M&P Monday: Week Thirteen

26,197 rounds
2 stoppages, 0 malfunctions, 0 parts breakages

This week we reached a number of major milestones in the M&P Torture Test.

At thirteen weeks, we’re halfway through the six-month test. We also hit the halfway point in the round count, firing #25,000 on Wednesday the 16th of July. It took eighty-six days to reach that number. By the end of the week we hit 26,197 putting us well ahead of schedule to reach 50k in six months.

In all those rounds, there hasn’t been a single part break or wear out. There have been no malfunctions, and the only stoppages (two) were almost certainly caused by improper maintenance when too much grease was squirted into the action which allowed debris to build up and impede proper reset of the sear (see reports at Week Six and Week Seven).

As reported previously, Rich at Custom Carry Concepts modified my Looper IWB holster to protect against the heat that builds up in the M&P takedown lever during extended practice sessions (500-800 rounds in a couple of hours). The result: a hand-fitted leather heat shield bonded to the kydex shell. So far, it has worked perfectly. Thanks, Rich!

The M&P series is becoming so popular with both law enforcement and private citizens for good reason. Without question, this is the most shootable gun I’ve ever handled. So far, this particular M&P9 has been responsible for new personal records on the F.A.S.T. drill (4.54 seconds) and the IDPA Classifier (80.85 seconds) as well as shooting an Advanced score at Rogers Shooting School and bringing home their famous “Top Gun” pin.

The combination of low bore axis, steel skeleton, and polymer frame reduce recoil and muzzle flip to the point that even new shooters find no challenge in rapid firing the gun. In particular, I’ve loaned the gun to students who were struggling with the own pistols and seen immediate improvement in their hits, their speed, and their confidence.

Contrary to the original plan, this pistol hasn’t been getting the dedicated cleaning and preventative maintenance it should. According to our records, the gun has been cleaned seven times. That’s an average of  more than 3,700 rounds between cleanings without a single failure to feed, extract, or eject, without a single light primer hit, and without a single complaint … just a few drops of Militec-1 oil and the M&P runs like a sewing machine for thousands of rounds.

As you can see from this photo, even after almost daily use in and out of the holster with extensive dry-fire and live-fire practice, there is extremely little holster wear. The only other noticeable wear points are on the barrel where it locks up with the front of the slide and the hood, neither of which are prominent enough to get decent photos:

There was one negative point in the week. The master power switch on the Crimson Trace Lasergrips began acting fluky. Once in a while during practice, the laser would come on during a draw or reload even though the master switch was supposed to be turned off. Obviously, this isn’t a fatal problem … the laser always worked when I wanted it on, it just also worked sometimes when it wasn’t wanted. Crimson Trace replaced the grips as soon as they were informed, and the new grips are working fine as expected.

It’s hard to believe we’re halfway there and at the same time it’s hard to believe we’re only halfway. Another 24,000 rounds and thirteen weeks remain. Thanks as always to the great folks at Smith & Wesson for providing the test pistol and giving us the opportunity to put the M&P9 through its paces!

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG

Previous entries:

• Week One
• Week Two
• Week Three
• Week Four
• Week Five
• Week Six
• Week Six Accuracy Report
• Week Seven
• Week Eight
• Week Nine
• Week Ten
• Week Eleven
• Week Twelve