I own five M&P 9mm pistols of various model numbers, but my irritation is steadily increasing that Smith & Wesson has not sold a factory 17 round 9mm M&P magazine to fit these pistols directly to a consumer online for almost a year now, does not even list them on their website and does not positively respond with real information to customer or media questions or complaints about the near complete non availabilty of any normally needed pistol accessories for the M&P 9. Of all the shortages in the gun world, ammunition, firearms or accessories, my own impression is that the M&P 9mm 17 round magazine is the worst, and the most classic definition of Unobtanium. A few months of shortage is one thing, but no availability at all for over a year is another thing entirely. Even Glock caught up for a while. I've diligently read articles and forums about this and no one in or out of the loop has ever presented any facts indicating that Smith & Wesson is really doing much of anything to address this chronic problem, or even that anyone at S&W gives a rip. A year should be enough time in any manufacturing chain to correct this kind of problem-supporting owners should be a manufacturer priority of the first order, not their last concern in the world.
I was considering buying an M&P 15-22, but I've come to think that Smith & Wesson's after market support for its owners is so crappy that I'll not be buying any more Smith & Wesson products. Who would even think about buying an M&P 9 now? Even if you can find and buy the pistol, you are then out of luck. You have not been able to buy any common accessory for an M&P 9mm, especially a standard capacity magazine, for about a year, and absolutely no one can or will try to offer you even a shred of hope about if or when you ever will be able to buy accessories for what you just bought. What if you wanted an M&P for 3 gun? Certainly you'd not buy one, as no additional mags could be bought.
I have enough magazines to support hobby shooting because I own several of these pistols and bought extra mags a long time ago (but, I wanted to buy some extra tan mags for my VTAC-if you think black mags are impossible, try the factory tans!), but it's gotten my attention that Smith & Wesson could not seem to care less whether I was a happy and well equipped owner or not. You can own the pistol, but not the accessories to support your pistol. I do not care whether there are reasonable explanations, political, economic, or not. My view as a consumer is that a manufacturer either supports me if I buy one of their firearms, or not. This is the worst case of "not" I've ever experienced-I've moved on to Ruger, FN, Sig and Browning. My loyalty is not wearing thin-it's gone. I just can't imagine that anyone would buy an M&P 9 if they knew what would happen to them when they tried to buy an accessory for it.
Not a rant, just my view as a disappointed owner of an otherwise nice firearm.