M&P Failure, Cracked Slide Rail

[ArmyJohn88]

Hey everyone,

Was out shooting the other day and my .40 started kicking out mags after each round. After stripping I noticed the slide rail opposite of the ejection port had a sizable crack and separation from the slide. Does anyone know if M&P resolved the problem and why it was a problem in the first place? After doing some net searching it seems like this is not common at all but has happened, in a endurance test and a few other instances. First M&P pistol I have had and I love it, in fact the rest of my pistols have been riding the safe since purchase, but this is def. a major no go. Have not been shooting anything special out of it, just wwb, blazer brass, and one magazine of winchester elites for cycling check.

Anyone here personally seen this happen before? Sorry for the bad lighting in the pic but you get the picture.

 

[WhiteyMacD]

Are you shooting factory ammo?

I didnt think the M&Ps had an issue, but I havent really been looking for it. Could the crack be the result of overpressure? You can check your spent casings for signs of overpressure (i.e. primers pushed out a little, bulging brass, etc).

I dont know what else would cause that. Bad material used in the slide?

Good thing you caught it before it went kaboom.

 

[WhiteyMacD]

After reading a little, I dont see how over pressure would cause it to crack there. That looks like a flaw to me. I did see somewhere where they redesigned the notch to eliminate 90° angle. Dont know if that is true or not.

Give S&W a call, they have good support.

 

[FireproofD3:25]

Wow, I've never seen or heard of that on an M&P. Gonna keep a closer eye on my 2 M&P's now. Shouldn't have any problems having S&W taking care of that for you though...

 

[mmchambers06]

It's worth mentioning that this M&P has 27K rounds through it. The M&P that they "endurance tested" to 62K rounds was a 9mm. 40 is a bit more violent.

S&W should take care of it. We'll see.

John, did you get it to Cyrwus?

 

[ArmyJohn88]

Ha, Yes, as Chambers said it is for sure a "well seasoned" pistol. However, I would expect something else to fail before that happened.

After reading around a bit last night I am pretty sure S&W will take care of it. I have not had internet the last few days so I had just been speculating before.

Have not had a chance to get it over to Cyrwus yet, probably going to drop it off Friday.

 

[ArmyJohn88]

Oh, and yes it was all factory ammo that I shot out of it. Couldn't tell you on the last owner, but from what I hear he is pretty hardcore.

 

[Shadowrider]

You won't have any issue with S&W fixing that. Call them up and they will send you a return tag so you won't have to pay shipping. You might even get an extra mag out of the deal...

 

[NikatKimber]

I'd pretty much say that's a defective part.

Whitey, the 90* wouldn't cause that type of failure. The crack would propagate at about a 45* up the side of the slide, towards the top and the front (muzzle) of the slide.

 

[338Shooter]

Hickok45 on youtube had the exact same thing happen.