I just learned from a buddy that Honolulu PD is replacing all of its M&Ps. A quick Google search shows many other large departments are or have followed suit (Texas DPS, for example) What’s wrong with them? These things were touted as the next big thing (a “Glock Killer” ) when they were introduced but somehow they have failed to live up to the hype.
I was already heavily invested in Glocks, so I have limited experience with them and I am looking for insight. Regardless about your personal, potentially biased views on the M&P the facts are that several large departments have tossed the M&P after putting it into service for only a few short years. How can the bean counters justify that expense of taxpayer money without good cause?
Are LEA’s just out blowing money needlessly playing with the newest toys they can find or are there serious shortcomings?
I am not defending them, but big departments are dropping Glocks, HKs, SIGs, etc all the time. I always figured the new chief just owed some kickbacks to somebody.
Keep in mind many cops and agencies are not gun guys so to speak. So more often then not these decisions are based on price, and popularity, and past exp.
Anytime a governmental unit spends money, there’s politics involved. Not defending the M&P…I had one and didn’t like it at all (crappy trigger and inaccurate barrel), but purchasing decisions are made with quality and performance only as secondary goals.
I think it’s also along the lines of the old adage, make a good product and people will tell 10 of their friends. Make a bad product and they’ll tell 1,000. You don’t hear of the many PD that have no issues and keep their M&P, which I suspect a far larger % of those changing over to something else. When you factor in performance/quality secondary to purchase considerations, especially for larger PDs, and other factors, hearing of a PD changing over does not help decision making one way or another. Unlike other companies we can name (who blamed serious problems on “user error”), S&W does tend to listen to feedback, and each gen has gotten better, and S&W is well known for making it right if problems arise in most cases.
From what I just heard is that they are replacing the M&Ps with Glocks and slating the M&Ps for destruction. Not sale, up and destroying them.
Now, I have my personal opinions of the M&P platform, but will leave that as a personal opinion. But any department that is willing to up and shitcan over half a million in firearms has its head up its ass, I am sorry. Even if they sold them used as half what they paid for them they are still completely wasting money, and here I thought budgets were tight? :suicide:
Much of the time today the distributor or manufacturer takes the agency’s old weapons in trade. One local agency was looking at switch and got weapon, holsters, mag pouch, and light for $150.00 per set with their weapons in trade.
At one point some agencies were getting into the updated version of the manufacturer’s weapon for almost straight across, I assume the profit was made reselling the trade in weapons.
Reference M&P, there were some magazine issues that got a lot of publicity, and then the accuracy thing. Here locally, the M&P really never took off. Worked with 18 new officers from various agencies today on the range - 15 Glocks, 2 Sigs, 1 M&P.
Either way I could give two algores who drops the M&P, just like that silly AR chart everyone used to harp on it’s BS.
I’ve only had 2 M&Ps both were dead solid perfect for thousands of rounds. My shield keeps on ticking at around 5k now…not 25k I know, but for 360 bucks it’s hard to argue with.
As for real pistols I’d dumped the striker junk and moved to Sig and CZ.
FWIW…HPD has never used the M&P. They used S&W 5906s replaced with G17GEN4s. Its the 5906s that are being destroyed, to include around 200 NIB never issued. I didn’t notice the model number in the article but can assure you its not M&Ps.
The TXDPS fiasco with the M&P was nonsense. They repeatedly claimed that they found “movement of several microns” in their pistols or some such idiocy.
I doubt there’s anyone working for TXDPS that has the mental ability to measure in microns, even if they did have the equipment.
0.00003937007874015748–That’s the conversion of a micron to an inch.
I wasn’t aware it was such a trend. ATL PD also changed M&P to Glock, last year or so ago. It got covered pretty well on some forums. Issues and then company support was a thing.
But it seems to me about 4-5 years ago roundabouts, on this forum we were assured the M&P was going to eat up VAST swaths of Glock LE market share. Didn’t pan out.
“You wanna be the champ, you gotta beat the champ.”
Now the 320 or the VP9 are going to do the same thing. Maybe one of them will. The 320 is probably poised to do so more than the HK what with armorer support complexities of the more complex design et al. Maybe SOCOM is about to leave the Glock en masse too. Or maybe they already have!
Nah. Glock has been brilliant in their marketing. They’ve become so entrenched in the law enforcement landscape that it represents an almost insurmountable lead over any newcomers despite the fact that all of those challengers are probably better firearms. A triumph of marketing over quality.
