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I was putting my S&W 940 (9mm revolver) into my carry rotation so took it to the range yesterday morning. I fired 20 rounds, four 5-shot moon clips of Federal HST 124 grain +P and it shot great. I cleaned and lubed it in the appropriate places.
Before loading it, as I always do with revolvers, I checked the carry up on all five chambers, then after loading it checked that there was smooth cylinder rotation since moon clips can, if mistreated, get bent and cause drag. All was well.
Put it in it’s DeSantis Nemesis pocket holster in the left front pocket, and went about my day feeling pretty good about my latest carry piece.
Yesterday evening I pulled it from the pocket and pulled the trigger just enough to introduce cylinder rotation, and NO ROTATION.
I removed the moon clip full of live rounds and tried again. The cylinder would not rotate, though the trigger pull was smooth, and I could see the bolt drop and pop back up at the appropriate times. I pulled the trigger with the cylinder open by actuating the cylinder release, and saw the hand going through it’s proper motion, but noticed the tip of the hand that is supposed to engage the cylinder star was broken off!
This means that the revolver had silently malfunctioned by itself in my pocket after successfully firing 20 rounds that morning, AND being function tested before being put in my pocket and counted on to be my possible life saver.
And there was NOTHING I could have done differently to prevent it. One of my steps when I am cleaning a revolver is to put a drop of oil on the hand tip where it emerges from the frame and and actuate the cylinder to spread the oil onto the star, then wipe off excess from the star, so I know the hand was okay when I put the pistol back into service.
Very sobering discovery.
I called S&W and they are paying shipping both ways for return for repair.
Even though the 940 is no longer made, all the other Centennial line is, so this there must be many thousands out there.
I’ve had a bunch of S&W revolvers,,models 28, 29, 25, 686, and 36, and never experienced a parts breakage.
The fact that going out the next day, if I only had that 940 on me, and needed to use it in a self defense scenarios, I would have had only one shot, is the sobering part to me.

I feel your pain. I was showing a friend my EDC at the range after I had fired some rounds. I handed him the pistol and on his first shot, the round failed to eject. Turned out the extractor tang picked that exact time to break off, rendering the pistol single shot.

Just glad it didn't happen when I really might have needed it.

Rob72 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:30 am The 940s were made when S&W was first starting to use MIM parts. Newer products do not seem to have as many issues, as the '90s guns did, but I would get a milled hand from Numrich. YMMV, and based on your capabilities.

You know, that was my first thought after the pistol was on it’s way back to S&W. I might give them a call and see if they’ll give me an honest answer about the hand possibly having been MIM, and if current hands are.

I’ve had one other MIM part fail, on a Kimber 1911, that rendering the firearm useless also.

Weldonjr2001 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:07 am I was putting my S&W 940 (9mm revolver) into my carry rotation so took it to the range yesterday morning. I fired 20 rounds, four 5-shot moon clips of Federal HST 124 grain +P and it shot great. I cleaned and lubed it in the appropriate places.
Before loading it, as I always do with revolvers, I checked the carry up on all five chambers, then after loading it checked that there was smooth cylinder rotation since moon clips can, if mistreated, get bent and cause drag. All was well.
Put it in it’s DeSantis Nemesis pocket holster in the left front pocket, and went about my day feeling pretty good about my latest carry piece.
Yesterday evening I pulled it from the pocket and pulled the trigger just enough to introduce cylinder rotation, and NO ROTATION.
I removed the moon clip full of live rounds and tried again. The cylinder would not rotate, though the trigger pull was smooth, and I could see the bolt drop and pop back up at the appropriate times. I pulled the trigger with the cylinder open by actuating the cylinder release, and saw the hand going through it’s proper motion, but noticed the tip of the hand that is supposed to engage the cylinder star was broken off!
This means that the revolver had silently malfunctioned by itself in my pocket after successfully firing 20 rounds that morning, AND being function tested before being put in my pocket and counted on to be my possible life saver.
And there was NOTHING I could have done differently to prevent it. One of my steps when I am cleaning a revolver is to put a drop of oil on the hand tip where it emerges from the frame and and actuate the cylinder to spread the oil onto the star, then wipe off excess from the star, so I know the hand was okay when I put the pistol back into service.
Very sobering discovery.
I called S&W and they are paying shipping both ways for return for repair.
Even though the 940 is no longer made, all the other Centennial line is, so this there must be many thousands out there.
I’ve had a bunch of S&W revolvers,,models 28, 29, 25, 686, and 36, and never experienced a parts breakage.
The fact that going out the next day, if I only had that 940 on me, and needed to use it in a self defense scenarios, I would have had only one shot, is the sobering part to me.

I could not get past this. That is a good way to shoot an innocent bystander. When handling a LOADED firearm, one should always keep their BOOGER PICKER off the trigger unless you plan to fire the weapon.

03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:43 pm

Weldonjr2001 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:07 am Yesterday evening I pulled it from the pocket and pulled the trigger just enough to introduce cylinder rotation, and NO ROTATION.

I could not get pass this. That is a good way to shoot an innocent bystander. When handling a LOADED firearm, one should always keep their BOOGER PICKER off the trigger unless you plan to fire the weapon.

Similar situation happened to me with a Ruger LC9s. Took it to the range, ran 3 or 4 mags worth of ammo through it just fine.. Took it home, cleaned it, etc. and put back into my holster.. Carried for 2 full weeks and then went back to the range... CLICK.. Nothing.... Returned home, called Ruger and got an RMA.... Sent it out, 2 weeks later they replaced a broken sear spring.... Sold it the next day and now my CC is the S&W Shield.... Found out later that this is a known problem with the Ruger LC9s...

Tex1961 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2020 2:24 pm Similar situation happened to me with a Ruger LC9s. Took it to the range, ran 3 or 4 mags worth of ammo through it just fine.. Took it home, cleaned it, etc. and put back into my holster.. Carried for 2 full weeks and then went back to the range... CLICK.. Nothing.... Returned home, called Ruger and got an RMA.... Sent it out, 2 weeks later they replaced a broken sear spring.... Sold it the next day and now my CC is the S&W Shield.... Found out later that this is a known problem with the Ruger LC9s...

Weird. I had an LC9 that did the exact same thing after firing maybe 10 rounds. I did the exact same as you. Got it back and sold it.

I hope they got that corrected on the LC9S’s replacement, the EC9S. I carry one a lot. An internet search did not show any EC9S sear spring problems.

We used to tell the new Chemical engineers at the refinery when a heat exchanger leaked that it was caused by iron boring beetles. Looks like an iron borer got to your revolver. BTW I agree with the poster to keep your finger off the trigger while loaded unless you are safely shooting the firearm.

Sounds like a great reason to carry a backup gun!