New to Me Smith and Wesson M&P 45acp

[Tallball]

I didn't have a DA semiautomatic pistol in 45acp that I liked a lot. Two of my friends have M&P's that they are fond of. A couple of weeks ago I got an email about some police trade-in M&P pistols. The 45acp's came with the box and paperwork and FOUR magazines, for $249 plus $15 shipping. It seemed like a no-brainer to me. I ordered one, and was finally able to pick it up last Saturday.

It has some moderate holster wear and seems to have been shot some, but probably not very much. I put on the large grips (it came with all three), and it fits my big man paws pretty well. The trigger pull is just a little bit longer (and possibly slightly heavier) than my Glock 22, but certainly not bad. I like the sights. I'm hoping to shoot it this weekend.

Does anyone have any advice for me as far as shooting characteristics, ammo preferences, or holster recommendations? It will likely just be a range toy for me, but I guess it could end up as a nightstand gun, or a truck/hotel gun if I travel this summer.

Smith and Wesson M&P 45acp

• Tallball
• Dec 10, 2018

 

[Kookla]

Tallball, that's a really good price you got it for.

Had one these a few years back. I remember it to be soft shooting and accurate. I didn't mind the trigger.

 

[1KPerDay]

Heck of a deal.

 

[bbqreloader]

nice pick up! So curiosity question...do you just google police trade ins or is there a few dependable sites you use?

 

[Tallball]

"...do you just google police trade ins or is there a few dependable sites you use?"


AIM and King's Firearms are good places online. There are many others. My FiL has bought a couple of nice surplus/trade-in pistols from Palmetto Armory.

On Gunbroker I keep an eye on Kings Firearms, Gulf Coast Distributors, gtdistrubutorsaustin, and RobersonsTradingPost.

The online sites seem to stock large batches all at once. They tend to come in waves. For awhile everyone had the Italian Berettas with the heel magazine release. Then they all had Star Super B's, and then later they all had Star BM's. The Sig P229's and S&W M&P's have been more recent. Lots of departments have apparently been dumping 40 calibers in the past couple of years.

On Gunbroker, Kings, GT, and GCD sell a bunch of odd random handguns. Some of them may be police seizures - IIRC, GCD says something about selling those in particular. The Gunbroker places will also sell police trade-ins in dribs and drabs, maybe a couple at a time for a few weeks or so. I keep an eye on the latter situation. People who are really looking for trade-in Pistol X will tend to buy them up early on. I have gotten some great deals on some of the last of the Pistol X examples to be posted, after everyone who "really" wanted one already got theirs. I also don't care if the finish is worn. It's not uncommon for me to get a perfectly functional service pistol for $150-$200. I'm not sure that all of them are from the US, either. I got a great-shooting Model 10 snubbie from GCD when they were slowly selling a batch of them around six months ago, and it seems kind of late in the game for those to have been from the US.

Good luck to you!

 

[PeashooterJoe]

Put in a trigger upgrade kit, will improve..Accurate and love mine, seems you got a good deal..Peashooterjoe

 

[Walkalong]

Prices are down a little on the M&P trade ins since they hit the market.

9MM with three mags $250.

https://www.kingsfirearmsonline.com...-wesson-309601-022188127638-528-44-156258-528

 

[wnycollector]

OP congrats a great pistol. I one the exact same gun. I added a set of Truglo TFO sights and an Apex Duty/Carry Action Enhancement Kit Those two upgrades made a great gun into a fantastic gun.

 

[Tallball]

Thanks for the advice, WNY. I am taking it to the range on Saturday morning. After that I will start to consider possible upgrades.

 

[rsrocket1]

What a great deal!
I tried out an M&P45 at the Sportsmans Warehouse in Wichita just after it opened several years ago (now I heard it's closed). It felt great but the trigger was really gritty. I've had an M&P40 since 2011 and have put over 50k rounds through it. I know the grittiness (caused by the trigger bar and the striker block) will go away after a while or you can smooth the surfaces to eliminate the sharp angles.

Shoot the gun a lot to see if you have good shooting technique or if you have bad habits of not pulling straight back on the trigger with a straight back follow through. I was very guilty of this and my accuracy was great some days and mediocre on others. I was used to 1911's and revolvers and picked up the bad habit of pressing my trigger finger sideways as well as back with aimed shots. The M&P has considerable travel after the break and if you have side force or vertical force on the trigger as it breaks, your shots will be off target. The gun is very accurate on it's own but its the "Indian, not the arrow" that leads to inaccuracies with this gun.

An Apex FSS kit will help alleviate this bad habit. It did for me but I realized that when I restored the original trigger after 5 years of shooting with the Apex kit, my accuracy was still there.

The gun is really sturdy and the only thing I would caution with a Gen 1 M&P is don't use the slide stop as a "slide release". Use the slingshot method to drop the slide on a newly inserted mag. Get a replacement slide lock assembly (only a couple of bucks). Other than that, I haven't needed to replace anything else on the gun in 7 years while often shooting 100-200 rounds a week.

Sadly S&W gave up in CA and refused to keep the M&P45 on "the safe roster" so the only way we can get one here is to pay $600 for a used M&P9/40/45.

 

[Tallball]

I shot it the other day and was seriously impressed. The trigger was a little longer and stiffer than I prefer, but the accuracy was very good. It fits my hand well and I had zero malfunctions. This will work its way onto my favorites list quickly, I predict, and it will likely be going to the range with me very often.