M&P Technical Question

[Rusty Barrels]

I picked up a new M&P9c recently and I have a couple questioned that arose when I read the owner's manual (yes, I actually read those things). Several times throughout it cautions that you must check to make sure the firing pin is not protruding from the breech face basically every time you handle the gun. They seem really concerned about this yet I don't remember reading about this in any other gun manual or hearing about this problem anywhere else at all. Is this a concern specific to S&W or are they just overcautious?

They also tell you never to load a round directly in the chamber. They say to insert the magazine, rack the slide, remove the magazine, and replace the round you stripped off of it. Does anyone actually do it that way? Is this advice related to the protruding firing pin advice? I always point every gun in the safest possible direction when I release the slide on a round in the chamber but damn! I still don't want to risk letting one fly.

 

[andy t]

Direct loading of a round is generally considered a bad practice as it may have a negative impact on the extractor.
I never load a round directly into the chamber, instead I do what the M&P manual says.

 

[Cross-X]

Gunsmiths love it when you drop a round into the chamber and then slam the slide closed over it.

'Smiths sell a ton of extractors when you do it that way.

 

[Rusty Barrels]

I'm glad I asked! Why don't they tell you the reason in the manual? It's not like I have some intuitive understanding of what's going on with the extractor, but I must thank you guys for educating me. Why wouldn't my extractor be in jeapordy when I load a magazine when the slide is locked open and then hit the slide release, though? Does the round that's being stripped off the top slow down the slide or something?

Any insight on what's going on with the "firing pin/breech face" warning?

 

[Lugnut]

I'm glad I asked! Why don't they tell you the reason in the manual? It's not like I have some intuitive understanding of what's going on with the extractor, but I must thank you guys for educating me. Why wouldn't my extractor be in jeapordy when I load a magazine when the slide is locked open and then hit the slide release, though? Does the round that's being stripped off the top slow down the slide or something?

Any insight on what's going on with the "firing pin/breech face" warning?

When you load from a magazine the round's rim actually slides up into the slot in the extractor. If you load the round into the barrel and let the slide slam forward you are putting excessive force of the extractor.

If your firing pin is "stuck" protruding from the breech face what do you think would happen when you release the slide forward with a loaded mag? Bang!

 

[Cross-X]

If you want to see a demo of what Lugnut is talking about, lock back your slide, put a mag loaded with dummy rounds into your gun, and ease the slide forward while watching the base of the top cartridge case in the magazine.

You'll be able to see the base of the case deftly slide beneath the extractor as the cartridge is stripped out of the mag. It can't do that cleverly slick process if you drop the load into the chamber and then close the slide.

 

[Rusty Barrels]

If your firing pin is "stuck" protruding from the breech face what do you think would happen when you release the slide forward with a loaded mag? Bang!

I'm not wondering what would happen if the firing pin was protruding- I'm wondering why S&W seems SO concerned about it. They must mention it at least a half a dozen times in the manual and that's the first I've ever heard any concern about this happening. Is it a problem unique to S&W?

 

[Lugnut]

I'm not wondering what would happen if the firing pin was protruding- I'm wondering why S&W seems SO concerned about it. They must mention it at least a half a dozen times in the manual and that's the first I've ever heard any concern about this happening. Is it a problem unique to S&W?

Don't know that answer. I can't imagine that it's more of a concern that any other striker based gun- like Glock. Maybe to cover their ass??