Do you know the weight a m&p 4.25 40 slide , recoil spring and barrel are ? My old gen 1 4.25" 40 weight is 1lb 1.8oz and narrower . Thats good for CC so you can now weigh your vp40 slide for a real comparison . Also the old stock trigger was also a nothing special 5lb.5oz 11 years ago . . My gen 2 is a 5" an has is heavier upper weight of 1lb 4.1oz with a bone stock pull weight of 4lb 8.7oz average after 500 rounds .

I'm an old 1911 shooter so my m&p has a thumb safety option . Not a fan of finger grooves and prefer m&p's grip to VP .

Glad you have what you like now , good luck Just don't think the VP40 is a better handgun , Just different ! I like the P2000 in 40sw except for the shorter barrels . Only reason I did not buy one .

My M&P .40 has proven to be a very soft shooting pistol and the one my sister, who weighs 105lbs soaking wet, likes to shoot most.

The observations in this thread make me think that the Glock 23C I tried 20 years ago didn't really do the 40 S&W cartridge justice. Mind you, I was convinced that gun needed a new RSA because the empties were really flying. Could that be the problem with your G22?

Maybe when things settle down a bit domestically, I might try and score a surplus M&P in 40 just to see what's what in the modern era.

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Release the Kraken

I suspected as much, and replaced the RSA. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, we’ll see.

This one is a Gen 4, and has a different spring assembly. That may have something to do with it.

First .40 S&W I shot was a Gen 3 G35. Gave me a case of Glock knuckle and caused me to write off the notion of .40 S&W.

A couple years later, I got to shoot an XDM .40 S&W, and it was quite pleasant compared to that G35. Part of it was probably just how that G35 fit my hand; though IIRC, people said that the G35 had a lighter than ideal recoil spring.

I tend to use underwood 155gr loads that scoot along just over 1300fps from my m&p 4.25 for carry and reloads in the 1260 fps for practice and find recoil very manageable . My underwood stash is getting low and looking at lucky gunner and a few other gell test and velocity have tried some 180gr hst and ranger t series and recoil is to me feels very close to 147gr 9mm standard velocity . Now I do run a 20lb recoil sing for the underwood and I do feel a little muzzle down when chambering the next round . Might be an 18lb recoil spring would be even nicer with the 180 hst and ranger t s ammo.