I've owned one for the last couple of years.
I was a bit reluctant to bit yet another plastic gun (since I already owned a pair of Glocks and a pair of SW99's and was already an armorer for both designs), and I wasn't sure I really 'needed' a 9th .45 pistol, anyway.
I'd handled and fired a representative number of plastic .45's over the years and just hadn't yet found one which interested me enough to spend my own money on one. I liked my metal-frame .45's just fine.
After I attended the M&P armorer class I was interested enough in the features to consider picking one up, and when I handled the first M&P 45 I came across I decided that it would be a .45 model with thumb safeties (since I've always been a 1911 owner & shooter).
That was about 3,000 rounds ago ...
While the trigger wasn't anything to really write home ... (mine measured on the heavy end of the normal tolerance range, of course ... but it made for an acceptable service-type trigger. The inherent accuracy was outstanding from the very first shot, even with the heavy trigger. I used a mix of some different JHP loads I'd been using in recent years and didn't have any issues with feeding, extraction or ejection. I think I made a minor adjustment to the sights and just kept shooting it over the course of a few range sessions to become familiar with it.
I actually came to enjoy shooting it more than my 1911's or my 3rd gen S&W .45's.
I didn't check my trigger again until I'd fired more than 2,500 rounds through the gun. My digital gauge showed the average trigger pull weight was about 3 lbs lighter, running averages of just barely 6 lbs. That was with a brand new striker spring, too, as I'd replaced the original striker assembly with one of the newly revised ones a little prior to rechecking the trigger pull weight. (I didn't have any problems with my original striker, but just decided to try a new one that arrived as part of a regular parts order. I don't do a lot of dry-fire at this point in my life, anyway.)
I picked up a M&P 40c due to my excellent experience with the full-size .45, and now I've just about decided I really want the 45c model (after shooting one belonging to another instructor).
I suppose you could say that I like the M&P, even though it's another plastic pistol.
I won't be getting rid of my Glocks or SW99's. They're decent and have given me good service over the course of many thousands of rounds (my pair of subcompact Glocks and a SW99 9c have all been used to fire more than 10,000 rounds each).
It's just that I've come to like the features and refinements available in the M&P line and have decided it offers me reason to buy at least one more of them. Well, maybe another couple of them. Depends.
I think S&W has a real winner on their hands with the M&P line.
I finally settled on using the smallest of the grip inserts on the full-size M&P45 because it seems to closely approximate the overall 'feel' of a 1911 with a flat mainspring housing, which I prefer.
A handful of other instructors I know have ordered M&P's since I've ordered mine, all but one of which were .45's (and the guy that ordered the M&P 9 later ordered a M&P 45, as well). It's been interesting to see some folks who were either longtime Glock or 1911 shooters decide they actually found common ground in appreciating the M&P 45 and decide to get their own. One of the guys was a bit annoyed that he'd bought a new G21SF before trying my M&P 45, but he's ordering the M&P 45 now that he's tried it a few times. It's been interesting to watch him shoot the M&P 45, since he's able to consistently shoot it more accurately right off the bat compared to watching him shoot his G21SF ... and he owns a number of Glocks in 3 calibers.
I've had to make myself take a couple of my 1911's out of the safe and run a few hundred rounds through them in recent months. I just enjoy shooting the M&P 45 ...
