Smith & Wesson M&P: Malfunction or Feature?

[mrvash]

I have a new M&P40 with a magazine disconnect safety, I love this thing. Anyways, when the slide is locked back and I insert a fresh loaded magazine the slide release automatically engages and sends the slide back home and chambers a round, is this a feature that Smith & Wesson added or a malfunction? I've read the manual and Smith & Wesson has said nothing about this.

[robnall84]

i have M&P 9mm and mine does this as well and i have been wondering the same thing.

[RollingCode3]

It is a feature NOT a malfunction. It does that too with other manufactures not just M&P. They talked about it in the Magpul video too.

[Twistedsteel]

I can get mine to do it sometimes but not very consistently. I wish I could get it every time that would be awesome.

[imtheomegaman]

RollingCode called it. I would humbly recommend still training as if it did NOT lock forward, being mentally ready to manually slap rack bang in case it doesnt auto lock forward in a shtf situation.

[Dhena81]

If it does it 95% of the time then keep doing it if it does it less than train with the slide stop or over the top.

[XDRoX]

I can get all of my semi auto's to do this. Some of them you really have to hit hard though. Newer guns do it easier. By inserting the mag with force you are really just knocking the slide off the slide stop. Has nothing to do with the type of gun, any will do it.

[cindynles]

Its physics. The act of forcfully inserting a full mag transfers enough energy to move the slide enough to overcome the friction holding the slide to the slide stop. It's just easier to do on some guns than others. My Glock 19 will do it 99% of the time, but my 5" 1911 hasn't done it once.

[G60]

It's neither. It happens. But don't train like you'd count on it happening if your life depended on it.

[The Virus]

it is a feature, it eliminates an unneeded step in the reloading process.
M&P is the best handgun I have owned!

[ruchik]

I would say it's not a feature. If it was, S&W would advertise it pretty heavily. It's a pretty big advantage that would be a great marketing tactic for S&W if it was.

That being said, whether or not the slide goes automatically forward is entirely dependent on how you insert the magazine. If you insert the mag completely vertically, with ONLY upwards force, then the slide will not drop, no matter how hard you slam it in. If you insert the mag with an angled force, i.e. upwards at a 45 degree angle (palm of your hand pushing up and forwards on front lip of mag), then the slide will drop automatically. Try it, you'll see what I mean.

[Massan]

I dont remember the article exactly but it was something along the lines of polymer frame guns have this "feature" whereas steel/metal frame ones dont. It's a little trippy if your not used to it, I'm not a fan since I've always trained to slingshot my slide back to load a new ma.

[Briancnelson]

I asked an S&W rep about this, as my Sigma does more or less the same thing sometimes.

He said it was neither a feature nor a bug, but sort of a known consequence of the way most of these polymer pistols are built. Since they are all built on very similar lines, most of them do it.

[Sgt. J Beezy]

I have a SW M&P 9mm for over 4 years and have never had this happen.

I do not insert the magazine hard nor have I tried to intentionally accomplish this task so I cannot say that mine is not capable of doing so, but in 4 years having never experienced this would have me wandering...

This will give me something to try at the range next time though, but I am well trained on hitting the slide release when doing mag changes.

[osxgp]

My H&K P2000 does that exact same thing. The H&K USP compact I owned before the P2000 did it as well. My M&P hasn't done that, nor has my Glock 19. I asked my dealer about it, but he wasn't familiar with that as a feature nor was his on site gunsmith. I agree with it being an issue with the polymer framed pistols.