New sidearm

Saturday I bought a slightly used Smith & Wesson Military & Police 40 pistol (full size, 15 round, no external safety). Last night I took it (and various other firearms) to the range to try it out (along with other folks some of whom brought their own ordnance).

I really, really, like the S&W M&P 40. :-)

To start off, I think I got fairly lucky - I found a near-new weapon still with the original box, manual, proof cartridge, extra modular grips, and four magazines for rather less than I'd been prepared to pay for just a used weapon and the standard two magazines.

The S&W M&P 40 has a lot of features I like, which led to my deciding on that particular sidearm. I'm really happy about the reversable magazine catch, which means that I no longer suffer from a penalty for being left handed. The weapon feels good in my hand, and my shot placement, while not as good as the S&W 686, is still much better than I usually do with 9mm, much less large bore cartridges. I also like that field stripping the weapon does NOT require you to pull the trigger, nor does a basic strip require any tools. S&W were quite clever - they managed to include a tool with the weapon. The grips are held on with a rod in the magazine well, which is designed to be removed and used as a tool for field-stripping; nice engineering, which I always appreciate. :-)

I put about 80 rounds through it last night, and it felt quite comfortable throughout. No feed problems (despite new mags, etc.), no failure to fire, no glitches at all. Quite nice, especially since there was at least a minor glitch with every other firearm on the line that night (even, I'm ashamed to admit, my AR-15 - a sticky magazine)!

In related news, I used my new double-barrel shotgun (a replica Colt Model 1878 Coach Gun) to fire two rounds of buckshot simultaneously - that was fun. :-) No one else tried the two-shots-at-once feature, though generally people liked the weapon.