M&P 40c Range report and question

[Rob G]

I finally had a chance to take my new M&P 40c out to the country and shoot it a little bit. I've always liked the way this gun felt in my hand and I was hoping that the shooting experience would be good as well. On this trip I had 250 rounds with me. One hundred of those were WWB .40 FMJ. I also had 100 rounds of Speer Lawman 357 Sig FMJ (I have a conversion barrel for it) and 50 rounds of Speer Gold Dot JHP. I took more 357 Sig then .40 because my primary intention is to leave the 357 Sig conversion barrel in for CC.

Ergonomics: The overall feel of the pistol is great. I had the smallest palm swell in to start and ended up leaving it in because it still felt good while shooting. The trigger is a little odd but then I'm primarily a 1911 guy so most other triggers feel a little odd to me. Still the trigger worked well and although I might polish it up a bit it'll probably stay pretty stock. All the controls were well placed and worked smoothly. Even the optional thumb safety (which mine has) was no problem and I liked the fact that it was frame mounted and in about the same place as my 1911s. Recoil was good with either round and I never found it to be a problem. For comparison one of the guys there had a Glock 33. People who shot both all agreed that the M&P had lighter recoil. Any other comparison between the guns wasn't practical because the Glock had $400 in custom work done to it. (hairpin trigger, tru-glo sights, etc.)

Accuracy: I'm no competition shooter but this gun seems plenty accurate. With the .40 barrel in I was getting 4" 10 shot groups at 30 feet. When I switched over to the 357 Sig barrel my groups tightened up a little. I was shooting at 40 and 50 feet by that point and my 10 shot groups were down to 3". Overall I'm perfectly happy with that at the moment and I'm sure a little more range time with this gun will tighten those groups up.

Reliability: So far I've only had two problems with the gun. I switched the barrels over to .40 so a friend of mine could shoot it a bit with his ammo and the first magazine he tried to load wouldn't lock in with the slide closed. I tried it with the slide open and it locked in and chambered a round no problem. I then worked the slide a few times to eject and chamber a couple more rounds with no problem. I reloaded the magazine and put it in with the slide closed and it went right in. I have no idea what the problem was but it was the only issue feeding/firing issue I had with it. I also had the white dot inside the front sight fall out during the second magazine. It didn't hurt my shooting any but it's annoying.

Fun Factor: I know this isn't a normal category but I had to include it. This gun put a huge smile on my face, especially with the 357 Sig barrel in. The Sig round is loud when it goes off and makes a huge thump. It's also my new favorite auto pistol round for destroying things. We were shooting full soda cans and the Sig rounds were just ripping them apart in ways that even the .45s couldn't match. I know that's competely subjective and irrelevant to the soft tissue potential of the round but man did it put a huge smile on my face.

Overall Impression: I like this gun a lot, especially with the 357 Sig conversion barrel in it. I want to put more JHPs through it before I add it to my carry rotation but assuming no more reliability issues I think it'll work great.

Question #1 The white dot inside my front sight fell out while shooting. I was thinking of just getting some paint and fixing it that way. Does anyone know if this will work? If so what kind of paint should I get? Also any suggestions on color? I was thinking of going with a green or orange to help differentiate it from the rear sights.

Question #2 With the 357 Sig barrel in the gun shot a little low. POI was about 2" below POA at 10 yards and increased slightly as range increased. I'd heard before I bought the gun and second barrel that this was not uncommon so I'm not totally shocked. I would be interested to know if there was any way to fix this though. My primary intention is to leave that barrel in and although 2" isn't bad for purposes of SD (where I'd be aiming center mass anyway) it would be nice to have POI and POA match.

 

[psyshack]

Congrats on the new pistol!

Paint in your site dots how ever you like. Then give Smith a call just to let them know so they can start data on your pistol by s/n. Or see if they will make you a deal on night sites.

As for POA between the .40 and .357 Sig. I would think it is sited in for 165 to 180gn bullet weight. I don't shoot the .40 Smith. Thats what 10mm is for. And the .357 Sig has a lighter bullet I bet.

Take my 9mm's: They all seem to shoot POA with 124gn bullets. If I shoot 115gn ammo there low. If I shoot 147gn ammo there a tad high. This happens for me and others form 5 to 25 yards. Push the range out farther than 25 yards and it flips. The 115's you dont have to hold up as high as the 124's and 147's

Then there is my .45 acp. 230gn ammo is POA. 200's and 185's shoot lower at 5 to 25 yards. But flip on longer ranges.

Hope this helps.

 

[PPS43]

The white dot inside my front sight fell out while shooting.

This is a very common occurrence. Clean and degrease front sight. With slide pointing downwards, put a drop of Testor's paint into the cavity where the white dot was. Let it dry completely before handing again.

Small bottles of Testor's paint can be found at any arts&crafts store.

White is better (easier to see in the dark).

POI was about 2" below POA at 10 yards and increased slightly as range increased.

What are you aligning: top of the sights, top of the dots, middle of the dots?

If you are aligning top of the front sight and top of the rear sight and still are 2" low at 10 yards, your front sight is approximately 0.035" too high (or your rear sight is 0.035" too low).

Rear sight is more expensive, but much easier to replace.

 

[Sig Bill]

I can tell you why the mag won't lock in. I have the same problem. Even though the mag can hold this many rounds the spring is very well compressed. With the mag filled to the hilt and trying to lock it in is compressing the spring a bit more but you're bottomed out already.

Some will break in eventually but both of my mags won't. They're the Sigma 9mm and Sig P250 40sw mags.

 

[Skylerbone]

Forget the factory sights. For shooting multiple barrels to POA POI you need an adjustable rear sight. I know, they're all flimsy and will break as soon as you holster them...because everyone says so. Call Dawson Precision and get their adjustable black (no dots) rear and a fiber optic front.

FO is far more visible during daylight hours and if used with a weapons mounted light will also be more visible at night. You need a light to ID your potential target anyway. Night sights are great for specific circumstances but not always the best choice IMO and I'd blackout the rear dots if you keep your rear sight.

 

[LightningMan]

Use Testors modeling paint like suggested above, I would suggest using a gloss-white, not a flat-white paint. Reguardless what color you chose, I would still use a gloss over flat, as it's brighter and eaiser to see.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Q #1. I just grabbed some of my son's model paint as added a few drops. I happened to grab the yellow Tamiya water based paint. I looked for the neon green, but couldn't find it. Be sure to degrease the hole first to help the paint stay in place.

I'd also black out the rear dots if you are going to keep the factory rear sight

Q #2. The 357SIG's bullet is striking lower as it is leaving the barrel sooner in it's upward arc. If you'd like it zeroed for that cartridge, you'll have to replace the sights to adjust for the difference. The cheapest way, would be to file down the front sight a hair (.035" as posted in 3# above)

 

[Snowdog]

IIRC, my M&P40c experienced a failure to feed with Federal 180 HST (commercial packaged with nickel brass), but only once. I can only presume was due in part to the initial break-in phase as that was the only malfunction it's ever had.

With the Storm Lake barrel, it has been 100% with .357Sig. It's a joy to shoot! It's also my EDC (with XM40HC), so obviously I trust it quite a bit.

 

[DAdams]

I like my M&Ps I have both the 40c and 9Pro. To the point that one of these days I may get a 45c.

I ordered mine with Trijicon night sights.

Ergonomically they are number two on my list with the cousin Walther P99 (PPQ) number one.

I have both full size mags with X-Grips and the compacts.

 

[Rob G]

I appreciate all the responses and I've definitely been doing some thinking on this. Primarily I plan on using this gun with the 357 Sig barrel in it. I honestly only bought the 40c because I couldn't find the 357c and the 40c is easy to convert over. Plus I got a good price on the gun and the second barrel.

So I think here's what I'll do. I'll use the Testor's paint as many recommended and fix my front dot. I think I'll black out my rear dots for now, I'm assuming I can just paint those black. I'm 99% sure I don't use them for aiming (i.e. I just line up the top of the sights and then center the front dot on my target) but I may be using them without realizing it so I'll just black them out. I think I'll also take PPS43 and 9mmepiphany's advice and file down the front sight a little to bring my groups back up on target.

Long term I like skylerbone's idea of an adjustable rear and a fiber optic front but I'm a little short on funds after buying the gun so it'll have to wait.