S&W M&P

[rubberneck]

I live in the People Republic of Massachusetts so we can't buy the M&P yet. Our version will have a 10lb. trigger pull which helps with accuracy. HAHA So today I went to New Hampshire to see an M&P. This gun really seems to be all it is cracked up to be. The sights seemed pretty good, the grip angle was perfect, it felt well balanced, and the trigger wasn't too bad. It feels a little weird at first but I think it would be easy to get use to. One will def. be in my future if it ever becomes legal for sale in this horrible state.

Pete

What a shame. You can't even buy a gun made by a company in your home state. IIRC you guys can't own Kahr's and their production facility is in Mass.

[PistolPete]

We'll eventually be able to buy it but it will have a 10lb. trigger on it. We have such dumb rules in this state. We can't even buy new Glocks or anything.

[Zerwas]

Wholly cow, I guess I'd check out property in an adjoining state...

[PistolPete]

We can buy SVI's in .45 but we can't buy any STI's. Go figure!!! We can however buy bare frames if you can find an FFL that will do the transfer and 95% of them won't. I'll def. buy one of these M&P's when they are legal for sale.

Oh yeah, and we have the assault weapons ban here so our guns will only come with 10 round mags...

[eric nielsen]

jripper

Thanks for a very good report on the M&P. Hope the slide release gets better & maybe S&W will tweak on that part some.

The one flyer round you're getting in your groups is pretty common from hand-cycling autopistols - I've found, of my guns that do that, the 1-round flyer will come back about 1/2 the distance if I drop hit the slide release to chamber the first round. As in, a 3" group would shrink to a 1.5" group with the other rounds inside .5" - something like that.

One gun that wouldn't help, others had no flyer at all but most did what's described above.

[Scooter]

We can't buy one in California...YET. I contacted S&W and they are in the process of getting it approved, but that takes months. Of course we also get stuck with the mag safety because some dumass politician said that would make the gun safer.

[rubberneck]

We'll eventually be able to buy it but it will have a 10lb. trigger on it. We have such dumb rules in this state. We can't even buy new Glocks or anything.

At the risk of sounding niave but does Ma. actually stipulate a 10lb on every gun sold in the state or is that just hyperbole? If that is the case that is mind blowing.

[chp5]

Are there any aftermarket sights that fit the M&P?

[steven t]

Heinie's website shows the 3d (3 Dot) sights as coming out for the M&P. I eyeballed a Smith & Wesson 1911 at the gunstore the other day, the sights looked to be the same as the M&P's but I haven't been able to confirm that yet.

Steve.

[Rikarin]

Hum Hum Hum!

So, when you guys expect

1) holster, good sights for competition

2) Approved for production in USPSA

will be? I frakkin lost my holster in Tucson and either have to buy new holster for .40 which I don't want to shoot anymore or buy XD9+accessaries or wait for MP.

My local area S&W rep told me about 30-45 days, give or take...like you, I'm waiting for the 9mm but the .40 was a pretty good shooter. Nice Production or IDPA alternative to the Grocks or XD's.

[jripper]

Update,

I've played with the trigger a little. The striker is removed basically the same way as the Glock striker, push down on the white/gray plastic sleeve with a punch, and slide the back plate off. I polished my striker surface. The main spring on the striker is the same size a on the glock, but shorter. I shortened a Wollf reduced power Glock striker spring, and with polished striiker, around 4 lbs. I think I can get it better yet, if I can figure out how to get the sear apart (more importantly, back together!! )

Anyway, with the reduced power spring, it detonated Remington, CCI, Winchester and Federal primers just fine. It did have several misfires with the stupid Winchester Win Clean lead free ammo. If I didn't get that ammo free, I wouldn't own it.

This gun is accurate!!!

Out back at the old homestead, off hand at about 65 yards I shot 10 rounds of Winclean 180. I hit two pepper poppers, put 6 out of 7 on a swinging US popper, and hit an 8" plate.

No sight adjustment. And, a pretty mediocre shooter to boot!!

I have had the following malfunctions in the first 400 + rounds: 1 misfire with Winclean ammo before changing spring, two failures to feed (round did not go up feeding ram) with Winchester ammo, and one failure to extract.

The slide lock is getting a little easier to use, and I think it can be modified to make it release the slide easier, altough it does not matter as I override the thing with my big monkey thumbs, just like I do on the Glocks, and did on the XD.

Oh well, better count rounds.

I'll keep posting what I'm finding out about this gun, as time goes by.

[reneet]

I got to shoot one @ the Lady Smith Match this past Saturday. The trigger is MOST Definitely NOT Sigma like! It was awesome. I want one assuming it will be Production legal.

[jripper]

I modified an old uncle mikes kydex holster for a Glock 17 last night, which seems to work OK. A little work with a heat gun, and a dremel, and I have a cheap, workable holster.

I also modified a Blade Tech Glock 20/21 holster to work...by accident.

I didn't really mean to modify that holster, but, I grabbed it by mistake, and put the heat gun to it. I'm not sure how I mistakenly thought a blade tech was a uncle mikes

It does seem to work OK also. But, one really should not modify things late at night after a very tiring day.

Bought some more factory Winchester white box at Wally World at Lunch today, and my father in law picked up some Wolf. Be curious to see if it works with the Wolf.

I haven't reloaded for this gun yet, as all the press is set up for 1.195" .40's, and I don't even have time to load those right now.

By the way, it did chamber one of my 1.195" .40s, and fired it fine. I fed it as the first round from the mag. They come pretty close to fitting in the mag. I may have to play with the seating depth, and see what I can fit in the mag.

I did pull a 2.25 second bill drill, down 1 pt, with my crappy Safariland fit all holster and the stock striker spring.

So far, it tracks pretty decent for a polymer .40. altough, I go back to my .40 1911's and get very spoiled

I'll keep posting my results. I may also make this my new household vermin gun. I missed the first elusive ground squirrel of the season with it, but it wasn't the gun's fault.

[RIIID]

I looked at the Production legal gun list and lo and behold the M&P 9, 357, and 40 are legal. When were the 9's and 357's released?

Rich

[EricW]

Just heard yesterday that the 9mm's should be released within a week or so.

Guess I'll kiss some more money bye bye...

[chp5]

I looked at the Production legal gun list and lo and behold the M&P 9, 357, and 40 are legal. When were the 9's and 357's released?

Rich

Rich - did you ever get your light strike issue resolved?

[RIIID]

Cy,

Haven't had the time to get to it, maybe when I do a trigger job on it.

Rich

[jripper]

Update: I fired a box of Wolf steel case ammo through the M&P yesterday, and it ran fine. I do have the Wolff/Glock striker spring back in the gun, and I did get a couple of misfires with Winchester white box, (which the other box worked fine, go figure). Last 250 rounds, no feeding or extraction failures. I still haven't cleaned it, just lubed the slide rails and barrel. It appears that the gun may be breaking in, and the function problems are taking care of themselves.

I tried the large grip panel yesterday, and I think I like it the best. It comes up higher on the back strap than the other two, and changes the grip angle slightly. It is also considerably wider, and fills my hand better, but I do have those monkey fingers...

I am really liking this gun. I need to switch my press over and try out some minor loads.

I'll keep posting my progress as time goes on.

[AZGunut]

JR- I sent you a PM with a couple of striker spring questions, hope you don't mind :-)

[jripper]

Update:

Between myself, and my friend Aaron Thomas, we have put around 300 rounds of 180 minor loads through the gun, with zero problems so far (that I can blame on the gun (stock striker spring back in). Loads were 3.3 grains tightgroup, 180 Lead flat point, and fed small rifle primers, or same with 3.0 g clays. All rounds extracted/ejected with stock springs, and felt real mild.

I do have to clarifiy that the first 100 rounds of minor were loaded on my 550 with my old set of dies I usually use for 10mm. I loaded the ammo, dumped it in a dillon Border Shift bag, and went off to the range.

I then was having problems with the round not going into battery, and being difficult to get out.

I found that my dies had lead build up, and I was getting lead and lube on the cases, from the dies. This was binding in the chamber. This chamber appears to be tighter than a Glock's, as I don't think my Glocks would have bound up on this ammo. The ammo was very dirty, mind you, and shouldn't have gotten out like that, but the Glocks have a pretty big chamber. This is both good and bad.

I do think it is contributing to the gun's accuracy.

About another 250 plus rounds of factory ammo, also, with one failure to extract with more Winchester Winclean. I think both failures to extract were with this ammo, so I am not too concerned. No other malfunctions. I did clean the gun finally after the first 100 minor loads.

We also shot this gun at 100 yards off hand on a US popper, and a upper 1/3 IPSC target. We were hitting about 75 percent of the time. This gun can shoot!!!!

I carried the gun around the house while mowing, working in the yard, etc., and just blew off all the dirt from the outside, and then shot it, with no problems.

It has also drawn it's first blood... Ground Squirrel #1, 25 yards off the mower, 2nd shot.

.40 Win. factory ammo is adequate for ground squirrels.

One temporary ( I hope) problem I have run into is that I can not find any more mags for this gun.

Anyone know where I might get any???

Overall, still liking this gun a lot.

I'll keep updating with any knew info.

[EricW]

Update: One temporary ( I hope) problem I have run into is that I can not find any more mags for this gun.

Anyone know where I might get any???

jripper,

Let me do some checking. This was something that I discussed with S&W a few weeks ago. I told them point blank if they wanted the pistol to gain a foothold in competition to make sure there were enough mags, since everyone needs 5 or 6 mags just to step to the line. I typically want 7 to 10 mags for every competition pistol I run. I was told that smith had *plenty* of mags, so this could just be a distribution problem, which is still unfortunate.

E

[Bruce]

So to those who have shot both----if you HAD to buy ( ) either the M&P or the XD and shoot "as is", which would you buy?

[Middle Man]

Update: One temporary ( I hope) problem I have run into is that I can not find any more mags for this gun.

Anyone know where I might get any???

I was told that smith had *plenty* of mags, so this could just be a distribution problem, which is still unfortunate.

E

Take that with a grain of salt..."plenty" in the language of any firearms manufacturer is a flexible term. Biggest problem with magazines is there is little to no domestic manufacturing capacity or capability.

[jripper]

So to those who have shot both----if you HAD to buy ( ) either the M&P or the XD and shoot "as is", which would you buy?

Bruce, I owned a 5" XD 9mm, and straight out of the box, no comparison, the M&P hand down. Same goes for the Glocks (out of the box). However, my tuned, tricked out 34 is probably still easier to shoot than my stock M&P. However, get a trigger job and fiber optic on the M&P and I think it'll be the ticket.

Out of the 3 guns, this is the first one I would consider taking out of the box and going to shoot a USPSA match with.

In fact, if I can find some mags, I might just do that.

Joel

Update: One temporary ( I hope) problem I have run into is that I can not find any more mags for this gun.

Anyone know where I might get any???

I was told that smith had *plenty* of mags, so this could just be a distribution problem, which is still unfortunate.

E

Take that with a grain of salt..."plenty" in the language of any firearms manufacturer is a flexible term. Biggest problem with magazines is there is little to no domestic manufacturing capacity or capability.

Midway did have some magazines, but ran out just the same day I was getting ready to order some, have them on back order.

I checked with Gil Hebard Guns, and they have not gotten theirs yet. Same with local police supply, and the internet searches so far are a dead end.

Like I said, hopefully this is a temporary problem, because the lack of mags could otherwise kill this very interesting pistol.

Also, still trying to figure out how to get the whole thing apart. I guess the punches and hammer are coming out this weekend...

[Exiledviking]

I have yet to see one of these here in California.

From what I have heard, I may have to give up

my 9mm Glock for this gun...

I am thinking this gun may be the CHP's next gun.

The 4006's they carry have been in service since

1990(?).

Edited April 25, 2006 by Exiledviking