It has several stickers on the box: 1) A blue circle, 2) a yellow circle, 3) the one with the model, caliber (9mm), type, barrel, and SKU (309701), and 4) a smaller white sticker with bar codes, “BPS” in the upper left corner, “GB: 16066” in the upper right, “LOW” in the lower left, and “S&W 309701LE M&P 9MM 4 1/4 NS” in the middle between bar codes.
I’d like to think this is an LE gun, but the lack of a 3rd mag and the fact that the 9mm M&P isn’t listed on Smith’s website as a LE gun leave me wondering.
I think the LE guns have a different striker. Mine doesn’t look like the cast silver striker I ordered as a backup. Mine looks like it was turned down on a lathe, nitrided, and polished.
I was told by the guy I sourced it from that it was an LE model. I am on the road, away from the gun. It came with 3 mags and factory installed Trijicon 3 dot night sights.
I knew I’d get this kind of response from at least one person. Why even bother wasting your precious time posting in this thread if it makes no difference to you?
But, just to humor you, it is a legitimate and simple question. It has been commonly posted that the LE guns get more QC and TLC than the non-LE M&Ps. Smith apparently cares more about LE than non-LE citizens. And, if spamsammich is correct, the LE guns get a different and perhaps upgraded striker. M&Ps have a bit of a reputation for striker breakage.
Is it really too much to ask to know whether or not I am being defended by the best possible tool at my disposal? Isn’t this entire site pretty much about having top-notch fighting equipment?
Personally, if I need to order a replacement part for my gun, I want it to be the same part unless it was proven obsolete or inferior. If LE guns get a better or different striker, I want it. I do notice a difference in trigger pull when I go between the replacement striker I ordered from Brownells and my stock striker.
the original striker feels better, but it has been polished with use. I’m sure the new one can be improved upon over time as well or I can polish it with a really fine stone or maybe some flitz.
Go over to the M&P forum… www.mp-pistol.com Then click on FAQ forum, 3rd page, post titled “SKU” it has a list of the sku# that S&W uses, including LE SKU’s. To answer your question, if it’s a LE pistol the SKU will begin with a 3…
EDIT: Looks like I got some bad dope about the # of mags. All LEO guns come with 3.
The others are correct that the SKU’s are the only way to tell. Plus if you look really close there is a Chuck Norris beard hair under the sear on LE guns:p.
As for the strikers, it was my impression that all new productions Smiths from late 2009 on have the revised striker. I just looked at some commercial guns the other day and they look to have the same striker as the LE guns.
I was running my hands around the gun, noticing the lack of sharp edges…that is until I found the Chuck Norris beard hair under the sear and now I can’t stop bleeding…might…need…a…tourniquet…
The really hard part about replacing the sear with the Apex sear was SAFELY getting the beard hair back in place. That beard hair is what tames the recoil of the .40s and .357 sigs…
Im still wondering how the hair was removed from Mr Norris’s beard…
Its common knowledge that behind the beard there is not a chin but only another fist, so if you try to clip off a hair, you will just get punched in the face by his chin/fist…
I dont even think that Mr Norris himself has the ability to pull out/cut one of those bad boys…
My guess is that the different SKU’s for “LE” guns is merely to let someone know at the end of the production line to throw a third magazine into the box.
LE guns get a third magazine and, depending on intended end-user, may get slightly different QC checks.
Neither Smith nor any other reputable handgun manufacturer puts “good parts” in LE guns and “bad parts” in commercial guns. Commercial guns are just as likely – perhaps more likely – to see hard use and high round counts. Plus, it would be a logistical nightmare to keep two different versions of a part for production.
Plus, for most manufacturers, it’s not uncommon to take a stale inventory of LE guns and repackage them for commercial sale, or vice versa.
I have two M&P Compacts that are LE guns. They came with factory night sights, three magazines, and equipped with the magazine disconnect. Both were purchased through an LE distributor. Nothing else special on the firearms. I paid $480.
