It’s official, I went and drank the Koolaid


Yesterday marked the end of the T&E period for my pair of Smith & Wesson M&P’s (9 and Shield9) and I had a choice to make.  I could write a check and keep them or I could take them to UPS and send them home.

Obviously by now you know I wrote the check.

The M&P Shield shouldn’t be a surprise, I have blogged quite a bit about how well thought out I thought the size, form, fit, function of the Shield are.

At less than an inch wide it is easy to conceal.  The finger sleeve allows you to get a full grip.  It is flat sided so your hand doesn’t milk down the grip when you squeeze it.  The completely unnecessary safety, has a very positive disengagement that will make it unlikely to be inadvertently applied. It is positioned perfectly to make it easy to sweep off, if you choose to use it, but it sits perfectly between the joints in my thumb to keep it out of the way shooting.  Most importantly they “fixed” the trigger!

The full-size M&P is a bit more of a shock.

I love the idea of the beaver tail, but the curvature of the grip makes takes it out of play for me. I hate the surprise reset.  The grip is a little too long for me to conceal well.  It only has about .5″ of a sight radius edge on my Glock 19. Worst of all… My model has a magazine drop safety that makes it absolutely worthless for competition!

So why did I buy it?

First… I really like the idea of having a carry gun and competition gun in  the same platform

Second… I didn’t own a Smith & Wesson and wanted to

Third… I really like the way the M&P magazine drops free and how well I reach the mag release.

Fourth… The M&P line of pistols as the ability to pistol version of the adult lego’s AR and it could be fun addressing all of my issues with the gun (mag drop safety, grip shape, sights, TRIGGER)

Lastly… Its design lends itself very well for the addition of white light and laser for carry.

I requested the guns to try to replace my Glock 19/PM9 combination for carry and find the ultimate carry solution.  I didn’t.

Instead I now have a Glock 19/M&P Shield9 combination, which I do think is a step up, and a project M&P9.

More than ever now I want a mid-sized, 15rd M&P9.  Specifically I want it to have the Shield trigger, no drop-safety, a flat sided replaceable back strap and a Warren/Sevigny Carry sight.  Please Smith & Wesson!

About

Ron is the Founder and President of When the Balloon Goes Up! He competes regularly in IDPA as an ESP/Expert, his focus is on concealed carry, home defense and analyzing equipment to find “Gear that Just Works!”

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  • MikeB

    I’d love to add a Shield but picked up an M&P9c as a daily carry just before the Shield was introduced. It is not a better gun but I sure do like it better, shoot it better and compete with it better than my Glocks. The way I grip the gun and the size/shape of my hands gave me fits when I would shoot the standard-size Glocks (17,19,22.23 etc) and I would get chewed up by the slide during recoil. The larger Glocks like my faithful G21 never gave me a problem. I have the scars on the webbing of my hand to show for my effort but I couldn’t ever come to grips, no pun intended, with the Glock.

    Enter Magpul Dynamics videos and my first sighting of the M&P9. Once I held it, I knew it was the way to go. I honestly do not mind anything at all about the trigger in any of the 4 models of M&P that I own (M&P9 Pro, M&P9C and 2 M&P45 models). I carry and compete with each/all of them and have to work on talking myself out of an M&P40 every time I see one. The 9c is also the perfect companion to the full-size 9 where all my 17-round mags will work in the compact giving me one of the funnest guns I’ve ever taken to the range!

    Nearly impossible to go wrong with a Glock but it is nice to know that there is a legitimate option out there now with the M&P for those that need something just a bit different.

  • Jeff

    Apex trigger kit!

  • http://gunscoffee.blogspot.com/ Fred

    Exactly, Apex parts should fix a lot of your issues with the M&P. The mag disconnect is pretty easy to fix with a different spring too… just a few minutes on Google should help there.

  • http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com Tam

    Given that the M&P’s striker, like the XD’s, is fully cocked, I don’t see them ditching the striker safety. (This also explains the thumb safety on the Shield, because you know there are folks carrying them in pockets sans holster…)

    • http://balloongoesup.com Ron Larimer

      I have no issues with the striker block safety… I don’t like the sear disconnect or the magazine drop safety (too hard to “show clear and drop the hammer”)

      • http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com Tam

        Ah. I misread.

        How hard would it be to ditch the mag safety? (I got the version w/o manual safety or mag safety…)

  • Jordan

    I also drank the Kool aid. You and I had spoken at a local shooting range when you showed me the Shield. Well needless to say I went down to Vances outdoor looking at the LC9 and was having trouble with the idea of the long trigger pull. I’ve carried the glock 26 everyday for 3 years and the only issue was bulk. It just so happens that Smith and Wesson had a rep at the store and the Shield in stock. Once it was in my hand, it was in my head and I couldn’t put it down. In my opinion it’s the best carry conceal weapon on the market and I’m now a proud owner.

    • http://balloongoesup.com Ron Larimer

      Congrats! You made a great choice. I will have the holster I showed you available this week as well and it makes a great carry package!

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