M&P9, The real deal.
Well, it's been a while since I picked up the S&W M&P9, and I am happy to report that everything has been great with this gun, albeit with a couple of minor issues.
The stock trigger leaves a lot on the table to be desired. There really is no way around it. The stock triggers on these guns just suck. You can be fast and accurate with them for sure, but with the lack of a clean, tactile reset and a long spongy trigger pull, there is a lot to be desired. This gun however still does have the stock trigger, though it has been slightly tweaked by me, giving it a much better reset, and a slightly better break. Not much more to improve on without stepping up to an aftermarket trigger system.
The other complaint about this gun has been the factory night sights. Though the sights are a good "Novak style" sight, the tritium insert on the front blade actually failed not more than 1000 rounds in. The upside to this though is the fact that it is a Smith & Wesson, and that means that there is great customer support to be had from the factory. I briefly considered buying and installing some Trijicons or similar, but ultimately decided to send the slide back to Smith & Wesson and have them replace the sights at no cost to me. S&W sent me a free FedEx label to cover the shipping costs to them, and they sent it back for free as well. Turn around time was very decent, as it only took about a week total from when they received it, to when it showed back up at my house, with brand new sights. Another upside to sending it to S&W was that they also cleaned the crap out of the slide for me. There was no more brass transfer on the breech face and not one spec of grime anywhere to be seen. It was like new all over again.
Overall experience would be an A+ for the level of service I have always received from S&W customer service. Just about the only other company out there that has ever matched or bettered S&W would be Springfield Armory, those guys are a class act for sure. To summarize, you can't go wrong with either company for after the purchase, end user support.
The finish is very resilient and has held up against holster wear as well as the usual banging around while on the range. Even if the finish did get damaged, the slide is made from stainless so it will hold up against corrosion quite well regardless.
The finish is very resilient and has held up against holster wear as well as the usual banging around while on the range. Even if the finish did get damaged, the slide is made from stainless so it will hold up against corrosion quite well regardless.
Ergonomics are just fantastic. The ambidextrous slide release is a very nice touch, as well as the placement of all of the other fire controls. The different size back-straps on the grip is a great touch, something that more and more firearms manufacturers are starting to do. It is worthy to note also however, that one of the first main-stream manufactures, that I can remember anyways, that decided to design their firearms with a tuneable grip was actually Smith & Wesson/Walther with the SW99/P99 series of firearms. I actually own a SW99 in .40 and it too is very ergonomic and comfortable to shoot. Something that the M&P line just seemed to improve on.
Reliability of this firearms has been great. I have used the M&P to shoot in competitions and in real-world type training scenarios. It has also seen everything from dirty reloads (WW231 powder) to premium self defense loads. It eats everything I feed it. 115gr, 124gr, 147gr, this gun doesn't care. It just gobbles everything up and rewards you with at minimum very decent accuracy. I have even run this gun completely devoid of any lubricant, and while you can tell the action slows a bit, it still reliably fired an entire 50ct. box of ammo.
Capacity of this platform in 9mm and .40 is also excellent for the size of the package, with mag capacity of 17 and 15 respectively. .45ACP is another story however with a maximum factory magazine capacity of only 10 rounds. Acceptable at the minimum.
Aftermarket support for the M&P platform is already quite strong and is growing rapidly. Apex already makes a lot of great internal upgrades, from their hard sear to their AEK solid triggers to their complete trigger kits, as well as many other very durable, well engineered parts. External accessories are plentiful as well. Everyone from Bladetech to Safariland makes holsters and there are a handful of aftermarket sight options already out there, and it just keeps growing.
The M&P9 has made its way to the top of my short list of go-to handguns for the time being, and for good reason. This gun is very good in all respects, and makes up for its few shortcomings with excellent ergo's and superb reliability. If you have the opportunity, check one out for yourself.
Here is a video from one of the competitions that I have shot with this pistol.
Capacity of this platform in 9mm and .40 is also excellent for the size of the package, with mag capacity of 17 and 15 respectively. .45ACP is another story however with a maximum factory magazine capacity of only 10 rounds. Acceptable at the minimum.
Aftermarket support for the M&P platform is already quite strong and is growing rapidly. Apex already makes a lot of great internal upgrades, from their hard sear to their AEK solid triggers to their complete trigger kits, as well as many other very durable, well engineered parts. External accessories are plentiful as well. Everyone from Bladetech to Safariland makes holsters and there are a handful of aftermarket sight options already out there, and it just keeps growing.
The M&P9 has made its way to the top of my short list of go-to handguns for the time being, and for good reason. This gun is very good in all respects, and makes up for its few shortcomings with excellent ergo's and superb reliability. If you have the opportunity, check one out for yourself.
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