M&P 9, loving it.

[LifeInPa]

About a month ago I purchased my first pistol, an M&P 9. I had two trips out with 400 flawless rounds sent down range combined and decided it was time to share my experiences with it. This pistol is great and I love it. I purchased it from Tombstone Tactical for $489, I jumped right on it as that was the lowest price I could find and that was the last one they had. I had it by the next weekend and took it out. I also purchased 500 rounds of Aguila 124 grain 9mm ammo for $95 and an additional $20 for shipping. The first time I took it out we shot around 225 rounds of this stuff downrange and considering my lack of skill I got most of the shots where I was aiming even though my grouping still needs a lot of work. My father who is left handed shot about half the rounds down range and fared even better than I.

The whole time shooting the pistol I didn't feel uncomfortable at all, some firearms I fired in the past left my hands feeling worn and tired but not the M&P. It fitted my hands very well and felt comfortable the whole time. I know with the older M&P's people complained that the trigger felt gritty but the trigger on mine felt fine, it was smooth and crisp. My sights are only the standard white, three dot sights and it was quick and easy to get them on target. The only two thing I can really complain about is loading the last 2-3 rounds into the 17 round magazine and removal of the break down tool. My hands aren't as strong as they should be and it took me a bit of effort loading those rounds, especially when I loaded up steel cased rounds. My father has the same issue and he has considerable strength in his hands. However I bet this is an issue when loading hi capacity magazines for all handguns so I don't hold this issue against the M&P.

The only thing I could hold against the M&P is removal of the break down tool, it was such a pain in the ass I had to use a pair of pliers to remove it. Thankfully it's not required for the break down so I leave it where it is as I don't want to break it off trying to remove it. As for the break down and cleaning it's quite simple. Lock the slide back, push down the take down lever and pull the slide/recoil spring/barrel off the frame of the pistol. Once that's off the slide, recoil spring and barrel separate with ease. Afterwards you just clean the gunk out of the barrel/slide, put a drop of lubrication on 7 points and reassemble. Again this is my first pistol and expected it to be more complicated. Funny thing about this pistol is how heavy the slide feels in comparison to the rest of the pistol. The polymer part which I guess you can call the frame feels like it weighs nothing, yet the slide feels like it weighs 3 pounds. The barrel/recoil spring felt light even though they were constructed of metal.

On the first trip to the range I fired solely Aguila 124 grain 9mm ammo which was accurate and functioned perfectly. Yesterday I also fired 75 rounds of Aguila and switched over to some 115 grain Russian Tula 9mm ammo, since I got this pistol I was dying to see how the M&P would eat cheap steel cased ammo as I am cash tight and need a way to extend my shooting time so I can improve. My M&P ate thru 100 rounds of the stuff without a hiccup. With the Tula ammo I noticed a slight odor but it wasn't anything offensive IMO and the recoil felt less sharp than the Aguila. I'd say this steel cased stuff displayed about the same accuracy, I don't think the difference is going to be much since I was shooting at the 15, 25-30 and 50 foot mark at max. When I got my M&P home yesterday and broke it down for cleaning the barrel/slide wasn't too dirty either, it was the same or slightly cleaner than the Aguila. So it didn't take extra effort for me to clean. My only complaint with using steel case is it was much harder to slide the 16th and 17th round into the magazine. When I get a chance I am going to try some Brown Bear and Wolf 9mm to see how they function.

So yeah I am thrilled with my M&P 9. I love it's accuracy, reliability, feel, magazine capacity and the fact it's designed/built here unlike most of it's competitors so it gets points for that too. Anyway here are some photo's I took for your viewing pleasure, enjoy.











The following photo's are from my first trip out and include shots of my fathers targets which he shot at left handed:



^^Me, at 30 feet. Terrible I know.



^^This was me at 20-25 feet, better but not by much.



^^ My father, at 30 feet, left handed.



^^ My father, at 50 feet, left handed.

These photo's are from my solo trip out to the range yesterday afternoon:



^^This was me at 20 feet, with the Aguila ammo. The guy at the range noticed how I was holding the pistol, like a revolver. The first pistol I fired years back was a revolver and that's how I was holding the M&P. Cuping the bottom of the magazine with my left hand. He told me how to properly hold a semi-automatic and I feel my groupings got a lot tighter than my first time because of this change. Shocking enough this happened at Sunset Hill, I wanted to shoot outdoors and that's the only place I could think of. Honestly they got a lot nicer than my past trips. The instructors became very helpful and actually friendly. He even mistook my M&P for a SIG or an H&K.



^^This was me at 30-50 feet firing the Tula steel cased ammo. The headshots are at 30 feet and the "attempted" chest and center of mass shots ranged from 30-50 feet. Overall my groupings got better but I am still pulling my shots a little to the left, I think due to recoil anticipation. I got to get out more and fix this. For now I feel comfortable using this pistol out to 30 feet. Hopefully in time, with practice I can tighten my groups up even more and extend my effective range out to 50 feet.

Down the line I really wanted to add two accessories to this pistol. I think it was called the TLR-3, it's a combo laser/tactical light. This is going to be solely a night stand pistol and feel this would be a handy accessory. Secondly I am mulling over getting these magazine extensions that increase magazine capacity to 22 rounds. However they're expensive (I believe almost as much as a 17 round magazine) and I question the usefulness of this feature. The only thing I am looking for now is a good defensive load for when it's in the night stand, I will have to make a separate thread about that soon.

[NathanB]

Theres a state game land range out in hawley off of route6 alot closer than sunset hill

[LifeInPa]

Yeah I have been there and it sucked: You can only have 6 rounds in the mag, it's poorly maintained and now you have to pay to be there (Hunting license or some other license). Sunset Hill isn't bad if you go on a weekday and avoid the "ghetto-gansta's" from the city plus the drive on the back-roads is peaceful.

[gfanikf]

Great review I have the M&P .357sig/.40S&W, but I recently got the stock S&W 9mm Luger barrel and the mag for it should be arriving today. Can't wait to test it out!

[LifeInPa]

Great review I have the M&P .357sig/.40S&W, but I recently got the stock S&W 9mm Luger barrel and the mag for it should be arriving today. Can't wait to test it out!

Thanks, why the change?

[animalmother85]

I have an M&P 9 Pro with an Apex RAM and DCAEK. It's a very sweet shooter. I can hit center mass on my bad guy targets at 50 meters. It was a toss up between this and a Glock. I'm glad I picked the M&P.

[PhilB]

You say you have trouble loading the magazines. I'd suggest getting a Maglula/Uplula loader. I had a similar problem loading the magazines for my wife's M&P9c, got the loader and now it's a breeze.

Nice gun you got there.

--Phil

[NathanB]

I see so many good reviews on the m&ps i think its gonna be my next one.

[BlueGunGuy]

Love my M&p9c. Like the big brother but great concealer. Highly recommended if you want a full size compact. A 9c in a super tuck disappears.

[SCBaldr]

M&Ps are some of the very best duty/service/security type pistols there are. In my opinion, Smith & Wesson's products like their M&P line and their 686/386 revolver line are every bit as good as Sig or HK. The quality is definitely there. More people definitely need to experience the M&P line up.

The only effective differences between the M&Ps and my P30 or my HK45C or my Sig P226 are features and feel. The Sig has a 100% metal trigger system and you FEEL that. My HKs have some metal firing system components and some plastic components in their LEM triggers and you can FEEL that. Glocks are Teutonic Blocks and you FEEL that. The M&P has a DAO intermediary reset trigger system and you can also FEEL that. Its just a question of features and feel when the quality climbs to the level of S&W, HK, Sig, Etc. The expectation is that the gun will run pretty much regardless and remain very accurate while doing it.

For the price the M&Ps are a really solid investment. Happy to hear that your first adventure into pistols turned out well. Shoot the shit out of it!