When I was first transitioning away from the Beretta 92fs, I had considered the new (at the time) M&P pistol as a replacement. However, due to the lack of external safeties and the terrible stock triggers, I quickly dismissed it. Since then S&W has made several improvements that made me begin to take notice. Over the past few years, I’ve kept running into more and more M&P fans, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about the gun. A few weeks ago, I was inspired to issue a challenge to our INGO M&P Fanboys. I would compare my XD and XMD against any non-stock trigger M&P in several shooting tests, and, if it worked better for me, I would switch my EDC over to the M&P. The response was overwhelming, and we set the date for April 19th, meeting at the MCFG at 4pm.
The day came, and when Blueboxer and I arrived at MCFG, we immediately wondered if our day was over when we came around the corner to see this:
However, after we climbed upon the bridge and saw that the flooding was only about 20 yards long, we decided to scout around the water and check to see if the range was usable. Happily we found the range was untouched and barely even muddy, so we decided to shoot regardless. We posted on INGO that we were going to hoof it in, and RobbyMaQ was intrepid enough to show up with four different M&Ps!!! After a brief hike through the woods, we found the road again, and marched to the steel target bay. There we unpacked our guns, and the test was on.
(So many guns!!!!)
The Guns:
My full sized, tactical XD .45 has approx. 1000K rounds through it, a combat action trigger with a 4.5lb pull, night sights, and a 4”barrel. She has a little wear from good training, but I personally think that training wear gives a gun character and makes it look better….like it actually means business.
The 9mm XDM is a newer gun. It has the same combat action trigger with a 4.5lb pull and night sights, but instead it has a 3.8” barrel and shorter grip for concealment. With it I had both the compact concealment mag, the full-sized magazines that extend the grip of the pistol to the full size, and the medium back straps that fill my hand well.
RobbyMaQ was awesome enough to show up with the whole gambit of M&P 9mms including the:
9mm Compact. 3.8". Everything was stock on this gun, but it had the thumb safety and medium back strap.
9mm Full Size 4.25" (Standard). Apex SEAR. (Strikerblock & trigger spring was stock). Mag Disconnect safety. This had a largeback strap on it.
9mm Pro 5". Apex SEAR & Upper Striker Block (ApexDuty kit, minus the heavier trigger spring). This had a stock trigger spring, Dan Burwell Blacked out rear sight, medium back strap, and came with a fiberoptic front sight.
M&P .22: (Not discussed here)
****As an aside, I found myself at Gander Mountain a few days before hand and also handled a Pro-series M&P to try out the trigger. That trigger will be mentioned later on.
So now, the comparison.
First things first, Looks:
Like getting into a relationship with any woman, you better like the look of her. After all you’re going to have to see her day in and day out.
For me the M&P is a great looking gun, especially for a polymer. I’ve always liked the look ofthe XD, but the M&P has her beat there. Her lines are just softer, slimmer, and easier to look at. The XDM however rivals the M&P enough that the looks aren’t a big factor separating them IMO.
Trigger Pull:
Beyond looking at the gun, the first thing I examine is the trigger. I am a giant trigger snob. I rarely if ever leave a stock trigger on a gun. Since my XD .45 and XDM 9mm have the exact same trigger, I will simply refer to both of them as the “XD”. I spent a good 15 minutes doing dry practice between the two. I found that the XD combat trigger is better than the pro-series trigger, but slightly worse than the APEX trigger kit on the M&P. There isn’t a huge difference IMO, but the XD has a tad more mush whereas the APEX is a bit smoother and a bit easier on the break. As a side not, Robby’s M&P compact had the best stock trigger I’ve ever felt on an M&P. Both Blueboxer and I were shocked. Has there been a factory improvement? Did Robby just get lucky? Not sure, but it wasn’t bad for a stock trigger.
Trigger Reset:
The XD trigger reset is superior IMO in that it has an audible “click” and tactile sensation to it. However, I can’t complain about the M&P Apex reset. Getting used to it just boils down to training. Would I prefer an audible“click” and more feeling in my finger when it resets? Yes, but it’s not a deal breaker. It’s a polymer gun. I’m not expecting a 1911-level trigger here. In my mind the APEX brings the trigger up from “terrible” to “acceptable for a combat gun”……….I told you I was a snob.
Feel:
The feel of the M&P is better hands down…it might even edge out the feel of a 1911 IM0. But I knew that going in from my previous experiences with the M&P when it first came out. The XD is rather boxy. It’s not nearly as bad as the Glock, and it doesn’t suffer from that goofy grip angle. However the M&P feels custom designed with my hand in mind.
Sight picture/ sight acquisition:
The actual sight pictures themselves are a tossup in comparison between the XD and the M&P, and since everyone has a different sights on their gun, it’s really six to one and a half-dozen to the other. Going in I thought there might be a small difference in sight acquisition, but I honestly was in for a surprise. Pointing in on target and acquiring the sight picture is far easier and far more natural with the M&P. I just don’t know any other way to put it.
Recoil:
With the ergonomics and trigger taken care of, it was time to let rounds fly. (Yes safety Nazis, I realize that I didn’t have glasses on in all of the pictures or video. We were getting very light rain and sleet was building up on our glasses, and I kept taking them off so I could actually see the target…then forgetting to put them back on. My bad. I was excited. So sue me.) Already surprised by the difference in sight acquisition and “natural pointing”, I was in for another startling difference. I knew that, due to the lower bore-axis on the M&P, the recoil would be a little less than the XD……I had no idea that it would almost feel like shooting a loud .22 caliber pistol. Granted I also shoot .45, so any time I shoot a 9mm I feel like I’m shooting a BB gun, but this was ridiculous. The normal “pop” I associate with a 9mm was almost totally eliminated by that low bore axis and beaver tail. By this point, I was hearing blueboxer make comments like “Hear that Aaron? That’s the sound of you spending money!”……..and I was beginning to agree with him.
The most dramatic difference in recoil was noticed between the XDM 9mm compact and the compact M&P 9mm. With the compact mag on the XDM and the higher bore axis, the gun has a lot more leverage on your hand and there isn’t much grip for you to counteract it. With the low axis of the M&P and the nice beaver tail, the recoil is quite manageable, even with the compact.
String shooting and shooting from awkward positions:
This is more of a combination of recoil and ergonomics, so it’s no surprise that that M&P won out here too. Shooting strings of five or six rounds at a time proved much more controllable with the M&P 9mm over the XDM 9mm. Both guns functioned flawlessly of course, but no one ever accused the XD of not running well. I noticed no problems shooting from strange positions with either weapon. The lackof recoil with the M&P actually made the awkward shooting more fun, but other than that I saw no differences.
Emergency reloads:
One of my complaints about the XD was doing emergency reloads. I’m not sure if it’s due to the grip angle, the deep groove in the lip of the magazine, or just my body/handtype, but, I was constantly catching the lip of the magazine on the magwell of the XD when I first started training with it. Having come from the 92fs originally, where I never had a problem getting a mag into the well, this annoyed me greatly. I didn’t have this problem with the M&P. Having never shot an M&P before, I was able to do the emergency reloads flawlessly and at a decent pace. Is this due to the lack of the goofy groove in the lip of magazine? The better grip angle of the M&P? Not sure. But I do know that working the emergency reloads for the first time was easier for me with the M&P. Granted, I got over my problem with the XD a long time ago, so it's not a huge difference. In my mind, the M&P was just more natural for me from the get go.
Notice those grooves the top of stainless XDM mags? They're even deeper on the other side. Sooo annoying.
Single handed malfunction clearances:
I did these drills slowly. As this was a comparison test and not a skills test, it was more important to assess how easy working the slide was with one hand. Another complaint of mine about the XD, since I began training with it in 2009, was that the slide spring has always been stiff, (especially on the .45) and trying to clear malfunctions one-handed can be a real chore. Admittedly, this isn’ta huge deal as it isn’t impossible. There’s just no free lunch in physics. If you want to have a strong spring that both keeps the gun in battery and reduces recoil, you’re going to have a stiff slide. The M&P doesn’t suffer from this drawback, making single handed slide manipulation a breeze off of the belt. (Though I would guess that it goes out of battery easier, something I forgot to test) I tried both type 1 and 2 malfunctions. Neither getting a new round into the chamber nor clearing a stovepipe jam proved difficult with only one hand, as you can tell in the video below. I didn’t bother with a type three, as functionally it would have just been time consuming and a combination of the previous two tests.
Crap Ammo Feeding and Magazine Capacity:
For this I bought some crap Russian 9mm steel cased ammo, filled the mags to capacity, and shot both guns in long strings and from awkward situations. Both guns fed the garbage ammo just fine. This didn’t surprise me at all, but I needed to verify it for myself in order to be thorough. As for mag capacity, the XDM 9mm holds two more rounds in the regular mag (19) and 1 more in the compact mag (13) vs the M&Ps mags which are 17 and 12 respectively. The XD .45 holds 13 rounds, where as the stock M&P only holds 10. However, you can buy extended mags for the M&P .45 which bring it to 14.
Thus ended the tests that I found most important in comparing the two firearms, and it was time to tally the score:
XD: Won over M&P in mag capacity and trigger reset, and tied in awkward shooting and feeding crap ammo. Score (wins plus ties) : 4
XDM: Won over M&P in trigger reset and mag capacity, and tied in looks, awkward shooting, and feeding crap ammo. Score:5
M&P: Won in trigger pull, feel, recoil, single handed malfunction clearance, sight aquistion, string shooting, and emergency reloads. Tied in looks with the XDM, feeding crap ammo, and awkward shooting. Score: 10
I think the score speaks for itself. The M&P completely blew my expectationsout of the water, and far and away outstripped the XD in the ease of operation of the weapon. For never having shot the M&P before, I was surprised at how well I shot with it. With all of the rounds spent, which were about 100, I believe I missed twice. (Both of which were caught on video of course lol) I think that speaks volumes for how user friendly this gun is.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHRYnYu2CUM[/ame]
Does this mean that I believe the M&P is a higher quality gun than the XD? No. Does this mean I believe that the XD or XDM is a poor choice for anyone, including civilians, police, or military, as a defensive weapon? No. This does mean that, for me, the M&P operates far more smoothly and easier than the XD? That is a resounding “Yes”.
In conclusion, a bet is a bet. I said that I would freely compare my XD and XDM to the M&P, and that, if it impressed me more, I would replace the XD with an M&P as my EDC. So, now it’s time to put my money where my mouth is. I will buy a 9mm M&P, and I will carry it proudly. In fact, I wish I had one right now. Shooting that gun was awesome.
As an aside though, I should mention this. I did not get the chance to shoot the .45 M&P and compare it to the XD .45. However I have now heard from several sources, including RobbyMaQ, that the M&P .45 has worse recoil than the XD .45. I am truly curious to find out for myself if this is true. But honestly, it doesn’t matter much for two reasons. First, I love my XD .45 too much to get rid of it, (lots of history there) and, due to Blueboxer allowing me to play with his 1911s, I have decided that my .45 carry option will be a 1911 rather than a Tupperware gun. Thus instead of toting around either a XD .45 or a XDM 9mm, I will either be toting around a M&P 9mm with a thumb safety,or I will be carrying a 1911. (My mood dictates which caliber I carry on a given day. Yes I know I'm weird.)
Thus I have three guns to acquire. The full size M&P 9mm with a thumb safety, a compact M&P 9mm with a thumb safety, and a 1911. If you or anyone you know is selling any of them, please PM me. I would rather buy from a fellow INGO member in good standing. There is a good chance I’ll be selling my XDM 9mm. I know I said I probably wouldn’t in the video, but at the time I was in shock and denial. I don’t know how I can leave that much money sitting there when I’m already keeping the XD .45 as a backup/ HD gun.
I guess I was an M&P fanboy all along. Who knew???
Finally, as promised, my open letter:
To my dearest XD and all of her fans,
We had some great times. We've traveled across the country to train together, we've enjoyed summer days at the range together, and we've spent countless hours in the basement getting to know each other in a most intimate fashion. However, I have been living a lie all along. All this time I thought I had found the best gun for me. The gun that fit me best, worked for me best, and, in one way or another, outstripped the competition. Perhaps in the beggining, before the pro-series/APEX triggers and the thumb safeties on the M&P, this was true. But, this is a competitive world. I have to stake my life and the lives of my loved ones on the sidearm that I carry every day. Thus it behooves me to use the gun that operates best in my hand....and now the M&P has proven herself to be that gun for me.
Never fear, XD .45. I won't be rid of you. I'll always want a high capacity .45 that I can rely on, and we've got a lot of history together.....but now I think it's best if you retired. Let the M&P do the heavy lifting.
For those who I have convinced to buy an XD over the years, well, I guess I don't have much to say other than this: Oops.
But don't be discouraged friends. The XD is a fine weapon, and, if you're making hits under pressure with the XD, don't feel cheated. You've still got a great gun.
Sincerely,
~Aaron~
EDIT: I have now acquired the full size M&P 9mm with a thumb safety, and a 1911 MC Operator. I found out something very surprising. The full size M&P 9mm conceals on my body just as well as the XDM Compact. The low bore axis and the slimness of the M&P give you a full sized gun in a tighter package, completely eliminating the need for a compact size IMO. Thus I didn't bother acquring a M&P compact. With the money left over from NOT buying the compact, I was able to upgrade from a Springfield loaded 1911 to the MC Operator. Best decision ever. I have fallen in love with both guns, and they work extremely well together. Also, I did do the "out of battery test" and I found that the M&P does go out of battery easier then the XD. That being said, considering that low bore axis allows me to easily conceal a full sized M&P (which is no small feat for a barely average sized guy like myself) I'm inclined to overlook this very minor drawback.
This also sheds more light for you guys asking why I got the thumb safety version of the M&P. Not only does it make me feel more comfortable with the gun, but it also makes my training congruous. I'd rather train with one sort of safety system rather than two. Since my rifle rocks a manual safety and you can't take the manual safety off of the 1911, it only makes sense to have a thumb safety on the M&P. Add in my discomfort with no external safeties and the fact that the thumb safety in no way impedes the operation of the firearm, and this is a no brainer.
The day came, and when Blueboxer and I arrived at MCFG, we immediately wondered if our day was over when we came around the corner to see this:
However, after we climbed upon the bridge and saw that the flooding was only about 20 yards long, we decided to scout around the water and check to see if the range was usable. Happily we found the range was untouched and barely even muddy, so we decided to shoot regardless. We posted on INGO that we were going to hoof it in, and RobbyMaQ was intrepid enough to show up with four different M&Ps!!! After a brief hike through the woods, we found the road again, and marched to the steel target bay. There we unpacked our guns, and the test was on.
(So many guns!!!!)
The Guns:
My full sized, tactical XD .45 has approx. 1000K rounds through it, a combat action trigger with a 4.5lb pull, night sights, and a 4”barrel. She has a little wear from good training, but I personally think that training wear gives a gun character and makes it look better….like it actually means business.
The 9mm XDM is a newer gun. It has the same combat action trigger with a 4.5lb pull and night sights, but instead it has a 3.8” barrel and shorter grip for concealment. With it I had both the compact concealment mag, the full-sized magazines that extend the grip of the pistol to the full size, and the medium back straps that fill my hand well.
RobbyMaQ was awesome enough to show up with the whole gambit of M&P 9mms including the:
9mm Compact. 3.8". Everything was stock on this gun, but it had the thumb safety and medium back strap.
9mm Full Size 4.25" (Standard). Apex SEAR. (Strikerblock & trigger spring was stock). Mag Disconnect safety. This had a largeback strap on it.
9mm Pro 5". Apex SEAR & Upper Striker Block (ApexDuty kit, minus the heavier trigger spring). This had a stock trigger spring, Dan Burwell Blacked out rear sight, medium back strap, and came with a fiberoptic front sight.
M&P .22: (Not discussed here)
****As an aside, I found myself at Gander Mountain a few days before hand and also handled a Pro-series M&P to try out the trigger. That trigger will be mentioned later on.
So now, the comparison.
First things first, Looks:
Like getting into a relationship with any woman, you better like the look of her. After all you’re going to have to see her day in and day out.
For me the M&P is a great looking gun, especially for a polymer. I’ve always liked the look ofthe XD, but the M&P has her beat there. Her lines are just softer, slimmer, and easier to look at. The XDM however rivals the M&P enough that the looks aren’t a big factor separating them IMO.
Trigger Pull:
Beyond looking at the gun, the first thing I examine is the trigger. I am a giant trigger snob. I rarely if ever leave a stock trigger on a gun. Since my XD .45 and XDM 9mm have the exact same trigger, I will simply refer to both of them as the “XD”. I spent a good 15 minutes doing dry practice between the two. I found that the XD combat trigger is better than the pro-series trigger, but slightly worse than the APEX trigger kit on the M&P. There isn’t a huge difference IMO, but the XD has a tad more mush whereas the APEX is a bit smoother and a bit easier on the break. As a side not, Robby’s M&P compact had the best stock trigger I’ve ever felt on an M&P. Both Blueboxer and I were shocked. Has there been a factory improvement? Did Robby just get lucky? Not sure, but it wasn’t bad for a stock trigger.
Trigger Reset:
The XD trigger reset is superior IMO in that it has an audible “click” and tactile sensation to it. However, I can’t complain about the M&P Apex reset. Getting used to it just boils down to training. Would I prefer an audible“click” and more feeling in my finger when it resets? Yes, but it’s not a deal breaker. It’s a polymer gun. I’m not expecting a 1911-level trigger here. In my mind the APEX brings the trigger up from “terrible” to “acceptable for a combat gun”……….I told you I was a snob.
Feel:
The feel of the M&P is better hands down…it might even edge out the feel of a 1911 IM0. But I knew that going in from my previous experiences with the M&P when it first came out. The XD is rather boxy. It’s not nearly as bad as the Glock, and it doesn’t suffer from that goofy grip angle. However the M&P feels custom designed with my hand in mind.
Sight picture/ sight acquisition:
The actual sight pictures themselves are a tossup in comparison between the XD and the M&P, and since everyone has a different sights on their gun, it’s really six to one and a half-dozen to the other. Going in I thought there might be a small difference in sight acquisition, but I honestly was in for a surprise. Pointing in on target and acquiring the sight picture is far easier and far more natural with the M&P. I just don’t know any other way to put it.
Recoil:
With the ergonomics and trigger taken care of, it was time to let rounds fly. (Yes safety Nazis, I realize that I didn’t have glasses on in all of the pictures or video. We were getting very light rain and sleet was building up on our glasses, and I kept taking them off so I could actually see the target…then forgetting to put them back on. My bad. I was excited. So sue me.) Already surprised by the difference in sight acquisition and “natural pointing”, I was in for another startling difference. I knew that, due to the lower bore-axis on the M&P, the recoil would be a little less than the XD……I had no idea that it would almost feel like shooting a loud .22 caliber pistol. Granted I also shoot .45, so any time I shoot a 9mm I feel like I’m shooting a BB gun, but this was ridiculous. The normal “pop” I associate with a 9mm was almost totally eliminated by that low bore axis and beaver tail. By this point, I was hearing blueboxer make comments like “Hear that Aaron? That’s the sound of you spending money!”……..and I was beginning to agree with him.
The most dramatic difference in recoil was noticed between the XDM 9mm compact and the compact M&P 9mm. With the compact mag on the XDM and the higher bore axis, the gun has a lot more leverage on your hand and there isn’t much grip for you to counteract it. With the low axis of the M&P and the nice beaver tail, the recoil is quite manageable, even with the compact.
String shooting and shooting from awkward positions:
This is more of a combination of recoil and ergonomics, so it’s no surprise that that M&P won out here too. Shooting strings of five or six rounds at a time proved much more controllable with the M&P 9mm over the XDM 9mm. Both guns functioned flawlessly of course, but no one ever accused the XD of not running well. I noticed no problems shooting from strange positions with either weapon. The lackof recoil with the M&P actually made the awkward shooting more fun, but other than that I saw no differences.
Emergency reloads:
One of my complaints about the XD was doing emergency reloads. I’m not sure if it’s due to the grip angle, the deep groove in the lip of the magazine, or just my body/handtype, but, I was constantly catching the lip of the magazine on the magwell of the XD when I first started training with it. Having come from the 92fs originally, where I never had a problem getting a mag into the well, this annoyed me greatly. I didn’t have this problem with the M&P. Having never shot an M&P before, I was able to do the emergency reloads flawlessly and at a decent pace. Is this due to the lack of the goofy groove in the lip of magazine? The better grip angle of the M&P? Not sure. But I do know that working the emergency reloads for the first time was easier for me with the M&P. Granted, I got over my problem with the XD a long time ago, so it's not a huge difference. In my mind, the M&P was just more natural for me from the get go.
Notice those grooves the top of stainless XDM mags? They're even deeper on the other side. Sooo annoying.
Single handed malfunction clearances:
I did these drills slowly. As this was a comparison test and not a skills test, it was more important to assess how easy working the slide was with one hand. Another complaint of mine about the XD, since I began training with it in 2009, was that the slide spring has always been stiff, (especially on the .45) and trying to clear malfunctions one-handed can be a real chore. Admittedly, this isn’ta huge deal as it isn’t impossible. There’s just no free lunch in physics. If you want to have a strong spring that both keeps the gun in battery and reduces recoil, you’re going to have a stiff slide. The M&P doesn’t suffer from this drawback, making single handed slide manipulation a breeze off of the belt. (Though I would guess that it goes out of battery easier, something I forgot to test) I tried both type 1 and 2 malfunctions. Neither getting a new round into the chamber nor clearing a stovepipe jam proved difficult with only one hand, as you can tell in the video below. I didn’t bother with a type three, as functionally it would have just been time consuming and a combination of the previous two tests.
Crap Ammo Feeding and Magazine Capacity:
For this I bought some crap Russian 9mm steel cased ammo, filled the mags to capacity, and shot both guns in long strings and from awkward situations. Both guns fed the garbage ammo just fine. This didn’t surprise me at all, but I needed to verify it for myself in order to be thorough. As for mag capacity, the XDM 9mm holds two more rounds in the regular mag (19) and 1 more in the compact mag (13) vs the M&Ps mags which are 17 and 12 respectively. The XD .45 holds 13 rounds, where as the stock M&P only holds 10. However, you can buy extended mags for the M&P .45 which bring it to 14.
Thus ended the tests that I found most important in comparing the two firearms, and it was time to tally the score:
XD: Won over M&P in mag capacity and trigger reset, and tied in awkward shooting and feeding crap ammo. Score (wins plus ties) : 4
XDM: Won over M&P in trigger reset and mag capacity, and tied in looks, awkward shooting, and feeding crap ammo. Score:5
M&P: Won in trigger pull, feel, recoil, single handed malfunction clearance, sight aquistion, string shooting, and emergency reloads. Tied in looks with the XDM, feeding crap ammo, and awkward shooting. Score: 10
I think the score speaks for itself. The M&P completely blew my expectationsout of the water, and far and away outstripped the XD in the ease of operation of the weapon. For never having shot the M&P before, I was surprised at how well I shot with it. With all of the rounds spent, which were about 100, I believe I missed twice. (Both of which were caught on video of course lol) I think that speaks volumes for how user friendly this gun is.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHRYnYu2CUM[/ame]
Does this mean that I believe the M&P is a higher quality gun than the XD? No. Does this mean I believe that the XD or XDM is a poor choice for anyone, including civilians, police, or military, as a defensive weapon? No. This does mean that, for me, the M&P operates far more smoothly and easier than the XD? That is a resounding “Yes”.
In conclusion, a bet is a bet. I said that I would freely compare my XD and XDM to the M&P, and that, if it impressed me more, I would replace the XD with an M&P as my EDC. So, now it’s time to put my money where my mouth is. I will buy a 9mm M&P, and I will carry it proudly. In fact, I wish I had one right now. Shooting that gun was awesome.
As an aside though, I should mention this. I did not get the chance to shoot the .45 M&P and compare it to the XD .45. However I have now heard from several sources, including RobbyMaQ, that the M&P .45 has worse recoil than the XD .45. I am truly curious to find out for myself if this is true. But honestly, it doesn’t matter much for two reasons. First, I love my XD .45 too much to get rid of it, (lots of history there) and, due to Blueboxer allowing me to play with his 1911s, I have decided that my .45 carry option will be a 1911 rather than a Tupperware gun. Thus instead of toting around either a XD .45 or a XDM 9mm, I will either be toting around a M&P 9mm with a thumb safety,or I will be carrying a 1911. (My mood dictates which caliber I carry on a given day. Yes I know I'm weird.)
Thus I have three guns to acquire. The full size M&P 9mm with a thumb safety, a compact M&P 9mm with a thumb safety, and a 1911. If you or anyone you know is selling any of them, please PM me. I would rather buy from a fellow INGO member in good standing. There is a good chance I’ll be selling my XDM 9mm. I know I said I probably wouldn’t in the video, but at the time I was in shock and denial. I don’t know how I can leave that much money sitting there when I’m already keeping the XD .45 as a backup/ HD gun.
I guess I was an M&P fanboy all along. Who knew???
Finally, as promised, my open letter:
To my dearest XD and all of her fans,
We had some great times. We've traveled across the country to train together, we've enjoyed summer days at the range together, and we've spent countless hours in the basement getting to know each other in a most intimate fashion. However, I have been living a lie all along. All this time I thought I had found the best gun for me. The gun that fit me best, worked for me best, and, in one way or another, outstripped the competition. Perhaps in the beggining, before the pro-series/APEX triggers and the thumb safeties on the M&P, this was true. But, this is a competitive world. I have to stake my life and the lives of my loved ones on the sidearm that I carry every day. Thus it behooves me to use the gun that operates best in my hand....and now the M&P has proven herself to be that gun for me.
Never fear, XD .45. I won't be rid of you. I'll always want a high capacity .45 that I can rely on, and we've got a lot of history together.....but now I think it's best if you retired. Let the M&P do the heavy lifting.
For those who I have convinced to buy an XD over the years, well, I guess I don't have much to say other than this: Oops.
But don't be discouraged friends. The XD is a fine weapon, and, if you're making hits under pressure with the XD, don't feel cheated. You've still got a great gun.
Sincerely,
~Aaron~
EDIT: I have now acquired the full size M&P 9mm with a thumb safety, and a 1911 MC Operator. I found out something very surprising. The full size M&P 9mm conceals on my body just as well as the XDM Compact. The low bore axis and the slimness of the M&P give you a full sized gun in a tighter package, completely eliminating the need for a compact size IMO. Thus I didn't bother acquring a M&P compact. With the money left over from NOT buying the compact, I was able to upgrade from a Springfield loaded 1911 to the MC Operator. Best decision ever. I have fallen in love with both guns, and they work extremely well together. Also, I did do the "out of battery test" and I found that the M&P does go out of battery easier then the XD. That being said, considering that low bore axis allows me to easily conceal a full sized M&P (which is no small feat for a barely average sized guy like myself) I'm inclined to overlook this very minor drawback.
This also sheds more light for you guys asking why I got the thumb safety version of the M&P. Not only does it make me feel more comfortable with the gun, but it also makes my training congruous. I'd rather train with one sort of safety system rather than two. Since my rifle rocks a manual safety and you can't take the manual safety off of the 1911, it only makes sense to have a thumb safety on the M&P. Add in my discomfort with no external safeties and the fact that the thumb safety in no way impedes the operation of the firearm, and this is a no brainer.
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