Recoil

[Lost Lake]

If anyone thinks a .38 is a good SD round, the 9mm is even better. Like others have said, modern ammo is able to make smaller rounds work well.

I carry everything from a .380 on up to a .357 mag, with my 9c found on me most often.

 

[judgecrater]

Lighter loads

I will carry it while walking around the woods, not as a CCW piece. Want something with enough power if I bump into a coyote or similar, and of course just to shoot at the range. From what I see so far looks like 45 is a better choice than 40 recoil wise. I know that using 200gr bullets really made my 1911 a pleasure to shoot but wonder how well the M&P would handle other than full power loads. Anyone using lighter loads, will it need a different recoil spring to do so, any problem with bullet shapes, etc?

I find my M&P 45 full size handles lighter loads just fine. If you reload, 6.5 gr. of Unique works quite well with 200 gr plated SWC. This is with the stock springs. Recoil is modest.