you while you prance around with a new gun.

I have personally dealt with Daniel and would love to do more business with him as well. I think that Daniel and the staff at G&L are great customer service representatives and recommend them to everyone.

+1.I won't buy anywhere else.

[Guest malbolja]

How does the shop know that the striker is the (only) problem beyond your word? And to have the smith determine whether or not that is the problem costs them money too. And having the broken pistol sitting there waiting for a part is a cost as well - pure overhead. Meanwhile their investment in that pistol is in Limbo until they can get the part, fix it, and it sells. Don't blame G&L for being a business - you've dealt with them enough to know they're stand up guys. Try to see it from a business perspective.

I'd be pissed off about having to send a pistol back for something I can fix myself, though. What a PITA. If they have the parts, they should take care of you first, since they already have your money. Good luck with it.

[DaveTN]

... I miss my Glocks.

You wouldn’t if you had one of the Glocks with the breech face knocked out from dry firing.

S&W, Glock and most others that are honest tell people not to dry fire without snap caps. Sitting around hammering the piss out of a firearm with no ammo in it is something that has become popular in the last 10 years. As you have found out; it will damage your gun. And I don’t care what kind you have.

You might try calling back at another time and maybe you will have better luck.

[Guest excatm76]

You wouldn’t if you had one of the Glocks with the breech face knocked out from dry firing.

S&W, Glock and most others that are honest tell people not to dry fire without snap caps. Sitting around hammering the piss out of a firearm with no ammo in it is something that has become popular in the last 10 years. As you have found out; it will damage your gun. And I don’t care what kind you have.

You might try calling back at another time and maybe you will have better luck.

It would be extreemly unlikely for him to knock the breech face of a Glock out in the ammount of dry fires it takes to break an M&P striker. If you believe there has not been a problem with the M&P strikers just do a google search for broken striker and see what comes up, you don't even have to add M&P to your search. Dry firing has been a popular form of practice for a lot more than ten years. Top IPSC shooters have been reccomending it for as long as I can remeber.

S&W has reportedly rectified the problem with thier latest strikers, provided you use snap caps, however they are still sending out the old ones too. The easy way to tell if your striker is the new style is to take it out an look at it, if it is nice and shiny and looks like stainell steel, it is likely a new one, the older ones are blackened and look very much like a cast (MIM) part.

To the OP. What soed your striker look like one of the new stainless ones or an MIM part?

Edited January 13, 2010 by excatm76

[Smith]

You wouldn’t if you had one of the Glocks with the breech face knocked out from dry firing.

S&W, Glock and most others that are honest tell people not to dry fire without snap caps. Sitting around hammering the piss out of a firearm with no ammo in it is something that has become popular in the last 10 years. As you have found out; it will damage your gun. And I don’t care what kind you have.

You might try calling back at another time and maybe you will have better luck.

I'm pretty sure the M&P I had read in the manual to not dry fire. Some were even coming from the factory with snap caps.

[Ernest.T.Bass]

You did chose to buy from an individual, not a dealer.

This is not typical of Smith & Wesson. They normally can spank any other manufacturer on customer service.

Try hangin out at Smith-Wessonforums.com. I bet someone will help you.

[tntnixon]

S&W, Glock and most others that are honest tell people not to dry fire without snap caps. Sitting around hammering the piss out of a firearm with no ammo in it is something that has become popular in the last 10 years. As you have found out; it will damage your gun. And I don’t care what kind you have.[/QUOTE]

My whole life, I was under the impession that dry firing would damage a firearm. Then, 10-15 years ago, all the gun folks started preaching that, not only would it not damage your firearm, but it would help you work out all the bugs in your technique. So, which is it???

Also, I'm sitting here looking at my Glock and my M&P manuals and I don't see anything that says that "dry firing" will damage the weapon, you can't even strip a Glock without "dry firing" it. Does that mean that field stripping and cleaning your Glock is bad for it? Neither weapon has a "decocker", so what are you supposed to do when you unload it and clear the chamber?

[Guest 10mm4me]

We've had this discussion,I don't think it does anything,others do.I have a G19 that has been dry fired prob 1000x.It is in perfect working order.

[Guest CK1]

Thanks for the opinions guys, but starting to wish I never even posted this thread since it only seems to annoy me further...

I'll post again when S&W tells me something of note, guess we'll just see how long it takes...

As far as a shop helping me or not, guess at this point my attitude is "whatever", seems being loyal to local fun shops doesn't count for much if you pick up a gun used, when I need help with a part for my truck a dealer will help me out whether I bought it from them or not so I thought the S&W dealers would be the same, guess not, happy to say I don't run my business like that but guess it can be argued either way...

[Guest Jamie]

CK1, is the M&P your only gun?

If not, just have a little patience and wait 'til somebody has the part. It's not gonna cost you anything but a little time, and once it's over, you'll have a working gun to shoot, trade off, sell, etc.

As for the auto dealership, I can't imagine one giving you a whole new vehicle for the price of a trade-in minus the cost a busted water pump or the like, so I just don't understand why you think it should work that way with a gun. ( And if they did do it, I would expect you to get absolutely skinned on the deal. )

Money is tight right now for everyone, and gun dealers just don't make a lot off a gun to begin with, so it's no surprise that they aren't very helpful when parts just aren't available for something they didn't sell in the first place.

J.

BTW, I'll have to remember this thread, the next time I hear someone bashing Taurus.

Edited January 13, 2010 by Jamie

[Guest Jamie]

My whole life, I was under the impession that dry firing would damage a firearm. Then, 10-15 years ago, all the gun folks started preaching that, not only would it not damage your firearm, but it would help you work out all the bugs in your technique. So, which is it???

Also, I'm sitting here looking at my Glock and my M&P manuals and I don't see anything that says that "dry firing" will damage the weapon, you can't even strip a Glock without "dry firing" it. Does that mean that field stripping and cleaning your Glock is bad for it? Neither weapon has a "decocker", so what are you supposed to do when you unload it and clear the chamber?

Excessive dry firing without a snap cap in place can accelerate wear, or even break some part of the gun. That's just a fact of life and the nature of the materials.

Will routine stripping and cleaning do it? Well, if you strip and clean the gun 10 times a day, every day, then yes, you're gonna cause excessive wear and probably eventually break something a whole lot sooner than you would with a "normal" cleaning schedule.

Guns wear out. Using them wears them out. Dry firing wears them out. Taking them apart and putting them back together wears them out.

The more you do any of those thing, the faster they wear out. That's just how it is.

J.

[Guest CK1]

The M&P is not my only gun, just my only 9mm with which I practice the most and just plain shoot most often, I've actually been getting quite good at hiding a full size 1911 these days...

Let's just let it go as far as an S&W dealer being of any help ok? I get it, lots of you guys think that even though I have no idea how long I'll be waiting for this part and for the gun to be running again, thinking a business that carries their line may be willing to assist and make some money in the process is truly unfair of me... I get it, so just leave it alone.

As I was asked before, my broken striker is the MIM "old" kind... And not to throw fuel on the fire as far as whether dry fire is ok or not, I've personally dry fired a couple Glocks into probably the 1,000,000+ range, we're talking years, and from what I've seen you have a better chance of hitting the lottery on the same day you get struck by lightening than blowing out the breech face on a Glock from dry fire... It's happend 3-4 times out of who knows how many millions of Glocks out there...

[Guest m&pc9]

I've personally dry fired a couple Glocks into probably the 1,000,000+ range, we're talking years,

At 33 years old you would have to dry fire a glock almost 7 times a day, from the day of your birth.

Just seems a little much.

[Oh Shoot]

... I've personally dry fired a couple Glocks into probably the 1,000,000+ range, we're talking years, ...

At 33 years old you would have to dry fire a glock almost 7 times a day, from the day of your birth....

One million over 33 years = 83 times a day, not counting rounding error or leap years.

- OS

[strickj]

And just what would it be including leap years?

[Oh Shoot]

And just what would it be including leap years?

I could do it to this very day, Strick, really I could. But the pain, oh the pain.

- OS

[deerslayer]

You wouldn’t if you had one of the Glocks with the breech face knocked out from dry firing.

Where do you get this crap?

[eapking]

Why not just send in the gun to S&W and have them do the repair. I had mine back within 10 days. I would think their gunsmiths would have some pull to get the part off the line.

+1 on this. As silly as it may sound, sending it back to SW probably would have gotten it back to you in working order much faster. I've done so for light striking and it's been flawless since.

I'm 'knocking on wood' for the dry fire issue. I've done it a few times, but mostly use snap caps.