Hey everyone! I was wondering how the kick is in the M&P Compact .40. I shoot my Full size .40 sigma with no problems, but I have never shot any compact .40 and I was just wondering if the small grip gives anyone trouble. I'm debating on getting a compact .40 or Compact .9. Is there that big of difference with the m&p compacts?

Yes, unfortunately, there is quite a kick in the MP40C. I have an MP40FS and like it fine. I shoot it regularly with good accuracy. It is my Home Defense gun. I recently started searching for a good Concealed Carry gun and tried the MP40C as a logical first step. I like the .40 S&W cartridge and felt it was particularly good to cure the loss of power due to a shorter barrel. But The kick messed up my accuracy badly. I then started looking at small guns in 9 mm and found several good ones that are fairly easy to shoot. The MP9C is a smooth shooter. Smaller guns I like include the Ruger SR9c, XD9sc and the Glock 26. They all have less recoil than the MP40C. If S&W added some weight to the MP40C, it might shoot smoother.

To check recoil on any gun, look at the recoil rating on Genitron.com - The Handgun Information Resource - Home Page. They give theoretical number that agrees pretty well with my experience shooting a lot of different types of handguns.

Everyone was telling me how the recoil in the 40c was noticeable, how it made the pistol less accurate, how it made it harder to get back on target. I have noticed none of these. With good form and training the kick is extremely manageable. The 40c is my favorite pistol and I carry it every day. I shoot the compact better than the full size, and after putting through enough rounds at the range I feel confident with the 40c by my side.

^^^Same story for me with the M&P 40 compact. I really like it a lot. I was suprised how accurate it is for a "compact". Practice, practice and practice.

I have the full size .40 and have shot the compact, I wouldn't own the .40 compact because of the kick. I have had a torn ligament in my hand and have a metal hinge in it too. My EDC is a XDM9c

Just put 100rds through my new .40c and was somewhat surprised. The recoil does seem to be slightly stronger than my full size .40, but what really surprised me is that the recoil seems to be "different" from the fs. The best I can describe the sensation that I get with the c is that I actually feel the slide movement, where with the fs I just feel the recoil. Don't get me wrong, I like the c and with some practice should be able to shoot it as well as the fs.

Yes, the shorter barrel contributes to a higher rotational torque which changes the timing of the return to POA when trying to shoot rapidly.
I am more bothered by the change of timing than by the actual increase in recoil force.
One of our top shooters switched from .40 (which he shoots all the time) to 9mm in a club match just to see what it was like, and the timing change drove him crazy. He switched back to his .40 after a couple of stages.

You wouldn't think that such a subtle change in return to POA would be noticeable, but apparenty it is. Not the gun's fault, its just what we are used to seeing and feeling.

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Science plus Art

Thanks for the advice. That Genitron site is awesome. Thanks for sharing that Tom. The compact I want to buy would be for CC. I'm thinking about going with the 9mm c. But I do like the fact that you can buy the .40 and convert to 9mm. But I also heard that sometimes the converted 9mm doesn't extract the shells so I wouldn't want to conceal the converted 9mm. Decisions, decisions. I'll let you guys know what I go with. Thanks again everyone!