Jim PHL
Member
New (to me) S+W Model 915 shot for the first time yesterday. Got this used recently and cleaned it and put a new (16lb.) Wolf recoil spring into it before taking it out for the first time. This gun shows a few minor scratches and scuffs on the slide, frame and grips but nothing really distracting. Internally it's in very good-to-excellent condition. It came with two factory 15-round mags (one blued, one stainless).
I shot it with a mix of standard and +P ammo and everything was either 115 gr. or 124 gr. Loadings included Black Hills, Federal, Speer and Cor-Bon in profiles of FMJ, JHP and Solid Expanding. It was a pretty good mix of loadings and profiles and a total of around 200 rounds.
The gun performed perfectly with no malfunctions of any kind, even with mixed ammo in the same magazine. Accuracy was very good and the gun did not seem to show a preference for any particular load. I'm not the best shooter in the first place and it's been a while since I've fired anything on the range. Also, I was shooting a 3913 and CS9 during the same range session and transitioning back and forth from the small single-stacks to the full-size double-stack may have had an effect as well. Basically I'm very confident I can do even better with it with more practice. Definitely a matter of the gun being capable of better accuracy than I could wring out of it. (At least at this particular range session.)
I go back and forth a bit on my need or desire for a "Full-Size Service Pistol". I definitely prefer the single-stack models to the larger grips.
I occasionally take friends who are non-gun owners to the range and maybe they will prefer a gun that offers a little more to hang on to. (This is my only double-stack pistol and my largest pistol other than a 1911 .45.)
Overall I think the 915 is a great gun. Light for it's size due to the aluminum frame, but that's plenty of weight for a 9mm - even +P's. It's is also plenty accurate and so far 100% reliable. Pretty handsome, too.
I shot it with a mix of standard and +P ammo and everything was either 115 gr. or 124 gr. Loadings included Black Hills, Federal, Speer and Cor-Bon in profiles of FMJ, JHP and Solid Expanding. It was a pretty good mix of loadings and profiles and a total of around 200 rounds.
The gun performed perfectly with no malfunctions of any kind, even with mixed ammo in the same magazine. Accuracy was very good and the gun did not seem to show a preference for any particular load. I'm not the best shooter in the first place and it's been a while since I've fired anything on the range. Also, I was shooting a 3913 and CS9 during the same range session and transitioning back and forth from the small single-stacks to the full-size double-stack may have had an effect as well. Basically I'm very confident I can do even better with it with more practice. Definitely a matter of the gun being capable of better accuracy than I could wring out of it. (At least at this particular range session.)
I go back and forth a bit on my need or desire for a "Full-Size Service Pistol". I definitely prefer the single-stack models to the larger grips.
I occasionally take friends who are non-gun owners to the range and maybe they will prefer a gun that offers a little more to hang on to. (This is my only double-stack pistol and my largest pistol other than a 1911 .45.)
Overall I think the 915 is a great gun. Light for it's size due to the aluminum frame, but that's plenty of weight for a 9mm - even +P's. It's is also plenty accurate and so far 100% reliable. Pretty handsome, too.
