The only reason I posted this is because I see people rushing to ditch other long-proven pistols to switch to the latest-greatest. I think the M&P is a great pistol and I think Smith really did their homework on the gun. I own one. That being said, I can’t help but think that when people proclaim it as a way better gun than the 25 year old Glock, that we may be jumping the gun. A 2 year old design with a good record doesn’t equal a 25 year old design with a good record.
I remember being one of the first to jump on the HK M4 magazine bandwagon before anyone had heard of an HK M4 magazine. I had 45 of them; that didn’t work out so well… I was tempted by the PMag but the HK magazine issues have left me a bit gun-shy. If the PMag still looks good in 5 years, I may make a switch. I crack up when I here people saying that the military should start issuing PMags despite that fact that they have been around less than a year and only in the commercial market.
I remember getting bitten by a set screwed on gasblock becuase it was the latest-greatest. I think I was the first person to get John Noveske to taper pin an aftermarket gas block on after I went through Gunsite 556 with 2 guns that wouldn’t run.
There is a lot to be said for being very, very conservative with guns that you use for serious purposes. Just my .02 worth.
That was Todd Greens slide IIRC he’s like a Firefighter locked in a room with 2 bowling balls. Leave him in there for 10 min and he’ll loose one and have broken the other.
If that the only thing wrong I’d say great pistol. SW will replace the slide and I promise they won’t blame the shooter and say the problem was caused by limp wristing.
I guess %$@# happens. Thats why I have problems jumping on the newest bestest until it is proven. That is also why I read every class AAR here and on 10-8, lots of good info passed.
I had read Todd’s AAR on another site. The gun was a M&P 9mm. Slide cracked at around the 21,500 mark (give or take 150 rounds). He shot the 21,000 rounds through this gun within a couple months. He was using an after market barrel in the gun (we will never know if the after market barrel had anything to do with the cracked slide). Todd stated was using a mix of different rounds through the gun.
He didn’t notice the slide crack until after he had finished the range session.
Like David, I don’t like being the first kid on the block to have the newest piece of gear on the market. Too many times I have gone out and purchased the industry’s newest - coolest piece of gear, only to find out that it didn’t work as advertised.
Any piece of machinery (cars, planes, industrial machines, house hold items, guns, etc) all have a service life and will all eventually wear out (some makes / models, sooner than others). That being said, if you think about it a failure like this at 21,000+ rounds isn’t bad (not good, but not bad), especially when you consider that the 21.000 rounds were fired in the course of a couple months. How many here have the time to fire over 20,000 rounds in the course of a couple months?
Unless smith will replace it for him for free.