As promised, here is a long-term test report on the new M&P from my contact in a US police dept., who "sorted" 3 M&P's for S&W prior to their issue. Looks like the M&P is going to be a hit, and S&W are determined to make sure it stays a hit.
After the hoopla died down and S&W took their test guns to other PDs, we kept our three long term test guns to abuse. These guns have eaten hot .40SW ammo up into 5 digits by now, and suffered alot of hard use. I fully EXPECTED FAILURES. This is a totally new gun! Remember, the ONLY guns we have tested in my career that did not suffer failures were the Glocks. Even SIGs broke under our testing. What is important is the response of the gun company.
We uncovered two problems with the M&P.
Light primer strikes - not many, but we had enough to notice that occasionally the M&P would have a light strike on our CCI ammo.
Slide stop breakage on starboard side - all three long term guns had the right side slide lock button break off. All guns continued to function normally.
Here's the good news: S&W did not go into denial and damage control. They immediately said "that is unacceptable" and went to the engineers. S&W is incorporating changes to correct both issues (sorry, they will not tell me what serial number will begin the "improved" models).
S&W re-designed the right side slide lock lever to eliminate breakage. They also added metal to the bottom barrel lug, lengthened the striker, and recontoured the striker channel, in order to slightly alter lock-up and increase striker effectiveness.
More good news: the high round count guns got "better shooting" after break in. I have no problem hitting a man-sized target at 50 yards, and it is because the good trigger and handling characteristics of this pistol.
I really like this gun. It is handy and light, and much smaller than our 4506's. It has the potential to be a real dandy shooter. I am optimistic, and the PD has committed to arming us with the new M&P. I will update everyone when the transition begins, hopefully before the end of 2006.
