Range report: M&P 22, M&P BG380, M&P Shield 9mm, M&P 40 FS (9mm & 40)
I took my neighbor and his two boys (15 and 16) to the range the other day.
This was the boys first time shooting a handgun, and the father has shot very little, a long time ago.
We fired all rounds at around 7 yards.
First up (and last, once we used all the other ammo) was the M&P22 (fullsize).
We put near 150 rounds of CCI Standard Velicity through it.
We had one failure to extract where I had to use a dowel to remove the shell.
Next was the M&P BG380 with Galloway Precision trigger kit (includes increased rate hammer spring, reduced power stricker blocker spring, and reduced power firing pin return spring). I brought this to the range last time but was unable to use it due to a broken firing pin (Galloway Precision hardened pin which broke during dry fire/laserlyte training).
The Galloway Precision trigger definately improved my accuracy, but the boys still had a couple if light strikes where they had to pull the trigger a couple of times to get it to fire. We fired 6 rounds each of Blazer Brass. I had no failures to chamber that originally caused me heartache with this gun. I later did a bunch of dry-fire and noted the trigger was a little inconsistent if you were very soft on it. I did a few hundred trigger pulls, and it seems to have settled down.
Next was the M&P Shield 9mm with Apex Sear and Ulimate Stricker Block. The boys were very accurate with this and hit several bullseyes. We fired around 140 rounds of Fiocchi (1250 fps) and 12 rounds of Winchester Nato (1200 fps) without so much as a hickup.
Keeping with the 9mm, we went to the M&P 40 Fullsize with a StormLake 9mm conversion barrel and Apex Ulimate Stricker Block (and 9mm magazines). I put 17 rounds of the Winchester Nato through it without issue, but my neighbor and his boys had a few failures to feed and failures to eject with the Fiocchi. The failures to eject all had the shell caught still in-line with the chamber. I have read the Guide Rod Spring for the 40 and 9mm are the same (same part number), but I have to wonder if the spring it just too stiff for the 9mm. What is odd is that the Blazer 40 ammo I normally use had 388 ft-lb and the Fiocchi 9mm had 400 ft-lb. I would assume it would have no issue pushing the slide back. See below for an after-the-fact recreation of how it was stuck.
We then moved on the the M&P 40 with its native 40 barrel. We put 6 rounds each through this without issue,
then finished off back at square one with the 22 until our hour was up.
The boys said the Shield was their favorite
I took my neighbor and his two boys (15 and 16) to the range the other day.
This was the boys first time shooting a handgun, and the father has shot very little, a long time ago.
We fired all rounds at around 7 yards.
First up (and last, once we used all the other ammo) was the M&P22 (fullsize).
We put near 150 rounds of CCI Standard Velicity through it.
We had one failure to extract where I had to use a dowel to remove the shell.
Next was the M&P BG380 with Galloway Precision trigger kit (includes increased rate hammer spring, reduced power stricker blocker spring, and reduced power firing pin return spring). I brought this to the range last time but was unable to use it due to a broken firing pin (Galloway Precision hardened pin which broke during dry fire/laserlyte training).
The Galloway Precision trigger definately improved my accuracy, but the boys still had a couple if light strikes where they had to pull the trigger a couple of times to get it to fire. We fired 6 rounds each of Blazer Brass. I had no failures to chamber that originally caused me heartache with this gun. I later did a bunch of dry-fire and noted the trigger was a little inconsistent if you were very soft on it. I did a few hundred trigger pulls, and it seems to have settled down.
Next was the M&P Shield 9mm with Apex Sear and Ulimate Stricker Block. The boys were very accurate with this and hit several bullseyes. We fired around 140 rounds of Fiocchi (1250 fps) and 12 rounds of Winchester Nato (1200 fps) without so much as a hickup.
Keeping with the 9mm, we went to the M&P 40 Fullsize with a StormLake 9mm conversion barrel and Apex Ulimate Stricker Block (and 9mm magazines). I put 17 rounds of the Winchester Nato through it without issue, but my neighbor and his boys had a few failures to feed and failures to eject with the Fiocchi. The failures to eject all had the shell caught still in-line with the chamber. I have read the Guide Rod Spring for the 40 and 9mm are the same (same part number), but I have to wonder if the spring it just too stiff for the 9mm. What is odd is that the Blazer 40 ammo I normally use had 388 ft-lb and the Fiocchi 9mm had 400 ft-lb. I would assume it would have no issue pushing the slide back. See below for an after-the-fact recreation of how it was stuck.
We then moved on the the M&P 40 with its native 40 barrel. We put 6 rounds each through this without issue,
then finished off back at square one with the 22 until our hour was up.
The boys said the Shield was their favorite
