Review of my new M&P vs Glock 34

No use for .45 ACP nor for pistols that don't run 100% right out of the box (pretty much any sub $1500 1911).

I just rolled over 1530 rounds with zero malfunctions on my M&P9. My 915 has 1048 rounds through it (I don't shoot it much but that will change) also with zero malfunctions of any kind.

9x19 hollowpoints do the job as well as any .45 ACP and you get more of them.
 
Supermoto said:
Mine has a fairly crisp click
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70CcSS0c7A

You can add pressure to the trigger bar, when my sear assembly is out of the gun, the tip in more the 1/2 across the mag opening, you can also round the Firing pin safety plunger so that the bar is off the FPS sooner
Click to expand...

Neat! The video makes the point. Nice to get confirmation that adjusting the trigger bar inward and putting more pressure on the side of the sear can help. I will try that on my M&P 45. I have already done some work on the plunger in order to smooth up the initial stage of the trigger pull, but I may round it a bit more to see how it affects the reset.
 
Supermoto said:
Mine has a fairly crisp click
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70CcSS0c7A

You can add pressure to the trigger bar, when my sear assembly is out of the gun, the tip in more the 1/2 across the mag opening, you can also round the Firing pin safety plunger so that the bar is off the FPS sooner
Click to expand...

Wow..

That does have better than normal reset, from what I've experienced. Either they've fixed the issue or you've done an incredible job on your trigger, or both.

The earlier M+Ps were like a soft click, if anything, barely audible. You sure as hell couldn't feel it in the trigger/gun, either.

-Mike
 
Supermoto said:
Mine has a fairly crisp click
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70CcSS0c7A

You can add pressure to the trigger bar, when my sear assembly is out of the gun, the tip in more the 1/2 across the mag opening, you can also round the Firing pin safety plunger so that the bar is off the FPS sooner
Click to expand...


Reshaping the sear will shorten the reset as well as making it much more crisp!
 
Supermoto said:
Mine has a fairly crisp click
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70CcSS0c7A

You can add pressure to the trigger bar, when my sear assembly is out of the gun, the tip in more the 1/2 across the mag opening, you can also round the Firing pin safety plunger so that the bar is off the FPS sooner
Click to expand...

Looks nicer than mine. I may try that thanks.

Jose said:
No use for .45 ACP nor for pistols that don't run 100% right out of the box (pretty much any sub $1500 1911).

I just rolled over 1530 rounds with zero malfunctions on my M&P9. My 915 has 1048 rounds through it (I don't shoot it much but that will change) also with zero malfunctions of any kind.

9x19 hollowpoints do the job as well as any .45 ACP and you get more of them.
Click to expand...
I don't really like 45ACP for carry either. Low round count and slow velocities.
 
Additional plunger rounding is more to prevent a false reset feel. As the trigger bar releases the FPS, if it has a steep angle, it will add vagueness to the reset
 
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Jose said:
No use for .45 ACP nor for pistols that don't run 100% right out of the box (pretty much any sub $1500 1911).
Click to expand...

My S&W 1911 has run 100% except for one crappy 10 round magazine (which are an abomination anyway). My experience isn't huge, but nearly every 1911 I've seen with reliability problems has had some amateur 'gunsmithing' done to it.
 
jar said:
My S&W 1911 has run 100% except for one crappy 10 round magazine (which are an abomination anyway). My experience isn't huge, but nearly every 1911 I've seen with reliability problems has had some amateur 'gunsmithing' done to it.
Click to expand...


That and bad reloads- some with lead wadcutters... 1911s run best with good ball ammo the way John Moses Browning wanted it to be.
 
Lugnut said:
That and bad reloads- some with lead wadcutters... 1911s run best with good ball ammo the way John Moses Browning wanted it to be.
Click to expand...

I'm a 230 ball advocate, too... but a lot of 1911s can run 200 grain SWCs just fine... if the magazine and gun are set up to do it, and the loads aren't too weak for the springs one is running. My caspian auto ord mutt gun will eat just about anything. One problem I've seen with lead bullets is a lot of them aren't sized right and a lot of guys don't put enough crimp on the things to make them pass a case gauge. Throw a confluence of bad factors together and you get a 1911 that will jam like it's going out of style. [laugh]

-Mike
 
Introducing the Glock&P19

It's amazing how similar all these new polymer guns are designed.

33yia85.jpg
 
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jar said:
Wow. Does the slide actually move without dragging?
Click to expand...

There are some slight internal differences. It doesn't move freely and the point at which recoil assembly catches is slightly different.

Just interesting how one design is oddly similar to another.
 
On a side note, the small plug that goes into the fire selector hole (if you don't have a fire selector) is not the greatest of designs. I find it's very difficult to get the thing back in with the sear block at the same time. It may just be my gun but the tolerances are just too tight to squeeze it in there. A recessed pocket for the plug would have worked better.

I tried lightly filing the thing down to get it to fit last night.
No luck.
 
Some more notes on the M&P:

The slide stop release will not work with just my thumb attempting to release it...or even with with my finger pushing down on it as hard as possible. The only way to allow the slide to go forward is to grab the slide back and release forward. I'm hoping this will "break in" a bit.

Dry firing, the slide sometimes does not go into battery when the slide returns forward. I have to push it with my thumb to get it move all the way forward. I'm hoping this will "break in" as well.

I really have to get some mags so I can take this thing to the range and see whether all these issues I seem to be nitpicking about are actually issues when shooting the thing.
 
Underwhere said:
Some more notes on the M&P:

The slide stop release will not work with just my thumb attempting to release it...or even with with my finger pushing down on it as hard as possible. The only way to allow the slide to go forward is to grab the slide back and release forward. I'm hoping this will "break in" a bit.
Click to expand...

Have you donned your asbestos armor for the cadre of folks who will burnish you with "ITS A SLIDE LOCK NOT A RELEASE!!!" [laugh]

I think this is a common S+W thing to some degree. The SW99 series kinda did that too... the slide lock would almost feel like it was stuck. It'll probably break in after awhile.

Dry firing, the slide sometimes does not go into battery when the slide returns forward. I have to push it with my thumb to get it move all the way forward. I'm hoping this will "break in" as well.
Click to expand...

That's kinda bizarre, although my guess is you're not pulling the slide all the way back while doing dryfires?

-Mike
 
Underwhere said:
The slide stop release will not work with just my thumb attempting to release it...or even with with my finger pushing down on it as hard as possible. The only way to allow the slide to go forward is to grab the slide back and release forward. I'm hoping this will "break in" a bit.
Click to expand...

If you're lucky your M&P will have the auto slide slam release feature. 95+% of the time my full size will automagically release the slide when you firmly seat a mag. My compact rarely does it.
 
drgrant said:
Have you donned your asbestos armor for the cadre of folks who will burnish you with "ITS A SLIDE LOCK NOT A RELEASE!!!" [laugh]

I think this is a common S+W thing to some degree. The SW99 series kinda did that too... the slide lock would almost feel like it was stuck. It'll probably break in after awhile.



That's kinda bizarre, although my guess is you're not pulling the slide all the way back while doing dryfires?

-Mike
Click to expand...


hehe. For me its a slide stop release. [smile]
Glock actually says their extended slide stop release is for a "thumb rest"

I pull the slide all the way back and don't let it ride forward. A bunch of times (maybe 1 out of 10) the slide just doesn't go all the way forward.
 
Last edited:
Underwhere said:
On a side note, the small plug that goes into the fire selector hole (if you don't have a fire selector) is not the greatest of designs. I find it's very difficult to get the thing back in with the sear block at the same time. It may just be my gun but the tolerances are just too tight to squeeze it in there. A recessed pocket for the plug would have worked better.

I tried lightly filing the thing down to get it to fit last night.
No luck.
Click to expand...

A drop of superglue will hold that little part in place. Take the sear block assembly out and remove the bottom pin and the idiot wire. Don't waste your time with this worthless, nasty S&W M&P; sell it to me!
 
Range Report:
NOT GOOD

Using 115 grain plated reloads that chrono at ~1150fps (stuff that shoots out of every 9mm I've ever tried it in)

I let Jar shoot the very first shot out of my gun.
First shot goes off, right on target. That's the good thing.
The bad thing: It failed to eject the round. The slide simply was not cycling.
I videotaped the 1st round but deleted it by mistake (new phone) and so I recorded the 2nd and 3rd shot. 2nd shot malfunctioned. 3rd shot malfunctioned. Continued malfunction.

Jar went through quite a bit of ammo. I'm thinking 300 or so rounds tonight and found that every other round failed for some reason or another. There were good spells where it ran through an entire mag fine. Then there were bad spells.

I had a little bit better luck with it so I guess the difference had to be grip...but since Jar already owns an M&P and shoots it reliably I knew the grip couldn't be the issue.

When we put my Glock 34 recoil assembly in the gun it worked much much better. Still not perfect, but much better.

I'm trying to figure out what the issue was.
I painted the frame, polished the slide, polished the barrel hood and crown, and did a trigger job. None of these things should cause it to fail to eject and short cycle.

One of the very first things I noticed when I got the gun a while ago was how stiff the factory recoil spring was. It was so stiff I actually threw the G34 spring in just to see the difference. My first guess it that this spring is just too hard and I need to drop down to a 13 pound.

On a side note, the Glock 34 worked fine with the M&P Recoil Assembly.

When we were cleaning up, my brother noticed the front sight was actually drifted too far to the left, something I hadn't noticed before. I was wondering why shots were going slightly to the right. Sucks. Now I either need to make a front sight drift tool or take it to someone to drift it a suckometer over.

Here is the video. Excuse my thumb. New phone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H65y3QcsHWw
 
Underwhere said:
Range Report:
NOT GOOD

Using 115 grain plated reloads that chrono at ~1150fps (stuff that shoots out of every 9mm I've ever tried it in)

I let Jar shoot the very first shot out of my gun.
First shot goes off, right on target. That's the good thing.
The bad thing: It failed to eject the round. The slide simply was not cycling.
I videotaped the 1st round but deleted it by mistake (new phone) and so I recorded the 2nd and 3rd shot. 2nd shot malfunctioned. 3rd shot malfunctioned. Continued malfunction.

Jar went through quite a bit of ammo. I'm thinking 300 or so rounds tonight and found that every other round failed for some reason or another. There were good spells where it ran through an entire mag fine. Then there were bad spells.

I had a little bit better luck with it so I guess the difference had to be grip...but since Jar already owns an M&P and shoots it reliably I knew the grip couldn't be the issue.

When we put my Glock 34 recoil assembly in the gun it worked much much better. Still not perfect, but much better.

I'm trying to figure out what the issue was.
I painted the frame, polished the slide, polished the barrel hood and crown, and did a trigger job. None of these things should cause it to fail to eject and short cycle.

One of the very first things I noticed when I got the gun a while ago was how stiff the factory recoil spring was. It was so stiff I actually threw the G34 spring in just to see the difference. My first guess it that this spring is just too hard and I need to drop down to a 13 pound.

On a side note, the Glock 34 worked fine with the M&P Recoil Assembly.

When we were cleaning up, my brother noticed the front sight was actually drifted too far to the left, something I hadn't noticed before. I was wondering why shots were going slightly to the right. Sucks. Now I either need to make a front sight drift tool or take it to someone to drift it a suckometer over.

Here is the video. Excuse my thumb. New phone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H65y3QcsHWw
Click to expand...


Brownells has an assortment of recoil springs for the M&P, I would try a lighter one. Factory spring is 16lb for the standard M&P 9 but 15 and 13 are available. I am using a 15 lb spring in my standard M&P 9 with 125,000 pf loads with good results.

If you are careful you can use a small diameter brass rod to move the sight. I would protect the slide with some tape as the brass can leave a mark.
 
Gammon said:
Brownells has an assortment of recoil springs for the M&P, I would try a lighter one. Factory spring is 16lb for the standard M&P 9 but 15 and 13 are available. I am using a 15 lb spring in my standard M&P 9 with 125,000 pf loads with good results.

If you are careful you can use a small diameter brass rod to move the sight. I would protect the slide with some tape as the brass can leave a mark.
Click to expand...

I read that the Glock 19 has a factory 18 pound recoil spring.
My M&P feels stiffer and it's supposedly comes with a 16-17 pound spring.

I don't feel like trying to move the sight with a hammer. I tried that once. It worked, but never again.
 

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