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So that it's more like a
Glock.
For over three decades now
Glock has dominated the auto handgun market. Eventually every manufacturer
ended up with a Glock copy of some kind. S&W was no different and they had
to pay Glock for copying their gun with their Sigma. The M&P is the
“evolution” of such a pistol, so basically the M&P is a nicer looking
Sigma, which is a copy of the Glock.
Now here’s the funny part.
It seems that if you want the latest tricked out M&P you can customize it
by adding this $140 Apex trigger kit, so as to make it a state of the art
handgun by well… putting a Glock trigger into it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure
it DOES improve the M&P , but it is hard to avoid noticing that it does so
by putting a Glock trigger in a striker fired polymer framed gun that copied
the Glock on everything except for the trigger.
People, I like most guns,
there’s thousands of great designs which do their intended job and are fun to
shoot, but if you want the best defensive auto pistol there’s only one way to
go and one gun you should master. The rest have simply been trying to reinvent
what Gaston Glock got right the first time.
FerFAL
8 comments:
Your statement that Glock is the top of the mountain is bound to start an argument. Not from me, though. I agree with you.
I would change three small things to make the Glock truly perfect. From the factory metal sights (instead of plastic), a metal insert on the magazine so the mag catch doesn't hang on plastic, and the option of a slide safety.
I know that many don't want the safety, but I do. I wish Glock offered it.
Not to take anything away from Glock, they did revolutionize the industry after all, but there's a reason why many people prefer the M&P over the Glock. Personally, I hate the way the Glock feels whereas the M&P fits my hand like a glove. The ergonomics in general are better than the Glock. The M&P is also arguably more reliable than the Glocks and are manufactured with higher quality components and to a higher standard at that. Glocks are great guns and I would absolutely trust my life with one but to call the M&P a new Sigma is rather disingenuous. The M&P, if it is anything, is an improved Glock.
It really is tough to beat a Glock trigger unless you go single action.
...unless you hate glock's grip angle.
Marketing makes all the difference. Most newbies buying a gun look for 'safety' features that are seemingly absent in the glock. I have even talked to ex-military that say glocks are unsafe because they lack a safety.
I like glocks and they are my primary carry and night stand weapons. But, I must admit, my first gun was an XD9 because it had a grip safety.
From US Army Times article re Glock vs S&W M&P candidates to replace the Beretta 92 9mm:
"Smith and Wesson's .40 cal M&P nudged the Glock 22 and 27 in the ATF competition. Scores were so close that both received a part of the $80 million contract — and prime standing as the Army enters its search.
"It's kind of hard to beat the Smith and Wesson M&P right now," said one industry insider from a competing company, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It is a polymer gun with high-capacity steel magazines. It has a positive safety and ambidextrous controls ... they simply came out of the gate with the right gun."
...
The .40 caliber [Sig Sauer] P250 probably has little to no chance. The pistol had 58 stoppages, 13 of which were gun-induced, during the ATF competition. Smith & Wesson had 16 shooter-induced stoppages and Glock had seven, and neither had gun-induced stoppages...
But the venerable Glock does have its detractors, the industry insider said — primarily because the pistol lacks an external safety. In addition, there is no metal-on-metal contact in the magazine catch-recess area, causing magazines to wear out faster and sometimes drop out of the gun."
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20110828/NEWS/108280315/
1) I think the S&W M&P has a better grip than the Glock. Trigger reach is 2.6" versus
2.82" and M&P narrows at web of hand and expands into palm. Plus M&P doesn't have
those stupid ridges on the front of the grip that Glock had on the Gen 3.
I may be wrong but I think S&W introduced the 3 grip inserts (to allow for
small, medium and large hands) before Glock.
I think the M&P grip circumference is somewhat less.
2) Size wise, the M&P seems to fall between the Glock 22 and Compact 23 --barrel length is 4.25" vs 4.5 and 4.0.
2) I haven't compared the two for accuracy yet but intend to do so in the future.
As mentioned in the article, after testing the US government gave out contracts to let ATF and other federal agencies buy either one.
If you got to add a $140 Apex trigger kit to get a nice trigger on the M&P, you should have bought the Glock in the first place, or possible a FN FNS-9.
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