By the way, WTH = What The Heck????

I bought a brand new M&P 2.0 10mm a few weeks back because with the S&W rebate, I thought it was a good deal. The rebate process was "OK". I filled out the online form and attached PDF's of both the receipt and box end label. Two days later I received a email saying the rebate couldn't be processed because it lacked documentation. Say what??? Went back to the website, spoke with "Juan" via chat who, after a few minutes said he "found" the documentation and everything would proceed. Alrighty then!

Out of the box, the gun looked good but the trigger was horrible. The long pull was expected, the feeling of 5 pounds of sand and a 'hitch' before releasing wasn't. The store I bought it from has a "trigger locks will not be removed until the gun is on it's way out the door" policy, so it wasn't something I could try before hand. Bad triggers can usually be taken care of via the aftermarket and Apex has a nice, albeit pricey replacement that promises to 'cure what ails ya'. I ordered one and I put it in today. Installation wasn't difficult thanks to Apex's online video's. How various manufacturer's design their products is always of interest and I have to say S&W's design of this gun is no exception. Some of the parts are cheesy and cheap but not to the point where I would recommend against purchasing the model. Installed, the Apex made a magical transformation. Some of the take up was removed but more importantly, the "rocks in the works" feeling was gone and the trigger broke at a much lighter/cleaner pull. Mission one accomplished.

Mission two: old eyes make red dots almost mandatory and since the pistol came red-dot-ready, I bought a Burris Fastfire. Here's where things got ugly and WTH was encountered. Screw number 1 holding the factory sight base cover plate came loose, no sweat. Screw number 2 wasn't budging. The teeny-tiny allen wrench promptly rounded the hole. Arrrgh. Having had similar situations, I found a Torx bit that was snug enough it required a rap to seat. I proceeded to heat the screw up with my soldering station - set to 750 degrees. 4 minutes later, I tapped in the Torx and.... it too stripped, making the once hex hole round. Arrrgh again! Back to the soldering station with a small ez-out stuck in a tap handle. 4 more minutes of heat and a lot of pressure, the screw finally broke free.

Alas, the tale of woe is not yet done. Although the threads in the hole appear fine (well, actually they are coarse), the screws used to hold the sight and adapter plate won't thread into that one hole. So operation Red Dot is now on hold until I can find my 6-32 tap to chase the threads and make they good again. <SIGH>

So, the Good: Gun is reasonably priced and comes with all the adapter plates needed for a red dot sight.

The Bad: The trigger, obviously but that is ea$ily fixed.

The WTH: What the heck happened to that screw? Had the ezout failed, I had visions of cutting off the plastic cover and using vice grips (no, not really!) or sending it back to Mother-ship and listen to them chide me for 'boogering up' the screw.

All this and I still can't say how it shoots because of a stupid screw hole! Stay tuned....

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!