What part of the H&K build quality would you say is better than the S&W? I'm a big H&K fan because the newer guns (P30, P2k, HK45c, and HK45) fit me better than anything else on the market today, but I'm not a kool-aid drinker that thinks the high price tag = better quality. Both have steel guide rods, solid small parts, large extractors, good machining with no tool marks, similar finish (although I think the small parts finish on the H&K's is terrible as they lose the finish after minor handling), polished feed ramps, mags that eject forcefully from the gun, and steel sights from the factory. How else would you rate build quality?

One of the areas that the H&K's excel in is very good mechanical accuracy. I found the M&P to be at least close to equal in this regard in the limited testing of hitting 3" plates at 25 yards.

Again, I'm still up in the air on whether or not i'd buy this one off my father, because it is hard replacing a gun that I've gotten pretty good with and have proven out to be reliable over a lot of shooting, but the light rail issue has really gotten on my nerves recently with the only solutions being a duct taped 1913 adapter put in the wrong slot on a TLR-1 or an insight X2 that doesn't have the lumen output or battery life of a full size light.