M4arc's M&P Range Report!

I was able to skip out of work a little early this afternoon and hit the range with my M&P9. I was very impressed last week when I took it out for the first time and today was much of the same. I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted at the range but I spent enough to run the following through it:



Independence 115gr FMJ - 100 rounds

Winchester WB Value Pack (Wal-Mart) 115gr FMJ - 100 rounds

American 115gr FMJ - 50 rounds



Round count for the day was 250 which brings the total round count up to 540.



Since I plan on shooting it at the next Blackwater IPSA match I wanted to spend a little time doing reloads. Right off the bat I was slower than I am with my Glocks for some reason but I did pick it up a little bit towards the end. Also mine appears to be one of those M&Ps that when you slam the magazine home the slide closes. This is fine with me because my Glocks do it as well so I'm used to it and I work it to my advantage. However, slapping the magazine home was killing my hand by the end of the session. I don't know why because it's never bothered me before, maybe I'm getting old?



One more point I want to make; coming from Glocks I've rarely used the slide release, generally using the overhand method instead. Today I practiced both with the M&P and the slide release works quite nicely and is easy to manipulate. I did use the overhand method as well, being sure to mix it up, and I really like the aggressive slide serrations.



I'm still extremely impressed with this handgun at this point and plan to shoot it a lot over the holidays. Stand by for updates to this thread

Two quick items I noticed while cleaning my M&P9 this morning:



1) The front sight seems to have developed a dark spot, dead center, in the white. At first I though this was grim & gun powder but all of my attempts to clean it have failed. Upon close inspection it looks as though the paint is cracking. I'll keep my eye (no pun intended) on it.



2) The roll pins are not centered, both are shifted to the left. The rear is flush with the left side of the frame and the front is protruding out a millimeter or two. I'm not going to mess with them yet. I'll continue to monitor their position from now on.



Oh, I also installed the medium backstrap so I'll try it for the next range trip to see how I like compared to the small.

Update: 12/20/06



I hit the outdoor range today and put another 350 rounds through the M&P. Here's the break down:



150 rounds WWB 115gr FMJ

100 rounds American 115gr FMJ

100 rounds of Independence 115gr FMJ



Which brings the cumulative round count up to 890.



I did experience a FTE. Basically the spent case remained in the chamber, the slide cycled and tried to feed a new round. This happened with WWB and after about 250 rounds fired. I did not experience any more failures after that one.



I did a lot of holster work today along with a lot of multiple steel targets, moving, and reloading and I'm not very happy with how I handle this handgun under a little bit of stress. The long and faint reset tripped me up for the most part and the "double reset" got me quite a few times. I'm not sure what to do about it at this point. I really didn't want to do any trigger work on it until I put a couple thousand through it but I might have to rethink that policy.



Bottom line for today is I don't shoot this as well as I do my Glocks under any kind of stress. And the drills we were doing today were mild and casual so I'm concerned that when the stress really spikes I'll be fumbling around with it. I was hoping to run this gun at BW in January but know I think I'll run my G19 instead and wait to run the M&P in February.



I might just be that I have far more experience with Glocks or it might be that trigger coming around to bite me in the a$$. I'll keep you all posted.



NOTE: The pins haven't moved but the front sight is getting worse. I'll try the paint trick after I get it cleaned up. Thanks for the tip.

Update: 1/17/2007



I didn’t have much time but I managed to sneak out the range during lunch this afternoon. Since I had my G19 with me well as my M&P9 I decided to run a little experiment. I shot both, side-by-side @ 15’. I put 50 rounds through each, alternating between the two and shooting 5 rounds at a time.



I found that I’m much more consistent with the M&P than I am with my G19. Keep in mind that I’ve been shooting GLOCKs for years. I’m not sure what that means other than I seem to shoot the M&P9 better even though I’ve only owned it for five weeks.



Recoil was noticeably less with the M&P and the grip was much more comfortable. Of course I already knew that but since I was shooting them side-by-side it was really brought to light.



I did try the Medium back strap again and I noticed a slight lose of accuracy. I saw a pattern of low and to the left…a pattern that resembles my GLOCK patterns. So I replaced the Small back strap back and I was consistently back in the black! It’s not that I find the medium uncomfortable but I think it has something to do with the distance to the trigger and where it naturally puts my finger on the trigger. I’m sure the ergonomics have some effect on how I pull the trigger as well.



Ammo was WWB from Wally World and I did not experience any failures with either gun.



Today’s Ammo

50 rounds WWB 115gr FMJ (Wal-Mart Value Pak)



Cumulative total as of 1/17/2007: 940



Final Note: I really like this gun…I don’t want to but I do.