Just Picked Up My M&P 9 PC Ported; Fastfire 2 or 3

[twistedracer]

Hi folks, Since I don't want to molest my NIB 3906 other than shooting her, I just brought home a 4.25" PC M&P 9.
I've been wanting a pistol to run a red dot with but don't want to mill the slides of my other pistols.

I saw this at my lgs yesterday and looked it over. The porting doesn't bother me one way or another as I'm just shooting steel with it, not carrying it. The CORE system is a requirement seeing as I don't want to send it out for work.

Now I've looked at other M&P's in the past and thought the grip shape fit me the best of all the Tupperware pistols I've tried, but the trigger was very gritty on them. Now this PC version has done away with the grit and contrary to what I've read on M&P's I hear and feel the reset. I haven't cleaned and oiled her yet but the trigger measures 6 lbs 1.5 ounces. That's not an average because it broke exactly the same each time I measured her, extremely consistent. I like the feel of this trigger compared to a glock or any off those with the trigger within the trigger. I'm thinking an Apex competition spring kit will be all I'll want to add the the PC trigger/sear. I did switch the backstrap out to the small one for my girly hands though lol.

Here are some pics before I clean her.











I plan on taking her out to the range tomorrow to see how we get along together.

Now for a red dot I'm going to go with the Burris Fastfire 2 or 3, then later on switch out to a Trijicon and the Burris will go on my Mark iii.
So which Fastfire do you all suggest and why? Pros and Cons, thanks.

 

[Walton Feep]

I have a number of FFIIIs on other pistols but I put an FFII on my M&P PC Ported because I can co-witness the iron sights with it. I tried the FFIII first. It is a little taller and comes close to co-witnessing but you can't get a true sight picture with the irons. The body of the RDS sight hides most of the sight picture. Pros of the FFIII though are battery is easier to change and you have control over the brightness. For the FFII, you have to be careful not to turn it off when you rack the slide. Same for the FFIII but it is a little harder to accidentally turn it off.

 

[twistedracer]

I have a number of FFIIIs on other pistols but I put an FFII on my M&P PC Ported because I can co-witness the iron sights with it. I tried the FFIII first. It is a little taller and comes close to co-witnessing but you can't get a true sight picture with the irons. The body of the RDS sight hides most of the iron rear sight. Pros of the FFIII though are battery is easier to change and you have control over the brightness. For the FFII, you have to be careful not to turn it off when you rack the slide. Same for the FFIII but it is a little harder to accidentally turn it off.

Thanks Walton. I spent a bit of time on here last night researching this and was able to see what you mean about the FF3. One of the pics showed being able to see about half of the dots. But for the features I went ahead and ordered the ff3 last night. I plan on switching out to a Trijicon next year and using the ff3 on another pistol.

I'm just finishing up at the range today on her first outing. After getting used to the trigger on the first mag, I proceeded to destroy the bullseye with a sweet 1" group at 7 yards. Now I'm a lousy pistol shot these days seeing nothing but blurry front sights, but today was a good day. This PC is a real sweet shooter and I've decided to leave the trigger as is. After cleaning and oiling last night, I proceeded with some dry fire practice then rewrighed the trigger pull. It had dropped down to 5 lbs and 12 ounces. It feel much lighter.

The RSO that I shoot with likes the feel of the M&P's but hated the crunchy trigger on everyone that he's handled. I let him try this one out and he loved it. He agreed on leaving the trigger as is.

I shot 100 rounds of SA&A reloads out of her today. These are fairly light loads and I was worried about them not cycling properly with the ported barrel. I had a total of 4 rounds that didn't cycle the slide far enough back. I'm thinking I might have eased up on my grip a bit as recoil was fairly non existent.

I've seen some threads about the M&P's lack of accuracy but this one seems to be a great example of a PC gun as it showed great accuracy with known good shooters that shot it today.
I'm really happy with this purchase, which is saying a lot as I'm an old shooter that has a strong bias against Tupperware guns.

I'm looking forward to shooting this next Sunday with the ff3 mounted to get her sighted in for our steel shoot on December 6.

 

[twistedracer]

It was 32 degrees this morning. Target is 6" diameter with 1" spacing. After a cold range break and talking to a couple of shooters, this lefty jerked the first shot low right.
I regrouped and you can see where the next five shots went. This is a good example of S&W PC work. My groups at 7 yards are normally 2-3" so this is excellent by my standards.

 

[twistedracer]

My Burris Fastfire 3 was delayed by UPS so I won't be able to get it sighted in before our steel shoot.

When I let my pops know about this he led me out to his shop
And pulled out a Trijicon RM04 7moa Amber dot dual illumination RMR that he tossed my way. Gotta love than man.

I'm going to sight her in today then after next Sunday's steel shoot I'll switch over to the FF3 to compare.

 

[twistedracer]

I think I got the RMR sighted in good enough for next Sunday's shoot. This might work.

 

[Rastoff]

First off, wow! That's some good shooting.

I'd love to have you join us in this little challenge I made up: http://smith-wessonforum.com/concea...746-rastoffs-challenge-dropping-gauntlet.html

Also, the FFIII is a good little sight, I have one. However, once you get that RMR dialed in, you'll never go back to the FFIII. There is one benefit to a battery operated optic over the dual illuminated RMR; low light to bright. If you're standing in shadow and shooting at a brightly lit target, the RMR is next to useless. The dot doesn't get bright enough and you won't be able to see it against a bright background.

In full bright light it's great. In full low or dark lighting, it's great. If you're in shadow and the target is brightly lit, you're in trouble.

 

[twistedracer]

First off, wow! That's some good shooting.

I'd love to have you join us in this little challenge I made up: http://smith-wessonforum.com/concea...746-rastoffs-challenge-dropping-gauntlet.html

Also, the FFIII is a good little sight, I have one. However, once you get that RMR dialed in, you'll never go back to the FFIII. There is one benefit to a battery operated optic over the dual illuminated RMR; low light to bright. If you're standing in shadow and shooting at a brightly lit target, the RMR is next to useless. The dot doesn't get bright enough and you won't be able to see it against a bright background.

In full bright light it's great. In full low or dark lighting, it's great. If you're in shadow and the target is brightly lit, you're in trouble.

Thanks but you should have seen my first target

It was 18 degrees when I got out there and the dot was shacking over the whole target. I finally ended up shooting one shot, placing hands in pockets with hand warmers then taking another shot and repeating to be able to group and adjust the sight. All fun though. This was shot at 7 yards freehand, I never shoot pistols of a rest cause I shoot real crappy that way for some reason.
Target is a 6" circle with 1" spacing and a dime sized bull. My goal with my carry gun is to always keep it within that 6" even on the days that my front sights are a blur. Older eyes or shrinking arms lol.
For some reason this M&P is shooting very well for me. Way better than I ever expected out of her. Pops just told me Merry Christmas so the RMR gets to stay on her and I'll mount the Fastfire 3 on another pistol or maybe my JM 625 revolver.

I understand what you say about how the lighting affects this RMR. I have the Mepro M21 on my M4 and it does the same thing. It hasn't bothered me though as the sights are co-witnessed and my eyes are instantly on the irons when the dot washes out.
Same thing on the M&P. The Trijicon has a good Co-witness and the coatings on the lenses turns my front dot green which works great for my eyes.

Just looked over your challenge. Looks fun. Problem is our pistol range is set at 7, 15, and 25 yards. 3, 5, and 10 yards can't be shot there. Bummer, looks like a fun challenge.

 

[Rastoff]

I understand what you say about how the lighting affects this RMR. I have the Mepro M21 on my M4 and it does the same thing. It hasn't bothered me though as the sights are co-witnessed and my eyes are instantly on the irons when the dot washes out.
Same thing on the M&P. The Trijicon has a good Co-witness and the coatings on the lenses turns my front dot green which works great for my eyes.

Ah yes, I forgot about co-witness. My M&P is not co-witnessed with iron sights so, I didn't think about that. It would make up for the unlikely lighting situation.


The challenge was just a thought. If you can put 5 inside an inch at 7 yards, you can do the whole challenge. I'm sure there are other places to shoot.

 

[twistedracer]

. I'm sure there are other places to shoot.

Lol yeah, I could probably do it at the indoor range but I haven't shot there in years. I much prefer to shoot outdoors all year long no matter the weather. When others ask why I don't go indoors when the weather is miserable, I tell them that I don't have a choice on what the weather will be should I ever need to use my gun.
Either that or I'm just old and stubborn.

You've got my interest piqued though and I just might have to venture inside one day soon.

(Rosamond?)