[TonyF]

I fired 200+ rounds this afternoon and here are my observations and opinions.



The stock trigger is less than optimal and I'm being kind. I like it even less after this live fire session than the few sessions of dry fire over the last week. It's off to Dan Burwell this Friday for a standard trigger job. I personally would not want this pistol if guys like Dan and D. Bowie were not able to clean up the action. OTOH, from all reports, the trigger work these guys do solves that problem so it's not a show stopper. I'll write a follow up after another live fire session with the Burwell action job.



I had installed the small grip insert but after about 50 rounds I switched to the medium. Too much finger in the trigger guard resulted in POI slightly left of C/L. The medium insert feels good and obviously fits better. Nothing like a live fire session to get a realistic assessment of your guns and gear.



No mag drops.



No malfunctions.



I bought a 309xxx and I really don't care for the night sights. I have trijicon tritium sights on a few other pistols but the white outline on these are particularly "white" and pronounced. It's like trying to get a sight picture staring into the sun. Very distracting. I may have Burwell swap these out for something else.



The only issue I experienced is that ejection was terribly weak (Blazer ammo). Many cases were ejecting directly to the rear hitting the bill of my ball cap and most of the empties were piling up around my feet. Anyone else have an M&P exhibiting weak ejection?



If the ejection issue can be resolved and the Burwell trigger work turns out as expected I could really start to like this pistol allot.

 

[m4arc]

Tony,



Good review! You will not be disappointed with a Burwell or Bowie trigger job. The beauty of the M&P is that the trigger is VERY tunable. Much more so that an Glock, XD or H&K.



However, you may want to put some more rounds through it first. I was planning on sending mine away but the more rounds I put through it the better my trigger gets. Va_dinger and I shot our M&Ps on Sunday and my trigger is much lighter and smoother than his. His has about half the number of rounds through it so I assume that mine has smoothed out because it has more time on it.



Any way, I was planning on sending mine out after I got a case through it but now I'm going to wait a little longer. I really like how my trigger is shaping up.



The ejection issue will probably clear itself up once it starts to break in as well. Either way, keep us posted.

 

[TonyF]

Tony,



Good review! You will not be disappointed with a Burwell or Bowie trigger job. The beauty of the M&P is that the trigger is VERY tunable. Much more so that an Glock, XD or H&K.



However, you may want to put some more rounds through it first. I was planning on sending mine away but the more rounds I put through it the better my trigger gets. Va_dinger and I shot our M&Ps on Sunday and my trigger is much lighter and smoother than his. His has about half the number of rounds through it so I assume that mine has smoothed out because it has more time on it.



Any way, I was planning on sending mine out after I got a case through it but now I'm going to wait a little longer. I really like how my trigger is shaping up.

It isn't so much the weight of the trigger pull as it is the indistinct reset. Shooting 1911's and glock's has spoiled me. The stock trigger is certainly manageable and I'm sure with enough trigger time one could get used to it but I'd rather not have to "de-program" my trigger press in order to learn the M&P. Better to get the M&P up to speed.

 

[m4arc]

Yep, the light reset is odd but I shot va_dinger's this weekend and his reset was much more pronounced. I'm wondering if this can be done without messing with the reset of the trigger? If my M&P had a reset like my Glocks I'd be all set.

 

[TonyF]

re: Weak Ejection



First firing session was with blazer 115 gr fmc.



Results of UMC and WWB:



Fired one box (50 rds) of UMC and my M&P 9mm exhibited the same weak ejection pattern as was the case with blzer.



As I started into 200 rounds of WWB, the weak ejection pattern continued with empties hitting the bill of my cap and in some cases my eye pro.



After about 50 rds of WWB the ejection pattern improved. Empties were ejecting directly to the right (3 O'Clock) but still not very forcefully. This is the only truly disappointing aspect of this pistol. I've read many reports here at MP-Pistol.com of folks with M&P's that have very good ejection so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt that it's my particular pistol and that it is an issue that can be resolved. It is somewhat disturbing that there are quite a few others who report similarly weak ejection patterns.



On a positive note, my pistol has had a Dan Burwell trigger action job which resulted in a marked improvement over the OEM trigger. If you have an M&P, getting a Burwell or Bowie trigger job is a no brainer. The trigger return to reset is still "lazy" but that is inherent to the design and not a reflection of Dan's work.



This pistol has enormous potential if S&W continues to refine the basic design with engineering upgrades.

 

[Steelshooter]

My trigger was pretty good out of the box otherwise I would not have bought it. Now after 300+ rounds it's even better. Whenever I can find a .45 with a decent trigger I'll buy one but so far everyone I have tried has been terrible. Smith is really shooting themselves in the foot with the trigger and finish issues some M&P's exhibit. Their goal should be a Glock like finish and triggers with Glock consistency.