Glock will receive the majority (if not all) of the ATF contract, but the award opens the door to S&W to receive contracts from other Federal Agencies. Individual officers in the ATF can also purchase the M&P if they so choose.
I think that many will simply view this as a defeat for S&W, but it will open up doors that have been closed to them in the past.
In the other ATF/Glock selection thread, someone asked about the user induced malfunctions that was listed in the report. That’s a good question. My only guess is that the shooter(s) had their thumb on the slide release (not allowing the slide to lock to the rear). Don’t really know though.
Grip inadvertently stopping the slide from locking to the rear is a fairly common occurrence, at least in my experience. It’s also somewhat common for folks to mess up the operation of the slide release. It’s possible with the right grip for a lot of folks to reload the M&P without shifting their hands. They can put either their thumb or index finger on top of the slide release and basically let the inertia of their finger operate the release as they slam the mag in.
The downside is that if they mangle the insertion of the mag they can bump-release the slide that way before the mag is in the gun, which requires racking the slide to get the gun up again.
I don’t know if that’s the sort of thing that got counted in the “user induced malfunction” category or if it’s referring to something like “limp wristing”. Speaking personally, I’ve never been able to make an M&P choke by limp-wristing it, not even when using just a 2 finger grip. (Tip of thumb and trigger finger) The details of that particular aspect of the testing would be nice, but the handful of people who know them have all signed NDA’s and refuse to talk about it.
As I stated in the old thread, one of the testers for the ATF was shocked to learn that Glock was selected. I hope we hear more details in the future as to why and what.
Both are outstanding platforms in their current iteration, and would feel well armed being issued with either one. This is a win for GLOCK, S&W and the end users of these weapons systems.
There are a few more Smith M&P’s showing up in individual Officer’s holsters here in my area with several depts. But still it’s overwhelmingly Glocks in .40 and .45
If anything I think this will bring the Smith offering a little more into the eyes of people that might not have tried it before and that’s a good thing.
I’m curious as to why so much of the selection process is kept secret after the fact…
I’m sure departments across the country would love to see the results of the test to make their own conclusions.
At least we get to see that Sig isn’t up to the job. Unless, of course, you don’t place too high of an emphasis on reliability instead of officer impressions :haha:
I’m speculating, but it could have come down to cost. Glock may have lowered the price so far that the ATF couldn’t resist. But, if both designs passed the technical portion they could have authorized a buy on the M&P as well. Just a guess though.
In any case, I see this as a pretty significant warning to Glock. Since they authorized the S&W as well as the Glock, if Gaston’s crew screws up, the ATF can switch to the M&P. It could be a way to keep Glock in line.
This is of course possible, but to be honest, most gun companies will give away their pistols at cost just to win the contract and make their money back when they buy the agencies used guns (and then re-sell them).
Smith & Wesson just traded their M&P40s to the Tampa Police Department for their 9mm Glocks this year. They also gave them brand new holsters (Blackhawk SERPAs) and traded them for their 9mm ammunition. Tampa Police were still carrying gen 2 Glocks as the gen 3 was disallowed because of the light rail.
I’ve never seen it that bad but I’ve seen it used to search a vehicle for contraband after the occupants were removed. It was addressed and not repeated.
Regardless if the contrat will be mostly filled by Glock. It is a good step for S&W. I for one want to know why the M&P wasn’t chosen if testers were suprised by the choice in Glock.
In their case they were using 9mm Glocks. Thus, why I found it “gay”. Some departments restrict the use of attached lights/lasers on their pistols which seems far more reasonable than restricting pistols with rail attachements which has become the manufacturing norm.
