View Full Version : Belgian Police adopt S&W M&P 9mm
variablebinary
03-23-11, 20:49
Go S&W!
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2011/03/23/belgian-police-adopt-sw-mp-9mm/
Despite having the home field advantage, FN Herstal lost out on a contract to supply the Belgian Federal Police with pistols. Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm won the competition to replace the aging FN/Browning GP-35 (Hi-Power).
Good news!
Makes me wonder if there'll be a surplus of Hi-Powers in the states :D
Wow. That's pretty impressive for S&W.
willowofwisp
03-23-11, 21:15
I thought that was interesting, I figured they would go with the long slide after having the BHP for so long.
Sweet. Grew up in Belgium. Its a wacky place. Next time I go over I'll take some SW swag with me.
D
brushy bill
03-23-11, 22:05
LE and .mil adoptions provide a degree of insight. That info should be tempered with understanding of market place dynamics. Manufacturers are frequently in a position to "sweeten the deal" to a point it is virtually impossible to say no. Glock is a proven master and S&W has learned these lessons well. For example, if state police adoption was inferred as synonymous with "best" the Glock 22 would be vastly superior to the 17 and the H&K series would hardly warrant attention. Doubt many on this forum would come to that conclusion. Not taking anything away from S&W.
variablebinary
03-24-11, 06:13
LE and .mil adoptions provide a degree of insight. That info should be tempered with understanding of market place dynamics. Manufacturers are frequently in a position to "sweeten the deal" to a point it is virtually impossible to say no. Glock is a proven master and S&W has learned these lessons well. For example, if state police adoption was inferred as synonymous with "best" the Glock 22 would be vastly superior to the 17 and the H&K series would hardly warrant attention. Doubt many on this forum would come to that conclusion. Not taking anything away from S&W.
Or maybe S&W performed best in testing. There's always that.
It's only a conspiracy theory when someone's favorite flavor of kool-aid is a none starter, otherwise it is a testament to greatness...
Or maybe S&W performed best in testing. There's always that.
I've seen tenders in EU for police pistols that had criteria of mass, color, lenghts, width, height, caliber, date of delivery and warranty conditions. And there if those criteria met (this is complete set of criteria!) price decides. Not saying this is same with Belgian tender, but sometimes it's just that.
Someone tell Randy Lee that a whole new market opened for APEX ;)
I´m just glad for them that they finally get new pistols, and a quality handgun like the M&P nonetheless!
I sometimes cringed when I looked at their holster and saw the rusty pieces of crap they had to carry. The ones with the HPs were still kinda lucky, lots of them carried very old revolvers of some strange flavor (mix between Ruger and Manurhin).
I would never have thought it possible that a west/middle euro country buys an American pistol as a standard sidearm for a large agency though, with all the euro firearms manufacturers...
Beat Trash
03-24-11, 12:52
Good for S&W.
I'm surprised though that S&W was able to beat the FN and various other European guns unit price, considering the S&W has to be imported and the FN is local!
Glad to see the Belgian's updating their pistols. From the last post, it sounds like it's been needed for a while.
LowSpeed_HighDrag
03-24-11, 14:31
Or maybe S&W performed best in testing. There's always that.
It's only a conspiracy theory when someone's favorite flavor of kool-aid is a none starter, otherwise it is a testament to greatness...
And its never a conspiracy when it comes to one's favorite flavor of kool-aid, because that's a flavor thats hard to swallow. Goes both ways...
As awesome as this is for S&W, it's gonna make getting spare mags rediculously difficult.:sad:
Good news!
Makes me wonder if there'll be a surplus of Hi-Powers in the states :D
That would be awesome if there was.
I'm surprised though that S&W was able to beat the FN and various other European guns unit price, considering the S&W has to be imported and the FN is local!
Mil/LE pricing is quite different, but here civi prices are:
M&P 9mm - 2,980PLN
Glock 17 G4 - 2,621PLN
Walther P99 AS - 3,900PLN
HK P30S V3 - 3,600PLN
So this is not very hard to make competitive price for M&P.
Just for reference 1USD=2.9PLN
I dunno about the politics of the deal but congrats to S&W!! Made my day.
Beat Trash
03-25-11, 11:18
Mil/LE pricing is quite different, but here civi prices are:
M&P 9mm - 2,980PLN $ 1,027.58
Glock 17 G4 - 2,621PLN $ 903.79
Walther P99 AS - 3,900PLN $ 1,344.83
HK P30S V3 - 3,600PLN $ 1,241.38
So this is not very hard to make competitive price for M&P.
Just for reference 1USD=2.9PLN
Bear with me, I work nights and the coffee is still kicking in. But if I'm working my calculator correctly, the USD prices are in red.
Seeing this kind of takes the pain out of what we are paying for the same guns in the US.
Seeing this kind of takes the pain out of what we are paying for the same guns in the US.
When I read about prices in US or jus browse Brownells webstore all I can do is: :cray::cray::cray::cray::cray::cray::cray::cray:
I just checked price of Geissele SD-3G trigger in Midway Germany: $530.......
congrats to smith and wesson.. guess the belgian police hate the FNP's as much as i do :o
Good news for Smith. IMO it's a viable choice. I like them a lot.
LE and .mil adoptions provide a degree of insight. That info should be tempered with understanding of market place dynamics. Manufacturers are frequently in a position to "sweeten the deal" to a point it is virtually impossible to say no. Glock is a proven master and S&W has learned these lessons well. For example, if state police adoption was inferred as synonymous with "best" the Glock 22 would be vastly superior to the 17 and the H&K series would hardly warrant attention. Doubt many on this forum would come to that conclusion. Not taking anything away from S&W.
Not taking anything away from S&W, but yet you felt the need to post all that anyway. LOL
Simple fact is S&W got a feather for it's cap with this contract.
Beat Trash
03-28-11, 12:45
Smith & Wesson has been getting a few international feathers in it's cap lately. I find that impressive.
That it can win out over FN, in the very country that FN is located in is very impressive.
Smith & Wesson has been getting a few international feathers in it's cap lately. I find that impressive.
That it can win out over FN, in the very country that FN is located in is very impressive.
We live in global market. Nothing strange in that. But US manufacturers are mostly excluded from international market by US Govt (ITAR). If not this biggest players like HK, FN, SIG, B&T etc. would have really hard time and S&W would probably be more successful in lot of countries with M&P.
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