Hey M&P fans, does their accuracy suck?

[cedartop]

So, I was just reading an article in the latest issue of Trigger magazine written by SGM Kyle Lamb (Ret.). In it he says, " After shooting the M&P, I quickly realized that this pistol met several of the shortcomings of my issue 1911, namely the reliability. The accuracy was abysmal and the trigger creepy, but the pistol fit my hand."

My question is, is the accuracy of the M&P's that bad or is SGM Lamb just trying to help sell barrels for Salient? Don't get me wrong, I really like Kyle Lamb, and I am not questioning his integrity. Accuracy is relative, what may be bad for him may be fine for someone else. I would submit that if you can't ace a dot torture drill, or can't hit a torso sized steel at 100 yards, then you might not know or care of the accuracy defficiency he speaks to.

Lets be clear, he is speaking of the pistols inherent accuracy, not its practical accuracy. He addresses fixes for the bad trigger at some point in the article. His fix for the inherent accuracy problem is a better barrel. In this case ones made for Salient Arms by KKM.

Thoughts?

 

[VUPDblue]

I can do those things you mention with my 9c. In fact, I shoot that thing better than just about any gun I own.

 

[Goodcat]

I can do those things you mention with my 9c. In fact, I shoot that thing better than just about any gun I own.

Same, any inaccuracies are negligible.

 

[jay2981]

I've seen threads where people complain about the accuracy but I've had no problems. I went from glock to the m&p so in the beginning I was shooting low but grouping just as well as the glock. Trigger wise I do plan on putting the apex kit in it as I'm not to happy with it. It works but it could be better.

 

[Rhoadmar]

I've found it's mostly the shooter and not the gun. I hear people complain about the factory trigger on M&P's a lot. I have no problems with it.

 

[cedartop]

Thanks all. At this point I don't own a M&P. I have shot them, but not enough to really notice the issue Mr. Lamb talks about. Even though someone scoffed at me in another thread when I questioned the veracity of their precious gun rag, this is one reason why to me reading them is entertainment and not to be considered much more than that. Remember, their main job is to sell stuff.

 

[GLOCKBOY]

Depends. My full size MP45 is fine. Mid size MP45 was great. Full size 40 was fine only with fairly hot 180 gr loads. Full size MP9 was horrid. Wouldn't keep 10 rounds on a paper plate at 25 yards. Using the same loads my G17 and 34 would group 3-4 inches all day. Same with the XDm9. And HK P7 and so on. Got rid of it. Traded into a newer one. Terrible. Sent to S&W. New barrel. Better accuracy but not great. YMMV.

 

[GLOCKBOY]

Cedartop
If you want to try mine you are welcome to give it a try. I'm not far from ND and we could go to ECC and shoot.
Glockboy

 

[cedartop]

Cedartop
If you want to try mine you are welcome to give it a try. I'm not far from ND and we could go to ECC and shoot.
Glockboy

Thanks Glockboy. I appreciate the offer. I shoot them every so often when I borrow one from a student to demo with. Just thought I would like to get a consensus here.

 

[BravoMike]

I have the full size 9 and compact 9. I have shot those side by side with a Glock 19 and 26 and have not noticed any one gun being less accurate than another. Also, there are plenty that shoot the M&P for competition that do quite well. I have not experienced that it was inaccurate even when shooting supported on a bench. As for the trigger.... yeah its gritty at first, but smooths out after a couple hundred rounds.

 

[Que]

I've not had issues with the .40 or 9mm barrel.

 

[TopDog]

I had a M&P pro. Accuracy was better than I could shoot. As it is with most guns I own. Even though this had a better trigger than the standard M&P I still could not get used to it. The only drawback to the M&P in my humble opinion is the trigger. That is a common complaint as evidenced by the tremendous sales of aftermarket parts (namely Apex) to improve the trigger. But accuracy lacking, I would have to some detailed testing before I bought into that.

 

[Voodoo574]

Ok gonna throw in my here. Since Cedartop and Glockboy seem to be in my backyard heres another locals perspective. I own a M&P40, love the gun to pieces. It has never had a FTE, FTF or FTC. I did throw an Apex kit into it and it was night and day. everything smoothed out and is continuing to gel together as I use it. In terms of accuracy it always seems to be right on target. Any lack of performance I can only contribute to me.

 

[in625shooter]

I've owned a full size M&P in 45 and both full size and compact 9mm and all 3 were very accurate for me. Sold the 45 to get my Daughter a compact 9mm M&P and hers shoots like as good as the others do. Could be I have gotten good samples but I recommend them to anyone from my experience.

 

[SmithGuy]

I used to have an MP&P .40 and I shot it numerous times side by side with a Glock 23 of about the same size, and the M&P outshot the Glock every time with more accuracy and less recoil than the Glock. They both cleaned about equally easily, but the Glock was easier to disassemble. All in all, I would buy an M&P over a Glock any day.

 

[BlueCow]

its more accurate than the shooter, i could see how someone coming from a 1911 would have accuracy issues with a m&p and pretty much any other service pistol too.

 

[ttrimcobra]

I was hitting a torso or smaller sized steel target about 2 weeks ago with my m&p40 full size from 100 or more yards. I didn't hit it everytime but i didnt expect to hit it everytime either!

 

[netsecurity]

I can do those things you mention with my 9c. In fact, I shoot that thing better than just about any gun I own.

^ Ditto here. I know the very first M&P's had a bad twist rate though, but that was fixed years ago. I have a full size too, and it shoots good, although I think think my compact is faster to aim. I also have a Glock, and several other modern name brand pistols, like the PPQ, PX4, and they all shoot about the same accuracy in my hands. Now, I have had guns that were less accurate, or reliable, but I got rid of them quickly (Xdsc Comes to mind), but my M&P's don't have such issues.

They do have a mushy trigger reset. But I love the trigger break, which is light and crisp. The reset doesn't really bother me, although I wish it did click.

 

[WebSnyper]

I know the very first M&P's had a bad twist rate though, but that was fixed years ago.

I had heard it was issues with the pistols unlocking prematurely with the early full size 9mm models and that the issues seemed to really show up at 25 yards and beyond.

If you do some internet searching you can find info on it. Now whether it is true, etc is another story. There are reports that S&W changed the barrel profiles on the 9mm full size/pro, etc guns. Again, not sure if it is true or not.

 

[HICKMAN]

I have all the apex goodies in mine, except for the polymer "glock-like" trigger. That will probably be next.