In December 2009, my roommate at the time became interested in buying a pistol. He had previously basically zero experience with firearms, but I took him to the range a few times, and he started to take to the idea of gun ownership.
After much discussion, he decided on the M&P, with my blessing. Partially because I read that many shooters thought it was a great pistol, and partially because I was curious in trying it myself.
It served him well, though he did not shoot it much. Total round count is probably 600-1000 rounds or so. He was definitely an ‘owner’, not a shooter.
The pistol was never carried, and basically only came out of its case when he went to the range.
He has since moved back up to his native New York state, and after researching the draconian gun laws up there (however unlikely) the was unwilling to become a felon by bringing an unregistered pistol into the state, and as such he asked me to store it in my house for him. I agreed.
4 months pass. I was cleaning out my closet, and came across the m&p in its case. I naturally decide to take it out for some dry firing/gun fondling. I am horrified by what I discover.
Current leading theory on what caused this: the foam in the M&P case. Moisture trapped in the case foam caused this crazy rust. Also, the m&p melonite is perhaps not as impressive as, for example glock’s tenifer.
I have never seen that amount of rust on a handgun except for a stainless XD a few years ago. If it’s just superficial, clean it up and run it. If it’s deep or in the internals, send it back to S&W. They should take care of it.
The blasting media used to blast early M&P’s contained carbon. During blasting, the media would embed in the metal. The melonite was added after and the carbon media would rust under the melonite. Smith and Wesson has since changed to a blasting media with a much lower carbon content that does not cause rust.
You could send the gun back to Smith for replacement or have it reblasted and coated with cerakote or something similar by and aftermarket company.
FWIW, my source on the blasting media was a Smith LE marketing rep.
yeah, some of the early ones had some problems. Rust and firing pin issues, both have been fixed. Like stated send it to S&W and they should handle it.
yep looks like I should send it back to smith for him–
I’ve seen this before.
You have one of the slides prone to rust from the bad batch shipped out in 2008/2009. We had a few at your PD and S&W replaced them. If you are unfortunate enough to have a rusty slide M&P keeping it rust-free will be worse than trying to keep a Royal Blue Colt pristine on a extra-humid Miami day.
Call S&W. They should replace it for free and give you a shipping label.
All stainless steels have carbon in them. Also melonite is a process that basically “injects” carbon and nitrogen into the molecular structure of the surface of the steel.
A friend of mine had a Springfield 1911 that rusted exactly like that. Turned out that his wife thought the foam in his pistol case looked a little dirty, so she washed it for him one day while he was gone! Springfield re-finished it for him at a minimal cost, so I’m sure Smith will do the same.
The older M&P’s did have a rust issue. With that said, you still need to take care of your firearm (any firearm). Never store your pistol in the pistol case it came in. Open cell foam attracts moisture.
Call up S&W and they will replace ALL of the rusted parts (no questions asked).
Based on what? Anybody can find a thread here and there with an occasional instance of an M&P or a Glock (http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17824915) that has rust issues. But that does not seem like a “pattern” for either one of these guns.
This is something many either don’t know, or forget.
I’d contact S&W customer service and have them address the issue. Ship the gun to them, they’ll take care of you.
When you get the gun back, keep a light coating of oil on the gun when storing it. That funky brown paper they wrap the gun in when putting it in the foam case is there for a reason.
