Here is what I learned after getting my MP10mm to shoot 220gr hardcast after a few FTF issues

1) Upgrade the weak stock magazine springs to Springer Extra Power
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2) Upgrade to the APEX failure resistant extractor (FRE), it was easy to install and the hook is relieved to promote easier feeding from the magazine during cycling
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3) If you're going to put on an optic, DO NOT use the stock plastic optic plate that comes with the pistol. The lugs are plastic and will shear off, causing your optic screws to soon shear off as well. I went with the CHPWS metal plate but there are other options
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Recoil springs dont seem to have an impact on FTF issues.

Had I known all this when I first picked up the gun it would have saved me a lot of time and money, hopefully this helps the next person. Upgrade your mag springs and extractor.

UPDATE: We now have two reports below from Joker1713 and gman556 who either upgraded or modified their extractors to also fix their FTF issues

Good summary of 16 pages.

How many trouble-free 220gr rounds have you shot now?

What about 180 and 200gr?

I got my M&P10mm and immediately did some reloads of 180gr (same round I use for M&P40) 3 different loads, and found a great load. I won't change anything.

when i bought the gun, i immediately upgraded to springer magazine springs and a 22# wolff recoil spring. broke in w maybe 300rds of 180 ball and 100rds of 220gr underwood and had maybe 3 FTFs. went to range again w 220gr and had another FTF out of 45rds.

i swapped to 20# recoil and apex fre extractor and shot 100rds 180gr ball and 80rds of 220gr underwood with no FTFs.

i think 22# recoil spring is too much spring, even for hot ammo.

Great summary.  I've got the Springer Precision magazine springs and a Wolff 22# spring and still get some malfunctions with 200 grain hardcast, and to a lesser extent the 115 xtreme defender.  Most 180 gr stuff (S&B, Underwood range ammo, etc) has been without issue.  I'm going to order the Wolff 20# spring and see if that solves the issue.  If not I'll order the Apex extractor and try that with the 20# and 22# spring to see what the critical piece is.

Are these mods/fixes needed for every S&W 10mm, or just for those shooting reloads?

I’m looking at the Tisas, Glock, and S&W right now for a 10mm.

Had an EAA before, got rid of it.

Mine has many rounds of 200 grain Underwood and Buffalo Bore through it without any modifications and without any failures.  Neither have I had any issue with the optic.
I don't shoot 220 grain so that's not an issue.

Has anyone shot both the 2.0 performance center and Glock 40?  Trying to decide between the 2

Since I've never tried the factory recoil spring, I gave it a shot this weekend.  I did 4 mags fully loaded with Underwood 200 gr hardcast: the first 2 mags with the factory recoil spring, and the second 2 mags with the Wolff 22# spring.  Mag 1 had a failure to feed on the last round, and mag 2 had the slide lock open on round 3.  Mag 4 had a failure to feed about halfway through, where the round got pinched in the slide facing straight up.  Mag 4 all 15 went without a hitch.

So, no better luck with the factory recoil spring (with the springer precision mag springs).  I'm thinking I'll order a 20# Wolff spring and try a few more mags to see if I can get several mags in a row to work without fail, but man this is getting expensive.

So I replaced my 22# with a 20# as per the OP.   I have one magazine with the upgraded spring, one stock.

Today I took out numerous types of ammo to check it out.  Previously I had some fail to feeds, even with upgrading the magazine springs and the 22lbs recoil spring.  Shot each magazine full (15) rounds, then 10 rounds.  Interestingly, during the 10-rd mag, on round 9, with both magazines, I had a failure to feed, where the round pushed the follower back down, disrupting round 10.  This was Blazer 180gr (brass)

After that, no issues with the remaining 180 rounds.

So, today:
50 rounds Blazer 180gr FMJ
50 rounds Ammo Inc, 180gr TMC

For the next 4 boxes (20 rounds per box), I started each magazine with 5 rounds of S&B 180gr FMJ, then 10 rounds of the box in question, so that each magazine was 15 rounds total.

Federal 200g Syntech
Federal 200gr "Punch"
Federal 200gr Fusion
HSM 200gr lead RNFP 'bear load'

The remaining 10 rounds of S&B I shot, for a total of 50 rounds S&B.

Total round count: 150 rounds of 180gr ball ammo
80 rounds of 200gr ammo, as above.


10/17: 60 more rounds.  No issues.
20 of Blazer 180gr (between 1031-1146 FPS 5 rounds)
20 of Grizzly 200gr FMJ-FP "bear load" (1136-118 FPS, 10 rounds)
20 of Grizzly 200gr JHP (1260-1380 FPS, 10 rounds)

I installed the 20 lb recoil spring and fired my remaining 30 Underwood 200 gr hardcast rounds last night, 2 magazines of 15.  Each mag had a nose up failure to feed on the last round of the magazine.  Typically this would leave me to believe the magazine is the culprit, but...all my magazines have the Springer Precision springs installed.  This leads me to believe it's the extractor, so it looks like I'm about to be out $60 to get the Apex failure resistant extractor.

please keep us posted!

Mine does the same thing as Joker's.

Last or 9th rd pushing in the follower nose up. Also slide not locking back, and I'm not riding the release.

Got a couple of springer mag springs coming to try out, and I'll go from there if I still have issues.

Does piss me off though that I have to dump more $ into this thing

45 2.0 I have sucks too.

Will be the last S&W's I buy.

TL:DR - It's the magazine springs and extractor...not the recoil spring.

You can see my previous posts, but my process went like this: 22 lb recoil spring -> Springer Precision magazine springs -> 20 lb recoil spring -> factory recoil spring.  After all these changes, I couldn't get through a full magazine of Underwood 200 gr hard cast without some sort of malfunction.  The closest I got was the 20 lb recoil spring with the upgraded magazine springs, where the first 14 rounds of a magazine would work, but I'd get a nose up failure to feed on the last round of the mag.

I bought and installed the Apex failure resistant extractor and tonight I ran 2 full mags of the 200 gr hard cast with the 20 lb recoil spring, and all 30 rounds went off with a single issue.  I was feeling lucky so I swapped in the factory recoil spring and fired another full mag...no issue.  I've got about 200 more 200 gr hard cast rounds I can continue to test with, but this is the first time ever that I've gotten through a full magazine of hard cast without some sort of issue.  It FINALLY looks like I have a functioning 10 mm pistol I can carry with me in the woods.

I did a reshaping and polishing on the factory extractor using the 2nd pic @ripcurlksm put up of the comparison between the Apex and the OEM.

The case rim was ridding up into the extractor groove and getting hung up sometimes and slowing down the cycling process. You could literally feel this happening if you slow cycled this pistol while watching and feeling it.

Got out a magnifier when I removed the extractor and it did look pretty rough. I basically did kind of a tuning on it like you would do a 1911 extractor. I've done tons of those so I was really confident that this was going to come out fine.

I did install extra power magazine springs before my last range trip and that didn't work out, but doing this to the extractor seemed to take care of the problem.

I put 200 rds of 180gr and 200 gr FMJ's along with some 200 gr underwood and it ran like a thief so far.

This gun would usually have issues within the first couple of mags through it. I did also install a 20# Galloway precision captured recoil spring and rod.

Hopefully I can remember to throw the factory recoil assembly in my range bag next time and get this thing in a rest, because I could swear the group's tightened up a little bit since I installed this heavier 20# spring and rod from Galloway, but who knows ,could just be me.

Could you provide more info/details on how you modified the extractor?  I've never done anything like that before, but would be curious to try it.  I've got the Apex extractor and it works, so if I can modify the stock extractor like you did, great.  If I mess it up...no big deal, I'm not using it anyways.

This also makes me wonder...it seems some folks have sent their pistol into S&W, got it back and it worked, but they couldn't really tell what was done.  Maybe S&W knows the extractor is an issue and they're doing what you did, but since this is so minor it's not apparent to someone looking over their pistol when they get it back.

Nice job guys thanks for the report, updated original post

Since upgrading extractor I have fired 95rds of 220gr underwood without FTF issues.

@Joker1713

Definitely a possibility there.

I put a pic below with some ms paint lines showing what I did to my extractor to get it as close as I could to the apex.

The edge of the OEM extractor was razor sharp and I think that's partially why it was just kind of digging in to the case rim and slowing everything down so I took some of that edge down slightly. You'll see where I drew the red line on the OEM extractor, and I also beveled it like you see on the apex extractor, circled in blue.


I used the square file from a Nicholson hobby file set.
https://www.amazon.com/Nicholson-Piece-Hobby-Carded-Length/dp/B00002N5JT

Then I took some P1500 grit wet-dry polishing sand paper wrapped around a .055 thick plastic to do the finial polishing of the grove on the extractor.

Once I was satisfied, I reinstalled the extractor and just took some cases by hand and pushed them up under the extractor and they slid in nice and smooth with no hang ups. I also did the 1911 shake test to make sure that the extractor held the case in firm against the breach face.

I think Wilson Combat has a video out somewhere on how to file and Polish a 1911 extractor which is close to how I did this one.

Attached File

Thanks gman, I’ll give that a try.

50rds 220gr underwood shot today, no FTF issues.

Due to firing that many shots I had to change my grip from 1911-style thumb over safety, to thumb under safety and I had my first instance of the magazine coming out. Not sure if I hit it with my finger during shooting but will chock it up to a fluke for now.

Since upgrading extractor I have fired 145rds of 220gr underwood without FTF issues.

I did another 60 rounds today with the Springer Precision magazine springs, Apex extractor, and factory recoil spring.  Two full mags of Underwood 200 gr hard cast, one mag of Underwood 200 gr XTP JHP, and one mag of Underwood 115 gr Xtreme defender.  I had the magazine pop loose on me on round 4 of the first mag (this has happened to me once before), so I modified my grip a little and fired the remainder of the mag and the next three.  No failures.

Since installing the Apex failure resistant extractor I'm now at 7 full mags (6 of those with the factory 17 lb recoil spring) without a feeding or extracting issue.  I'm going to do some more shooting of the 200 gr hard cast (since I've got a lot left) with the 20 lb and 22 lb recoil springs and see how that goes, but at this point I think it's just tuning for feel, not performance.

I too had an EAA 10mm & got rid of it for less than stellar accuracy. I also had to swap out the mag springs for + power ones.

I looked at the Smith 10mm, wasn't impressed. Had a Glock 20 & 29, sold both off.

Currently have a Springfield XD Elite. Mag well, optic front sight, NM bbl & six mags for $599. On sale, called a "shooters pack". By far the best striker 10mm I've owned.

FN currently makes one as well, I'd strongly look at that one if I didn't already have mine.

The whole M&P line just leaves me cold. Much like Glock, only average accuracy regardless of the model or caliber. My XD Elite is my first XD model of any type as well. I'm very, very pleased with its performance.

My current 10mm line-up is two RIA 1911s, XD Elite, STI 1911 Nitro & a Nighthawk 1911 Bobtail Commander. I likes me some 10mm's.  

I shot 45 more rounds of Underwood 200 gr hard cast, this time with the 20 lb Wolff spring, without a single malfunction except...the magazine dropped twice while shooting.  I'm now at 10 full mags of Underwood ammo without a single feeding or extracting issue using both the factory recoil spring and the Wolff 20 lb spring.  Now I just need to figure out why the mag is dropping.