Hello Friends (BHVeteran),
In the past two weeks, we have confirmed two FM Detective handguns exhibiting identical malfunction. And yesterday a BHVeteran called us describing the exact identical malfunction – so quite probably, this one is a third in the past two weeks. The first involved an FM Detective Slide sent to our BH Service Department, the next instance was a BHVeteran whom we heard describe exactly the same malfunction about his FM Detective that we had experienced during our own live fire testing with the FM Detective sent to our Service Department. Because the manufacturer of the firearm is out of the FM Detective business, and BHSpringSolutions LLC currently being the only manufacturer of the FM Detective’s unique components and currently having on-going communication and inquiries from owners of the FM Detective, we may be the only company in any position to Alert owners if/when parts begin failing.
NOTED MALFUNCTION: SLIDE LOCKS REARWARD DURING SHOOTING, MAGAZINE IS NOT EMPTY – occurring randomly and for no apparent reason.
CAUSATIVE FACTOR WE’VE FOUND: FM Detective Recoil Spring Guide Rod NO LONGER HOLDING THE SLIDE STOP FIRMLY ENOUGH. Without a sufficiently firm hold on the Slide Stop by the Recoil Spring Guide Rod, the Slide Stop randomly moves upward because of the firearm’s recoil during shooting. Replacing the Recoil Spring Guide Rod has resulted in no additional malfunctions.
The FM Detective’s Recoil Spring Guide Rod is a 4 Piece Assembly consisting of the two “body” pieces that are fused together – inside one of the pieces is a ball bearing backed up by a spring – and it is that spring that causes the ball bearing to exert sufficient pressure on the Slide Stop when installed.
Those of you who have replaced springs in your pistol already know that all compressed springs degrade in strength over time – there is no reason to think anything other than we are seeing the springs inside the FM Detective Recoil Spring Guide Rods reach the end of their useful life – slide stops locking back slides before magazine is empty seems to be a symptom of that failure. Most OEM FM Detective Recoil Spring Guide Rods were manufactured between 25-50 years ago, so internal spring failure inside the FM Detective Recoil Spring Guide Rod seems to be indicating these springs are nearing or at the end of their useful life.
NOTE: The Spring inside the FM Detective Recoil Spring Guide Rod is not replaceable. Replacement of the Recoil Spring Guide Rod Assembly is the only corrective action.
We have advised any BHSpringSolutions personnel who utilize an FM Detective in any kind of a defensive role (concealed carry or home defense) to install a New Replacement Recoil Spring Guide Rod immediately – and we recommend the same “best practices” approach be followed by other users of the FM Detective, PRE-EMPTIVELY, before malfunction occurs.
There does not exist any testing procedure to determine if an FM Detective Recoil Spring Guide Rod Assembly needs replaced. Based on the known age of the OEM FM Detective Recoil Spring Guide Rods, we can only recommend replacement of the OEM part.
