First Outing with M&P Pro .40 - Have Some Questions

[ZackJones]

On Saturday I picked up my new M&P Pro .40. Yesterday I went to the range and did some shooting with it. I'm migrating to the M&P from a S&W 625 revolver so obviously there's quite a difference in the triggers between the two. Also I'm new to the M&P's but have shot plenty of Glocks and an STI Edge in the past so I'm not totally new to semi-automatics.

Questions/Observations:

1 - I'm hitting way left so that means I'm either jerking the trigger or I need to adjust the rear sight. My inclination is that I'm jerking the trigger because I had a buddy at the range that's also an M&P owner shoot it and he wasn't having the problem I was having. Other than dry firing it alot to get used to the trigger do you have any other recommendations or things I should check to see why I'm always hitting left?

2 - I'll be shooting it in the Production division and was trying out two different loads. The first one had an average velocity of 797 FPS (143 PF) and the second had an average velocity of 840 FPS (151 PF). I didn't have any factory ammo on hand to test with. In hindsight I probably should have picked up a box. What I observed is that the spend cases weren't ejecting back towards my face and not to the right as I would expect them to. Given that I'll be shooting minor loads and not full factory loads should I plan to replace the recoil spring with a lighter one? I'm thinking because I'm not using as powerful loads as factory that the standard recoil spring is too strong for the loads I'm shooting. Is that correct? I know the factory recoil spring is captured but can it be replaced? (I haven't looked at it to see how it's assembled yet). I'm sure at some point I'll invest in an uncaptured guide rod and spring but with the Alabama sectional match coming up soon I don't have a ton of time to be tinkering with stuff.

Thanks in advance for any advice/hints/tips you can pass along to an M&P newbie.

[eric4069]

^{My M&P experience is all with 9mm but I expect you will want an aftermarket guide rod and lighter spring. For my MP Pro 9 I used a captured stainless guide rod from Speed Shooter Specialties (a forum dealer here). I personally prefer captured to uncaptured. On the 9 mm I dropped recoil spring strengh to 13 pounds but I don't know what strengh is best for 40 minor.}

^{As far as the trigger try an Apex hard sear (and more dryfire)}

^Eric

[iswope]

I would heartily agree with replacing the sear and springs with Apex. I have an M&P .40 and the gun is great in every way except for the stock trigger which is pretty awful. I replaced my trigger with the Apex FSS trigger and it's night and day now. If you want to stick with production then you probably won't want the full FSS replacement trigger as that would bump you to limited but you can keep the stock plastic trigger and replace the springs and sear with the Apex DCAEK kit which would make you good to go. Easily the most important thing to do for this gun is fix that crappy trigger.

[ttolliver]

Finger placement on the trigger is an idea, but hard to see that being an issue for an experienced shooter. Something akin to that might be caused by the grip panel you're using, since those do change how far forward your fingers reach. I recall someone posting that the the grip panel they thought felt best handling the pistol wasn't the one they shot best with.

Another aftermarket bit to consider is Dawson grip tape. They actually sell two different types, but the main one they have in all their colors has the tape contour cut to just come up to the grip panel seam. Not only does it make a really attractive application, you can continue to change panels after it's on. Most of the other brands wrap around and would be on top of the grip panel.

[saab]

First, shoot the pistol from a rest starting at 10yds, then 15, 20 and finally 25. Most people start at 25 only to realize just how hard it is to get the trigger pull and sight picture right. You have to know where your pistol is hitting. It helps give you confidence knowing that if you do your part, the pistol will do it's.

2, get the Apex parts.

3, when you dry-fire, concentrate completely on the front sight. It will tell you exactly where that bullet went.

4, EVERYBODY jerks! I have watched the best in the world jerk. (on you tube) It's just up to you to minimize it.

5, watch Robert Vogel on you tube. He is the "shit."

[ZackJones]

Thanks for the feedback! I plan to put some APEX goodies in it in time but you know how it goes I just spent $$$ on the pistol so the Apex stuff will have to wait a bit. This one actually has a decent trigger on it compared to others I've tried before. I'm planning to dry fire it all week and really concentrate on the basics: trigger pull and sight picture and then will hit the range with it this coming weekend. If I still consistently hit left I'll just adjust the sight until I hit like I should and will deal with it after the Alabama match.

[Gabe Athouse]

You can take apart the factory captured guide and replace that spring with a different flat wire spring. Vise drips and a wrench and it comes right apart.

If you're ok with the Pro model trigger, polishing the sear and striker block up to a mirror finish makes a difference and its cheap.

[Woodsk]

Before you swap out the trigger (which is a significant improvement), invest lots of time with dry fire, especially wall drills. once you can manipulate the trigger smoothly so and you can accurately shoot the gun in slow fire and at speed then look at either the CAEK or DAEK for a better trigger. No point spending the $$$ until you can run it well.

Wall Drill -

http://pistol-training.com/drills/wall-drill

As far as your loads, if you can find a load in the 140's it will be very soft shooting compared to Major 165. You should not need a new recoil spring as I believe that recoil spring is the same in the 9 and the 40.

[eric4069]

Thanks for the feedback! I plan to put some APEX goodies in it in time but you know how it goes I just spent $$$ on the pistol so the Apex stuff will have to wait a bit.

That is why I suggested just the Apex Hard Sear, it makes substantial difference by itself and costs just 42 without the other action parts.

Good luck,

Eric

[ZackJones]

I spent some time experimenting with the pistol last night. One thing I noticed is the rear notch on the sights is wider than what I'm used to on the 625 so I'm thinking I just need to spend as much time working on getting a proper sight picture with the new pistol and things should be okay. I plan on doing lots of dry firing over the next few days and hopefully I'll see some improvement when I head to the range this coming weekend.

[9146gt]

While dry firing pay attention to how much overtravel there is. Once you get used to that the jerk will probably go away. People are making internal trigger stops for the M&P.

Tom

[ZackJones]

I spent a lot of time dry firing last night and practicing reloads and for the most part it worked well. One thing I have noticed is the notch on the rear sight is much wider than I'm used to on the 625 which has resulted in me seeing two front sights . My 625 is at the gunsmith right now so I can't measure the notch on it but when I get it back I'm pretty sure I'll be replacing the rear sight with one that has a narrower notch on it.

[GlockCanMan]

Smoothing out that trigger is a great start. Just doing some work to that striker block, or replacing it with one of Apex's ones will help a lot.

[ZackJones]

I went to the range today and I can see that dry firing is helping. I still was hitting left so I gave the rear sight a few taps to the right and now I'm doing much better with it. I think grip has a lot to do with it. When I'd squeeze the crap out of the grip my shot were better then when I wasn't gripping it as tightly. I just need to remember to do that in the upcoming match. I'm shooting it in the Alabama sectional match this coming weekend. After that match I'll spend some time tweaking things before the Area 6 match next month.