Advice on gear for M&P 9mm for shooter new to pistols?

[masternave]

http://i.imgur.com/9gu5Y.jpg

Recently acquired a basically new M&P 9mm at our local gun show. The seller gave me a nice deal, and I've put around 200 rounds through it since I bought it a month ago (which is a lot for me, I don't get to shoot that much.)

And so now I get into the glorious world of accessories. It seems to be generally acknowledged (on this forum anyway,) that every M&P should be required to have an Apex sear kit and warren sights on it. My question is, are these things that I would want to buy now before I train in something bad, or can I hold off on spending any more, and just buy ammo?

Also, as to holsters, are there any holster makers (besides Raven) that make a M&P full size/TLR3 combo? I can't find one.

Lastly, what should I know about cleaning? I know the basic strip and clean, and the oil points, is there anything else I should know?

Thanks for all the good advice. I appreciate it.

[GermanSynergy]

OP,
Congrats on a fine purchase.

Accessories abound for the M&P, but many people erroneously believe that the more accessories that they buy, the better they will shoot. This is wrong.

Having said that, the Apex DCAEK improves the "feel" of the trigger (removing the gritty feeling) as well as a more pronounced trigger reset. If you could purchase one accessory, I'd go with this.

Holsters: Blade Tech, Raven and others all make quality rigs for the M&P.

My advice would be to attend a 2 day handgun training course with your M&P. You'll quickly find out if you desire to change the sights, etc.

[JSantoro]

Be careful with that TLR-3. The plastic side of the rail clamp will dimple and shear right off if you tighten it too much.

Ask me how I know. Guilty! :D

[masternave]

Ouch! Sorry about that. I don't think I tightened it that tightly... thanks for the warning though, and sorry about the light. What holster do you use with that gun/light combo?

[JSantoro]

Up until I broke the light, a Raven Phantom. Now, I just don't mount a light, and won't for a while until some other stuff comes together.

[VirginiaTactical]

I would recommend you purchase the apex kit 1st.

I am a huge fan of blade-tech, as we used them for the 3 years while I taught at the High Risk Personnel Course in the Marine Corps. We had 12+ classes a year and shot 17K rounds plus per course in between our 12 students for the one week course. A large percentage of those rounds are draws. Blade-tech simply held up, just make sure to follow the directions properly, and loctite the set screws once you are happy with the location of the holster on the belt adapter. Most people don't and the holster falls apart as it is designed to do.

I still use Blade-Tech, and have been using them for 5 years now. I am pretty happy with Blade-Tech.

This is just my opinion, but get a surefire ... they are just better built.

Then I would have to echo that quality training would be Third. Get trained! You will save yourself a ton of ammo, and money by NOT training yourself. I went that route when I was a wee little Lance Corporal, and made plenty of mistakes along that route. It wasn't until I was a Corporal and left the infantry that I started getting quality training. Looking back to all those years in the infantry, I realize how much we sucked if we ever went up against an equal foe. Its sure a good thing we have 500 lbs bombs, and shit hot technology.

Cleaning ... nothing crazy, I am sure what you are doing is great!

[Magsz]

Decide what you want to do with the pistol.

If you bought it as a secondary to your rifle and you plan on running it in alot of rifle courses then buy accordingly, good quality OWB holster, a good quality belt setup that will work well with your primary rifle mags etc.

If you're buying this as a self defense tool then buying good quality support gear is absolutely essential. A couple of concealable mag pouches and a GOOD quality concealable holster and then training, training and more training.

Gear doesnt make the shooter, training and dedication does.

[Alric]

And so now I get into the glorious world of accessories. It seems to be generally acknowledged (on this forum anyway,) that every M&P should be required to have an Apex sear kit and warren sights on it. My question is, are these things that I would want to buy now before I train in something bad, or can I hold off on spending any more, and just buy ammo?



I don't think the stock sear or sights will cause you to train anything wrong. I bought an M&P9 last week. I know would gain more out of quality instruction than with a new sear or any modification to it. I would venture to guess the same is true for most people.

As GermanSynergy mentioned above, the instruction will likely show you what needs to be done, if anything.