so i bought one just before christmas, slapped a trijicon RMR on it, and started shooting. I try to shoot about 100 rounds every day and I passed the 5000 round mark this weekend (a little over 2 months since I first pulled the trigger) so I thought i would give the pistol and optic a little review. I've also been carrying this nearly every day in one of the hybrid kydex / leather IWB holsters.
All of those rounds have been reloads. The first 3000 were summit factory re-manufactured and the last 2000 were my own reloads. The latter are 124g plated over 4.05g of titegroup.
So... the grip:
I tried all of the interchangeable backstraps and eventually landed on the small one. However, it leaves quite a bit of gap at the top as i can't get the web of my hand up all the way due to the radius. so that's a bit suboptimal, but it puts the sites in a more natural spot for me so that's what i'm using.
I'm not sure why, but the CORE model I have has much more aggressive backstrap texture than the regular M&P9. I like it a lot better.
Trigger:
along about 1000 rounds into it, i was convinced I was not going to be able to pull the factory trigger straight back without the sights dipping. what an awful trigger. it was doubly worse because the only pistol i've carried for the past 10 years was a wilson combat 1911 with an awesome trigger, so i was really spoiled.
I dropped the apex trigger kit in there on 9mmEpiphany's recommendation and it made a world of difference. I'm thinking I may try some further enhancements too, as I would like a heavier pull with more spring reset. It's currently 5 lb and I think the heavier spring would take it to 6. In any event, it pulls straight back now and is much shorter. I still have to position my finger fairly low on the trigger though. that's probably just me.
Now my split times are .16 to .21, with .18-.19 being most common.
the sights:
it took me literally a couple thousand rounds to warm up to the RMR. for the first thousand, i could barely see the 8moa green dot. i always saw the bright white front sight dot first. eventually, i got used to it and now i see it really quick.
I like that the sights co-witness so i can use irons if i need to. however, the RMR does make it difficult as it has some sort of redish tint, and i have to clean it off quite a bit because it get cloudy from the powder residue.
The RMR is not nearly as bright as a battery powered red dot, but it is proportional with the ambient light just like an ACOG, so the dot isn't like staring into a spotlight at night, or washing out in the daytime. It is really nice in low light conditions. You can see the annoying red tint in the picture and the faint green dot. This pic was taken after dark in my basement lit by a couple 60w bulbs so not exactly bright light. The dot is crisp, but you will have to train your eye to see it. Don't expect to love it right out of the box.
The dot doesn't appear to be affected by polarized glass so it doesn't disappear when you turn the pistol sideways, but the combo of sunglasses and the red tint is pretty annoying. your target will be a little dark.
You do want to make sure you use loctite on the screws. mine came loose a few times before i decided to put loctite on it. no problems since.
the controls:
i'm a lefty, so the ambi slide stop/release lever is awesome. it's in exactly the right spot and isn't too hard or easy to operate. it doesn't stick out too far. i can push it up and down with my strong hand thumb any time. OTOH, i believe some of the failure to lock back on empty mag problems I had were due to my thumb putting a little downward pressure on this lever while i was shooting.
the mag release is also perfectly situated. and very easy to use. I seriously dislike the glock mag release, so this was a big advantage in my comparison.
the slide serrations:
i may change my method later, but for now i prefer not grabbing the slide at the rear so i don't accidentally put my dirty fingers on the RMR lens. Instead, I grab the slide in the center where it's slick. I think S&W made a pretty serious oversight here. The cuts in the back look nice, and would work great if you're not running an optic, but imho, for a pistol called C.O.R.E, they needed to put those slide cuts in a better spot.
thin slide:
most may not have noticed this but this model is scalloped on the sides and is quite a bit thinner than the regular M&P9. I have no idea why. I suppose it's a good bit lighter.
reliability:
anyone who's seen my posts in rifle country for the past 10 years knows I'm not a huge fan of cleaning guns. So it probably won't be a huge surprise to hear I've only cleaned the gun twice (and actually, I had someone else clean it). That was in the first 2000 rounds I think. It hasn't been cleaned in the past 3000 rounds. I've lubed it with SLIP2k EWL, but haven't reapplied lube in the past 2000 rounds.
The gun has been very reliable. Typical MEAL stuff... I've had several failures to lock back on empty slide, which I attribute to riding my thumb on the lever, or weak reman ammo.
I've also had maybe 3 times when a round ejected but the next round didn't feed properly. One of those was a mag failure where a round got jammed nose down deep in the mag so there was no spring pressure pushing up. The others were unknown cause.
Also had 4-5 rounds that didn't go bang, but after inspecting the ammo, it was obvious the primers weren't seated properly.
Shooting on steel, with two shooters alternating, I've put rounds through it fast enough that the slide is too hot to touch. It still runs fine.
accuracy:
it ain't a 1911. but it will do.
overall, i'd say i'm pretty happy with it. i'm not much of a pistol guy, but it is thin and comfortable to wear, even with the red dot, and conceals well enough. i'd buy one again.
All of those rounds have been reloads. The first 3000 were summit factory re-manufactured and the last 2000 were my own reloads. The latter are 124g plated over 4.05g of titegroup.
So... the grip:
I tried all of the interchangeable backstraps and eventually landed on the small one. However, it leaves quite a bit of gap at the top as i can't get the web of my hand up all the way due to the radius. so that's a bit suboptimal, but it puts the sites in a more natural spot for me so that's what i'm using.
I'm not sure why, but the CORE model I have has much more aggressive backstrap texture than the regular M&P9. I like it a lot better.
Trigger:
along about 1000 rounds into it, i was convinced I was not going to be able to pull the factory trigger straight back without the sights dipping. what an awful trigger. it was doubly worse because the only pistol i've carried for the past 10 years was a wilson combat 1911 with an awesome trigger, so i was really spoiled.
I dropped the apex trigger kit in there on 9mmEpiphany's recommendation and it made a world of difference. I'm thinking I may try some further enhancements too, as I would like a heavier pull with more spring reset. It's currently 5 lb and I think the heavier spring would take it to 6. In any event, it pulls straight back now and is much shorter. I still have to position my finger fairly low on the trigger though. that's probably just me.
Now my split times are .16 to .21, with .18-.19 being most common.
the sights:
it took me literally a couple thousand rounds to warm up to the RMR. for the first thousand, i could barely see the 8moa green dot. i always saw the bright white front sight dot first. eventually, i got used to it and now i see it really quick.
I like that the sights co-witness so i can use irons if i need to. however, the RMR does make it difficult as it has some sort of redish tint, and i have to clean it off quite a bit because it get cloudy from the powder residue.
The RMR is not nearly as bright as a battery powered red dot, but it is proportional with the ambient light just like an ACOG, so the dot isn't like staring into a spotlight at night, or washing out in the daytime. It is really nice in low light conditions. You can see the annoying red tint in the picture and the faint green dot. This pic was taken after dark in my basement lit by a couple 60w bulbs so not exactly bright light. The dot is crisp, but you will have to train your eye to see it. Don't expect to love it right out of the box.
The dot doesn't appear to be affected by polarized glass so it doesn't disappear when you turn the pistol sideways, but the combo of sunglasses and the red tint is pretty annoying. your target will be a little dark.
You do want to make sure you use loctite on the screws. mine came loose a few times before i decided to put loctite on it. no problems since.
the controls:
i'm a lefty, so the ambi slide stop/release lever is awesome. it's in exactly the right spot and isn't too hard or easy to operate. it doesn't stick out too far. i can push it up and down with my strong hand thumb any time. OTOH, i believe some of the failure to lock back on empty mag problems I had were due to my thumb putting a little downward pressure on this lever while i was shooting.
the mag release is also perfectly situated. and very easy to use. I seriously dislike the glock mag release, so this was a big advantage in my comparison.
the slide serrations:
i may change my method later, but for now i prefer not grabbing the slide at the rear so i don't accidentally put my dirty fingers on the RMR lens. Instead, I grab the slide in the center where it's slick. I think S&W made a pretty serious oversight here. The cuts in the back look nice, and would work great if you're not running an optic, but imho, for a pistol called C.O.R.E, they needed to put those slide cuts in a better spot.
thin slide:
most may not have noticed this but this model is scalloped on the sides and is quite a bit thinner than the regular M&P9. I have no idea why. I suppose it's a good bit lighter.
reliability:
anyone who's seen my posts in rifle country for the past 10 years knows I'm not a huge fan of cleaning guns. So it probably won't be a huge surprise to hear I've only cleaned the gun twice (and actually, I had someone else clean it). That was in the first 2000 rounds I think. It hasn't been cleaned in the past 3000 rounds. I've lubed it with SLIP2k EWL, but haven't reapplied lube in the past 2000 rounds.
The gun has been very reliable. Typical MEAL stuff... I've had several failures to lock back on empty slide, which I attribute to riding my thumb on the lever, or weak reman ammo.
I've also had maybe 3 times when a round ejected but the next round didn't feed properly. One of those was a mag failure where a round got jammed nose down deep in the mag so there was no spring pressure pushing up. The others were unknown cause.
Also had 4-5 rounds that didn't go bang, but after inspecting the ammo, it was obvious the primers weren't seated properly.
Shooting on steel, with two shooters alternating, I've put rounds through it fast enough that the slide is too hot to touch. It still runs fine.
accuracy:
it ain't a 1911. but it will do.
overall, i'd say i'm pretty happy with it. i'm not much of a pistol guy, but it is thin and comfortable to wear, even with the red dot, and conceals well enough. i'd buy one again.
