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Mike from Texas wrote:I recently picked up a M&P 45 with the threaded barrel kit (for future appurtenances ). The gun feels great in the hand but I HATE the trigger. I know it will get better but I'm used to my 4# Glock triggers that I can cheaply and very easily swap out components in under 2 minutes and have a very decent trigger. I'm sure I will send it off to Burnwell to have the trigger "fixed".

No need for Burwell.

go to https://apextactical.com/store/product- ... cid11.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and order one of their kits (or just the sear and striker block - which is what I used). If you can take apart your glock to isntall a 4# trigger kit, you can do the M&P also. Only differences is you must drive out the frame pin with hammer and punch (not just simply push out like a Glock) and to access the striker block you have to remove the rear sight - easy enough with hammer, punch, and solid bench vise - they even provided you a little "helper" tool. Or if you have a sight pusher tool even easier. Or do the striker block swap when you also swap sights if you plan to do so.

Apex guys have put great how-to videos on YouTube to show you how to install all the relevant parts yourself.

40khammer wrote:Texas Department of Criminal Justice Transportation officers carry the S&W M&P .357 sig if that means anything to you.

And Texas DPS Troopers & Rangers carry Sig P226 in .357 Sig, as does the US Secret Service.

Great caliber. But cost prohibitive for most folks who aren't being given practice ammo by their departments. Also I understand it is hard to reload because of the bottle-neck cartridge. For citizen CC, not sure I see a huge upside to .357 Sig over .40 S&W. Just my $0.02 and worth less than that

Rockrz wrote:Which ones are made in the United States of America?

I'd kinda like to get something made by some of our countrymen...

I believe S&W M&Ps and Ruger SR are both 100% Made in USA (but not positive of this).

I know Glocks are made in Austria then final assembly is in Smyrna, GA.

XD is partially (or wholly?) manufactured in Serbia.

Beretta = Italy and USA
Sig Sauer = Germany, Switzerland, and USA


This is all off top of my head. Whatever I got wrong someone will be by to correct soon.

Rockrz wrote:OK, thanks. I never thought about that, but it makes perfect sense.

It's also nice to know the M&Pc has a grip similar in size to the 4513TSW

Yes, M&Ps have some of the thinnest grips of any double-stack gun. Ruger SR9/SR40 are also comparatively thin. XDs are OK. Glocks can be quite rotund in the grip, though the Gen 4 design is a bit thinner front to back.

Rockrz wrote:OK, now what's the difference between a "Single Stack", and a "Double Stack"?

You guys are gonna mess around and make me knowledgeable...L0L

Single stack is all rounds in the magazine directly in line top to bottom, one on top of the next. This configuration holds fewer rounds but achieves a thinner magazine and thus thinner pistol grip. Examples are the classic M1911 .45, all Kahr pistols, Walther PP, PPK & much newer PPS.

Double stack is rounds in the magazine are staggered left-right to fit more into a mag of the same length. But this makes the mags, and thus the pistols' grips, thicker. Examples are most modern semi-auto pistols the Glock, M&P, XD, Beretta M9/92, and even older designs like the Browning Hi-Power

the "other designer" of the Browning Hi-Power (other than the legend himself John Moses Browning), a Belgian named Dieudonné Saive, designed the first staggered column or "double stack" magazine for the Hi Power in the late 1920s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieudonn%C3%A9_Saive" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browning_Hi_Power" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are actually three "sizes" of M&P45, but the standard 4.5-inch barrel and the "compact" with 4-inch barrel and shortened grip seem to be most prevelent. What I was referring to is the harder-to-find version with 4-inch barrel and full-size grip (so it's actually a 1/4-inch shorter than the M&P9's 4.25-inch barrel)

Standard 4.5-inch
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/ ... rrorView_Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Compact model - 4-inch barrel with shortened grip
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/ ... rrorView_Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

4-inch barrel with full-size grip
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/ ... rrorView_Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These are all the versions with no thumb safety. Then of course you have versions WITH a thumb safety, plus all the various versions with different color schemes, mag disconnect safeties etc. Just a HUGE number of various choices.

I picked up a used M&P45 and I really like the gun (it is my first .45), though that extra quarter inch of length vs. the M&P9 does hang up on a holster draw occassionally (more likely catches on my cover garment). With some work/practice, I've alleviated the problem. But if I had it to do all over again I think I might pick up the 4-inch barrel .45 so my two M&Ps would be same size.

In addition to being about 1/4-inch longer, the M&P45 is a few frog's hairs wider and the grip (back to front) is about 1/10th of an inch deeper. For comparison, the M&P45 grip size is between the thinner M&P9/40/357 and the thicker standard size Glock 9/40/357 grip.

My M&P 45 and 9 both fit very well into the same Comp Tac MTAC and also both fit into a Safariland composite plastic OWB holster I use sometimes for IDPA, though the 45 is a bit snug in the Safariland holster.

I have not fired a M&P40, but both my M&P9 and M&P45 have MUCH LESS felt recoil than a .40-cal Glock.

As far as shooting, hard to tell much difference but the extra 1/4inch sight radius and barrel length on the .45 must help a little bit because I ran both guns in an IDPA classifier a few months back and finished about 3 seconds faster (overall time, penalty seconds for misses included) with the .45 than the 9mm