My 40 has proven to be very accurate.
The trigger on my 2012 model has not hindered my shooting to any appreciable extent.
It’s reliable
There are many aftermarket parts.
If your getting a 40, mp is the way to go imo.
9mm I’d go glock. Both platforms have cheap mags and a ton of support.
I don’t know what was expected to be the market share, but one of the reasons I got an m&p40 was because it was the only widely available, good, poly striker out at the time.
Not sure I agree. I have to go with scootle and say it would be hard to argue that the M&P series has been a failure. The Shield alone has been a huge, huge success. I’m a glock fan but I will admit the M&P line has better ergonomics and is right up there in reliability. I get the argument many feel the need to drop $150 on a the APEX trigger, but they come with steel sights. With Glock’s plastic sightholders you have to drop $100 on new sights. Pretty much evens out IMO.
I think that only Glock could be a “Glock killer”. Meaning that they would have to hurt themselves somehow. For my the 9mm guns were always “in between”. The full size was to big and the compacts were to small. I went from a 19/26 carry combo to a full size/ compact M&P carry combo and thought they both sucked. Now I have only 45 M&P’s and feel that the compact 45 is the best size pistol they have. It is a 19 size and I have heard numerous people asking for that gun in 9mm. If they were to do that, and directly compete with the 19, they would most likely take more market share.
That’s funny, I was JUST talking to my cousin about that on Wednesday! But we started with the Shield.
We thought it was so S&W could provide an alternative to Glock instead of direct competition. I mean it must have been intentional!
I couldn’t agree more. I would love to see an 9mm M&P in the same dimensions as the compact 45.
I think one of the biggest gripes about the M&P is the trigger. It’s also my opinion that a lot of people don’t like it because it doesn’t feel like a glock trigger. I never really warmed up to glocks even though I tried so I snagged a fairly early model FS 9 from Grant and have been happy since. I’d probably like the latest and greatest FS 9 more but mine runs just fine and I’m used to it.
I may ride a little fast and someday it may catch up and bite me in the ass but maybe not if I give it just a little more gas.
My full sized 45 and 9 have been rock solid reliabmer, and I really like shooting them better than the Glocks. My 9c has been teublesome, but it seems to work fine after coming back from the shop. Any polymer pistol has a high hill to climb in to dethrone the reputation Glock established many years before, including fewer parts and simpler detail strip than any similar handgun.
I thought they designed it around the 40.
The 9mms straight up sucked for a few years and I’m not a 40 guy so the M&P never appealed to me at all.
Most Glock people compare everything to the 19. That’s why so few people move away from Glock.
The only thing close is a P2000, and if you’re not into horrible triggers and obnoxiously big slide stop levers flopping everywhere, you won’t really like it as much as a 19.
Correct… the M&P started with the .40SW and then “downconverted” to a 9mm offering. Meanwhile, IIRC, Glock did the opposite, starting with 9mm (G17 et al.) and then “upconverting” to .40SW (G22 et al.)…
The 9mm M&P’s had growing pains… just like the .40SW Glocks had growing pains… just sayin’ 
The usual S&W M&P Defenders are not in here getting angry that their prized possessions are being outed for what they really are - just not that great.
I wonder if they are regrouping or if they’ve seen the light?
We’re just not as sensitive as the nutty Glock fanatics.
Nutty? Did you forget that I sold a G19? I don’t have that many anymore.
Even if I did, GLOCKS are Perfection. tisk tisk
Considering that my M&P’s are justifying a place alongside excruciatingly nice 1911’s, and that I can still assemble a FS M&P9 NS/TS with FSS or DCAEK/AET kit and spare mags for half the price of a good semi-custom, in my price range they’re extremely competitive. Sure $800 should buy a hell of a lot of pistol, but anything else in that price range that works as well for me absorbs as much work and winds up costing more. I’ve been happy with the accuracy for my pair of FS9’s, and my pair of 9mm shields really outshoot my ability for something that size - I just need to get around to installing tritium fronts on both, and 10-8 rears on both of them and I’ll be thrilled.
I think they exceeded what reasonable expectations should have been - they were entering an already crowded market where their biggest competitor was already making solid and vetted models in GA, and had arguably better dealer support from the outset of this (due to S&W’s historical market share decline), and have actually succeeded in claiming a respectable fraction of the market, and basically prompted the creation of the G42 to boot. Apex really helped with adoption for competitive and the high end tactical market, since their product line addressed most of the issues from early on for those willing to spend more than $500 on a pistol; realistically dethroning the G19 as the best handgun bang for the buck wasn’t ever in the cards, but even getting close is an impressive showing.
I still think the M&P is a very valid handgun. I migrated over from 1911’s and this is what I migrated to. It points naturally and the recent and current iterations only have minor challenges to overcome. A quick trigger job and the trigger bests a box stock VP9 or PPQ and swap out the sights (which for me is the first thing that happens on any handgun) and you are essentially gtg. The Glock is a fine handgun, but I didn’t want to have to “learn” to love the grip angle and I don’t care for the trigger. Are there better handguns out there, straight out of the box? More then likely, but it is still more then serviceable. It’s a tool and it works. Add in a strong aftermarket presence and a true compact offering as well as a .22 offering and its a solid platform.
I have heard this said twice in this thread alone, and I hear it all the time…“maybe I’m just lucky, or I haven’t experienced any of the problems of other m&p owners, or I don’t have the accuracy problems, etc.” These statement, imo, tell the true story of the completely inconsistent QC that S&W put into this venture. Do I claim the platform is defunct…no, but after my personal experiences with the platform I can tell you I will not be trusting MY life to the S&W M&P line. I purchased mine for roughly $500, and experienced the unlocking issue that created inconsistent grouping, so I sent $150 more on a match barrel (now I have spent $650). This resolved the grouping issue…somewhat as I was still able to out shoot the platform and my pistol skills are average at best. I added new sights, but I do this to all handguns as I prefer what I prefer ($100 so we are at $750, but as I said the same can be added to any handgun I purchase). Replaced the trigger with an APEX FSS, the handgun began having 2-5 light strikes per mag with ALL ammo, switched trigger back to factory (spent $160 for nothing, but still spent so we are at $910). I then set forth on a mission to get the feel of the FSS and the reliability of the factory (I did enjoy the FSS feel quite a bit). I bought the APEX DCAEK, and installed that (another $75, so now $985). The light strikes began again, but this time much less frequent, but the trigger felt less than ideal (still wanted the FSS feel). I then bought a new trigger bar, as I assumed it was the timing so I planned to fiddle with the loop ($35), bought a high power striker assembly ($30). Basically, at this point the gun was accurate, reliable, and had a decent trigger, and with holsters and a few other accessories I was heavily invested ($1050 on the handgun alone), but I could not shake the light strikes from my mind. Let’s just say my faith was shaken in the platform, even knowing I created the light strikes by modifying the gun didn’t alleviate this nagging feeling. Basically I had now spent well over $1000 on a CCW pistol that I just didn’t trust, so I sold it to an RO at my local range (he loves it and competes with it). I then bought a Walther PPQ, added sights ($595 for the handgun and $125 for a mixed set of Dawson/10-8 sights) and never looked back…better trigger feel, way way way more accurate, better size (similar to G19), better ergos, and around 7k rounds thus far and no hiccups yet (knocks on wood). That is my take on M&P this far…nice try but they need work.
There are plenty of reasons to switch from Glock, external safety being one of them. The reasons to switch is probably not the issue. It maybe more on the politics of firearm acquisition/contracts, and in some cases the reliability issues of the M&P. Also Glock has a long-standing reputation with many agencies already so this is quite hard to overcome.
I’ve never had any issues with my M&P’s and Glock’s. Given the option I would still go with an M&P but only slightly.
Um… you spent way too much modifying a perfectly fine pistol IMO.
If you had problems out of the box, let S&W fix it with the warranty. Other than sights, I leave my Glock’s and M&P’s alone. Triggers are not perfect on either line, but that is something than can be overcome with practice.
Actually I had accuracy issues out of the box, so modifying the pistol was necessary to achieve “decent” accuracy. . I would question the phrase “perfectly fine”, as perfectly fine in a carry weapon is quite a bit different than “perfectly fine” for a range toy. In this case the qualification of carry weapon made me 100% positive the M&P was anything but “perfectly fine”. As far as the trigger goes, the PPQ is pretty close to perfect, and although I haven’t had any trigger time with the VP9 I have heard it is near perfect as well, so why settle on a product that does not meet MY wants/needs. What I am trying to articulate is, with all the options out there why would anyone “settle” for an M&P with sketchy QC, mushy trigger and suspect accuracy. Like I stated is it a junk gun? No, but I’m not confident enough in the platform to place my life in the hands of an M&P. In addition, as I did state (in a convoluted fashion) the modifications were attempted to make a platform that wasn’t right to begin with (for me), right. In the end I just went with a platform that was right for me, and I’m happier. The point of this thread is basically how has S&W done thus far with the M&P line, and my answer is I would grade them a C- . At that grade, and for similar cost, there are much better platforms to be had.
Well it seems you had a bad pistol out of the box. Sorry to hear that. I can’t comment on your accuracy issue with the M&P since I dont’ know your shooting technique or the flaws on the pistol itself.
No pistol is perfect, even the Glock. No matter how much they claim perfection. Yes I’ve owned so many of them and still think they are not perfect. For now I’m running a G19 G4 for both CCW and 3gun. Its quite an ugly pistol compared to a HK or M&P, but it does the job.
You’re forgetting the Sig P320 Compact.