I have 2 Competitors, 1 nitride & 1 tungsten slide.
Love the guns. Have small hands and use the small back strap. Excellent grip texture.
barrels: both are accurate enough out to 20 yards that if they are deficient I can’t tell during my matches. I had one ported by Floyd’s custom and would recommend it. For @$100 it’s a steal. The nitride slide has an observable looser fit to barrel but again I don’t see it in the scoring results.
Absolute worse thing about M&P barrels is the peep hole. After just a couple of stages I’m guaranteed to have V-shaped carbon pattern on my optic. If you find an M&P option without, please let me know.
magwell: I swapped the OEM magwell for 2 Floyd’s custom brass and the fit in the esp/CO box for IDPA. Adds noticeable weight And another recommend here.
guiderod: I use the Carver Custon tungsten rod with 15lbs spring, I found this the perfect setup of recoil, return to 0, and slide speed for ME. The porting on the one does make a difference.
trigger: stock was good, Apex was better, kept the Overwatch as best. I preferred OW trigger with less take up and total trigger travel. It also felt a hair wider across the front of shoe.
I’d buy both again which I guess is the best endorsement I can give.