Barrel damage, normal happenings ?

netcom

netcom

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I recently purchased my first handgun from a seller on here. It is a M&P9. Looked to be perfectly good, looked well taken care of, seller said it had between 3.5 - 4k rounds down the barrel.

Well, I took it out to the range a few weeks ago for the first time, put 8 magazines of 8 factory rounds through it and on the last shot the slide jammed, couldn't even get it pulled back all the way. Later that night, I found that the barrel had blossomed in the center, looks like I need a new barrel.

I was wondering if this was a normal occurrence, did I get a bad barrel, or was I just not told something ?
 
netcom said:
I recently purchased my first handgun from a seller on here. It is a M&P9. Looked to be perfectly good, looked well taken care of, seller said it had between 3.5 - 4k rounds down the barrel.

Well, I took it out to the range a few weeks ago for the first time, put 8 magazines of 8 factory rounds through it and on the last shot the slide jammed, couldn't even get it pulled back all the way. Later that night, I found that the barrel had blossomed in the center, looks like I need a new barrel.

I was wondering if this was a normal occurrence, did I get a bad barrel, or was I just not told something ?
Click to expand...

This is not normal at all

You might of had a barrel obstruction
 
This normal when there is a barrel obstruction. The previous round was probably a blooper and left a bullet in the barrel, or severe lead fouling.

Don't go beating on the gun trying to make it work, you will only do more damage.
 
Did any of the shots fired sound weaker than the others?

Did you inspect the barrel prior to firing it?

Was there any sign of leading in the barrel?
 
netcom said:
I was wondering if this was a normal occurrence, did I get a bad barrel, or was I just not told something ?
Click to expand...

You shot 8 magazines with no problems until the last shot. I agree with previous replies....you probably had a bore obstruction on your second to the last shot...your last shot bulged the barrel.

I believe your seller was not remiss in any way regarding disclosure. I believe your pistol was in good shape when you got it.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune...sometimes in the excitement of shooting, we fail to hear or feel or react correctly to a squib load.

Or who knows? You might be the first unlucky chap who landed a defective, short lived M&P barrel. Not your fault or the seller's.
 
Thanks for posting OP... some lessons to be learned here:

If it goes pop instead of BANG..stop shooting and make sure there isn't a bullet stuck in the barrel.

Always check the bore before starting a shooting session or buying a gun.

Be thankful that it wasn't a hell of o lot worse.
 
Contact Wortner Gun Works in Chatham ON. S&W authorized repair center. He will be able to tell you about a replacement barrel.
Or, you could get an aftermarket upgraded barrel.
 
This happened to me last week. I was shooting up some real old factory ammo. I guess one round was a sqib. I did not notice. Next shot split the barrel open.

Solution: Learn to pay more atention and buy another barrel.

As it happens, I had a spare barrel and it shoots much better groups :)
 
Lodi said:
How so?
Click to expand...

Understand I've never encountered a squib....but I shoot factory and don't reload. OP stated the used gun was well run when he bought it and I'm assuming that the original owner did reload and MAY have bulged the barrel. I'm not saying that this potential situation was known to the seller and he didn't disclose. It's possible that the seller didn't realize that his squib damaged the gun and he was selling it because of the high mileage or maybe he was just bored with it. Perhaps the price reflected this, I don't know. I do however find it hard to believe that when shooting factory ammo the shooter didn't pick out the difference between a bang and a fhppttt (squib) recoil would be WAY different as the projectile hasn't left the barrel!!! Might not even cycle the slide!!! Therefore it doesn't pass the nose test IMHO. :wave:
 
it sounds like what happened to me, though i reloaded all my rounds with a very light charge.

it was strong enough to cycle the gun and eject the shell with little issue.

my last 2 rounds of 100 total and on the second last shot there must have not been enough force so it jammed in the barrel, but the shell ejected. so i had no reason to check anything. last shot and the slide jammed. figured it was just dirty.

last round swegged the bullet and barrel. $100 the gun works and i learned my lesson.
 
OK, I gotcha.

I've been around quite a few bulged barrels. This is a semi-auto and usually what happens is when it bulges it bulges quite a bit, it's not really something that continues to grow. The slide cannot come back because the barrel opening is too tight.

Had the previous owner experienced this problem it would have been evident the first time the slide was pulled to the rear. It the barrel was severely fouled then the current owner shoulders responsibility. If it was bum ammo then the factory needs to be contacted with the lot number of the ammo. Hopefully they will bear some of the costs.

Rapid fire, with plugs or muffs or both, can be really hard to determine in an instant a bad load. Fortunately/unfortunately most shooters will never experience a squib, let alone recognize it instantaneously.
 
Lodi said:
OK, I gotcha.

I've been around quite a few bulged barrels. This is a semi-auto and usually what happens is when it bulges it bulges quite a bit, it's not really something that continues to grow. The slide cannot come back because the barrel opening is too tight.

Had the previous owner experienced this problem it would have been evident the first time the slide was pulled to the rear. It the barrel was severely fouled then the current owner shoulders responsibility. If it was bum ammo then the factory needs to be contacted with the lot number of the ammo. Hopefully they will bear some of the costs.

Rapid fire, with plugs or muffs or both, can be really hard to determine in an instant a bad load. Fortunately/unfortunately most shooters will never experience a squib, let alone recognize it instantaneously.
Click to expand...

I'd agree - I had a squib in my M&P9 during a rapid fire string, I was fortunate enough that it was a primer only squib, case ejected but the bullet didn't get far enough down the barrel for the slide to close on the following round. I had done the IA drill before I realized what had happened. Incidently, I also had a factory round in which the bullet set back in the case on loading, the net effect was the same as an over pressure round, the extractor skipped the rim completely and I got a feed ramp failure, the primer was actually blown back from the pocket. Shooting factory ammo is not, in itself, a guarantee of freedom from problems.
 
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