tahunua001
Member
ok, I'm throwing on my flame suit for this one. a little while ago I had the chance to pick up a S&W M&P 9mm for a steal. it was the manual safety model and somebody screwed up and put the wrong price tag on it and the store was obliged to honor the price tag. I've had it out a few times and have now come to make the decision to sell it. the gun is much better than earlier production models but simply put, it's the lowest value handgun in my collection and I really see no practical use for it. I have had the chance to shoot it side by side with a Ruger SR9 compact, LC9s, and 9E, a Springfield XD-s 9mm, and a Canik TP9SF. here are my opinions on it.
1. the fit is horrible, the slop in the slide, especially when dissassembling and reassembling is the worst of any handgun I have ever owned. with every other handgun I own, once the slide has mated with the front guides on the frame, the slide will move all the way to the rear in perfect alignment. the M&P is so loose that the ejector will strike the rear of the slide on the way back and then again once lining up with, and clearing the ejector it is still possible to miss the rear slide rails... this is completely unsat for a duty piece. I've owned mosin nagants that were more refined.
2. the trigger is heavy, even when compared to single stacks like the XD-s and LC9S. it's not the heaviest I've ever had, but for a service pistol I would like a lighter trigger, especially in a gun that has a manual safety. the early models had no tactile reset point and never seemed to break in the same place twice. in that regard they have gotten much better as the gun has a uniform break point and a tactile reset, however even with these improvements, the Ruger SR series and Canik both have a far superior trigger in my opinion.
3. the manual safety lever is plastic, and is mated to metal internals so I would likely not use it as a truck gun for fear of damaging it. this is kind of regrettable because I do like the size, shape and location of the safety. the safety is the entire reason I bought it because I figured that it would make a good training pistol, however it wasn't until I had it taken apart to clean it before I found this out.
4. of all of the handguns listed, the M&P is the least accurate. this was tested by multiple shooters with multiple types of ammo. the M&P just is not accurate.
5. the palm swell is the easiest I've ever had to change out, I wish all manufacturers would adopt this style of replacement/retention, although much like the safety, it is part metal and part plastic, I would prefer one piece of one or the other. I also do not like the fact that the palm swell is rubber. this is not so bad in guns like the SR series because it is such a small part of the grip, but in the S&W it covers nearly a third of the gun and most of the gripping surface, it seems like rubber would be very easy to damage and wear through, especially for a duty piece or a truck gun.
6. the sights are not the clearest. I've had worse, but I've also had better.
7. it is plenty reliable, no failures to date.
all in all it is a functional duty pistol. it'll do the job, but that's about it. I will never buy another unless there are some serious changes to quality control, tolerances, and design of smaller misc components. my opinion on them is not as negative as it used to be, but when comparing other equivalently priced handguns, I would not choose, or recommend the M&P over just about any of them. I picked this handgun up for $350 plus tax. other guns I picked up for equivalent pricing include the Canik TP9 and TP9SF, Arcus 98, and Ruger 9e(the 9E was quite a bit less). other guns I've owned that regularly sell for the same price range include the Ruger SR9 compact, Springfield XD-s, and Springfield XD. I would put the M&P near the bottom, just above the arcus and the first generation canik.
this is not just a rant about the M&P. I've never been thrilled by the quality of S&W revolvers, nor have I ever noticed any difference in quality between S&W AR15s and other equivalently priced AR15s from other manufacturers, despite all the rave reviews. I usually malign Glock and H&K as horrifically overhyped, brands who rest on their laurels and have used it as an excuse to swamp the market with overpriced, and mediocre products, but it seems as if S&W will be joining this category as well in my book.
1. the fit is horrible, the slop in the slide, especially when dissassembling and reassembling is the worst of any handgun I have ever owned. with every other handgun I own, once the slide has mated with the front guides on the frame, the slide will move all the way to the rear in perfect alignment. the M&P is so loose that the ejector will strike the rear of the slide on the way back and then again once lining up with, and clearing the ejector it is still possible to miss the rear slide rails... this is completely unsat for a duty piece. I've owned mosin nagants that were more refined.
2. the trigger is heavy, even when compared to single stacks like the XD-s and LC9S. it's not the heaviest I've ever had, but for a service pistol I would like a lighter trigger, especially in a gun that has a manual safety. the early models had no tactile reset point and never seemed to break in the same place twice. in that regard they have gotten much better as the gun has a uniform break point and a tactile reset, however even with these improvements, the Ruger SR series and Canik both have a far superior trigger in my opinion.
3. the manual safety lever is plastic, and is mated to metal internals so I would likely not use it as a truck gun for fear of damaging it. this is kind of regrettable because I do like the size, shape and location of the safety. the safety is the entire reason I bought it because I figured that it would make a good training pistol, however it wasn't until I had it taken apart to clean it before I found this out.
4. of all of the handguns listed, the M&P is the least accurate. this was tested by multiple shooters with multiple types of ammo. the M&P just is not accurate.
5. the palm swell is the easiest I've ever had to change out, I wish all manufacturers would adopt this style of replacement/retention, although much like the safety, it is part metal and part plastic, I would prefer one piece of one or the other. I also do not like the fact that the palm swell is rubber. this is not so bad in guns like the SR series because it is such a small part of the grip, but in the S&W it covers nearly a third of the gun and most of the gripping surface, it seems like rubber would be very easy to damage and wear through, especially for a duty piece or a truck gun.
6. the sights are not the clearest. I've had worse, but I've also had better.
7. it is plenty reliable, no failures to date.
all in all it is a functional duty pistol. it'll do the job, but that's about it. I will never buy another unless there are some serious changes to quality control, tolerances, and design of smaller misc components. my opinion on them is not as negative as it used to be, but when comparing other equivalently priced handguns, I would not choose, or recommend the M&P over just about any of them. I picked this handgun up for $350 plus tax. other guns I picked up for equivalent pricing include the Canik TP9 and TP9SF, Arcus 98, and Ruger 9e(the 9E was quite a bit less). other guns I've owned that regularly sell for the same price range include the Ruger SR9 compact, Springfield XD-s, and Springfield XD. I would put the M&P near the bottom, just above the arcus and the first generation canik.
this is not just a rant about the M&P. I've never been thrilled by the quality of S&W revolvers, nor have I ever noticed any difference in quality between S&W AR15s and other equivalently priced AR15s from other manufacturers, despite all the rave reviews. I usually malign Glock and H&K as horrifically overhyped, brands who rest on their laurels and have used it as an excuse to swamp the market with overpriced, and mediocre products, but it seems as if S&W will be joining this category as well in my book.
. I still think it was a good decision. I should be able to sell it for essentially what I have into it, minus the time and ammo spent. time behind the trigger is rarely a waste as far as I'm concerned and it did allow me to get more familiar with a handgun design that I would have otherwise continued to ignore due to previous prejudice and experiences.
