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- Apr 4, 2007
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First of all I'm not trying to start a flame war, just wanted to offer some thoughts on a gun that I just picked up. I didn't want to do it on the Glock or MP forums as they're opinions are obviously biased.
I shoot a Glock 34 in IDPA and recently came across a M&P Pro 9mm (The Glock 34 competitor). I was very open to having this gun be a replacement for the Glock as I see the benefit of having a gun people in MA can actually buy for a decent price. I also like having the newest design and the Glock is rather outdated.
This model does NOT have a MA compliant trigger and has a different sear making the trigger lighter than most M&P's. It also does NOT have a magazine disconnect nor does it have a fire selector lever.
M&P First impressions:
Pros:
Cons:
When I first received this gun I did a trigger job at home almost immediately. I then compared it to my Glock trigger job (also done at home) and the M&P trigger ended up being MUCH nicer. It was largely due to the sear that comes with the M&P Pro. I feared that I'd actually want to switch to the M&P at this point and put down my Glocks.
However, the reset on the M&P leaves much to be desired. The Glock reset is very positive and easily confirmed with a "click". The M&P is not like that. Sort of like when you slap a girl's butt but you don't cup your hand the right way and it doesn't make the correct slap sound.
An interesting note: My Glock 34 recoil assembly has the exact same dimensions as the M&P Pro. I'll be testing the glock assembly in the M&P next time I'm at the range. When I first got the gun I had some issues with field stripping and re-assembly. I got the slide somewhat stuck on multiple occasions and could not figure out why. It was very frustrating. I found my takedown lever had a large burr on it. I was not happy but realize it could be remedied easily so I did so. This did not instill confidence with me though.
Some pics of the takedown lever:
My final thoughts:
As a newer designed gun, many of them being MA compliant I can see why many are tempted to go with this gun over a used and expensive Glock. However, based on the issues that I've come across having owned the gun only briefly I think I'll be sticking with my Glock even it means paying a bit more and getting a used gun. It doesn't mean I don't like the gun (I do). I was just expecting a little more
OK. Let's see the flames start coming.
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UPDATE Range report 11/19/09
I shoot a Glock 34 in IDPA and recently came across a M&P Pro 9mm (The Glock 34 competitor). I was very open to having this gun be a replacement for the Glock as I see the benefit of having a gun people in MA can actually buy for a decent price. I also like having the newest design and the Glock is rather outdated.
This model does NOT have a MA compliant trigger and has a different sear making the trigger lighter than most M&P's. It also does NOT have a magazine disconnect nor does it have a fire selector lever.
M&P First impressions:
Pros:
- Very nice to be able to change grip sizes
- Comfortable gun to grip
- Fiber optic front sight is nice out of the box
- Trigger is nice out of the box (gritty for the first 50 pulls but cleaned up quickly)
- You can get a new one in MA for a decent price
- It's nicer looking than the Glock. (It should be. it's much newer)
Cons:
- Why the heck do I need to stick a tool into the ejection port to take the gun down? Really WTF? I don't want to have to disassemble the grip every time I field strip, or stick my pinky inside that. What if the slide slams forward with my finger in there? (Thanks to Jose who enlightened me that I could remove the disconnect lever. I did so promptly. Much better)
- The slide serrations are SHARP! After racking the gun a few times I notice I left a bunch of my dead skin cells on the slide. It's a nice exfoliator but I don't really need that.
- The frame does not seem to be as strong as my Glock. After removing the sear block to do some trigger work I found that some of the plastic guides are deforming. It's concerning because they guide the sear block into place and should they deform more, the sear block could loosen.
- My takedown lever had a large burr on it which would catch the recoil assembly unexpectedly. I had to file and polish it away.
- The recoil spring in the thing must be 500 pounds. Why?
When I first received this gun I did a trigger job at home almost immediately. I then compared it to my Glock trigger job (also done at home) and the M&P trigger ended up being MUCH nicer. It was largely due to the sear that comes with the M&P Pro. I feared that I'd actually want to switch to the M&P at this point and put down my Glocks.
However, the reset on the M&P leaves much to be desired. The Glock reset is very positive and easily confirmed with a "click". The M&P is not like that. Sort of like when you slap a girl's butt but you don't cup your hand the right way and it doesn't make the correct slap sound.
An interesting note: My Glock 34 recoil assembly has the exact same dimensions as the M&P Pro. I'll be testing the glock assembly in the M&P next time I'm at the range. When I first got the gun I had some issues with field stripping and re-assembly. I got the slide somewhat stuck on multiple occasions and could not figure out why. It was very frustrating. I found my takedown lever had a large burr on it. I was not happy but realize it could be remedied easily so I did so. This did not instill confidence with me though.
Some pics of the takedown lever:
My final thoughts:
- The Glock is very utilitarian and as a carry gun I think this what I will end up sticking with. It's simple. I've never had an issue field stripping it. I've never gotten the slide stuck during re-assembly. (Removing the burr and the sear disconnect should resolve this on the M&P)
- The Glock frame looks to be stronger than the M&P. The slide rails are built directly into the frame vs the plastic rails on the M&P. After firing thousand of rounds through the Glock 34, I see no noticeable wear on the frame.
- The finish on the Glock slide seems more durable than the M&P slide. I see a chip on the pin that holds my extractor in place. I've never seen a glock slide chip, only wear. I've also read about people having slide blemishes on the MP forums. On a new gun, I'm a little concerned
- Less is more. Don't give me disconnect levers, fancy things here and there. Don't make me have to disassemble the grip to field strip. If you want to consider this plastic gun an actual "duty gun", just give me the bare essentials and make sure it will never fail, never corrode, never get old. I'd rather have an ugly old gun with nothing special that I'm confident with. My pretty guns are all metal.
As a newer designed gun, many of them being MA compliant I can see why many are tempted to go with this gun over a used and expensive Glock. However, based on the issues that I've come across having owned the gun only briefly I think I'll be sticking with my Glock even it means paying a bit more and getting a used gun. It doesn't mean I don't like the gun (I do). I was just expecting a little more
OK. Let's see the flames start coming.
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.
.
.
.
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.
.
.
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UPDATE Range report 11/19/09
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
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