I bought a Storm Lake 9mm barrel for one of my M&P full size pistols. At first the groups were 10"-18" at 15 yds but after a.couple of.hundred rounds :mad: settled down and shot better. Better but not real consistent. My best group was 1 1/2" at 20 yds but it probably averaged 3" Ok but nothing to write home about. So today I faced and recrowned the barrel and the group size dropped.dramatically. my best group was one ragged hole except for one flyer.
I know a bunch of you have 9mm M&P barrels which don’t shoot well for you for some reason so if anyone would like to.try a $10 experiment I would like to recrown a few 9mm barrels and see if it makes any difference. No promises of any improvement but if you want to pay shipping both ways I will crown the barrel for free and shoot a before and after group.
Interesting. Do you think that hand fitting the barrel to the slide makes a difference too (assuming you’re using an oversize SL barrel)? I was under the impression that accuracy problems with some of the M&P’s was more about barrel lockup than crown.
I realize that, but if the problem with M&P accuracy is indeed lack of solid barrel lockup, would there be an advantage to hand fitting the barrel to the slide over recrowning?
You apparently have some gunsmithing skills, so I’m curious as to your take and how this might relate to the often-rumored accuracy issues that some M&Ps have.
I believe the fitting the hood to the slide would increase the accuracy potential but I don’t know how much. I have had a lot of success with pistols by just facing the barrel so the surface is parallel to the bore and then crowning the barrel. In my collection of M&Ps (13) I don’t have any factory barrels that don’t shoot acceptably, except for the one I replaced after 70k rounds
I realize that a lot of folks have M&P barrels that don’t shoot well for them. Some of the problems are no doubt software issues and some are probably hardware issues.
I think that this would be an interesting experiment
I’m up for an experiment if you’re willing. I have two M&P 9 full size pistols. One is a couple years old and one is a mid 2012 manufacture.
Have you experienced the wildly varying POI that seems common? It is definitely an issue with both of mine.
The older one has been to the factory twice to address the accuracy issue. When new I was getting anything from 4.75 - 12" 10 round groups at 25 yards with various ammo. S&W first sent me a barrel with the chamber throat unfinished so loaded rounds would not chamber. A second trip back and they fixed that. The new barrel has cut avg group size down to 6ish inches but POI still varies radically between different ammo.
The newer M&P is (like the original) shooting 10+" groups with the factory ammo I’ve tried but I did not bother trying any premium ammo. I’ve yet to send it off because I’ve been waiting to see what Apex comes up with or if I should have Grant do a Storm Lake barrel.
For comparison an ancient Ruger P94 I have will shoot 3 - 5" 10 round 25 yd groups while a 22/45 I have shot sub 2" 10 rd groups the same day using Federal bulk pack .22 ammo.
Both M&P’s are in 100% factory configuration and I have no doubt I am still learning how to master the M&P sproingy trigger pull which is probably contributing to the problem.
Would you want both complete pistols sent to you or what is your preference? I’m guessing I’d need to have my FFL ship them to you to stay legal.
There are certainly POI differences with loads but as wildly as you see.
Just send your barrel.
I now have around 10 barrels to test so that should be enough for now
I think this little test should be interestimg. I have done the same test with a group of s&w revolvers and most showed improvement several showed amazingimprovement
