Author Topic: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?  (Read 753 times)

MillCreek

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Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« on: November 12, 2019, 08:55:53 PM »
I am pondering a M&P 2.0 in 9 mm, so I can mount a laser/light on it and use it as the nightstand gun.  I have read many good reviews on the pistol, and this is the issued pistol for my county's Sheriff Office.  

None of the local LGS have a new or used full-size in stock, and if I order one from Bud's and have it shipped, the out the door price with the pistol, transfer fees and 9.2% use tax gets pretty close to $ 500.  
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Quote from: Angel Eyes on August 09, 2018, 01:56:15 AM
You are one lousy risk manager.

dogmush

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2019, 11:20:50 PM »
meh.  It's a striker fired service pistol. It shoots. It works.

I don't have a ton of time with one. I put three mags through a friends 9mm 2.0 last year to compare it with my wife's 1.0 .45.  It shot fine.  It's trigger was fine.  Maybe a bit better than the 1.0's, but not what you'd call nice.  Texture was different, he tells me it's got an extra backstrap.  It's a fine striker fired service pistol.

I don't know how many are still out there, but if you like the M&P I saw a million LEO trade in's this summer for ~$350, but those were mostly the first version.

Because it's a gun question and you have to offer contrary advice to an internet gun question I will throw out that for a nightstand gun, i.e. one I don't have to holster, I'd be looking at one that accepted optics and huge mags.  A white light and one of the optics that is either always on, radioactive, or turns on with motion, on a full sized 9mm with 18 or so rounds is a formidable weapon.  But probably more than $500, so there's that.

MillCreek

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2019, 11:36:48 PM »
^^^The current nightstand gun is a S&W 659 with 31 rounds on tap in two magazines. But I cannot mount a laser or light on it.
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MillCreek
Snohomish County, WA  USA


Quote from: Angel Eyes on August 09, 2018, 01:56:15 AM
You are one lousy risk manager.

Fly320s

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2019, 05:54:57 AM »
I am a big fan of the M&P.  All of mine are series 1 and I have not shot a or even handled the 2.0, but everything I've read about the 2.0 says that it has improved the 1.0.

Like Dogmush said, you can probably find a used 1.0 pretty cheap.  The difference between the 1.0 and 2.0 aren't that great.  Just a couple of ergonomic changes and some fine tuning.

Unless you are a dedicated shooter who like to practice, I recommend staying away from pistol optics.  Learning to get a good sight picture (finding the dot) takes a bunch of practice.  If you are already a really good pistol shooter, the transition won't take long.  If you only shoot occasionally, you'll need lots of practice to get comfortable.  Also, RDSs require some maintenance whereas iron sights really don't.  Batteries die, the sight shuts down, the zero may drift.  All of these problems are easy to overcome, just be aware they are there.

The downside to the 1.0 is that it wasn't offered with a slide made for optics.  There are a few special models that have optic cuts, such as the M&P CORE, but there aren't many of those.  I had to buy a CORE in .40 and then buy a 9mm barrel to get what I wanted.  I think all of the 2.0s are optic-ready.

The factory mag holds 17.  There are plenty of companies making longer/extended mags if you want more.  And if you are looking for performance upgrades, I highly recommend Apex Tactical.
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Fly320s

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2019, 07:45:01 AM »
Speaking of pistol RDSs.  This guy does a pretty good review of four of the most common pistol optics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw2mceEGFvs
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dogmush

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2019, 08:24:38 AM »
Unless you are a dedicated shooter who like to practice, I recommend staying away from pistol optics.  Learning to get a good sight picture (finding the dot) takes a bunch of practice.  If you are already a really good pistol shooter, the transition won't take long.  If you only shoot occasionally, you'll need lots of practice to get comfortable.  Also, RDSs require some maintenance whereas iron sights really don't.  Batteries die, the sight shuts down, the zero may drift.  All of these problems are easy to overcome, just be aware they are there.

Interesting that you say that.  My only RDS'ed pistol is a G19 that I built from an 80% frame.  I only put the sight on it because I had a mill and a FastFire III lying around.  But over the 600 or so rounds I put through it to break it in, I found that the RDS was really easy to transition to and shoot.  Focus on target, put dot on target, pull trigger.  It might be because I've been working on staying focused on the target instead of the front sight for a while and I tend to use big honking bright front sights, so it's not really different. 

Just from that short experience with my G19, and my experiences with the evolution of rifle/carbine optics, I'm convinced that RDS's are the future for "serious use" pistols.  Ruggedness, activations and self adjustment need to be considered, but man they make accurate shooting so much faster.

As always, YMMV depending on your eyes and muscle memory.

brimic

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2019, 08:29:20 AM »
If a person just wants one gun, I would say pick a Glock 17/19 or M&P 9/9C. They are ubiquitous, have lots of aftermarket accessories, and reliably go bang.
This is coming from a slow adopter, who had to buy a dozen other  pistols first.
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MechAg94

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2019, 09:06:37 AM »
Speaking of pistol RDSs.  This guy does a pretty good review of four of the most common pistol optics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw2mceEGFvs
I have watched a lot of his stuff.  He does a lot of stuff on various pistol upgrades.  He especially has a lot of Glock content.  He has some videos on building polymer 80 Glocks if you want to go that way.


I have a Holosun 507C optic.  So far, it has worked pretty well.  The "shake awake" feature seems to function pretty good and the circle/dot reticle is pretty good.  It doesn't take much to get it to turn on with movement.  I have been considering trying one of the AIMpoint Acro optics, but they are not cheap.  I don't currently have an optics ready carry gun so I haven't tried to do that.  

I have had a Trijicon RMR (older series) and I didn't like it so much.  The red dot was hard to find unless you practiced a lot and I thought the zero shifted on me after trying to use it on a 9mm.  I have used it more on a 22 pistol and it did pretty good there.  My Ruger clones don't have the slide movement and I was never in a hurry.  I think the newer offerings from Trijicon, AIMpoint and Holosun are much better.  

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MechAg94

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2019, 09:19:44 AM »
On the M&P 2.0, I have had one in 40 and 45.  They have a nice grip and I never had a reliability issue.  They just didn't fit me all that great.  I got the impression they were better for smaller hands, but I guess it depends on what you are used to.  I guess it is similar to Glocks.  The people who like them really like them. 
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brimic

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2019, 09:36:56 AM »
On the M&P 2.0, I have had one in 40 and 45.  They have a nice grip and I never had a reliability issue.  They just didn't fit me all that great.  I got the impression they were better for smaller hands, but I guess it depends on what you are used to.  I guess it is similar to Glocks.  The people who like them really like them. 

I used to not hate them, but not really like them either... I figured that I shot a 1911 pretty well, so the grip angle wasn;t going to work for me with a Glock. It turns out, that if you can shoot a 1911 well, you can also shoot a Glock well, or an M&P, or Sig, or HundK...
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Fly320s

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2019, 09:45:53 AM »
Interesting that you say that. 

...

Just from that short experience with my G19, and my experiences with the evolution of rifle/carbine optics, I'm convinced that RDS's are the future for "serious use" pistols.  Ruggedness, activations and self adjustment need to be considered, but man they make accurate shooting so much faster.

As always, YMMV depending on your eyes and muscle memory.

As you said, YMMV.  For me, getting the gun on target and finding that dot takes a bunch of practice.  Since I don't carry/use a RDS-equipped pistol except for when I am playing on the range, I feel like I am startin over every time I pick one up.  Maybe if I used it constantly it would become second nature.
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MechAg94

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Re: Opinions on the S&W M&P 2.0?
« Reply #11 on: November 13, 2019, 10:06:04 AM »
I used to not hate them, but not really like them either... I figured that I shot a 1911 pretty well, so the grip angle wasn;t going to work for me with a Glock. It turns out, that if you can shoot a 1911 well, you can also shoot a Glock well, or an M&P, or Sig, or HundK...
I agree with that.  IMO, the difference comes in how much you have to think about or adjust or train to get the right grip/trigger press to shoot a particular gun the most accurate.  I think if people had the opportunity to shoot several different brand of guns, they would find one or two just easier to shoot good than the others. 

For me the H&K VP9 is just easy to shoot and I can shoot accurately without hardly trying.  The CZ P10C is pretty close to it.
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