North Carolina Highway Patrol selects .357 M&P as their new duty sidearm

[John_Wayne777]

http://www.reuters.com/article/press...09+PRN20090908

PRINGFIELD, Mass., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Smith & Wesson Holding
Corporation (Nasdaq: SWHC), parent company of Smith & Wesson Corp., the
legendary 157-year old company in the global business of safety, security,
protection and sport, announced today that the North Carolina Highway Patrol
has chosen to equip all of its officers with Smith & Wesson Military & Police
(M&P) Series pistols and with M&P Series tactical rifles. The M&P357 pistols
and M&P15 tactical rifles will be issued respectively as the primary duty
firearms and standard issue patrol rifles.

M&P357 Polymer Pistols
The North Carolina Highway Patrol has purchased 2,000 Smith & Wesson M&P357
polymer pistols chambered in .357SIG. The new duty sidearm will replace
non-Smith & Wesson pistols that were previously issued by the department. The
M&P pistol's reliability, ambidextrous operating controls and three
interchangeable palm swell grip sizes were noted by officials within the
agency as key reasons for the selection of the new duty sidearm. The North
Carolina Highway Patrol added that the polymer pistol's accuracy, reliability
during testing and ability to disassemble the firearm without pressing the
trigger were all primary factors in their decision-making process.

Colonel Randy Glover, Commander of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol,
said, "The North Carolina State Highway Patrol is confident that the M&P357
will prove to be a reliable service weapon for our officers."

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Apparently they are going to issue M&P rifles as well.

For the life of me I can't remember what their current duty weapon is...perhaps some kind soul will refresh my memory.

[NCPatrolAR]

For the life of me I can't remember what their current duty weapon is...perhaps some kind soul will refresh my memory.

Sig P229 in .357 Sig.

[MisterWilson]

Don't hold me to it but I think I'd read that they were using Sig 226's in .357sig.

Some of the comments on this article elsewhere are...mind numbing.

[C4IGrant]

Don't hold me to it but I think I'd read that they were using Sig 226's in .357sig.

Some of the comments on this article elsewhere are...mind numbing.

Really? Like what?



C4

[MisterWilson]

Nothing worth repeating. You'd honestly be dumber for having read it.

[C4IGrant]

Nothing worth repeating. You'd honestly be dumber for having read it.

Gotcha.


C4

[C4IGrant]

Thanks for the link Mr. W.

Ya, it was stupid. The 357SIG is a good round I think. I would love to run it, but the training cost is just way too high for my taste.



C4

[Longhorn]

Don't hold me to it but I think I'd read that they were using Sig 226's in .357sig.

I never met an NC SHP Trooper who had a 226 as his official sidearm. All the DOT/CMVE guys I met while managing a scrap metal yard and dealing with shut down vehicles, or being on ride alongs going to the mills - all were carrying 229s. Met a couple who liked the 226 better...but no one I made contact with "officially" had one on his hip.

Texas DPS is using the 226 in 357S however.

Oh, and JFreuler (I apologize if I misspelled your name, Sir) on here posted some pics of his NC SHP marked M&P in the M&P pic thread too.

[MisterWilson]

Whoops, brainfart. What do you call upside down dyslexia?

[John_Wayne777]

I drank the .357 sig kool-aid by the gallon when it first came out. I was rather put out to hear the guys in the white lab coats say that it offers essentially equivalent performance to good 9mm loadings.

I was downright depressed when we did some medium shoots at Blackwater and I saw the similarities firsthand.

Speer 125 grain .357 sig load: 1350 fps

Speer 124 grain +P 9mm load: 1220 fps

Delta = 130 fps

.357 sig FMJ ammo, 50 rounds at Wal-Mart: 13.00 (Last time I saw it here)

9mm FMJ ammo, 50 rounds at Wal-Mart: 9.00

Delta = 4.00

4.00 x 20 boxes = 80 dollars per 1,000 rounds.

5 x 80 = 400 extra dollars per 5,000 rounds...and 400 bucks is tuition to a 2 day Vickers course, which, along with the extra couple of rounds in the magazine, I tend to believe would do me more good than the extra 130 fps of muzzle velocity in a real fight.

That's an awful lot of money for an extra 130 fps of muzzle velocity. Agencies, of course, can get different pricing...but if officers want to train with their duty weapon (and who wouldn't?) the choice of .357 sig narrows that option somewhat.

I'm sure that the NCHP has probably used their issued cartridge a couple of times and I'm sure that they've probably had good results from it, and I'm sure there are probably a number of logistics concerns behind sticking with the currently issued caliber...and that when you consider all factors as a whole sticking with the .357 sig makes a lot of sense.

Personally, I'm sticking to the 9mm until the guys in the white lab coats convince me that it kills bad guys deader.