Hi!
Since a couple of days, I now own my first pistol (tried a couple in the past, but never owned one), a m&p9 (bought the carry and range kit) and I have a couple of questions about it.

First, I shot around 150 rounds with it, really love the way it shoots, seems to be a pretty good pistol!

Now my questions.
First, the recoil spring, just to make sure since I can't really see the image correctly in the manual, there is a flat circle end and a hexagonal end. The hexagonal end goes toward muzzle and the flat circle sits in the small notch in the barrel right? Is it normal that it protudes a little bit past the slide? And is it normal that when I re-insert the slide, the take down lever does not go back automatically that I have to put it up manually?

Second, the rear sights, even with the small screw removed, I can't move them by hand. I am scared to hit them with something, are they suposed to move freely with the screw removed or I will have to use something like plastic and hit them to make them move? And how hard should I hit for them to move?

And third, is it normal that with the uplula loader, the last round can't fit in the mag? Even when I depress completely until the mag follower seems to be in the bottom of the mag, looks like the small plastic tab on the uplula is too thick for the last round to have room to enter there's like 1mm missing, I have to kinda twist it around, both the loader and the round until it engages, then remove the loader and finish pushing the round in the mag. Tested with all my 5 mags. Btw, I have 10 round magazines if it changes anything, canadian laws....

Thanks a lot for your help!

The hex sticks out just a bit, you need to use a brass punch to move the sights, and the mag spring is super tight and you will have to hand load the last round till the spring breaks in.

Why do you want to move the sights on your pistol ?? you haven't said how you shot it .

Have you shot it from a rest where you can accurately see where it is hitting the target ?

Most inaccuracy is because of the shooter and not the weapon which is caused by how the shooter grips the pistol ..

If you think the pistol is shooting off target have an experienced shooter shoot the pistol and see where his shots are before even thinking of adjusting your sights !!

Thanks for the quick replies!

As for the "why to move the sights", just wanted to see how the gun works and stumbled on that part not moving. I would have probably screwed the factory sight-in, but after getting consistent grouping I was planning on having the sights re-adjusted. Probably a good idea to not touch them before tho

And for the "how I shoot", every bullet hole was a little bit right of center. The grouping was not tight, but it was quite centered on elevation, but right of center. I was told by a fellow shooter that it is probably due to having too much finger on the trigger, so I will switch on a bigger backstrap for next session to see if it helps (I tried the small backstrap on directly since I have small hands) and after checking at home, putting the medium one on does reduce a little bit the amount of finger on the trigger.

Take down levers vary. On one of my M&P's, you have to manually move it to wherever you want it to go. Flip it down for disassembly, it will stay there until you flip it back up. On another of my M&P's, it almost has a hard time staying flipped down; it will annoyingly flip itself back up even when I'm trying to remove the slide, but it will also flip back up on reassembly just by pulling the slide on.

I'd much prefer the firm, intentional lever. I have to prop a finger to hold the lever down on the more sensitive one for disassembly. I should look into making that detent more positive.

after having the side off .. putting it on the carriers and racking the slide forcefully should auto move the take down lever back into position on its own. Least that is the way mine operates and those I have seen on Youtube.

Also under the sights is a disc and spring and plunger, taking the sights off will allow this spring to fly out and off to some place in the room if not contained when removing the sights ! So be careful . Read up on your pistol would be wise before exploring by tearing your weapon apart with no idea of what one is doing ! You could lose parts and have to take to a Smitty for repair.

Welcome from the other CA (California). The 10 round mags are very tight. Many of us assume it's by design to prevent loading in #11 (we have 10 round limits here too). Otherwise sounds perfectly normal.

A few things more. You may have difficulty loading a full mag in with the slide closed. Reason is the same as loading in #10. Not enough room to compress the spring.

If you slam in a mag with the slide locked back, it may release the slide and chamber the first round. It's not designed that way but many do it. There's a warning in the manual about it.

The tool that holds on the backstrap is ridiculously tight. You need to twist it 90 degress (with the mag out) before you can pull it out to change the backstrap.