[IceMurder]

So in less than a month I will be turning 21 years old and I have long awaited the day that I can purchase a pistol. I have been researching for months and finally I think I have decided to settle for the M&P 9mm full size and I will eventually be using it for my ccw. I do have a few questions for you guys though. Since this is my first pistol, is there any information about the MP9 that I should know? What should I do to break in the gun? What ammo do you guys recommend? What comes with the mp when I buy it? Can anyone tell me where I can find a shoulder holster with a mag pouch that will fit the mp9 with a rail mounted light? How often does the gun need to be cleaned? And should I clean it out of the box or wait until I shoot it for the first time? Thanks in advance for the help guys, i look forward to being a member of this site

 

[ToddG]

Go to www.nra.org ... search for an instructor in your area that teaches First Steps, Basic Handgun, or better yet one of the Personal Protection classes. Ideally, take the class before you ever buy a gun.



Not only will they be able to answer a lot of your questions, but you'll also learn some critically important safety habits, basic marksmanship, etc.

 

[coltman1985]

Find a good instructer and take the class!! Have fun :wink:

 

[IceMurder]

Yea I forgot to mention that, I will be taking a class shortly after buying my gun

 

[greener]

Glad to see that you are taking a class. I started shooting rifles about 50 years ago and started shooting a revolver about 45 years ago. I've given military marksmanship classes, run ranges and have a few "Expert" dohickies on my marskmanship badge. I didn't shoot anything for about 10 years and a class would have been very beneficial to me when I started shooting again. I'm getting some semi-formal instruction and coaching from an ex-special forces type.



I'd give the M&P a thorough cleaning and lubing before I shot it. Take some time to learn how to field strip it (very easy) and how the pistol functions. Do some reading on safety and marksmanship. The http://www.bullseyepistol.com/ site has a wealth of information even if you aren't going to be a bullseye type shooter. The link to the USAMU pistol guide is a great resource. Doing your homework and course from a good, NRA instructor will start you out well up the learning curve.



If it were me, I'd learn to shoot the M&P without any additions to the pistol. Add it later when you have become comfortable and reasonably proficient with the pistol.

 

[IceMurder]

Glad to see that you are taking a class. I started shooting rifles about 50 years ago and started shooting a revolver about 45 years ago. I've given military marksmanship classes, run ranges and have a few "Expert" dohickies on my marskmanship badge. I didn't shoot anything for about 10 years and a class would have been very beneficial to me when I started shooting again. I'm getting some semi-formal instruction and coaching from an ex-special forces type.



I'd give the M&P a thorough cleaning and lubing before I shot it. Take some time to learn how to field strip it (very easy) and how the pistol functions. Do some reading on safety and marksmanship. The http://www.bullseyepistol.com/ site has a wealth of information even if you aren't going to be a bullseye type shooter. The link to the USAMU pistol guide is a great resource. Doing your homework and course from a good, NRA instructor will start you out well up the learning curve.



If it were me, I'd learn to shoot the M&P without any additions to the pistol. Add it later when you have become comfortable and reasonably proficient with the pistol.

Thanks for the reply. Is there any website that shows how to clean and oil the M&P? I have a few rifles and I know how to clean then, but i'm not sure about a pistol.

 

[Steelshooter]

Cleand and lube it well before first shooting it. The manual tells you where to lube but not much more. To clean you want to spray it down with cleaner of some sort, scrub it with a toothbrush type brush, clean the bore, lube with a high quality lube. You will find all sorts of opinions on cleaners, lube etc as well as how often to clean. A lot of ex-military like myself clean after every time we shoot. Others not as often. I strongly believe that if you mean to use your psitol for self-defense it should always be spotless and well lubed...others not so much *cough* ToddG...;-)



Not sure about the whole shoulder holster/light thing. Why do you want that particular combination?



The old school cleaner is Hoppes #9. It works ok but stinks pretty bad. There are lots of newer and I think more effective cleaners. I use MP Pro 7 to clean and it can be found in most gun shops. There are a wide variety of gun lubes and any high quality lube is fine in my opinion. I use a bore snake for the barrel after soaking it with cleaner. Works great. Some people use an all in one CLP type cleaner to clean, lube and protect. Personally I think such products do all three things in a mediocre way but others think differently. The M&P is designed to require very little lubrication much like a Glock. Look around the forum. Cleaning methods and products are a highly debated topic. Enjoy your pistol, you made a good choice. Tell us how it is going for you. Take the NRA basic pistol course. Get a CCW license etc.

 

[Steelshooter]

Cleand and lube it well before first shooting it. The manual tells you where to lube but not much more. To clean you want to spray it down with cleaner of some sort, scrub it with a toothbrush type brush, clean the bore, lube with a high quality lube. You will find all sorts of opinions on cleaners, lube etc as well as how often to clean. A lot of ex-military like myself clean after every time we shoot. Others not as often. I strongly believe that if you mean to use your pistol for self-defense it should always be spotless and well lubed...others not so much *cough* ToddG...;-)



Not sure about the whole shoulder holster/light thing. Why do you want that particular combination?



The old school cleaner is Hoppes #9. It works ok but stinks pretty bad. There are lots of newer and I think more effective cleaners. I use MP Pro 7 to clean and it can be found in most gun shops. There are a wide variety of gun lubes and any high quality lube is fine in my opinion. I use a bore snake for the barrel after soaking it with cleaner. Works great. Some people use an all in one CLP type cleaner to clean, lube and protect. Personally I think such products do all three things in a mediocre way but others think differently. The M&P is designed to require very little lubrication much like a Glock. Look around the forum. Cleaning methods and products are a highly debated topic. Here is a recent thread on the subject.



http://mp-pistol.com/boards/viewtopic.php?...&highlight=



Enjoy your pistol, you made a good choice. Tell us how it is going for you. Take the NRA basic pistol course. Get a CCW license etc.

 

[ToddG]

I strongly believe that if you mean to use your pistol for self-defense it should always be spotless and well lubed...others not so much *cough* ToddG...;-)

I'd never recommend my peculiar cleaning regimen to anyone. But I also don't know a lot of people who shoot 5k+ rounds per month through a duty-style gun.



This afternoon I got to have lunch with some pretty squared away ex-military and fed-SWAT-type guys (including one who works for S&W), and the issue of cleaning guns came up. The general consensus is that a clean gun is better than a dirty gun, but a quality modern gun doesn't have to be clean to run just fine. There is also a school of thought (popular among some highpower shooters, for example) that cleaning your gun too much or too often will actually lead to wear of its own. Everyone at the table agreed that keeping the gun lubed was much, much more important than keeping it clean. Keeping it clean is likely to improve service life, though.



A friend of mine put his agency-issued P229-357 through over 100,000 rounds in less than four years. When the gun was loaned to SIG for analysis (they'd never seen one at that round count before), the engineers literally refused to believe the gun had that many rounds through it. It really did look like new. Why? The agent cleaned it religiously after every single trip to the range. If I didn't know him personally, I wouldn't have believed it, either. It looked so much better than similar pistols I'd shot to 15-30k rounds (cleaning every 3-5k) it's not even funny.

 

[greener]

I do a quick clean after every couple of range trips. Hoppe's #9 on a patch through the barrel followed by a dry patch; clean the rest of the pistol parts with Break-free or Rem oil; and a light coat of oil on the lube points. I probably don't need to clean it that often, it makes me feel better and gives me a chance to inspect the pistol for wear and other potential problems.