Thoughts on the Smith and Wesson M&P

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I'm looking to get either the S&W M&P in a .45 or .40 model. I was wondering if anyone has any experience (good or bad) with an M&P. I've looked at the other Polymer options (Glock and XD) and the M&P has my vote. So if you have one, or have shot one, please post!

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I love my gun(SW MP .40c), it fits my hands perfectly. It shoots very accurately and its got some good capacity for a .40 compact. I have had the unforuate luck to get a pistol with mag drop issues. I was just at the range tonight after replacing the magazine catch with a new one SW sent me. After 30 rounds my gun started dropping again. So it looks like i'll have to send the gun back to the factory. From all accounts this is happening to a small amount of compact owners. It doesn't seem to affect the fullsized owners.

So even with my problems i still have to go with a MP over glock or XD. I've shot an XD and completely did not like it. It is just like the glock grip, that is to say like holding onto a plastic square.

Best advice, go down to the range and rent all three guns. You might fall in love with the glock after you shoot it.

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I've not used the M&P myself, but I've sold a couple of the .40s and the people who gotten them have been very happy with them, for whatever 2nd-hand recommendations are worth. Smith has a sales push with those (and the Sigmas also) through the end of January (they extended it another month from the end of the year). They're giving a $50 rebate and 2 free magazines for new purchases, so you may want to hurry if you plan to get one.

Disclaimer: no, I'm not getting kickbacks or any other consideration for passing this information on. ;-/

-ljp

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I have an M&P 40, fits my hand flawlessly, and has been nothing but reliable and accurate, it Stove Piped once on my gf(limp wrist), but has worked flawlessly in my hands



last time i took it out i was hitting clays sitting on the ground 25 yards away



thinking of picking her up a sigma- solely because its cheaper

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i have a 40 cal M&P compact with the insight X2L laser/light combo(finally just found a holster that will hold it with the X2L on it )...and i love it...

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My two main carry pieces are a Glock 23 and a Smith & Wesson M&P 40 fullsize. Oddly, the M&P is only marginally bigger than the 23 except vertically. That's only to be expected with the increased mag capacity.

I sold off a G17 that I had for nearly 20 years (first Gen.) to get the M&P because it just plain fits my hand better and the replacable back strap has just a tiny bit more give to it than the Glock. While you do almost need an insturment to reach the internal sear release, you can also reach it with a finger if you draw the slide back a bit more. Or, you can just delete the darn thing like some others have done, along with the magazine safety.

I won't claim one has any superiority over the other, but I will opine that they seem quite equal in terms of shootability and reliability. The Glock has earned a nice reputationi after the initial horror everyone expressed over a "plastic" gun. The S&W has a bit more grace to it, in my eye.

Handle them both, get whichever one fits your hand and your budget, you should be happy.

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FWIW, I've been shopping the XD, Steyr M-A1, and M&P. I haven't been able to shoot the M&P yet, but it does seem to fit my hand better than the others. I'm looking forward to renting one at a range soon.

The M&P's grip is oval in cross-section, with swappable backstraps to adjust the size of the grip. The Glock, XD, and Steyr all have grips that are fixed and basically rectangular in cross-section. Not natural to my mind (or my hand).:X Both the Glock and the Steyr have the "wrong" grip angle, whereas the XD's is better (more 1911-like). Unlike the Glock, the Steyr's grip narrows to accomodate the thumb and web of your hand. This makes it pretty comfy, but it's still blocky. Of those three, I would say that the Steyr has the best trigger and the XD has the best ergos.

As I said, I haven't fired the M&P yet, so the jury's still out on it. One thing that initially turned me off the the M&P was the fact that you had to move the sear in order to remove the slide. I thought, "nobody else makes me do that--what's S&W's problem?" However, if that's the price I pay for a weapon that fits my hand (plus has ambi controls for my left-handed wifey), then I'll pay it.

Now my big dilemma is whether to go with a 4" or 5" barrel.....

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Frame and slide cracking...people are starting to dump them. Additionally, there have been problems with the magazine release wearing out, causing the magazine to fall out during firing (should be fixed though).

http://mp-pistol.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=8876&highlight=slide+crack

Note this post from TeddyG

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Thoughts? I think the increase in ammo prices over the past three years sucks @$$.

Off the top of my head:

Pros

• durable ... not a single parts breakage in 10,000 rounds. No parts replacements, not even pins and springs. The recoil spring was changed after the 10,000 mark was reached.
• reliable ... I had two stoppages that might have been induced by the pistol. The first was a failure to chamber on the very first round after the pistol had been in storage for almost a year, without cleaning or lubrication. The second was a light primer hit on a round of CCI Blazer; the round discharged on the second striker hit.
• resists abuse ... the gun was cleaned only three times. It was carried almost every day. It was used in competitive matches, for training & teaching.
• ergonomic ... easy to configure the pistol for almost any shooter
• practical ... light weight, high capacity, easy to shoot
• safe ... no need to pull trigger for disassembly; mine also had the mag disconnect safety installed recently

Cons

• trigger ... suitable for carry use but needs tuning for best performance
• HOT ... the gun, especially the takedown lever, gets very hot with repeated rapid fire.
• mag catch ... as many have commented, the mag catch is light enough and big enough to be pressed accidentally depending on the shooter's technique and the grip configuration. While I prefer to have the mag button on the right side of the gun (pressing with my trigger finger), I have to keep it on the left side of the gun (pressing with my thumb) to avoid the drops.
• hammerless ... if something (finger, coat tail, lanyard) gets inside the trigger guard as you holster, you won't know it until a very loud noise interrupts your day. It's the only thing I miss from the TDA guns I shot for a decade before coming to the M&P.
• disassembly ... Since I refuse to pull the trigger for disassembly (moot point now that I have a mag disconnect in my gun) the takedown method is just enough of a hassle to rate as a con.
• night sight design ... the tritium capsules are deeply inset with a "stepped" design, which allows muzzle debris to black out the white circle which can be hard to clean.

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And no, it's not that I don't like S&W or the M&P. I was researching the pistol because I was going to get one in 45 ACP.

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I have had my M&P9 for awhile now, and I love it!! I feel that it is more comfortable than a Glock, and have been OC'ing and CC'ing for awhile now. Shoots accurately, comfortably, and don't have to worry about adjusting my grip, as it fits (at least) inmy hand "just right"... Now, it's time to save for the .40...

I've been watching a few threads in here, and finally got the courage to just start typing. Lots of interesting ideas in here, and hope to hear more opinions on what I have been watching, and to share a few of my own.

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Welcome and thanks for contributing. Spread the word that we're not all whackos (just me).

-ljp

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Welcome, Waldo.

Question: Do all M&P models have the mag disconnect feature?

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I have fired the M&P 9mm and I like it. I prefer my pistol but my next one will be the M&P 9mm.

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I love my M&P15 :celebrate

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I love my M&P15

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Yeah that's the M&P I've always liked the most since they've come out. I do like the looks and ergonomic feel of their .45ACP pistol as well, although I haven't fired either. What model M&P 15 do you have?

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deepdiver wrote:

Welcome, Waldo.

Question: Do all M&P models have the mag disconnect feature?

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Magazine safety is optional on the M&P.
-ljp

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I bought an M&P 357 Fullsize when the rebate and free mags began... Brought it to the range with my XD-357 Service and did a general comparison of the 2: http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2733

The result was overwhelmingly in favor of the XD (for me), and I noted a few issues with the M&P which concerned me enough to replace it after about 500rd.

I replaced it with another XD.

I don't care for Glocks, never did, never will... I think they are functional, adequate pistols, but they aren't very refined or ergonomic. The M&P struck me to be essentially an ergonomic Glock, and it simply didn't suit me.

The issues I noted (if you don't want to read the whole review thread) were:

1. The gun will release the striker when significantly out-of-battery... My wife had a cartridge misfeed and chamber with the extractor claw behind the rim instead of over it, which prevented the slide from closing all the way. The striker still fell when the trigger was pulled (she didn't notice the gun was not in battery fully)... luckily, the firing pin struck on the edge of the primer and did not discharge it. If it had contacted more solidly, the result would have been catastrophic. I checked all of my other pistols, and they would not release their hammer/striker when the barrel was nearly unlocked, but the M&P would release it's striker even with a gap between the barrel-hood and the breech-face. :shock:

2. The fired brass from the M&P was expanded significantly, moreso than any other .357sig pistol I've ever seen... the spent casings would not even start to slide into the XD's chamber, but would fall easily into the M&P. Now, I know that all chambers are a bit different, but it was pretty obvious that the M&P's chamber was throated HUGE. No reloading those empties.

3. The pistol shot really low... I thought it was me milking the grip at first, but even from a supported hold the gun would print 3"-4" low at 15yd, and I've heard the same complaint from several other owners.

In summary, the ergonomics and build quality of the M&P are excellent... but many of the details of the gun are lacking. From the weak mag-release, to the gritty trigger and poor recoil characteristics (they chose too weak of a recoil spring), it simply didn't meetthe expectations set by other reviews, advertisements, and my other pistols. You might like the M&P, plenty of people do... especially those who prefer Glocks over XDs.

Myself, I'll keep my XDs.





Edit: I should add, I've fired the M&P 45, and 2 M&P 9mms since I got rid of my M&P .357... The M&P .45 was an excellent, balanced pistol...far better thanmine.I would have gotten one of those instead, if I was in the market for a .45 (then again, the XD-45 is a sweet shooter too).

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Legba wrote:

deepdiver wrote:

Welcome, Waldo.

Question: Do all M&P models have the mag disconnect feature?

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Magazine safety is optional on the M&P.
-ljp

Click to expand...

Thank you for the info.

I asked because the M&P sounds interesting to me, but as I won't have another pistol with a mag disconnect, if they all came with that feature there would be no point in further pursuing the matter for me.

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If you want an M&P w/o the mag safety, you would have to order it from your local shop. They CAN get it for you. Also, on the frame it is printed with something like "CAPABLE OF FIRING WITHOUT MAGAZINE". I would prefer to have it, but I can definately understand if you don't want it.

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I'd highly, highly recommend the M&P series. For a brand new pistol, it's encountering surprisingly few problems and they're a dream to hold. Other pistols have changable *back* straps but the M&P has wholely changable palmswells which are just perfect, I must say. There have been a few reports of dropping magazines, and extremely few cracked frames... Almost everyone else loves theirs. Oh, and to clarify: You can have the 45 model, at least, with a magazine safety or not or manual safety or not or both. Your choice, all the same cost from S&W.

The only reason I went with an M1911 is that parts are common as hell, including magazines, and I was planning on getting a .22 kit for it. At this point though, my Springfield M1911 is showing really damn excessive wear on the frame so I need to send it in so that they can see it's actually a defect in the hardening and not just me making crap up. It's only had 160 rounds of WWB through it. I might end up selling the replacement and going straight with an M&P 45 and a more expensive M1911 later. - Schofield