S&W SD9VE Budget pistol 1000 round review.

rci2950

rci2950

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So I bought this pistol May 1, 2018 and have since then put 1000 rounds through it. The last two boxes being yesterday afternoon. I can honestly say these are a very good pistol. Well worth the money even after the spring swap. I did the APEX spring upgrade at 400 rounds. I noticed quite a difference. The original trigger being heavy as this pistol was designed to be used as a self defence firearm. The upgraded spring set is more in line with range use.

I have fired a number of different types of rounds through this. Including all the cheap steel stuff, Winchester white box, S&B FMJ, Remington FMJ, Federal Aluminum case stuff and some self defence rounds including Winchester Ranger HP and Federal Law Enforcement, Speer Law man and Winchester SXZ. I also fired a number of hand loads that were decades old. Everything functioned flawlessly except for the stuff made by MAXXtech. It hated that brand. It is steel case ammo with a steel sleeve inside the case to reinforce it. I have a number of failure to extract that required a pencil down the barrel to knock the empty case out by pounding it on the bench. I completely blame the ammo and possibly the -15 Celsius temperature that day for being an aggravating factor. Every other ammo fed and extracted properly including the Winchester "Forged". steel case ammo. The gun seems to really like that stuff. It shoots it very well.

The only wear I can see on the gun is on the slide where the case head makes contact. As seen in the pics. Also on the top of the chamber part of the barrel and inside the slide where it is rubbing. Initially the frame had a bit of plastic overlapping the steel lugs that the slide rides on but that has since worn off cleanly and it is steel to steel as it should be. The recoil spring and plastic guide rod come as a module and have not shown any wear or weakening whatsoever. As well the magazines are holding up perfectly. I have placed equal number of rounds through each of the two mags it came with. Rotating them each loading.

Overall impression, with the APEX spring upgrade $35, this is a very adequate pistol and a great value.

More on the spring install, It took me less than an hour start to finish to do this job. There are a number of instructional videos and a website with pics explaining how it is done. It is no sweat at all.

Here are some pics I have taken this morning after cleaning.

Click the pics to enlarge them













 
Travis_m said:
It seems like reliability is not really an issue. How is the accuracy?
Click to expand...

At 25? (Whats the half way point on the Middle Musquodoboit Rifle and revolver club pistol range?) feet I chewed the centre square out of the figure 11 target. I would say it is on par with everything else. I have no accuracy complaints. There also was not one ammo type that shot any better then another accuracy wise.
 
Most of the S&W 3rd generation pistols were very good. But they abandoned them because Glock was kicking their ass in LEO purchases.
S&W’s first kick at the Glock can, the “Sigma” was just a copyright infringement that Glock won. When S&W smartened up they introduced the M&P, first in 9mm, and began to win back contracts.

If you like the SDVE9mm, buy an M&P. It remains an outstanding value for the money.....
 
I actually sold my M&P in favour of the SD9VE and some ammo. The SD9 is highly underrated. For what 95% of us use handguns for this is plenty adequate. I highly recommend this pistol to anyone who wants a striker gun and is a cheapskate like me
 
I shot my buddies SD9. I was pleasantly surprised by it. The trigger pull was very long. But despite that, I shot it rather well. For the price it won't disappoint. However I would still rather pay a 100$ more and get a M&P9.
 
I thought it was a piece of crap. Then I let me wife shoot. She had no issue making circles. She gets stovepipes every other shot though and I never do. I just suck at pistol shooting.
 
I have no experience with these; my Pastor has a M&P 9, and it is a nice pistol that shoots well. I still like my steel guns better.
 
I have one. It's my only handgun. I kind of bought it as insurance shortly after the liberals got in power. Kind of a now or possibly never buy. I've shot it a few times. Put maybe 350-400 rounds through it. It's fun and seems to hit what I point it at. I havent had any misfires or feeding issues. No complaints here. I think I paid about $350 on reliable guns annual sale.
 
I’ve shot one and have a buddy that owns one, it was so ####ty that I wouldn’t own one if it was given to me for free. In fact my buddy can’t sell his no matter what he does. Buy an M&P9 if you want a striker fired S&W, even the gen1 M&P’s have a nicer trigger than the SD9VE.
 
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