Officer Safety: Smith & Wesson M&P pistols

[USMC03]

I just received the following via email. Came from the Los Angles Sheriff's Department.





FROM: XXXX 04/29/09 12:40:15

SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT BROADCASTANNOUNCEMENT TRAINING BUREAU
WEAPONS TRAINING
TO: ALL CONCERNED PERSONNEL

SUBJECT: OFFICER SAFETY ALERT - SMITH & WESSON M&P PISTOLS

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS HAVE FORCED A DEPARTMENTAL RE-EVALUATION OF THE SMITH & WESSON 9MM M&P SEMI-AUTOMATIC PISTOL AS AN AUTHORIZED OPTIONAL HANDGUN FOR SWORN PERSONNEL.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, THE SMITH & WESSON 9MM M&P FULL SIZE PISTOL IS NO LONGER AN AUTHORIZED OPTIONAL ON-DUTY PISTOL.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, THE SMITH & WESSON 9MM M&P COMPACT PISTOL IS NO LONGER AN AUTHORIZED OPTIONAL OFF-DUTY PISTOL.

SINCE FIRST APPROVAL AS AN OPTIONAL PISTOL ON DECEMBER 10, 2008, THE FULL-SIZED AND/OR COMPACT VERSIONS OF THE 9MM SMITH & WESSON M&P PISTOL HAVE BEEN DEPLOYED BY 49 SWORN PERSONNEL ON AND OFF DUTY. ONE OF THESE PISTOLS WAS DELIVERED NEW WITH AN IMPROPERLY MACHINED BARREL THAT WOULD NOT EJECT SPENT CARTRIDGE CASINGS. ANOTHER OF THESE PISTOLS EXPERIENCED A BARREL FAILURE IN MID-APRIL OF THIS YEAR. AFTER FIRING LESS THAN 10,000 ROUNDS OF TRAINING AMMUNITION. THIS PISTOL BARREL BROKE INTO TWO PIECES JUST AHEAD OF THE FIRING CHAMBER.

ADDITIONALLY, A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF DEPUTY ACADEMY CLASS #XXX RECRUITS WITH ISSUED NEW SMITH & WESSON 9MM M&P FULL-SIZE PISTOLS HAVE EXPERIENCED PHASE-2 PISTOL MALFUNCTIONS, CAUSED BY SPENT CASINGS FAILING TO EXTRACT FROM BARREL CHAMBERS, DURING THE PAST TWO WEEKS OF TRAINING. CLASS #XXX RECRUITS WILL BE ISSUED BERETTA 92FS PISTOLS ON WEDNESDAY APRIL 29, 2009, AND THEIR M&P PISTOLS REMOVED FROM SERVICE.

PERSONNEL SAFETY AND RELIABLE EQUIPMENT REMAIN OUR PRIMARY CONCERNS.

DIRECT ANY QUESTIONS (removed for PERSEC) AT THE B.C. RANGE.

XXXXX X. XXXX, SHERIFF LRR/SNDG



S/F,
Jeff

[Lawdog537]

Thanks for posting Jeff. I am hosting an M&P armorer's school on 05-06-09 at my agency. I will see what I can find out about this..............


I recently switched to the 45 and 45c, but we have several deputies carrying the 9mm full sized

[Marcus L.]

Just to add, my brother works for Austin PD and they have had a number of problems with their M&P 40s since they adopted them last year. As for broken parts, the 40 seems to be breaking trigger return springs, slide release levers, and trigger bars in less than 10k rounds. Functions problems have been phase 2 malfunctions during training.

I thought that maybe this was an exception, not the rule for the M&Ps. Now I'm starting to wonder if it is unwise to recommend S&W to anyone desiring a serious duty pistol. My brother actually broke a trigger return spring while we were at the range together a couple of weeks back and he only has about 8k rounds through his. He's been shopping for a Sig, H&K, or Glock lately.

[VooDoo6Actual]

This is going to be interesting.

[ZDL]

Interesting.

[jmart]

Just to add, my brother works for Austin PD and they have had a number of problems with their M&P 40s since they adopted them last year....Now I'm starting to wonder if it is unwise to recommend S&W to anyone desiring a serious duty pistol.

I'm starting to wonder if .40's are just hard on guns in general. Glocks have spotty record, now S&W. I'm beginning to subscribe to using either a 9mm or a .45. Those two seems to have things worked out and most mfg's have their stuff together when it comes to those two.

[NCPatrolAR]

hmmm, we arent seeing any major issues with our M&Ps. We've been running them for about 2 years now. Out of my 4 personal guns (4), 1 was having an issue with intermitent failures to fire. That was traced back to some custom work I had done to the pistol and was promptly fixed.

Wonder what the cause of the malfunctions might be.

[Iraqgunz]

Thanks for that dope. I was almost considering adding one to the arsenal.

[jhurt]

Oops... I was going to sell my 9mm Baby Eagle with plans to buy the M&P 9...may have to tell my brother the deals off...waiting for more info.

[Marcus L.]

I'm starting to wonder if .40's are just hard on guns in general. Glocks have spotty record, now S&W. I'm beginning to subscribe to using either a 9mm or a .45. Those two seems to have things worked out and most mfg's have their stuff together when it comes to those two.

Perhaps, but the incidents that LASO are experiencing are strictly with the 9mm M&Ps.

As long as the .40S&W is given the engineering it needs to remain reliable and durable, it will routinely last as long as most comparable 9mm pistols. Obviously it will be more heavy and more bulky to do this. One example is the S&W 4006. Both California and Colorado HP use them and have reported that many of their pistols are running strong in excess of 100k rounds. They still continue to use them. DHS reported that some of their Sig P229s are also in excess of 100k rounds and still running. DOI has been using P229 40s since 1993 and have also reported P229s around the 100k round count. It's all about giving the .40S&W the strength it needs, and manufacturer quality control......then of course proper maintenance and spring replacements at the proper round counts.