Kudos to Smith & Wesson customer service
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 5:28 pm
(sorry for the long intro to the main point) 
This past fall, after trying out a Smith & Wesson M&P at the Texas CHL Forum Day at PSC range in Friendswood, I fell in love and decided I had to have one of these guns. Being the penny pinching miser that I am, I found a good deal on a used M&P9. I then proceeded to add TFO sights, APEX trigger parts, and run the gun both as a primary IDPA gun and carry gun. But until a trip last month in Houston, I hadn't carried in typically hot, humid, Texas summer weather. That day I carried the M&P9 outdoors in 90-degree plus Houston humidity for most of the day in a Comp Tac Minotaur. Needless to say, by the end of the day the gun and holster were soaked with sweat.
But upon returning the following day to Austin area and putting the gun away that night in my safe, I noticed something odd ... RUST spots on the slide, barrel lug, and take-down lever
Now all of you old-fashioned blued steel gun guys may be laughing and saying "yeah, no kiddin' your gun rusted after you got it wet and didn't treat it with oil?" But these M&P slides, barrels etc. are supposed to be treated with a Melonite process, S&W's answer to the Glock Tenifer process. I've carried Glocks IWB for 13 years in extremely hot/humid/wet conditions and removed those guns soaking wet with sweat at the end of a long day and never once seen a speck of rust on any of them.
Needless to say I was not happy. So I did some Google Foo and found a few articles and posts in various gun forums hinting at a known defect in a few particular batches of Melonite treated M&P slides from the early production runs (2006-2007 I believe). Since my used gun came with all the factory box, literature etc., I followed the advice on one forum and used the date on the spent case pouch to get a ballpark production date for my gun - sure enough, made in 2007.
Called S&W and they told me the warranty on their guns does not transfer to a second owner (that was news to me) but that they would take a look at my gun and see if the slide was part of the bad batches. No promises, but they'd see what they could do. They even graciously offered to send me a pre-paid Fed Ex shipping label. So I removed my upgraded APEX parts and TFO sights from the gun, reinstalled the factory original parts, and shipped the gun May 21 hoping for the best (and making sure there was some rust on the parts for them to see 
)
On Tuesday, May 31, Fed Ex knocked on my door, delivering to me my original M&P frame with a BRAND NEW slide, BRAND NEW barrel, and BRAND NEW take down lever, plus new/updated firing pin assembly (plus my old dirty old-style assembly), Warren Tactical rear site + red fiber optic front sight installed, an extra red fiber optic front sight and my OEM white dot sights, and a 10-round Kalifornia/NY/Massachussetts compliant magazine (not sure I understand this one, but hey I can use it for 10-round limited IDPA shoots or trips to Kalifornia that my wife forces me to take periodically to see my in-laws
).
Just shot 110 rounds through the gun today and it runs like a top, just like before, but this time I don't think it will rust - the silde and barrel finish is new and shiny just like my M&P45.
So just thought I'd share my kudos to Smith & Wesson customer service and do a little happy dance for my now half-new M&P9.
Nice to see such great service from an established American company.
This past fall, after trying out a Smith & Wesson M&P at the Texas CHL Forum Day at PSC range in Friendswood, I fell in love and decided I had to have one of these guns. Being the penny pinching miser that I am, I found a good deal on a used M&P9. I then proceeded to add TFO sights, APEX trigger parts, and run the gun both as a primary IDPA gun and carry gun. But until a trip last month in Houston, I hadn't carried in typically hot, humid, Texas summer weather. That day I carried the M&P9 outdoors in 90-degree plus Houston humidity for most of the day in a Comp Tac Minotaur. Needless to say, by the end of the day the gun and holster were soaked with sweat.
But upon returning the following day to Austin area and putting the gun away that night in my safe, I noticed something odd ... RUST spots on the slide, barrel lug, and take-down lever
Now all of you old-fashioned blued steel gun guys may be laughing and saying "yeah, no kiddin' your gun rusted after you got it wet and didn't treat it with oil?" But these M&P slides, barrels etc. are supposed to be treated with a Melonite process, S&W's answer to the Glock Tenifer process. I've carried Glocks IWB for 13 years in extremely hot/humid/wet conditions and removed those guns soaking wet with sweat at the end of a long day and never once seen a speck of rust on any of them. Needless to say I was not happy. So I did some Google Foo and found a few articles and posts in various gun forums hinting at a known defect in a few particular batches of Melonite treated M&P slides from the early production runs (2006-2007 I believe). Since my used gun came with all the factory box, literature etc., I followed the advice on one forum and used the date on the spent case pouch to get a ballpark production date for my gun - sure enough, made in 2007.
Called S&W and they told me the warranty on their guns does not transfer to a second owner
(that was news to me) but that they would take a look at my gun and see if the slide was part of the bad batches. No promises, but they'd see what they could do. They even graciously offered to send me a pre-paid Fed Ex shipping label. So I removed my upgraded APEX parts and TFO sights from the gun, reinstalled the factory original parts, and shipped the gun May 21 hoping for the best (and making sure there was some rust on the parts for them to see )On Tuesday, May 31, Fed Ex knocked on my door, delivering to me my original M&P frame with a BRAND NEW slide, BRAND NEW barrel, and BRAND NEW take down lever, plus new/updated firing pin assembly (plus my old dirty old-style assembly), Warren Tactical rear site + red fiber optic front sight installed, an extra red fiber optic front sight and my OEM white dot sights, and a 10-round Kalifornia/NY/Massachussetts compliant magazine (not sure I understand this one, but hey I can use it for 10-round limited IDPA shoots or trips to Kalifornia that my wife forces me to take periodically to see my in-laws
). Just shot 110 rounds through the gun today and it runs like a top, just like before, but this time I don't think it will rust - the silde and barrel finish is new and shiny just like my M&P45.
So just thought I'd share my kudos to Smith & Wesson customer service and do a little happy dance for my now half-new M&P9.
Nice to see such great service from an established American company.
S&W 
