We were told in a M&P pistol recert that the company had decided they wanted to stop paying more for a nitriding process for which they had to pay royalties (trade name), so they decided to buy the equipment and start doing it themselves. It started a couple years ago, give or take, depending on the guns. I seem to recall seeing the M&P Bodyguard using the new in-house process first (name change), before the rest of the M&P pistols and rifles.

FWIW, consider that they can do the process for an outside gun company's products, and the other gun company can call the process whatever name they may wish for their guns when they market them.

There's big business in being able to provide this sort of process, and S&W has been in the business of providing such services, as well as forging and heat treat, for some time. They'll quickly recoup their investment and attract even more business among the industry.

I apologize for being fuzzy on remembering some details, but it all starts to blur together after a while. Not counting the 8 classes/recerts I've attended for the 3rd gen's, SW99/P99's and revolver (and we won't count the Sigma and SW armorer class), I've been through 5 M&P pistol armorer classes, 2 M&P rifle classes and a Shield class. I recently turned down a chance to do another rifle armorer class at no charge, but since I'm no longer having to support them as an armorer, and have already been through 2 Colt classes and an "outside" AR (retired FBI armorer) class, I didn't have the interest. The things you hear in the different classes, and during calls to the factory now and again, all start to get mixed together in the memory. Fortunately, I also have a lot of notes, even if I didn't always date them, so I can sometimes figure out where/when I was told something.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer