I would consider myself a ‘mid-level’ shooter. I train regularly in warm months, dryfire almost daily, I get consistent (about) 4" groups @25yds with my pistol offhand(slow), and can manage the recoil relatively effectively with 2 hands (have not trained much with 1 hand). I want to move into USPSA, move to 9mm, and start reloading now that I have a real job(engineer:cool:). My pistol is accurate enough for me, and has been 100% reliable so far. I have an m&p40 and eventually want to have a RDS installed on it.
However, I have reservations of the reliability of 9mm conversion barrels. I also have been reading that the new mp9s are getting good - accuracy and triggers. So my question is, at this level and with my future plans, would you buy a conversion barrel for ccw(and test it for reliability of course), and compete with 40?
Or would you sell the 40 and buy a new 9? with the prices grant has going, its only about $50 difference either way not taking into account my .40 carry ammo.
If you are going to be reloading, shoot 0.40 major in limited or load .40 minor for production. The latter shoots as soft or softer than 9 and still makes power factor. If I were a reloader, 40 could easily be the only caliber I owned.
About 5 years ago I was in your shoes. I owned mostly .40’s, and two 9mm’s. It was time for me to get into shooting as opposed to “Collecting.” All but one of my .40’s was sold, and I focused on buying only 9mm’s. The focus on 9mm was due to cost, low recoil, and the new and improved 9mm self defense loads.
You could keep your current .40 and supplement it with a new 9mm M&P. You could stick with .40 since you are already comfortable with the round and you probably have plenty of .40 ammo on hand.
Once I bought a 9mm, I saw an immediate improvement on my ability, and realized that the mild recoil of a 9mm was the way to go for me personally. If you can go rent some 9mm’s to help with your decision. Good luck with your decision. Making a switch is always a difficult decision. If you are happy with the performance of your M&P .40, you may want to keep that gun until you find a 9mm M&P that works for you.
My thoughts exactly, either that or rent an M&P 9 if any ranges near you do rentals. I’m actually going to be doing that with a S&W 442 J-frame tomorrow, as I am thinking of replacing my LCR with it. I’m going to shoot both side by side and see if I can shoot the 442 as good as I shoot my LCR. It’s always nice to compare shot to shot, especially when you have all the external stuff the same (weather, range, lighting, etc.) I have a feeling you’ll go 9 mil though, more rounds, less recoil, and with good SD ammo it performs just as good as 40.
I should clarify this. By “running both guns side-by-side” I mean “put a couple of thousand rounds through each of them while timing yourself on well-known realistic drills like El Pres, 1-5, Hack standards, etc.”
Awesome replies guys. So if I stick with the 40, would you buy a 9mm conversion bbl for carry? I guess I could think about that later… Looks like its time for new sights?
Additional question: I am a huge fan of tritium, but have no experience with fiberoptics. I have had meprolites before and liked them(on the cz I no longer own.) I am also a huge fan of 3-dot sites. I never felt they were “busy” and they feel very natural.
That said, I’m looking at trijicom HDs, tough&brite, and truglo tfos - I think the tfos have a lot of potential, initial problems but I havnt heard anything recent and think they may be worth a try now (im thinking they may have beefed them up).
For both ccw and USPSA(beginner/mid level) are there any other sights I should heavily consider? Any other suggestions? I think I have all the other gear I need to get started. I did 1 uspsa match so far and found out real quick the stock sights SUCK! Front sight vanished randomly the whole time.
I don’t have experience in competition, but if you like three dots HDs are hard to beat. But personally I’m a huge fun of warren tactical sights. They have quite a few configurations and options to choose from (tritium, FO, plain, different rear shapes) I like the tritium front/plain sevigny carry rear or the i-dot tritiums.
As to your original post, I say go 9mm all the way and never look back. But like I said, I’m not a gun gamer. If you’re unsure about the switch, you could just keep the .40 for a while to compare and if (when) you decide to “go steady” with 9mm, you can just sell the .40 and have a nice chunk of change for 9mm ammo and mags.
Just my $0.02 so take it for what it is; somewhere between ‘damn near nothing’ and ‘dog shit’.
I’m not sure I’d be comfortable carrying a conversion barrel due to possible reliability issues, but I’ll defer to others on that point. Also, a conversion barrel will almost definitely not hit the same POI as the 40 barrel, so you’ll need to rezero every time you switch. That’s why I recommended getting a new 9mm pistol–the cost of a sight tool (or adjustable sights) plus the ammo to rezero every time you switch will very quickly add up to the cost of a new pistol, but it’s an on-going cost, while the new pistol is a one-time thing.
Welcome to the world of competition. Keep your wallet handy.
Thinking about it, you may want to wait until your first season is over before you make any changes. No point packing the suitcase before you know what it’s going to be like when you get there.
I’m a 9mm guy myself for anything that isn’t a 1911. But I’m willing to bet that if you get started this year with what you already have, you’ll meet a few decent folk like the people on this forum that you can shoot with, learn from, and that will probably let you try their guns eventually if you’re a nice guy. Most people enjoy sharing what works for them because it took them a while to get there and they have a passion for it. You’ll get to see what you like that way, and will be able to make your choices from there. You might also want to hold off on buying the caliber specific parts of your reloading kit until you’ve made your decisions.
(That being said, the I-want-to-try-something-exciting-and-new-right-now part of me would be all over a new M&P9 with a fitted barrel from Grant with Apex internals and 10-8 sights, since that’s my end game in plastic pistols.)
Okay guys. Im sticking with the 40 for now and saving up for a reloader (and I have to pick out some sights).
My plan for down the road is to buy a 9mm mp from grant with a fss and all the good stuff, swap top ends and slowly keep modding the 40 (which at this time will have the nice trigger) for competitions - and Ill keep my current frame/new 9mm slide combo for carry.
I take more classes when it colder -10 due to where I live gotta learn how to dump mittens, and find that gun under a parka & 5 layers of clothing…LOL
If your’re reloading (depending on component availability) your 40 ammo costs will be lower than factory 9mm
I was in the same boat, how ever at the time free training ammo was available in 40 SW (no brainer buy 9mm and own ammo or buy MP 40 sw shoot for free)
since then I also took up reloading, Dillon Square Deal in 40 SW I can “powder puff” my loads then finish the session with full power loads.
Similar to training with a 22lr (Same platform to build muscle memory) but starting and finishing with full power loads
Before you think about reloading you better do some math. At current 9mm ball prices you cannot reload with jacketed bullets for less. The problem reloading 40 is 90% of the brass you pickup will be bulged beyond what a sizing die will fix. A case pro will do it for a price. GH
