Went to the Indy 1500 Gun& Knife the week- end and it appears the "feeding frenzy" is over. Most calibes of ammo were available and prices are getting back to normal.
That said, I was cheching out various brands of MSR (AR style for us older guys) and I must say the exterior fit and finish on the few S&W I looked at were much better than the fit and finish on almost all of the other brand names that I looked at.
I compared finish of several side by side and I believe the M&P to be superior to the major competitors in the price class. If the exterior is better, it should stand to reason the major components should be better as well.
Again, this only my observation and I may be slightly biased as I own both an M&P 15 MOE and a M&P 22 MOE and have found both to be 100% reliable.
I do not intend to start a flame over who makes the best AR, but rather an observation based on just the fit and finish of the exterior.