62,333 rounds
2 stoppages, 0 malfunctions, 3 parts breakages
As you could tell, we didn’t get an “M&P Monday” posted last week due to the holidays. How do the Gods of War punish us for this?
Yes, that’s a crack in the slide. The pistol started to feel slightly different in recoil, a little “snappy” compared to normal, about 200 rounds before this was discovered. Multiple shooters tried the gun and I was the only one who noticed a difference. Thinking the gun was just overdue for a new recoil spring, I disassembled it and saw the crack.
Presumably — though there is no way to know for certain — the gun continued to work (flawlessly) for at least 200 rounds after the crack began to develop.
The gun was shipped by overnight priority to Smith & Wesson today. They will have it on Tuesday to examine. If they determine it is still safe to shoot, we’ll continue to shoot the gun up until SHOT Show as planned. If all goes well, in fact, the gun will be at the range Wednesday. We’ll see just how many rounds it will go in this condition before it finally quits.
Certainly no one wants a major component to crack, but over 60,000 rounds in less than seven and a half months is abusive … which was the point of this test, after all. And even after the slide cracked the gun kept on working. I’m sure you’ll agree that it will be interesting to find out whether the gun will go a few hundred or even a few thousand more rounds in this condition.
The piece that is bending up from the crack protrudes enough that a little bit of force is necessary to get the slide back on the gun after disassembly. Of course, every time that’s done, we’re probably adding further stress.
When we get final word from S&W (tomorrow or Wednesday), we’ll post an update.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Previous entries:
- Week One
- Week Two
- Week Three
- Week Four
- Week Five
- Week Six & Week Six Accuracy Report
- Week Seven
- Week Eight
- Week Nine
- Week Ten
- Week Eleven
- Week Twelve
- Week Thirteen
- Week Fourteen
- Week Fifteen
- Week Sixteen
- Week Seventeen
- Week Eighteen
- Week Nineteen
- Week Twenty
- Week Twenty-One
- Week Twenty-Two
- Week Twenty-Three
- Week Twenty-Four
- Week Twenty-Five
- Week Twenty-Six
- Week Twenty-Seven
- Week Twenty-Eight
- Week Twenty-Nine
- Week Thirty
- Week Thirty-One
Damn Todd, that’s two of them!!! S&W is not going to send you anymore toys if you keep breaking them.
I’m pretty sure no one at Smith is upset that the gun broke more than 12,000 rounds after the planned endurance test ended. In fact, I’ve got the next endurance test gun on its way and will hopefully get a running start with it before SHOT Show in January.
60k in that timeframe is abusive, I agree. Still a cracked slide is a little disappointing to see. Keep us posted.
This gun has been to hell and back in the past few months. I’m quite sure there isn’t any of us that would treat their own like this; I know I wouldn’t. Cracked slide? Think of it this way; S & W has a lifetime warranty. Even if it takes me the next 5-6 years to put 60 k rounds through my 40, and I were develop a crack, the slide heads back to the factory, and a new one shows up before long…
Bryan — I’ve just seen too many Berettas, Glocks, SIGs, etc. with cracked slides at lower round counts to get worried about it. Parts break. Not telling you anything you don’t already know, of course. Do I wish it had gone 100k trouble free rounds? Sure. Did any of us expect that? No.
Do I hope Smith makes a change that eliminates this problem? Yes. Would I expect them to devote a lot of resources to it given the tiny number of people likely to reach 60k rounds in such a short timeframe? Not any time soon.
JoeB — I agree with you for the most part. Like Bryan, I still wish it hadn’t cracked but the critical thing in my mind is that the gun kept running. Whether you were in a fight or at a match, you could easily keep going until you had the chance to get it repaired at your leisure.
ToddG-
Absolutely the point! Here is a firearm that has been abused, fatigued and subsequently (if not catostrophically) failed, and kept on running. I thought about my earlier post; alot of good a lifetime warranty is going do me in a gun fight while my lifetime could be cut short!
Here’s one way to look at it. The thing has 60,000 rounds through it, it often has 1,000 rounds put through it in a few hours time, it is almost never cleaned, and when the slide finally cracks it keeps on shooting? Is this a “go to war” gun? As a former soldier I’d have to say “oh yeah.” Smith has come out with a real winner here.
well fellas don’t take my comment the wrong way. I agree with all of your comments. It was a hard run test for, and I currently shoot the M&P for a fun gun. I think tests like the run ToddG has done go a long way to help build the credibility of the MP as a hard duty use gun, no doubt. I mean it’s $400 bucks, that’s chump change compared to the $10 grand in ammo used in this test…. But there are some things I am disappointed in with the MP but the factory seems to be getting some of it sorted out. Time will tell, but I think it’s one of the more shootable production guns on the market.
who’s to say that even if they find some sort of “fix” for it that the fix or new cut won’t cause some other new issue once that gun is put thru what this one went thru. the whole point of this test was to run the thing into the ground and i would guarantee it would be impossible for anyone to make a gun that will never have some sort of issue with such a high round count in such a short period of time along with less than the recommended maintenance. this break on this pistol doesn’t mean that all of them will do the same thing at a specific round count so really there isn’t even a way to know if they’ve fixed it if they even try to since it could happen at a lower count on one gun while never happening at all on another one. it’s almost like a luck of the draw (pun intended) regardless of the brand or make of any pistol something will eventually give under these circumstances. that’s the whole purpose of a good warranty.
what are you carrying in the meantime?
Bryan- Your concerns are valid, and I think we all agree the the M&P is a fine gun. One thing I have an issue with mine is the trigger, and after the holidays it’s going to get the same treatment from the factory as the test gun.
Is there a perfect gun? I hope I’m able to keep buying them to find out! David brings up a really good point. I’d love to see the same brutality dished out to a Glock, H-K, XD, anything. Despite the fact that these are all well made guns, something is going to fail sooner or later!
That seems like the perfect job: shoot them till they break. Todd, I’d love to know your secret…
What an unbeleivably awesome pistol. I find this in no way dissapointing…it was going to happen sooner or later, that was the point, no? In my opinion there is nothing to fix on S&W’s part, this was not the product of a defective or even weak part, its the product of EXTREME (see: awesome) abuse.
This test makes me proud to own my new M&P9 that I bought last week before I found this site. (although I payed significantly more than $400…closer to $600. But still worth it in my opinion)
Thank you for alleviating any concerns Glock owners put into my head!!
David — I’m carrying my other M&P9, of course!
First of all thanks for a great website for useful information. I bought an M&P40 when they first came out and have maybe put 1k rounds through it. I like to shoot but time and money hold me back. I guess the fact that I bought an M&P15, S&W9VE and PC4006 cut back on my shooting just the M&P40. I don’t know if I would ever shoot over 60k rounds through one gun. After reading the testing of the M&P it sure makes me want to get mine out and start putting rounds through it. I don’t mind the stock trigger but it would be nice to get it smoothed up and maybe lightened abit. I’ve read Burwell and Bowie both do fantastic work and can get the trigger to about whatever pull-weight you want. How about S&W? I never hear about their trigger work. Anyone have any comments?
60K+ rounds gives me a gun that I will be shooting when I am 110….great and I probably will need a nurse to hold the gun for me. In any event I love my M&P 9MM. Simple to operate, very accurate and it loves my reloads. What else is there. did I forget it is made in the US which helps with the balance of payments and all the economic stuff floating around these days.
Take Care
Bob
Hello,
Was there an update to this? Can’t seem to find it. 🙁