Smith and Wesson M&P
 

I'm in the market for a new .40 and think I'm going to go with the M&P. Does anyone have any feedback on these guns? I don't like not having a safety, but it fits my hand much better than the XD.

I love mine. I shoot the shit out of it and carry it every day. It's a great weapon. See the gun porn post for pics of mine if you like. Any specific questions you have?

Furthermore, you can learn MUCH more here than on TFP.
http://mp-pistol.com/boards/

...not that TFP isn't good mind you..

They are available with an external safety now.

I have a 9mm and I like it. It had a lot of problems initially, but S&W was responsive and fixed it quickly.

Greg

I have the M&P 45 without the thumb safety. It has become my favorite pistol. Accurate and reliable. You can find it each evening on my nightstand. However, as was said earlier, you can get the M&P with the thumb safety now.

Have you checked out how a Steyr M40 or M40-A1 fits your hands? If not, I'd suggest to seek one out at one of the more eclectic gun dealers around. The M40 has a Garand style safety that I love to pieces, while the A1 offers a standard rail to hang stuff off of. There's also a loaded chamber indicator in the back of the slide, not to mention the (temporarily) low price due to liquidation by previous importers. Steyr now seems much more intent on remaining in the US market, however, and new pistols ought to be hitting the shelves soon (until then, grab one while you can at $350 :thumbsup: ).

The internet is a lousy place to get advice on where to find a reliable firearm. Go to a few action shooting matches and see what everyone is shooting and how they function. Most people won't report stoppages because they chalk them up to ammo or lack of lube/cleanliness.

Perhaps if you go to the shitty parts of the Internet to check. The forum I frequent is fantastic for honest freeback and range reports.

+1 I owned the Steyr M357 and it was the single best polymer handgun I've ever used... even better than my H&K 45.

Of course it's also the buyer's responsibility to go through several hundred rounds of good ammo to break in the action, and several hundred more of carry ammo without any malfunctions just to be damn sure... If you're buying an auto over a revolver, you must understand that autos are prone to failures for a great number of reasons, and reliability is the thing you sacrifice for reload speed, accuracy, capacity, and all that stuff. Make sure to practice the hell out of all the clearance drills.

Every gun, even from the same manufacturer, is different too. And no matter what the manufacturer, you've got to be pretty religious in your care regimen when it comes to autos, or you're really asking for trouble. Think you might need your pistol to save your life some day? Treat it that way. Needing quality ammunition is just one more caveat, so make sure not to cut any corners - even a Glock will jam if it's fed rusty steel cased ammo from Siberia.

Of course, there's more to testing than just shooting the hell out of the thing - you could always put it through a torture test, in case you need extra proof. Many gun forums are pretty riddled with reports of stoppages and problems, on a gun by gun basis. I know of Steyr that they're all pretty evident when shooting a variety of ammo, and all turn into success stories, sometimes after needing a trip to the manufacturer. Make sure your manufacturer will stand behind the weapon in the case you do get one that's not quite right - it happens all the time.

I'm also thirding a Steyr M, by the way. I love them. An M&P is not a bad choice, though, if you prefer the aesthetics or fit of it (I just don't think it's as good as the Steyr M ;) ).

Buy the gun that fits best in your hand.

I bought an M&P 40 just haven't had time to get out to the range yet. Damn weather and busy schedule.