M4arc's M&P9 Range Report!

[M4arc]

I have a running thread on mp-pistol.com but I thought I'd post here too just in case anyone is interested.

Make: Smith & Wesson
Model: M&P9
Caliber: 9mm
Serial #: MPH64##
Rev: N
Internal Lock: No
Mag Safety: No
Purchased: Bob's Gun Shop, Norfolk, VA
Price: $526 including tax, NICS, and one year range membership

I took my M&P out for the first time on Friday (last Friday) and to put it simply, I'm impressed! It fits my hand better than my Glocks and ran without a hitch. I ran the small back-strap but I might play around with the medium as well to see which one I like better. The controls were all easy to use and felt very natural. The gun points naturally and it took me a few magazines to get used to the trigger but overall I don't think it's too bad. I liked the stock sights and recoil felt very soft.

Here was the breakdown on the ammo I ran through it:

Independence 115gr FMJ - 50 rounds
Winchester WB 115gr FMJ - 50 rounds
American 115gr FMJ - 50 rounds
Remington 115gr JHP - 100 rounds
Winchester SXT 147gr JHP - 40 rounds

A total of 290 rounds without an issue which is what I expected. I'm heading to the range next Friday so I'll report back but so far I have a very favorable opinion of this new handgun!

[M4arc]

I was able to skip out of work a little early this afternoon and hit the range with my M&P9. I was very impressed last week when I took it out for the first time and today was much of the same. I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted at the range but I spent enough to run the following through it:

Independence 115gr FMJ - 100 rounds
Winchester WB Value Pack (Wal-Mart) 115gr FMJ - 100 rounds
American 115gr FMJ - 50 rounds

Round count for the day was 250 which brings the total round count up to 540.

Since I plan on shooting it at the next Blackwater IPSA match I wanted to spend a little time doing reloads. Right off the bat I was slower than I am with my Glocks for some reason but I did pick it up a little bit towards the end. Also mine appears to be one of those M&Ps that when you slam the magazine home the slide closes. This is fine with me because my Glocks do it as well so I'm used to it and I work it to my advantage. However, slapping the magazine home was killing my hand by the end of the session. I don't know why because it's never bothered me before, maybe I'm getting old?

One more point I want to make; coming from Glocks I've rarely used the slide release, generally using the overhand method instead. Today I practiced both with the M&P and the slide release works quite nicely and is easy to manipulate. I did use the overhand method as well, being sure to mix it up, and I really like the aggressive slide serrations.

I'm still extremely impressed with this handgun at this point and plan to shoot it a lot over the holidays. Stand by for updates to this thread

[M4arc]

Two quick items I noticed while cleaning my M&P9 this morning:

1) The front sight seems to have developed a dark spot, dead center, in the white. At first I though this was grim & gun powder but all of my attempts to clean it have failed. Upon close inspection it looks as though the paint is cracking. I'll keep my eye (no pun intended) on it.

2) The roll pins are not centered, both are shifted to the left. The rear is flush with the left side of the frame and the front is protruding out a millimeter or two. I'm not going to mess with them yet. I'll continue to monitor their position from now on.

Oh, I also installed the medium backstrap so I'll try it for the next range trip to see how I like compared to the small.

[Yojimbo]

Thanks for sharing your experience with the M&P! I;m keeping a close watch on this pistol and I may own one in the near future.

A couple of things I'd like to see are some Warren Tactical sights for the M&P and some solid pins instead of those cheap roll pins that apparently can't stay put.

[Robb Jensen]

Warren sight should be out very soon. I keep the pins from moving by totally degreasing them with BreakFree Carbon Blast and then reinstalling them. All four of my M&Ps have been taken completely apart by me. I don't know if the pins would move if I hadn't taken them apart. I'm a hell of a tinker'r so I can't stand not to F*** with stuff.

[M4arc]

Originally Posted by Yojimbo

Thanks for sharing your experience with the M&P! I;m keeping a close watch on this pistol and I may own one in the near future.

A couple of things I'd like to see are some Warren Tactical sights for the M&P and some solid pins instead of those cheap roll pins that apparently can't stay put.

I'm not saying mine are moving around. I'll keep my eye on them and keep you all informed. Mr. Burwell informed me that mine appear to be normal.

My M&P is a Rev N

[DrMark]

Thanks Marc... good report.

I look forward to updates.

[Yojimbo]

Marc,

I wasn't meaning your pins were walking, sorry if it came out that way.

What I meant to say is that walking pins along with loose front sights seem to be some of the consistent issues I always see being mentioned about the M&P. In truth these issues should be easily fixed and oveall it looks like the M&P is an excellent handgun.

[M4arc]

Originally Posted by Yojimbo

Marc,

I wasn't meaning your pins were walking, sorry if it came out that way.

What I meant to say is that walking pins along with loose front sights seem to be some of the consistent issues I always see being mentioned about the M&P. In truth these issues should be easily fixed and oveall it looks like the M&P is an excellent handgun.

Understood and I didn't mean to imply that you were implying...ah nevermind

I meant to say that I wasn't sure if mine were walking out. I just made note of it so that I will remember to check in future range visits. I did hear about the earlier problems and justed wanted to say that I'll keep my eye on it.

[trio]

I finally got to shoot mine today and I am in love....

i have struggled and struggled to find a handgun outside of a 5" 1911 that I really truly enjoyed (partially because of diversity's sake, partially because my wife is small and struggles with the big guns, but mainly because a 43 oz 1911 (fully loaded) is just too damn heavy for me to carry)

but i think this is it...the gun feels great in my hand, points naturally, and I even like the trigger...

im debating whether or not I want to try out a 9mm compact

i am definitely buying the .45

[M4arc]

Update: 12/20/06

I hit the outdoor range today and put another 350 rounds through the M&P. Here's the break down:

150 rounds WWB 115gr FMJ
100 rounds American 115gr FMJ
100 rounds of Independence 115gr FMJ

Which brings the cumulative round count up to 890.

I did experience a FTE. Basically the spent case remained in the chamber, the slide cycled and tried to feed a new round. This happened with WWB and after about 250 rounds fired. I did not experience any more failures after that one.

I did a lot of holster work today along with a lot of multiple steel targets, moving, and reloading and I'm not very happy with how I handle this handgun under a little bit of stress. The long and faint reset tripped me up for the most part and the "double reset" got me quite a few times. I'm not sure what to do about it at this point. I really didn't want to do any trigger work on it until I put a couple thousand through it but I might have to rethink that policy.

Bottom line for today is I don't shoot this as well as I do my Glocks under any kind of stress. And the drills we were doing today were mild and casual so I'm concerned that when the stress really spikes I'll be fumbling around with it. I was hoping to run this gun at BW in January but know I think I'll run my G19 instead and wait to run the M&P in February.

I might just be that I have far more experience with Glocks or it might be that trigger coming around to bite me in the a$$. I'll keep you all posted.

NOTE: The pins haven't moved but the front sight is getting worse. I'll try the paint trick after I get it cleaned up. Thanks for the tip.

[ChrisG19]

Originally Posted by M4arc

The long and faint reset tripped me up for the most part and the "double reset" got me quite a few times. I'm not sure what to do about it at this point.

Dry practice. With an unloaded M&P, practice the trigger reset slowly and deliberately to build up your muscle memory. About 3000 reps should do it.

Chris

[M4arc]

Originally Posted by ChrisG19

Dry practice. With an unloaded M&P, practice the trigger reset slowly and deliberately to build up your muscle memory. About 3000 reps should do it.

Chris

Hopefully. I still think a trigger job is in order.

A couple of other notes I forgot to add in yesterdays post: Mark5pt56 shot about half the rounds yesterday. In fact the FTE happened while he was shooting it. Most of you know his credentials so I'm convinced it wasn't shooter induced.

The other thing I noticed is how bad the mags get dinged up. I can't even imagine how many times my Glock mags hit the pavement, gravel and dirt but after years of being ejected, dropped and stepped on they aren't in as bad of shape as my new M&P mags are after just one day of drills. These M&P base plates are chipped and dinged up already. I'v read numerous reports of the base plates actually breaking so I'll continue to monitor them.

[Robb Jensen]

M4arc,
My mags are getting pretty beat up too. The bases are cheap from Brownells but I haven't had to replace any of mine yet.

A trigger job will eliminate the short stroking of the trigger you are experiencing. It shortens the reset a lot. Mine resets as short as my STI does. Which is about 1/2 the distance a Glock resets in. Send yours to Dan Burwell for some trigger work, his turn around is VERY fast. I've had a few light strikes with Win value pack too. I'm thinking of trying a Wolff XP striker spring for a Glock in it to see if it'll go away. Winchester primers are fairly hard. I haven't had any problems using American Eagle (Federal primers). I did break a striker (mines a very early gun), I replaced it with a newer redesigned one and a newer sear housing and haven't had any further trouble.

[Akoni]

You guys are killing me with all this M&P talk! If I do break down and get one (like Tuesday morning... ) what model number should I look for (no lock and no disco)? Does anyone know what the latest serial number prefixes are or latest revision and how do you tell you have the latest rev?

[M4arc]

Originally Posted by Akoni

You guys are killing me with all this M&P talk! If I do break down and get one (like Tuesday morning... ) what model number should I look for (no lock and no disco)? Does anyone know what the latest serial number prefixes are or latest revision and how do you tell you have the latest rev?

The only model numbers available at this time are:

9mm
M&P9
M&P9c (compact)

40 S&W
M&P40
M&P40c (compact)

My serial number prefix is MPH and my rev is N as far as I've seen those are the latest. Of course you'll have to ask for one without the lock and mag safety. My local shop is stocking them so I walked right in and bought one without any waiting or special orders.

[Voodoochild]

Funny how all this love for the new S&W M&P series has exploded. I know Spotsy county PD just ditched the SIG's in favor of the new M&P.

[mark5pt56]

It did feel good in my hand, the medium backstrap was on first, then M4arc switched it out for the small one. I seemed to like the small one better myself.

I did notice the faint and longer reset, although it didn't bother me nor did I have any short stroking. I was also shooting my revolver and was tuned into the DA trigger, never had an issue when shooting the Glock and it at the same time.

When the fte occured, I just cleared it out and kept shooting. The new round was right up the old ones tail, the fired case never even cleared the chamber and I have no idea where the fired case went. If so, we might have been able to tell if it was the case, extractor, chamber, etc.

M4arc, I think I had loaded that mag, I'm not sure, but I did have some NATO ball. If so and the extractor spring is weak, you might have extractor jump. We can try some 127 +P+'s to see for sure

Overall, I don't see any reason for me to buy one. I just don't see any advantages right now. Nice shooter though.


Mark

[militarymoron]

i was shopping around for an OD glock 34 in december, but decided to try out the M&P 9mm. i'm glad i did - i like it a lot - more than the two glocks i have.
i followed the dan burwell trigger job instructions and took a soldering iron to the grip. i found the small backstrap insert was most comfortable.

[M4arc]

WOW!!! That is a beautiful picture!

I'm going to talk to Dan Burwell about doing a trigger job on mine but I'll just send him my M&P and let him do it. Was it a huge improvement?