Military Grade —- MEANING

[Beju]

It would be nice to know which of the M&P models you are talking about. Partial information is Misinformation.

I was curious about that myself. My M&P9, 2.0 Compact, and Shield Plus mags have been perfectly fine. I had one Shield 7 round mag that possibly had a bum spring. I marked it and tossed it in the training mag pile.

 

[LVSteve]

Keep in mind, the Term "Made by the lowest bidder" should also include "That met the standard" Folks always forget that part.

A item has a list of specifications it must meet and pass testing to insure that it does, if out of three bidders, only two meet the spec, then the bidder with the lowest bid, received the order.

While Milspec gear gets a bad wrap, a lot of it holds up fine, the issue is how the specs were laid out by the Military. The Military procurement process can be pants on head retarded sometimes.

I mention the M9 magazine fiasco as a perfect example. When the Army fielded the M9 Beretta, the magazines were made by Beretta. Many were stamped Made in Italy. The inside of the magazines were smooth and allowed the cartridges to roll as the spring and follower pushed them up towards the feed lips.

The the GWOT comes along and the Army needs more M9 Magazines. So they put out a bid and Checkmate wins it. In the bid, the Army specified that the magazine bodies be Manganese Phosphate. That process coats the entire magazine (inside & Out) with a rough textured parkerized finish. Cause the Army likes durability.

Add that rough texture, along with Middle eastern fine powder sand and the need for the cartridges to have a smooth finish to allow them to rotate and you get failure to feed issues. Troops stretch the springs to try and correct the issue.

Beretta is clueless as they were not told and there TDP (Technical Data package) is not shared with Checkmate, plus checkmate is told to add the finish as part of the bid. Which they do, if they want to be selected an win the bid.

And the M9 got a black eye on its reliability reputation thanks to the US Army.

So MilSpec can cut both ways. And now you know the rest of the story....

Reminds me of procurement course I went on. The lecturer kept hammering us with, "When it goes wrong, check what YOU signed for in the contract."

 

[LVSteve]

It would be nice to know which of the M&P models you are talking about. Partial information is Misinformation.

Indeed. The first M&P 9 pistols would drop the mag, some EZ380 mags toss rounds out at strange times, and the 10mm M&P mags have no love for certain ammo.

 

[S-W4EVER]

OP reminds me of the first M16’s that were issued to the troops in Vietnam, wrong powder, no cleaning kits, etc. (No, I wasn’t there, I was too young and by the time I enlisted all that stuff was corrected and the M16A1’s we had were good weapons... except for worn out mags in BCT.)

 

[Muss Muggins]

If a bow and arrow was defective in the old west would the Indians use it as is? They need it to live. I am curious as to who would rely on this weapon to protect there family?

Well, it's not like they could send it back to the factory . . .

 

[Qtip]

It would be nice to know which of the M&P models you are talking about. Partial information is Misinformation.

Are you implying that context is a thing????

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

‘Military grade’ was built by the contractor with the lowest bid is what I’ve always thought.

 

[Tabby Lynn]

I am an Army veteran and proud of it. Any veteran knows that ONLY equipment that is 100% operational 100% of the time is CORRECT. Any thing else is WRONG and shooters get DEAD because of WRONG.

I owned several weapons and love all of my M&P handguns with one exception I WILL NOT TRUST MY LIFE TO IT with a “known” magazine spring problem that no one has solved.

Isn’t the M in M&P stand for military?

What happened?

I am a 30 year Army Vet and I more than any non vet understand the meaning of Military Grade. When it comes to firearms the military, of all branches of service do not necessarily get weapons that are from the lowest bidder. They go through rigorous testing prior to being issued. Unfortunately, sometimes one has to wonder who was doing the testing, as the Beretta M-9 comes immediately to mind. Despite all of the testing things come up when a firearm is put in service that never could have been identified during testing. (Again the M-9 comes to mind, it was a piece of crap from the get go) U.S. Military firearms are some of the best weapons in the world. Although I almost cried when they took my M-14 away and issued me a M-16 during my two tours in Viet Nam once the bugs were worked out it was actually a very good firearm with the exception of range. Putting a M16 up against an AK47 was the epitome of the derogatory use of the term "Military Intelligence," in battle a weapon with a 600 meter range will always outshine one with a 400 meter range. I have owned several M&P firearms over the years and have found them to be reliable when given proper care. I have never had an issue with any of the magazines in any of the firearms. I do however suspect that the magazine issues that are being referred to here are caused by usual lack of maintenance adhered to by the majority of civilian firearm owners.

 

[rwsmith]

After 30 years as a Gravel Tech, I know from personal experience that "military grade/military spec" means "manufactured by the lowest bidder". If they had ever said to us, even once "Troops, these parachutes are military spec", I would never have donned one.

Overwhelmingly used after 9/11 as a marketing tool to attract the wallets of Tacti-Cool civvies who never served and thus never had a chance to personally experience what it actually means.

Even if they are contracted to the lowest bidder, mil specs are absolutely specific (that's why they are specifications ) about the expected product. The manufacturer is free to use the cheapest methods and materials as long as they meet those specs. They most likely will not exceed specifications but they will surely meet minimum specifications. BUT, the military is a stickler for what it pays for and tests/checks that specs are met. Civilians don't have the means or ability to check that a retailer or manufacturer that calls their product 'mil spec' is actually doing that. That means that people like me have to pay a little extra to companies with good reputations for supplying military pattern parts. I know that some of the 'mil spec' parts that I've got, especially regarding trigger groups, were clunky compared to 'mil spec' parts provided by 'Big Box' suppliers. They WORK, just not as well or smoothly as the, say, Daniel Defense parts.