I shot the new M&P45 Mid Size last night -- over six years since buying and reviewing the one mentioned in the first post on this thread. I shot around 200 rounds of fairly stout handloads, both FMJ and JHP. Strong recoil, a bit more than I remembered, but quick recovery. Accuracy was very good and consistent. This is a nice pistol, as good as I remembered it.

Total reliability - everything fed, fired, and ejected. Remember when you used to have to shoot ball ammo in the 1911, because JHP would get stuck on the feed ramp. No such issues with the M&P.

The pistol's striker leaves a solid impression in the primer, with a slight "tail" mark from the shell's ejection. This pistol's reliability right out of the box is a great thing and means a lot to me. I recently purchased a top brand name 9mm striker-fired pistol that I enjoy shooting but it is finicky with ammo and while still new is perplexing in that it has failures to feed and eject periodically. In the long run, anything less than total reliability makes a pistol a candidate for "gun trader" on the web.

The trigger on the M&P45 is heavy with a relatively short and smooth (not "gritty") takeup and an emphatic break. My guess is that it is around 8 lbs. I will leave it this way for now. Often M&Ps lighten up a bit and smooth out more after some use.

Fit and finish on the M&P45 are superb. This model has the magazine safety, which means no safety warning printed on the right side of the slide. I will replace the safety lever with a spacing spring (Mag Safety Deactivation Spring, part #1787, $4 from Speed Shooter Specialties). The magazine safety is unnecessary and complicates takedown.

The 500 bullets (230 grain round nose plated) arrived from Xtreme, and a reloading session is next. The goal will be to make a number of different loads, maybe 20 rounds in each, to see what works and what the gun likes, starting with lighter loads. My guess is this pistol will shoot everything well, unless too light in power. Powders to be used include Unique, Power Pistol, and TiteGroup.

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S&W Rover