Recent manufacture M&P 9 accuracy

[orionz06]

The LE reps clearly know there is an issue...the problem, as almost always at S&W is on the corporate and commercial side. The bean counters at S&W seem to worry more about saving $0.10 per pistol than spending the time and energy to get it right--most folks I know would be more than willing to pay $50.00, $100, or even $250 more (think HK, the old classic Sigs, or custom 1911's) for a dead nuts out of the box reliable pistol.

When calling them and saying "Hey, can I pay you money to make this more accurate" they say no. Doesn't add up.

[mallowpufft]

I saw this thread a couple days ago before I registered and about a week after I had bought an M&P 9c. I was feeling worried as up till today I'd only had time to put a couple mags through it. I hadn't had a chance to spend extended range time with it yet but today I set up around 10 yards to practice some draw and shoot drills from my CC holster.
I was short on time and some college kids pulled up and started scaring me with their safety practices so I only got to put 50 rounds through it before I packed up.
These were just low speed for building myscle memory/habit forming going from holstered to 3 shots on target both with my shirt covering holster and with it exposed.
I shot 4 three round groups, one mag, before starting with the holster. Those 12 rounds were within 2" total. My groups were averaging 1.5"
After that they stated to stray but hole to hole all 50 were within a 6" circle. It probably would have been tighter but the white paint came off the front sight at shot 32 and I got annoyed.
I plopped some in white paint tonight and told SWMBO that my sights broke and I need to replace them (with night sights; but she doesn't need to know that a blob of white paint on a toothpick will work for now).
My M&P has no internal lock or frame safety. Just the trigger.
I was shooting Wolf FMJ because it's cheap and I have a ton of it sitting around for when friends come over and don't bring enough ammo.

[GJM]

The LE reps clearly know there is an issue...the problem, as almost always at S&W, is on the corporate and commercial side. The bean counters at S&W seem to worry more about saving $0.10 per pistol than spending the time and energy to get it right--most of the folks I know and shoot with would be more than willing to pay $50.00, $100, or even $250 more (think HK, the old classic Sigs, or custom 1911's) for a dead nuts out of the box reliable pistol.

My cynical side wonders if S&W has decided it is cheaper/easier to pay for customer service, than to fix the problem. If each M&P 9 purchaser first shot their new pistol at 25 yards, and returned the pistols that shot 6-8 inches, my guess is the bean counters would demand a design and/or manufacturing fix soon.

I plan to be politely persistent, and verify that my four pistols are fixed in the accuracy department, or replaced with four pistols that do shoot.

[GJM]

When calling them and saying "Hey, can I pay you money to make this more accurate" they say no. Doesn't add up.

I think it does add up. They have all the orders they can fill, and haven't reached step 1 -- admitting there is a problem.

We need to get the word to senior management, so they fix the problem for either the right reason, improving the product, or the other reason -- avoiding embarrassment.

[Lomshek]

If they need to, name the improved, utterly reliable pistols "elite", "professional", etc... and S&W can keep selling the normal, less expensive, less reliable pistols at the current price.

If they did that at least the ones of us that give a damn would have a choice. As it stands my understanding is the Pro model just gets rid of the MIM sear, gets a better trigger pull and FO sights with no barrel improvement.

[YVK]

My cynical side wonders if S&W has decided it is cheaper/easier to pay for customer service, than to fix the problem. .

My cynical side is side-by-side with your cynical side. I think it is a simple cost/benefit analysis for them. On a civilian side, most pistols don't get shot much at all, let alone shot at 25, let alone shot at 25 with shooter's confidence in own skills. On LE side, many PDs run 0.40 which has shot well. Depending on how many 9s come back and what's cost-effective for them, they may simply choose to get rid of "annoying" customers by proclaiming guns "meeting specifications", stopping paying for shipping guns back etc.

My less cynical side remembers how Kimber canned their fiasco of an external extractor after guns started to come back to them en masse. Hopefully, the same will happen here.

[ralph]

My cynical side wonders if S&W has decided it is cheaper/easier to pay for customer service, than to fix the problem. If each M&P 9 purchaser first shot their new pistol at 25 yards, and returned the pistols that shot 6-8 inches, my guess is the bean counters would demand a design and/or manufacturing fix soon.

I plan to be politely persistent, and verify that my four pistols are fixed in the accuracy department, or replaced with four pistols that do shoot.

I figure that's just a delaying action..I'm sure they're aware of the problems, and they also know it's going to cost alot to fix everyone's pistol that has a problem. I'm thinking S&W is working on a "Gen 2" M&P, one in which they applied all the lessons learned from Apex, and with a barrel that now has proper lockup and a standard rate of twist, Of course they'll also make it just different enough so that little or nothing, especially the barrel, will interchange. Thus, trying to force the consumer to buy the new improved version... I can hear it now.."Hey, trust us, really, we got it right this time" yeah, right, the checks in the mail,too...

[YVK]

A fellow shooter just received his MPs back from the factory with a 2 inch 5 round group shot at 10 yards and a letter stating "this meets factory specs". Provided that bullet dispersion is linear (it may or may not be, depending on whether their chosen barrel twist is good enough to stabilize bullet all the way to 25), this translates into a 5 inch group at 25. So, if you want anything better than that, your options are either keep buying MPs until you get a couple of good ones, or wait for Apex barrel. Or shoot 40 and 45.

I can't believe that there is nothing on the market right now that can fully answer my requirements for a polymer pistol in 9 mm. Perhaps I am too picky. Or not good enough.

[uwe1]

This thread has got me concerned about my MP9 Pro. It is the only pistol I have that hasn't been shot for groups at 25 yards because I completely switched to Glocks.

However, it sounds like S&W doesn't give a shit and is perfectly okay with the guns only shooting 5-6" groups at 25 yards.

I'll post back once I get a chance to shoot the gun off a bench rest.

[GJM]

I wouldn't lose a bit of sleep over this. My two older Pro's shoot fine, as does an older FS, another FS from 10 months ago, an older Compact, and all my 40's and 45's. It seems like pistols from the last half of 2011, based on my sample size of 7, that have such a high percentage of accuracy issues.