Don't make fun of your elders, you'll be in their shoes one day.
New Smith & Wesson M&P 380 Shield EZ
- Thread starter Gtwralph
- Start date
Don't make fun of your elders, you'll be in their shoes one day.
lhump1961
US Veteran
I'm going to give S&W the benefit of any doubt on this gun. They are the one's getting all the feedback from consumers and I'm really sure they would not spend precious time and money on a new product that has no potential market. Same goes for the design characteristics. The size, magazine design, hammer fired, grip safety...all of these things are to produce (with some compromises as is always the case) a gun that enough people have said they want.
No company gets it right all the time but tip of the hat to Smith for trying new things. A lot of us here are older and set in our ways, myself included, so I don't claim to understand most new things now-a-days. A new gun made in the U.S.A.? God bless America!
No company gets it right all the time but tip of the hat to Smith for trying new things. A lot of us here are older and set in our ways, myself included, so I don't claim to understand most new things now-a-days. A new gun made in the U.S.A.? God bless America!
lonestar outlaw
Member
I talked to my LGS earlier and was told they thought the 380 ez would be shipping sometime this month
As an old retired guy suffering from boredom, I spent the last couple of years working part time in a local gun store and shooting range. I waited on a LOT of folks who were not shooters or gun enthusiasts, but were looking for a gun for personal protection and with which they could effectively manipulate the controls and tolerate the recoil.
Many were older. Others had various strength and dexterity issues that limited their choices. Most of this group struggled racking the slides of most any center fire semi autos, and many could not effectively pull the trigger on a double action revolver. Recoil sensitivity was a concern for this group as well.
I would often try to show them every gimmick I had learned over 60 years of shooting that might help with the slide manipulation but sometimes none of those techniques worked for these folks. Sometimes I would try to point them to hammer fired semis, showing them how to pull the hammer back prior to racking the slide to make moving the slide easier. Sometimes that worked. Sometimes not.
The 2 pistols that we had that were the easiest to rack the slide were both Walthers: the PK380, and the 9mm CCP. Interestingly, they were actually approximately the same size. However, the CCPs had some reliability issues, and the PK380's manual of arms is a bit convoluted and unnecessarily complicated.
Based on what I have been reading, I believe this new S&W M&P 380 EZ is aimed squarely at the demographic that I was discussing above. If this new gun is as easy to work as advertised, and as reliable and shootable, then I think S&W will have a winner on their hands. It may not be for everyone, but for folks like those described above, it just may be the cat's pajamas.
Colt
Many were older. Others had various strength and dexterity issues that limited their choices. Most of this group struggled racking the slides of most any center fire semi autos, and many could not effectively pull the trigger on a double action revolver. Recoil sensitivity was a concern for this group as well.
I would often try to show them every gimmick I had learned over 60 years of shooting that might help with the slide manipulation but sometimes none of those techniques worked for these folks. Sometimes I would try to point them to hammer fired semis, showing them how to pull the hammer back prior to racking the slide to make moving the slide easier. Sometimes that worked. Sometimes not.
The 2 pistols that we had that were the easiest to rack the slide were both Walthers: the PK380, and the 9mm CCP. Interestingly, they were actually approximately the same size. However, the CCPs had some reliability issues, and the PK380's manual of arms is a bit convoluted and unnecessarily complicated.
Based on what I have been reading, I believe this new S&W M&P 380 EZ is aimed squarely at the demographic that I was discussing above. If this new gun is as easy to work as advertised, and as reliable and shootable, then I think S&W will have a winner on their hands. It may not be for everyone, but for folks like those described above, it just may be the cat's pajamas.
Colt
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