Should a gun misfire this much?

Question

I just bought a Smith and Wesson 40 M&P. I tried it out today and there were 3 misfires out of 80 rounds being fired. I m a beginner to guns so I m going to call the store where I bought the gun and contact the manufacturer. Can anybody shed some light on this or put in their two cents about what may or may not be wrong.

I had a misfire on a winchester, blazer (cheap sh*t). i bought the gun brand new. I just found out Gander Mountain has a no return policy so it looks like I ll be dealing with the manufacturer only.

Answer 1

Actually a gun should not misfire at all. Three misfires at our police range precludes the gun from being carried. (Three malfunctions of any kind, actually).

I am not familiar with the S & W M & P, but an S & W Sigma (first generation) gave me so much trouble I finally just 'got rid of it.'

Try using even more (different) ammo brands, but that doesn't sound right to me.

Good luck.

H

Answer 2

If this is a used gun there could be crud holding back the firing pin. Most rounds will fire, but sometimes the primer in the bullet will not get hit hard enough to go off. Save those bullets that don't fire and inspect the primer carefully. There should be a very distinct dent in it. About 1/10 inch deep. Compare the dent in rounds that did go off with those that didn't. Another problem could be a weak spring that throws the hammer forward. Also even a new gun could have manufacuring grease jamming parts in the chain from the hammer to the firing pin. Normally primers are made to such a high level of excellence that there will only be a misfire about one in ten thousand. But if you are using old bullets or cheap shells from overseas, there could be more troubles with primers. I once had a handgun that had a broken spot on the pivot on the hammer. The other pivot was okay, so the hammer worked, and sat in its spot and looked okay, but when it flew forward, it would twist a bit and lose some of the forward power. It misfired every third or fourth round. But the shallow primer dent showed this. I made another hammer from a piece of steel and fixed it.

Answer 3

What kind of ammo are ya using EZ? Is this a new weapon or used?

Sometimes cheap-o ammo will do that for ya. I'm talking about SOME of the stuff that they sell in 1,000 round lots. That kind of cheap ammo will also cause "stove pipeing". Thats where theres not sufficient pressure to fully cycle the weapon and that can cause failure to feed and stove pipeing.

If I were you I'd try firing a box of factory fresh rounds from Winchester or Remington or some other big company. If you still have the misfires...I'd get on the phone to the factory ASAP.
3 out of 80 is bullsh*t....and yep, Fred is right on target about the overloads.

Good luck with the new piece.

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PS... I just found an article and in the report on the .40 M&P it says..."I've shot well over 1000 rounds without a functional malfunction. There have been a couple of light hits on primers but S&W has already made a change in the striker to correct that. "

So You may have gotten one of the early ones EZ......cause thats what your weapon is doing too, right?

Here's the website:

http://www.defrev.com/article777.html

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Answer 4

When you say misfires do you mean the slide is completely forward and you pull the trigger and the firing pin goes forward and nothing happens? or do you mean that the slide does not go completely forward of fails to eject or fails to feed? if the gun is ready to go boom and doesn't (i.e. round in chamber and slide closed) then you have a problem with the gun and need to contact S&W. I have done this and it is no problem they send a box you put it in the box FEDex comes by and you get your gun back in two weeks.
If it is a fte or ftf then the gun needs to be broken in most likely. Any production gun should fire cci primers it is not your ammo.

Answer 5

Did the ammo fire when you pulled the trigger a second time?

If it fired on a second strike, the problem is probably with the gun.

Ask a friend to try the "misfires" in his gun. If they go bang, you can be pretty sure the problem is your gun. If they still misfire, you know the problem is the cheap ammo.

Doc

Answer 6

The only misfires I have ever had are with 22 lr. Mostly because I shoot cheap bulk pack ammo and sometimes the priming mix doesn't work into the rim very well.

I never had a failure in a centerfire rifle pistol or shotgun. So far I have shoot maybe 5K of 9mm, about 10K of 7.62X39, and about 2-3K of 12 gauge. smaller amounts of many other calibers too.

Answer 7

The firing pin is too weak, bad box of ammo, or the gun is a cheap piece of ****. Definitely contact the manufacturer.

Answer 8

Joey's got a piece there, check your firearm with the dealer if its an old stock prior to the recall. If everything fails order a new firing pin, a slightly longer than stock. Usually available as aftermarket products, manufactured firing pins for competition use, which are more dependable.

Answer 9

either a problem with the gun (short firing pin) or bad ammunition.

Definitely its not acceptable.

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I am not familiar with the 40 M&P..

However if it was purchased used I would suspecct its been shot using "overloads" and thus damaged. People who don't know better will do home reloads and pack "a bit extra powder for more kick"... and every shot with that is harmful to the firearm.

Answer 10

Try cleaning and oiling it, if this doesnt work I would take it back to the store for them to look at.