56,383 rounds
2 stoppages, 0 malfunctions, 2 parts breakages
While the M&P test was slow this week, things certainly weren’t slow for S&W. They sold 7,500 M&P9 pistols to the Iraqi Military & Security Forces. We can only assume it was based on the things they read here at pistol-training.com … right?
Finally, after almost seven months of daily carry, shooting in pouring rain, and general everyday abuse, this week we finally saw some rust on the M&P9 test gun. The pistol was left to sit for three hours in a soaking wet leather holster in 70-80 degree weather. (don’t ask why … it’s … uh, complicated) The result: some minor surface corrosion of the non-reflective black finish that is applied after the steel has been subjected to Melonite treatment.
For those who aren’t familiar, the Melonite process is not what makes the steel on an M&P black. Almost identical to the Tenifer process used in Glocks and Walthers, Melonite is a chemical process that creates an incredibly hard, corrosion-resistant layer out of the base steel. Only after that’s been accomplished is a second more traditional black finish applied to the slide and barrel.
In other words, the finish corroded off. The steel appears to be perfectly fine. We’ve sent copies of the photos to our contacts at Smith to verify.
Otherwise, the gun continues to work as if it were new. Accuracy has been excellent — this week I made it out to 23 yards on the 3×5 Walkback Drill without missing a shot — and the gun hasn’t missed a beat since the trigger spring replacement 18,000 rounds ago (Week 20).
The other bad news for Week 28, our planned announcement of the pistol-training.com Limited Edition M&P9 will have to be delayed. A scheduled final conference call with S&W had to be postponed. Hopefully, we’ll have all the information available this week, and we’ll announce it here as soon as possible.
Week 29 is going to be much different than the usual range practice and training. The test gun and I are taking a cross-country trip. So while there probably won’t be much shooting going on, next week’s report will have lots to say about driving 8 hours a day for four days straight with a full size M&P9 in an appendix holster. We’ll be assessing both the Custom Carry Concepts kydex Looper AIWB as well as a prototype Garrity’s Gunleather leather AIWB.
And if any of our readers happen to live in Glasgow, Montana … let me know. Maybe we can grab dinner Friday night. 8)
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
- Week Thirteen
- Week Fourteen
- Week Fifteen
- Week Sixteen
- Week Seventeen
- Week Eighteen
- Week Nineteen
- Week Twenty
- Week Twenty-One
- Week Twenty-Two
- Week Twenty-Three
- Week Twenty-Four
- Week Twenty-Five
- Week Twenty-Six
- Week Twenty-Seven
The last sales I know of to the Iraqi police were Glocks. I wonder what Glock thinks of this sale. I also hope these pistols don’t go to the bad guys like so many of the Glocks did. Then again the police are the BG’s in alot of cases.
Lets see how long it takes the Iraqis to sell the pistols to terrorists and random people. They made short work of the Glock 19s they were sent a while back. 🙂
Hi Todd,
Is it rust or the loss of the black finish? If it is just the black coating, it is not a big deal.
baryon — Spoke with Joe Bergeron, the product manager at S&W yesterday. He confirmed that it was, in his words, surface contamination and that it neither penetrated nor affected the Melonite-treated steel.
Just bought a M&P disassembly/reassembly DVD. Not quite as easy as the Glock, but still fairly easy to work on. I don’t like that you need to remove the rear sight to get to the FPS, and the extra pin that needs to be removed to take out the extractor assembly. Other than that its pretty simple.
I just wanted to say good work on your site, I like the look and the information was useful.
1.Hey Todd, did you replace the extractor at the 50k mark or just the frame rails?
2.Is there anywhere I can find the recommended replacement intervals for the trigger, recoil, and slide lock spring?
Zaakir — The original extractor is still in the gun. It’s never even been removed for cleaning or inspection.
As a general rule with most modern handguns, it’s good preventative maintenance to replace the recoil spring every 5k and the rest of the springs every 10k. They may certainly go longer, and on some guns (short 1911’s, non-9mm Glocks, etc.) it can be a good idea to replace the recoil spring more often. But if you follow the 5/10 approach odds are your gun will outlast you.
Very good info, thanks Zaakir and ToddG, I will put it in my Range Log.
Is it possible that my MP9 c 9mm, has a different slide size, regarding the backsight size rail, I mean, just bought the Ameriglo Bowie Tactical Night sights, and well.. I could not wait to go to the Armorer to put the backsight, the Novak seems to go out without a problem but the new One The Bowie doesnt fit nice or smooth , going to the armorer this week to see what he thinks, and try to put both of my new sights, but I was wondering if you have info, I think that Compact and regular version are the same regarding aks right?
By the way, that spring bellow the backsight.. what is it for? scared the hell out of me when it jumped… Good week everybody ,Thanks.
S Vega — The sights are identically sized between the full and compact M&Ps. Your Bowie sight may just need a little fitting with a file. The spring that rests under the rear sight is for the striker block, which is one of the drop safety mechanisms in the M&P and most other modern handguns.
Thanks Tood.