Posted: 6/9/2006 5:20:29 PM EDT
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It's official, my department is issuing the M&P to officers this summer. Firearms instructors have evaluated and approved the pistol and are very excited. The version we are getting has Novak night sights and extended slide releases(praise the Lord), but they still have the magazine safety in place. Unfortunately we won't be firing the guns until September. I am excited and it should be fun.
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The M & P seems to be catching on. I really hope it works for Smith, they desparately need a home run. Word is Iowa State Patrol have adopted it as well, just armorers have been to school, just waiting for the guns to show up. Don't sweat the mag disconnnect, It is a complete non issue. Despite what the gun hacks and internet warriors tell you, you will not be needing to shoot the pistol without the mag. Never, ever. |
Funny you mention that, I'm in the IA Patrol Academy at the moment
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I wouldn't speak in terms of absolutes. The need to fire without a magazine inserted is something that could very well happen to those working in the LE field. |
Absolutely untrue. I can speak from experience as a LEO of 16 yrs, and not an "internet warrior", that my agency has issued a firearm with the mag disconnect that caused serious officer safety issues. On many occasions the mag release button was often unknowingly accidentally activated. The culprit was the seatbelt connector that just slightly touched the mag release while sitting in the car. Many officers found that their mag was slightly out of battery and, thus, the gun would not fire. Luckily, this was discovered most times at range training; however, God knows how many traffic stops our folks did with a non functioning sidearm. Additionally, many officers reported getting back into their unit only to find their mag sitting in the seat to greet them on their return. Our current firearm specs require the gun not be equipped with the mag disconnect. I agree with this requirement completely. The first reasoning for the mag disconnect was that most officers are shot with their own guns after it is taken from them. The theory was that during the tussle, the officer could manipulate the mag release and disable the firearm, rendering it useless in the hands of the attacker and giving the officer time to seek cover, select another weapon, etc. However, after these problems occured and more research was done revealing how much you loose the fine motor skills during a adrenaline dump required to do this, the sensible decision to loose the mag disconnect was agreed upon. On a combat firearm, I'll take the possibility of a single shot over none anyday. The number of times we found the mag disconnect a problem compared to the number of times we had a gun taken from an officer made the choice obvious IMO. |
How much dry-fire practice do you do? With a striker-fired gun, you have to rack the slide for every trigger pull. If the magazine is required to be in the pistol, this will cause the slide to lock back while manually cycled. So you take the magazine out. the rack the slide, then reinsert the mag, WHILE HOLDING THE TRIGGER BACK THROUGH THIS ENTIRE PROCESS! (because you want to practice resets right?) Also, the addition of any extra parts to a system will ALWAYS reduce the reliability. That is a mathematical fact. |
You only have to move the slide back about 3/8 of an inch to reset the striker, not all the way to the rear so you dont have to worry about the mag holding the slide back. I practice the reset on the range, not in dry fire.
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You suck!  I really thinking hard about a 9mm M&P. The only complaint I have is the reset much lighter with less tactile feedback than I'm used too. I know it just a familiarzation and training issue but I wish S&W would do something about. I'm still going back on forth on whether I'll be getting a Glock 19 or an M&P 9 next... |
I can't speak for anyone else but my live fire trigger control improved the most from doing lots and lots of trigger reset dry fire practice. |
I didn't realize dryfire and range practice was an "either/or" thing. I'm not always at a range, but I've always got the opportunity to practice my trigger control. I've never met a truely great shooter who did not dryfire practice a lot. Thanks for the info about the striker reset. I'm still of the opinion that there are more negatives than positives to having a magazine disconnect. Jason |
I finally found one here for sale at the one of the few and far between gun counters at my local sporting good store. Well it felt great and I want one, but the damn thing was $670. And since this is the PRK it comes with 10 round mags. But then the Glock 22 was $700. I gotta move. |
Maybe I am just used to light reset, I absolutly had no trouble with the trigger reset. |