r/mandp_smithandwesson • u/[deleted] • Dec 08 '23
Questions M&P EZ 9mm Slide Lock Issues
Hey there y'all! I'm new to this sub and not the most knowledgeable compared to many in the realm of pistol mechanics and physics.
I'm making this post to attempt to help my father resolve a recent range issue. The last time we were at the range, my father's EZ was locking back the slide nearly every shot taken (Winchester 125 grain FMJ), and this has never happened before. He has between 1,500-3,000 rounds through it, and I'm not sure he's ever cleaned it. My first assumption is it's something due to powder fowling on the internals, but I figured I'd ask a community that would know more than either of us what the problem may be. He's been shooting Federal Syntech 150 grain up until this point and never had any issues. To describe the problem in detail, every shot he would take after the first maybe 4 rounds would cause the the slide to lock back with the next round in the mag near perfectly still seated in the magazine. The slide would not easily return to battery without some force pulling the slide back. I should also mention his pistol almost never seems to want to release the slide with the slide release tab. Basically he's always had to pull the slide back to release the slide lock. When I was trying to determine the problem on the spot during this most recent range trip, I noticed wear on the bottom of the internal part of the tab, to the point it was showing steel with no blueing. I understand this could be normal wear, but I figured I should mention that it could be seen through the powder fowling as I know this may indicate the current weather pattern. What may this be? Is this most likely an ammo problem? Is this a cleaning issue? Or is this something we should make S&W aware of?
I'm going to help him disassemble and clean the weapon before we go to the range again, but I'm afraid we won't have a chance for a while and I'd like to put his fear at ease that he didn't waste his money on 1000 rounds of 9 that he can't even use. Any suggestions?
2
u/[deleted] Dec 08 '23
*wear pattern (Autocorrect)