GLOCK VS. M&P REVISITED - Silvercore Firearms Training
BY HILTON YAM | POSTED ON 04/07/2014 | IN MODERN SERVICE PISTOLS
A couple years ago, I wrote an article titled “Glock vs. M&P…or Why I Shoot An M&P.” At the time that I wrote the article, the Gen4 Glock was still in an early phase of adoption and had some function issues, and the M&P had not yet begun what is now the most current round of production upgrades. Since no one seems to read the linked articles, I’ll sum it up for you right here: I opted to work around the issues of the M&P, using that as my primary training gun – M&P fans cheered, Glock fans burned me in effigy. I thought it would be worthwhile to revisit this now that the state of both pistols has changed quite a bit in the last couple years.
The M&P has undergone a series of production upgrades in the last 2 years which makes it a very strong candidate for an out of the box service pistol, with no significant flaws. The previously known issues with accuracy of the factory barrels with the 1:18.75″ twist have been resolved with new barrels featuring a 1:10″ twist, the same as in factory Glock barrels. The M&P is no longer ammunition sensitive, and provides accuracy similar to the Glock using various bullet weights. The M&P slide stop, trigger bar, and sear have gone through several generational changes, and the latest guns have crisp breaking trigger with reduced overtravel and positive reset.
Glocks, in particular the Gen4 9mm variants, have undergone changes with the ejectors and recoil spring assemblies, largely resolving the reliability issues of the early guns.
If you are shooting .40 because of departmental constraints, then the playing field has leveled out a bit with the production of the Gen4 Glock, which offers a purpose built dual recoil spring system which significantly softens the recoil and promotes greater longevity than the Gen3 guns. Function with attached weapon lights is also dramatically improved in the Gen4. Only 2 years ago, the clear choice in .40 was the M&P, but now users have the added option of the Gen4 Glock 22 or 23.
On of the other quirks that I highlighted in the original article compared reloading in both guns, and that has not changed. The M&P still has the edge in factory configuration, as the Glock frames still have the big hole at the rear of the frame which is a huge snag point for incoming reloads. If department policy permits, this is an easy fix with the installation of an inexpensive grip plug.
Another feature was that of magazine disassembly, which for some reason brought on some bit of ire from readers. The Glock magazine is still slower and more difficult to disassemble than the M&P – if you don’t believe me, time yourself disassembling 4 mags. Why should you care? If you train enough, you’ll end up out in the rain or mud and a mag is sure to end up nose down in something which should be cleaned out of the tube. The M&P mag is quick to disassemble for cleaning, and my Glock mags have defaulted to getting brushed out in the assembled state. No real functional advantage to either platform here, just different if you are rebuilding mags or installing base pads (which I do a lot, since we seem to have a lot of those here).
Given the choice between the two bone stock pistols as pictured above, the current state of manufacturing has left us in a dead heat. Sorry, not much fodder for flaming me on fan forum threads, but it’s a good thing for the end user as both the Glock and M&P are solid contenders now. It’s just up to you to choose which one fits your needs best.
C.T. http://modernserviceweapons.com/?p=7556
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Sincerely,
Silvercore Firearms Training
604-940-7785
www.silvercore.ca
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