S&W m&P 40 for duty pistol

[Knightrider03m]

My agency went to M&P 40's 3 yrs ago, with no problems with the weapon. We traded off S&W 4046, and without exception everyone likes the M&P better. The instructor stated that qualification scores went up with the new weapons and we have not had any breakages. I recommend the full size for your duty weapon. Even the Glock guys like them..

I wonder why? I was going to change over to the M&P but kept my 4046 instead due to how well I can shoot it and also how the weight of the 4046 soak up the ungodly kick of the .40.

 

[The Viking]

I carry one everyday..... a M&P 45 full size.....it is garbage. Now watch how many will crucify me. My agaency's entire first issue was recalled. Some guys are on their fourth or fifth gun. Not a durable or reliable pistol in my opinion or experience. Im sure someone will be along to tell me I'm wrong. Get a used Glock or a S&W 3rd generation.

Cannot crucify you for that. I have heard that before. Some time ago I bought a 40 cal S&W M&P and it gave me a dead trigger. I sent it back to Smith. I got it back and it gave me light strikes. It is now back from Smith again and I have not tried it yet. Later I heard the problem of the dead trigger had been corrected by Smith and mine was an early pistol.
I also read, some time ago, in Gun test that the LA County Sheriff's Dept had recalled all their Smith M&Ps because of a 50% failure rate to eject in a recruit class. I believe these were early problems with the M&Ps that were later corrected.
I have only read one article on testing the 45 M&P written by a SWAT guy. He fired 5,000 rounds through one 45 M&P without any problems and without cleaning the pistol. He also mistreated the pistol and it stood up to some pretty tough mistreatment. He threw it off the top of his SWAT van.
To be fair both my S&W M&P 9mm have well over a 1,000 rounds through them without a bobble.
I recently had a conversation with a firearms trainer for a large police department. He said they had about 800 S&W M&P's out and no problems with any.
My two 9mm S&W M&P's have well over a 1,000 rounds through them and not one problem has ever surfaced.
I am hoping a lot of the problems have been early teething problems with the M&P's cause I really like them. Hope you have better experiences in the future.

 

[gunguy0829]

I see that all the M&P's have STAINLESS on the left side of the slide. Mine does not have that. Anyone know what that means. Older version maybe?

 

[turbo38gn]

I see that all the M&P's have STAINLESS on the left side of the slide. Mine does not have that. Anyone know what that means. Older version maybe?

Yep, that's it, they stopped stamping it. I suspect, they got tired of explaing to the whiners that SS can get surface rust under the right conditions.

 

[WR Moore]

I wonder why? I was going to change over to the M&P but kept my 4046 instead due to how well I can shoot it and also how the weight of the 4046 soak up the ungodly kick of the .40.

Our guys that had issue 4006s [I was an old fart with an issue 1006!] said the M&P40 had less apparent recoil. The M&P series has a much lower bore line which greatly reduces muzzle flip. It was also designed from the ground up as a .40 rather than being a 9mm adapted to take the .40. Many guns of that type ended up with slides that were much thicker at the top to add sufficient weight to reduce the slide velocity to acceptable speed.

Perception of recoil can be an individual thing.