M&p 340

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Mr. Duke

That PD has more text and logos on it than a safety ladder. :D

Is that 7 or 8 rounds?

Don't forget to take the Seecamp .380 off your roundup list. ;)
 
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EBR with EBR

Evil Black Rifle with Evil Black Revolver

I got a new AR (BCM 14.5 Midlength) so I thought some 340 posing would be in order.

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I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I am a retired LEO and carried various Smith j frames for years as backups(36, 60, 38, 49, 642). Since retirement I have carried my off duty gun, a Colt 1911, daily for the last 11 years giving my last j frame to one of my daughters. I recently started experiencing back and hip pain(sciatica)that has prevented me from carrying any handgun on or in my belt. I just purchased a Smith M&P 340 and have put 100 rounds through it so far. Being very familiar with the platform I found the gun easy to shoot with several different .38 loads but I wanted to try .357. Bought a couple of boxes of the Remington Golden Saber 125's and loaded her up. I didn't know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. The recoil was stout but manageable. All five shots, slow aimed fire, were in the 10 ring at 7 yards. The second cylinder was fired as fast as I could acquire a sight picture and squeeze the trigger. All five were center mass and inside the 9 ring. Remainder of the first box was the same. I know the Remington round is considered a mid range .357 but it still appears to be better than a 125 +p .38. I will next try a low light shoot to check for excessive muzzle flash. I have small hands and short fingers so the factory grips are fine for me. I will be carrying in right front pocket with one of several leftover holsters but haven't decided which yet. Do those of you who carry and shoot .357's in yours have other suggestions on loads to try?
 
royal barnes: I've shot just about every load you can imagine from my M&P 340 including the Remington 125gr Golden Sabers you mention. The Golden Sabers are a good choice. The Speer 135gr Short Barrel Gold Dots are another good one though the recoil is slightly stiffer than the Golden Saber load. Problem with the Gold Dots is that this particular load is currently impossible to find for sale.

I've personally settled on the Remington 110gr SJHP. Recoil is relatively light, it's easy to find, and, most importantly, it garnered an impressive performance record in actual shootings as the Border Patrol's issued ammunition from 1986 to 1994.
 
royal barnes....

Welcome. Being a former "snubber" I'll bet the 340 was an intersting proposition.

I have tried a bunch of different ammunition and keep coming back to the SGDFSB Plus P. 135 gr. I have a few boxes of the SGDFSB .357 135 gr.

Have you looked at the Buffalo Bore ammunition? Go to their website and see if there isn't something there you might like. They have some .38 spl plus P and .357 for short barrels. I have some of the standard pressure soft cast in my bedside 642-2.

http://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=108

Again thanks for joining us.
 
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Have you looked at the Buffalo Bore ammunition? Go to their website and see if there isn't something there you might like. They have some .38 spl plus P and .357 for short barrels.

The Buffalo Bore +P 158gr .38 was punishing out of my 340 the one time I ran a cylinder of it through my 340. I can't imagine what .357 would be like.
 
The Buffalo Bore +P 158gr .38 was punishing out of my 340

Thanks for the warning. All I have tried is the standard pressure as they tend to load to the limit of SAAMI ratings from what I can glean.

I have yet to try:

Hornady FTX .38 spl plus P 110 gr or .357 in 125 gr they are both waiting for a range trip some day.

After a while you just get to the point where you find something in plus P that goes well to the POA and stick with it with confidence. SGDFSB PN23921 has always grouped well for me at 7-10 yards and the recoil is very manageable.
 
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Good to see you 340 M&P guys still churning over here.

Still may have to trade the x42 for one someday.

Not interested in shooting .357 mag from it,
but the ability to do so in a pinch is good.

And the quality seems to be - no, wait -
is obviously higher than in the x42.

Or at least, so it seems.

At ease. Smoke'm if you've got 'em.
 
I bought my M&P 340 in August of 2008 and I finally got arount to shooting it for the first time yesterday, I was not impressed. I put exactly 60 rounds through it total. I started with .38 specials, then moved up to .38+P's, and I got to put a total of 5 rounds of .357 before it blew apart. On the fifth round of .357 it jammed up so I looked at it and the barrel was almost all the way out of the frame and cocked to the side. The blast shield in the frame came out and wedged itself between the frame and the cylinder and the frame itself had cracked. Has anyone else on here heard of these guns having this problem or is it just me? They were all factory loads by the way.
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heh. Not a good experience, rayman375. I know I have read of the odd bad experience with the M&P340 (maybe even in this thread, I don't remember), but I don't recall seeing anything like that.

Have you contacted S&W yet? Obviously, you will get a new gun out of this.

Jim H.
 
I have contacted S&W, they are having me send the gun back to them. I was pretty upset considering it was basically a new gun and had only put 60 rounds through it, but as long as it gets taken care of I don't mind. I'm glad that nobody got hurt out of it also.
 
rayman

That is a radical disassemblement! :eek:

I have not seen anything like that. In fact other than this thread where a couple of minor items have sent 340s back to the factory, this is the most dramatic failure I have seen.

Definitely a metalurgical failure as any and all of those rounds are suitable for running in the 340.

I see a new 340 in your future.

You may want to ask for a lockless version if that interests you.

Let us know how this turns out.
 
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