New M&P .40 Pro!!!

[mm6mm6]

I sold my EAA Witness Match that I used the past three seasons for the combat matches with the league I compete in.

I needed a new gun to shoot and I wanted a 9mm (lower factory ammo cost, less recoil, and I already stocked up on Federal 115 grain ammo)with a longer sight radius because we shoot at 75 feet.

I decided on the S&W M&P Pro in .40 because of its long 5" barrel, its green fiber optic front sight (it's hard to see black sights or even standard Trijicon night sights at 75 feet on a black silhouette target with our range's poor lighting), and the Performance Center trigger.

I picked up the gun at my FFL after buying it from www.oakhillenterprises.com for just $569 (great deal and great to deal with!). The M&P just fits my hands wonderfully. It feels great with the smallest backstrap despite the fact that I have really big hands.

I ordered 2 .40 caliber magazines and 4 9mm magazines from www.gregcotellc.com (another fantastic deal and fast shipping) so I would have 4 and 4 in both calibers.

Then I ordered a Storm Lake 9mm barrel for my new M&P.

Once I have the barrel, I'll be all set for competition with the 9mm caliber setup and then I'll have the .40 for home defense, etc.

Hopefully I'll get to shoot it in .40 this coming Friday!

 

[M29since14]

I have been curious about that gun myself, so I will be interested to see your follow-up with range results. I have a 9L which started out as a great shooter, but for some reason accuracy seems to have deteriorated - likely owing to the need of a good barrel scrubbing. Must get to that. I like the longer barrel and sight radius too.

As usual, nice pics.

 

[M&PUSER]

I just spoke with a technician in the S&W Technical Department, seeking as to whether or not I could go up from 9 to a 357 or a 40 and the answer was NO.

The technician said I could go from the 40 to the 357 but could not go from the 40 to a 9 because the magazine well would not accommodate the conversion.

Have you found a magazine that the folks at S&W are not familiar with?

 

[mm6mm6]

I'm not sure if you understood the S&W technician's answer. I sure hope the technician wasn't mistaken because, as per the definition of a S&W technician, he or she should know their business....

When the .40 S&W round came out, it was made as a shortened version of the 10mm cartridge. The big advantage of the .40 S&W was that its overall cartridge length allowed it to be chambered in pistol frames/slides already manufactured for the 9mm cartridge.

With a little bit of beefing up to the barrel, slide, and other "upper" small parts, Glock, Beretta, S&W, and others were able to bring .40 S&W caliber pistols to market very quickly based on their 9mm pistols.

An advantage to the manufacturer was that they didn't have to offer two different frames for the 9mm and the .40 S&W. Both chamberings would work fine in the same sized frame. When the .357 Sig came out, being that it is basically a necked down .40 S&W, it worked in this same frame size as well.

Of course, a 9mm pistol cannot be upped in caliber to .40 because of the size of the barrel.

But the reverse is usually true.

I've shot thousands of rounds through my Glock 23 (originally chambered in .40 S&W) with a Lone Wolf 9mm drop in barrel conversion and Glock 19 9mm magazines.

The mags swap out easily because they are the same size.

My four 9mm S&W M&P 17 round factory magazines arrived today and they work perfectly in the frame of my .40 S&W M&P. When my Storm Lake 9mm conversion barrel arrives, I look forward to firing thousands of 9mm rounds through my M&P, which was originally chambered in .40 S&W.

The advantage of buying a .40 caliber pistol is the ability with conversion barrels from the aftermarket, of chambering the gun in 9mm as well. If I had an interest, I could of course buy a .357 Sig barrel for my M&P and fire that cartridge in it as well. I wouldn't eve have to swap magazines as the .40 mags are marked by S&W as .357 as well.

So I have not found a magazine that S&W is not familiar with. I would think they must be very familiar with their own factory magazines. Of course, I still can't figure out why a factory tech would tell you what you said they told you.............

Weird.

 

[OKFC05]

I just spoke with a technician in the S&W Technical Department, seeking as to whether or not I could go up from 9 to a 357 or a 40 and the answer was NO.

The technician said I could go from the 40 to the 357 but could not go from the 40 to a 9 because the magazine well would not accommodate the conversion.

Right answer, wrong reason.

9mm and .40 S&W cartridge heads are not exactly the same size; the .40 is larger.
Therefore a 9mm conversion barrel in a .40 frame M&P generally works, even though the 9mm case head is about .020" undersize in the slide face cut.

Going the other way, the .40 case is too large for the 9mm cut in the slide face. Try a .40 case in a 9mm slide and see for yourself.

(The Sigma is the one with different width magazines)

 

[mm6mm6]

I fired my new M&P .40 Pro today. Just some quick test firing at 7 yards. 50 rounds of Federal 180 grain fmc ammo (the blunt nosed, sort of truncated cone style ammo that sometimes doesn't feed in some other guns but it's cheap at Wal-Mart) and 20 rounds of Speer Gold Dot hollowpoints. All fired perfectly. If I did my part, they all went in the 1 1/2" bullseye at 7 yards. The targets I shoot have a very small bullseye and I always have to remind myself that I'm shooting at a very small target. I have it in my mind that if I don't hit the bullseye, then either I or the gun stink.



I shot the Springfield Armory XD-M 9mm 3.8 that I won a few weeks ago and I was disappointed in its performance. I tried to remind myself that I was shooting at a very tiny target and that if I was shooting at a standard silhouette target, I would be much happier with the results (because the ten ring is much bigger).



Anyway, the S&W M&P didn't disappoint me. All of my shots were hitting the little ten ring when I concentrated. Even when I didn't, the shots only went in the 9 ring. The green front sight is really easy to pick up and the trigger pull's "take up" was very consistent. The actual trigger break is at 5 pounds, 12 ounces on my Lyman digital trigger pull gauge. A big higher than the advertised 4 - 5 1/2 pounds, but right about in there. I was hoping for closer to 4, but that's okay.



A really nice guy at the range (that I've always talked with because he's a big S&W guy) brought me the Trijicon factory night sights from his M&P and gave them to me. What a super thing to do! If I decide to carry the gun at a later date, I have to have night sights.



I've now got 4 .40 mags and 4 9mm mags. When the Storm Lake 9mm barrel comes in, it will be a lot of fun shooting this gun. The .40 S&W round does kick quite a bit. 9's should be a whole lot less recoil.

 

[ET.]

I just bought an M&P 40 Pro Series last week as well. Evidently you ordered the same Storm Lake 40-9 conversion barrel for your gun that I just ordered. I bought 3 9mm mags from C&R Tactical & they fit the 40 pro perfectly. I also ordered a 357sig barrel for mine since I love the 357sig round and keep at least 1000 rounds in my safe since I carry it in my Glock 27 (on my hip as we speak).

I ordered the standard 5.01" barrel for the 9mm conversion, but now I'm starting to wish I had opted for the 5.71 extended barrel. I might call them and see if it's too late to change it. After all they did give me a tentative date of 6/29 for shipment. Took the gun to the range Tuesday. It shot 2" groups at 10 yards. That's about as good as I can shoot at 30 feet. I shot 200 rounds & the recoil was not bad at all... definitely better than my subcompact Glock 27. I wouldn't have been able to shoot that many rounds out of the subcompact.

...Oh & I need to hang out with your friends instead of mine. You were given a set of night sights from the guy at the range. I met my friends at the range and it cost me the ammo that they shot (out of my gun no less), since they didn't come with guns OR ammo.