RON in PA
Member
Didn't really need it, but I laid my money down and came home with a new Smith M&P40. I have now put 200 rounds through it, 100 each of Federal American Eagle and Winchester White Box. All fed and fired with no problems.
The pistol itself is well put together with no obvious faults in the plastic frame or machined slide. The two 15 round magazines loaded with no problems, although using a Glock magazine loader makes it easier.
One big plus of this pistol is the inclusion of three different size grips, these are easy to change and based on my limited shooting experience with the MP40 the medium size grip is the best of the bunch for me. I noticed that with the small grip (haven't tried the large and probably won't) I was getting the bottom of my trigger finger rubbed raw. This problem has been noted by other reviewers, although they haven't related the problem to the grip size.
The gun handles the snappy recoil of the 40 calibre well due the grips, low center of recoil and perhaps, as has suggested by others, having the slide rails as a separate one-piece unit instead of the molded-in rails of Glocks.
The sights are a major improvement over Glocks. Both front and rear (Novack) are metal, housed in dovetail slots and present a three dot configuration. For me the gun shoots a tad low with a six o'clock hold and almost dead on by holding the front sight white dot on the center of the target.
One controvery about this pistol is the magazine safety, while I would prefer to be without the one in my pistol, its inclusion would not stop me from buying. There are several good reasons for having a mag. safety, mostly from a policeman's point of view. The built in gun lock was not installed in my pistol and that's fine with me. Both of these safety features seem to be optional from Smith.
I have lots of time behind a Glock trigger and the trigger on the M&P is similar although the reset on the Glock is much shorter. It's not the SA trigger of a Smith/Colt revolver or 1911, but with practice is learnable.
Takedown is different than a Glock, sort of a cross between a Ruger P series and SIG. Drop the magazine, pull back and lock the slide, reach into the magazine well from the top and push down on a lever, turn down the take-down lever, pull back on the slide and let it go forward (under control) and remove.
The proof is in the shooting, here's a scan of my first thirty shots from a Weaver stance at 7 yards.
IMHO Glock has some competition.
The pistol itself is well put together with no obvious faults in the plastic frame or machined slide. The two 15 round magazines loaded with no problems, although using a Glock magazine loader makes it easier.
One big plus of this pistol is the inclusion of three different size grips, these are easy to change and based on my limited shooting experience with the MP40 the medium size grip is the best of the bunch for me. I noticed that with the small grip (haven't tried the large and probably won't) I was getting the bottom of my trigger finger rubbed raw. This problem has been noted by other reviewers, although they haven't related the problem to the grip size.
The gun handles the snappy recoil of the 40 calibre well due the grips, low center of recoil and perhaps, as has suggested by others, having the slide rails as a separate one-piece unit instead of the molded-in rails of Glocks.
The sights are a major improvement over Glocks. Both front and rear (Novack) are metal, housed in dovetail slots and present a three dot configuration. For me the gun shoots a tad low with a six o'clock hold and almost dead on by holding the front sight white dot on the center of the target.
One controvery about this pistol is the magazine safety, while I would prefer to be without the one in my pistol, its inclusion would not stop me from buying. There are several good reasons for having a mag. safety, mostly from a policeman's point of view. The built in gun lock was not installed in my pistol and that's fine with me. Both of these safety features seem to be optional from Smith.
I have lots of time behind a Glock trigger and the trigger on the M&P is similar although the reset on the Glock is much shorter. It's not the SA trigger of a Smith/Colt revolver or 1911, but with practice is learnable.
Takedown is different than a Glock, sort of a cross between a Ruger P series and SIG. Drop the magazine, pull back and lock the slide, reach into the magazine well from the top and push down on a lever, turn down the take-down lever, pull back on the slide and let it go forward (under control) and remove.
The proof is in the shooting, here's a scan of my first thirty shots from a Weaver stance at 7 yards.
IMHO Glock has some competition.
