# M&P 380 EZ Ejection



## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

My wife bought an M&P 380 EZ earlier this week. We got it out to the range for the first time today. Wife had cleaned and lubed the gun before our range time. She could not get the gun to eject. She had to eject the gun manually every time. I shot it once and it ejected, so I thought it might be her. Then I asked about lubricating the gun, and she said she did so sparingly. We quit shooting her gun, and she shot my Sig P238 with no problems. 

Once home, we took the EZ apart, ran a bores snake through it, and added a drop of Lucas Oil to each of the five places the manual instructs.

She shot two more magazines and was unsuccessful at getting the gun to eject. I shot a magazine and was unable to get the gun to eject.

Any suggestions on what we do next?


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

You mean the slide will not cycle completely and eject the spent case and reload the next? I had a problem once with a SCCY 9mm that I bought. Couldn’t figure why but the spent case would not fully extract from the chamber and the slide would cycle but the extractor would rip off the rim of the spent case. I had another one at the time and changed barrels between them. Turned out the chamber on the bad one must have been milled slightly out of spec and when the round fired the case would expand and wedge itself in the chamber half way out. You might return the gun to where you bought it or take it to a gunsmith to see what they can figure out.


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

Yes, that’s exactly right. The gun doesn’t cycle completely.

I’ve contacted S&W. A manufacturing problem is what I suspect. I can’t find any evidence of this being a common problem for this gun. 

Having said that, I was hoping there was some simple solution, like a spring put in backwards. The EZ is so darn foolproof, though, I couldn’t see how a spring could be reversed. There’s just no way to disassemble or reassemble the gun incorrectly.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Your first experience suggested to me that your wife may have been limp-wristing, but your subsequent test seems to have eliminated it.
I suggest that you—or she—shoot a couple more magazines-worth through it, holding on tightly, to see if the problem persists.
If it does, the problem is probably the gun...or the ammunition.

Are you shooting factory-loaded cartridges, made by a known-reliable factory?
Or are you shooting somebody's reloads, bought cheaply at a gun store?
That could be the problem.


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## denner12 (Oct 14, 2017)

What brand and weight ammo are you using? If it were me I'd use Hoppes to fully clean the pistol. Most pistol manufacturers use packing oil that needs to be fully removed from the pistol. Then use Rem-oil liberally on the rails, inside the slide, barrel hood, etc...... I'd pick up some WWB 95 grain ammo and try again. Make sure the pistol is not being limp wristed nor any inference with your hand on the slide release while firing.


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

We were shooting Browning and Blazer through both guns. I thought she was limp wristing at first, which is why I shot her gun and had her shoot my gun.

She had thoroughly cleaned the gun with CLP before shooting at the range. We cleaned the gun together and added Lucas Oil to the rails before shooting it again, with the same results.


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

B TW, I had shot a rental a few weeks earlier with no problems.


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

From what you’re saying I think it’s either a defect in the chamber or a improper recoil spring installed at the factory, but I suspect a manufacturing defect in the chamber milling. The SCCY I had that did that shot about a dozen rounds fine the first time, then started miscycling, so tell them what is happening. Shooting one or two rounds might not be enough for them to find the problem. . New gun, I would send it back and let them fix it.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Is the extractor pulling the spent shell out of the chamber. 
Also, is another round being brought forward from the magazine?


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

pic said:


> Is the extractor pulling the spent shell out of the chamber.
> Also, is another round being brought forward from the magazine?


Not really. Most of the time the gun cycles, but not all the way. We have to pull the slide back to eject the shell manually. It did eject the shell completely 3 out of 58 rounds. Once with me, twice with wife. Wife also had one stove-pipe.

As far as the other 54 rounds, the empty shell was back in the chamber when we manually ejected them.

I never had to clear a jam for her.


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

One last thought, have you looked at the claw on the end of the extractor? If it’s chipped or broken off that would allow the empty case to remain in the chamber when the slide retracts but if you’re saying the slide is stopping half way back and the empty case is half way out of the chamber, the extractor claw is probably ok. If the empty case is still attached to the breech face then the extractor claw is probably ok.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Sounds like an extractor issue, 
The ez slide does have a fast blowback because of the lighter recoil spring .

The extractor IMO could be out of uniform, bent, tension to loose, chipped claw.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Wandering Man said:


> ...Most of the time the gun cycles, but not all the way...


That makes it seem as if the recoil spring is too strong, the cartridges are too weak, or something is causing a whole lot of friction somewhere.

You're not using low-velocity-for-suppressors cartridges, are you?
I bet you're not feeling extra friction or impedance, when you run the slide manually. Right?
So I bet that it's the recoil spring.

But, what do I know?


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

Well, I’ve learned that there is a big advantage to buying from an independent store and developing a relationship.

I thought about calling yesterday, but didn’t. So I called this afternoon and explained the problem with my wife’s gun.

There was no hesitation, no second guessing, no suggestions, just “she’s got to have a gun. I’ll order her another one today and it should be here Wednesday.”

I was expecting him to send it back to S&W. Nope. Just an exchange!

Don’s Firearms in Victoria, Texas! Relationship is everything.


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

Good reason to buy from local folks.


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## CentexShooter (Dec 30, 2007)

This model has had extraction and feed problems for over two years now. I keep waiting to hear they have been remedied so I can purchase one each for the wife and I. No such luck. It sounded perfect from the get-go. I suspect it will fade away soon. I find it hard to believe gunmakers of their ilk can't locate and fix the issues.


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

Don's sent us back out with another (free) box of ammo, Winchester's. It began to run much better. After about 200 rounds, there were no failures with either Browning (the first ammo) or Winchester. It still hiccups some if we try to shoot rounds that I've made. The gun now has 470+ rounds through it.

I plan to hand her a box of expensive self defense loads after we hit 500 to see how well it does.

For what it's worth, she loves everything about the gun, now that it consistently shoots. We are older, she has had two rotator cuff surgeries and has back problems. What she likes about the gun is that she can do everything without assistance from me. She learned about the second torn rotator cuff when she was unable to rack her Walther PPQ.

Even though she still has a bit of recovery to do, she can rack the EZ, load the magazines, do the take down, clean the gun, and reassemble it.

Oh yeah, she can shoot it, and she shoots well with it.

She's a good shot, by the way, and so she appreciates when a gun shoots where she aims.

She hit this at 7 yards with her Ruger Valero, .38 special. The card was held by a clothes pin, edge facing her:


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