Smith and Wesson M&P 40C (.40SW Compact)
Yesterday, my wife and I along with a friend visited the nice folks at Guns and Leather in Greenbriar, TN. My friend had dealt with them in the past and was very complimentary of the staff and facility, and we had heard that they were doing some big sales this weekend with a Smith and Wesson rep on site... so we loaded up in the Yukon and made the drive.
I was not actively searching for a new handgun but was still toying with the idea of replacing the Glock 23 that I had sold a few weeks ago. It didn't take long for the Smith and Wesson rep to have an M&P 40C in my hands and it likewise didn't take long for me to say "Glock what?"
FIRST IMPRESSIONS...
My impressions of the M&P 40C in the showroom were that it was perhaps the perfect handgun for me to carry every day. It is smaller than a Glock 23 but larger than a Glock 27. It carries 10 rounds of .40SW in the magazine. It has the picatinny rail on the frame, a Melonite coated stainless steel slide, a supported chamber design and wonderfully ergonomic frame and handgrip.
One really neat thing about the M&P automatics is that they come with three interchangeable palm swells so that you can customize the grip to your hand and to your preference. I am using the medium grip swell on mine and the fit and feel are perfect.
Another cool thing about the M&P automatics is that the palm swell is held in by what is a breakdown tool. If you want to detail strip your firearm, the tool to remove the roll pins is right there in the gun! NEAT! And breaking it down to field strip is just as easy as stripping a Springfield XD and easier than field stripping a Glock. Very nice.
FIRST TIME AT THE RANGE...
One of the really nice things about dealing with the folks at Guns and Leather is that they give you a free pass to their state of the art indoor shooting range and one free target with your firearm purchase. So after I invested $12 in a box of Blazer aluminum cased target ammo, we were off to the basement to put the rubber to the road.
I ran the target out to 20 feet and loaded a magazine into the handgun. My first shot was a little low and to the left, telling me that I was jerking the trigger. The M&P trigger doesn't have near the amount of slack in it that my XD handguns do, and that is a very nice improvement over them. So I adjusted my approach and this time my shot was right in the red.
The next 48 shots went right where I wanted them to, with minor exceptions for me being a goof and getting sloppy with my aim. The handgun's point of impact and point of aim jive with each other perfectly. If you miss, it's not the gun. It's you.
I walked out of Guns and Leather a happy man. $500 lighter in the wallet, but happy none the less. I also knew that I would be listing my XD45 Compact for sale that evening as I would indeed be carrying the M&P 40C as my daily CCW handgun from this point forward.
DAY TWO - SECOND TRIP TO THE RANGE...
This afternoon my wife and I (along with her own new M&P 9mm 9C) went to On Target in Murfreesboro to continue becoming familiar with our new handguns. We both took 200 rounds of Winchester white box target ammo and we both ended up buying another 100 rounds for each gun before the day was through.
It took me about 50 rounds through the 40C to readjust my shooting style from the XD45 Compact but I eventually got there again. Muscle memory is such a double-edged sword.
My wife, on the other hand, was knocking the centers out of her targets from shot #1. If it wasn't so cool to have a wife who can shoot as good or better than me, I'd hate her for it. I've heard other people say that women tend to shoot better than men by and large. But anyway...
By the time I was on my 200th round, I was finally in the groove with the M&P. I had tried several different grip and aiming combinations and eventually settled back on the one that historically worked the best for me with my old Glock 23. By no real surprise, it worked best for me with the new M&P also.
The next 100 rounds flew by and I was blasting rounds through the same jagged gap where the red zone previously existed on the target. Fun stuff!
THE VERDICT IS IN...
I'm sold on this gun. It's light weight, it's small and it carries a good solid punch. It will be perfect for carry, even during the summer months when it's often hard to conceal a handgun because of lighter weight clothes. I'm very happy.
There was a time not too long ago that I would not have even given a Smith and Wesson firearm a second glance. I was still sore over how the company had caved to anti-gun groups in the 1990s when they were owned by a British parent company. The Brits don't understand the American gun buyer and really could have cared less about standing their ground in the face of harsh pressure from the likes of Sarah Brady and other anti-rights extremists.
I told the Smith and Wesson rep this yesterday at the gun shop. I told him that I was having a real hard time letting go of old wounds. He understood but then asked to give the new Smith and Wesson a chance to earn my trust again. He was right. Now it would be equally hard for me to let go of my new M&P pistol.
Job well done, Smith and Wesson. Job well done.
Yesterday, my wife and I along with a friend visited the nice folks at Guns and Leather in Greenbriar, TN. My friend had dealt with them in the past and was very complimentary of the staff and facility, and we had heard that they were doing some big sales this weekend with a Smith and Wesson rep on site... so we loaded up in the Yukon and made the drive.
I was not actively searching for a new handgun but was still toying with the idea of replacing the Glock 23 that I had sold a few weeks ago. It didn't take long for the Smith and Wesson rep to have an M&P 40C in my hands and it likewise didn't take long for me to say "Glock what?"
FIRST IMPRESSIONS...
My impressions of the M&P 40C in the showroom were that it was perhaps the perfect handgun for me to carry every day. It is smaller than a Glock 23 but larger than a Glock 27. It carries 10 rounds of .40SW in the magazine. It has the picatinny rail on the frame, a Melonite coated stainless steel slide, a supported chamber design and wonderfully ergonomic frame and handgrip.
One really neat thing about the M&P automatics is that they come with three interchangeable palm swells so that you can customize the grip to your hand and to your preference. I am using the medium grip swell on mine and the fit and feel are perfect.
Another cool thing about the M&P automatics is that the palm swell is held in by what is a breakdown tool. If you want to detail strip your firearm, the tool to remove the roll pins is right there in the gun! NEAT! And breaking it down to field strip is just as easy as stripping a Springfield XD and easier than field stripping a Glock. Very nice.
FIRST TIME AT THE RANGE...
One of the really nice things about dealing with the folks at Guns and Leather is that they give you a free pass to their state of the art indoor shooting range and one free target with your firearm purchase. So after I invested $12 in a box of Blazer aluminum cased target ammo, we were off to the basement to put the rubber to the road.
I ran the target out to 20 feet and loaded a magazine into the handgun. My first shot was a little low and to the left, telling me that I was jerking the trigger. The M&P trigger doesn't have near the amount of slack in it that my XD handguns do, and that is a very nice improvement over them. So I adjusted my approach and this time my shot was right in the red.
The next 48 shots went right where I wanted them to, with minor exceptions for me being a goof and getting sloppy with my aim. The handgun's point of impact and point of aim jive with each other perfectly. If you miss, it's not the gun. It's you.
I walked out of Guns and Leather a happy man. $500 lighter in the wallet, but happy none the less. I also knew that I would be listing my XD45 Compact for sale that evening as I would indeed be carrying the M&P 40C as my daily CCW handgun from this point forward.
DAY TWO - SECOND TRIP TO THE RANGE...
This afternoon my wife and I (along with her own new M&P 9mm 9C) went to On Target in Murfreesboro to continue becoming familiar with our new handguns. We both took 200 rounds of Winchester white box target ammo and we both ended up buying another 100 rounds for each gun before the day was through.
It took me about 50 rounds through the 40C to readjust my shooting style from the XD45 Compact but I eventually got there again. Muscle memory is such a double-edged sword.
My wife, on the other hand, was knocking the centers out of her targets from shot #1. If it wasn't so cool to have a wife who can shoot as good or better than me, I'd hate her for it. I've heard other people say that women tend to shoot better than men by and large. But anyway...
By the time I was on my 200th round, I was finally in the groove with the M&P. I had tried several different grip and aiming combinations and eventually settled back on the one that historically worked the best for me with my old Glock 23. By no real surprise, it worked best for me with the new M&P also.
The next 100 rounds flew by and I was blasting rounds through the same jagged gap where the red zone previously existed on the target. Fun stuff!
THE VERDICT IS IN...
I'm sold on this gun. It's light weight, it's small and it carries a good solid punch. It will be perfect for carry, even during the summer months when it's often hard to conceal a handgun because of lighter weight clothes. I'm very happy.
There was a time not too long ago that I would not have even given a Smith and Wesson firearm a second glance. I was still sore over how the company had caved to anti-gun groups in the 1990s when they were owned by a British parent company. The Brits don't understand the American gun buyer and really could have cared less about standing their ground in the face of harsh pressure from the likes of Sarah Brady and other anti-rights extremists.
I told the Smith and Wesson rep this yesterday at the gun shop. I told him that I was having a real hard time letting go of old wounds. He understood but then asked to give the new Smith and Wesson a chance to earn my trust again. He was right. Now it would be equally hard for me to let go of my new M&P pistol.
Job well done, Smith and Wesson. Job well done.
