Huray!!! I finally bought a 340 m&p!
I've wanted one of these for three years and finally bought one. I've read all the horror stories and heard all the war stories about recoil, but somehow, back in the 1960's when Carroll Shelby decided to wrap an itty bitty amount of aluminum and steel tube around a monstrous and brutal 500 hp big block Ford 427 side oiler motor, you didn't hear any buyers complaining about what a brute the vehicle was. Nor will I about my 340 M&P. Exclaim maybe, complain, never.
I bought this gun BECAUSE of its brute force. This is just about the smallest and lightest amount of gun Smith engineers figured they could get away with when they created this launch device for a fist full of .357 Magnum, the only one lighter being the 340PD. This is a highly specialized, exotic work of firearm craftsmanship and technology, not for everyone, and as long as its limitations and advantages are understood and accepted I see no problem with the gun.
No, I have not yet had the chance to shoot it, it just may hurt like everyone says, or maybe it will not. Everyone I know doesn't lift small car motors off the ground and carry them across the backyard to toss into a scrap heap either, so maybe I'm not everyone and I'll love the "whomp" the guns puts out, or maybe I'll fire five shots, wince from the pain, and call it good until next shoot session! I once fired a pistol grip Mossberg 500, a Magnum slug, one handed, and one shot was enough. Whether the 340 will hurt I don't know but I'll find out soon enough!
What matters is, what a magnificent little brute of an example of modern firearm engineering! Smith and Wesson, in my opinion, you have a winner with the 340 series and especially the M&P! From the way the matte black finish meets the eye, to the Military and Police logos... the wonderfully light weight, the enclosed hammer that allows firing from a pocket, the size, the night sights on the M&P, and of course the potent force of .357 Magnum. Even from the short barrel I'm reading real world chronograph figures of 1100 to 1200 fps and more with 125 grain bullets, not bad for what basically amounts to a five shot derringer. What's not to like about this little gun?
Sure, it won't do many things, but for its given purpose it's a wonderful little gun! I can't wait to shoot it, and if the full house .357 rounds are too brutal for a box of 50, then the standard 5 to 10 rounds for acclimatization will be enough and frankly, I don't want to beat this gun up with many Magnum rounds. I read how Magnums beat up the larger steel K frame guns so I'd imagine the diminutive J frame in alloy won't last long with thousands of rounds of Magnum through it. Remember, this is a specialized gun, a bit like a parachute, it isn't meant for years of eating up rounds of any sort. As they say, carry a lot, shoot a little. What a wonderful little gun!