This is one sweet little gun. I compared it against the glocks (something about them I just don't like), the Walther 99c, the Kahr, and the XD, and walked away with the M&P. The 99c was a great looking/feeling gun, but I've heard of triggers falling off and other such problems in reading the forums over the years. They have probably cleaned this up by now, but why risk it. I'm a hugh S&W fan, as they have always taken good care of me in the past and make an excellent product. The trigger to me seemed to be better than the XD or Glock - more natural feeling for sure with an easy travel and predictable release point. I liked that it came with two mags (one shortened for CC and one with an extender for easy practice). I also liked the easily interchangeable grips that came with the gun, allowing me to modify it for myself or my wife quickly and without hassle on the range.
I had originally leaned toward the Glock 36, but I've heard that has some reliability issues. Mainly because in my opinion .45acp is a low recoil round compared to .40SW or .357SIG and I really hate to invest in yet again another round type. However, one of my goals is to make my wife comfortable with this gun, and 9mm seems to be an almost recoil-less load that is cheap to practice with - so I went with the 9c instead of the 40c (they had both and they were the same price).
Mine has no internal trigger lock and can be fired without the magazine. I believe that a gun should be immediately ready to fire upon unholstering with no safeties of any sort involved - which is why I've usually preferred revolvers. I'm a believer that the operator is the safety, and all guns, even guns with safeties, should be treated as if they are safteyless when it comes to handling. Safeties are mechanical items that give a false sense of security.
I shot 150 rounds of WWB right after I bought it - it shot them as fast as I could load them with not FTE or FTF. My follow-up rates seems to be faster and more accurate than any of my other guns - except for my 1911. Accuracy up to 10 yards is very good, with tight and reliable groupings. 25-yards is stretching it for me, but I think I can improve over time.
The purpose of this gun is to be my primary concealed carry during winter months in Denver, Colorado. I am looking for recommendations on good personal defense ammunition, a general holster for glove-box use as is legal throughout Colorado (when I'm carrying my j-frame in the summer months), and a good IWB holster. For concealability, I have found this gun can easily dissapear doing a mexican style carry (I tested this with an empty gun), but I need a trigger guard as I would never do a Mexican carry with fear of blowing my leg (or worse) off.
For ammo I prefer prefragmented because I am often in tight spaces and don't want to risk injuring bystanders with shoot-throughs. I use Magsafe Prefragmented in my 1911 for home defense. I am not interested in stopping power with one bullet - if I wanted that I'd carry my .44 mag with me every day. This has 12 rounds for a reason - and I'm more interested in deterring/debilitating a criminal than killing them with one shot - although I understand when lethal force is necessary and will use it. I am most interested in reliable feed in the M&P 9c, accuracy and easy follow-up, and reliability. Any suggestions on this front?
For glovebox/nightstand/trunk holsters, it would be nice to have one that has room for an extra clip to be attached as well. These would not need to be belt attachable, but that is a plus.
For IWB holsters I've been looking at the CrossBreed SuperTuck - which they have indicated is available for the M&P 9c. Does anybody have any experience with this one? GunBlast did a nice article on it, but I'm not sure what other's experiences have been.
Thanks for any and all help in advance!
I had originally leaned toward the Glock 36, but I've heard that has some reliability issues. Mainly because in my opinion .45acp is a low recoil round compared to .40SW or .357SIG and I really hate to invest in yet again another round type. However, one of my goals is to make my wife comfortable with this gun, and 9mm seems to be an almost recoil-less load that is cheap to practice with - so I went with the 9c instead of the 40c (they had both and they were the same price).
Mine has no internal trigger lock and can be fired without the magazine. I believe that a gun should be immediately ready to fire upon unholstering with no safeties of any sort involved - which is why I've usually preferred revolvers. I'm a believer that the operator is the safety, and all guns, even guns with safeties, should be treated as if they are safteyless when it comes to handling. Safeties are mechanical items that give a false sense of security.
I shot 150 rounds of WWB right after I bought it - it shot them as fast as I could load them with not FTE or FTF. My follow-up rates seems to be faster and more accurate than any of my other guns - except for my 1911. Accuracy up to 10 yards is very good, with tight and reliable groupings. 25-yards is stretching it for me, but I think I can improve over time.
The purpose of this gun is to be my primary concealed carry during winter months in Denver, Colorado. I am looking for recommendations on good personal defense ammunition, a general holster for glove-box use as is legal throughout Colorado (when I'm carrying my j-frame in the summer months), and a good IWB holster. For concealability, I have found this gun can easily dissapear doing a mexican style carry (I tested this with an empty gun), but I need a trigger guard as I would never do a Mexican carry with fear of blowing my leg (or worse) off.
For ammo I prefer prefragmented because I am often in tight spaces and don't want to risk injuring bystanders with shoot-throughs. I use Magsafe Prefragmented in my 1911 for home defense. I am not interested in stopping power with one bullet - if I wanted that I'd carry my .44 mag with me every day. This has 12 rounds for a reason - and I'm more interested in deterring/debilitating a criminal than killing them with one shot - although I understand when lethal force is necessary and will use it. I am most interested in reliable feed in the M&P 9c, accuracy and easy follow-up, and reliability. Any suggestions on this front?
For glovebox/nightstand/trunk holsters, it would be nice to have one that has room for an extra clip to be attached as well. These would not need to be belt attachable, but that is a plus.
For IWB holsters I've been looking at the CrossBreed SuperTuck - which they have indicated is available for the M&P 9c. Does anybody have any experience with this one? GunBlast did a nice article on it, but I'm not sure what other's experiences have been.
Thanks for any and all help in advance!
