Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 9mm - M&P Pro, Springfield XDM or...?

I'm going to get a 9mm to shoot at the range only. I want a full-size gun with a nice long sight radius (6" or more). A good trigger is important.

I've handled the XDM and like it. It's nice, but I'm not totally sold on it without handling some others first. I am very interested in the M&P Pro (#178010)but I can't find any around here to handle. So, I thought I'd ask here. Which one of the two do you like? Or do you have another favorite? (No Glocks by the way--I hate the grips).

Duh, Browning Hi-Power.

I'm fond of the XD and the HP. Also very fond of the CZ 75 line up. At the same time, if you want a range gun, it would be very hard to beat a 1911 in 9mm.

Dan

I agree--in fact, I almost included a Kimber 1911 in my original post. But, I have a couple 1911's right now and was thinking it is time to get a polymer just to be different.

If you really want to be different, and you don't have small hands, find one of the upscale EAA Witnesses. They work cocked and locked or DA/SA and are a good value for the $$$. The different calibers all work on the same frame so you can swap top ends and mags and have a different gun. They'll also have a much better trigger than an M&P or XD.

Unfortunately, I do have small hands. Not tiny--I can't pick up a ping pong ball with one hand, but definitely small.

I have the XDm 4.5 9mm and can give my impressions of it. The XDm has a grip that is less blocky than a Glock, it even feels different that their XD model. It comes with three interchangeable backstraps � not easily so like the M&P, you have to knock out a roll pin to change it � so you can pick which one you like. It also comes with two magazines, a mag loader, a magazine holder and holster for your belt, so you�re all ready to go.

Accuracy is about the same as my Beretta 92, 2 �� at 25 yards with good ammo is about as good as mine shoots. The rear sight is a bear to drift left or right, it�s in tight, but once adjusted it stays put. It is hardened steel and tough so you can whack it pretty good without hurting it. If the gun shoots high or low for you, you can call Springfield and they will send you a different height rear sight for free. Good for a laugh, too, since this tiny little sight comes in a 8x8� cardboard box with about a square yard of packing paper inside.

Mine has fed and ejected everything, well over 600 rounds now of factory and my handloads and it hasn�t had one single malfunction. Not one, even with ammo that bobbled in the Beretta. My first handloads were loaded so weak they didn�t push the slide back far enough to lock it on the last round, but it still ejected them okay. The Beretta failed to eject some of those.

The M&P gets high grades and the main reason to choose it is if that more rounded grip appeals to you, but I can highly recommend the Springfield XDm from my example of one.

More on the grip � the XDm is a smaller grip side to side than the M&P. The M&P is a bit fatter and rounder in the backstrap, it also sits a tad lower in your hand. IIRC the XDm 9mm grip is a bit smaller than the M&P, at least in width. Pretty good for holding 19 rounds inside.

Both of them pointed well for me, the XDm was pointing a tad high but I switched to the smallest backstrap and that lowered the angle so it now points spot on. If you grip it quickly it can point left or right but the grip stippling and shape is such that I quickly learned to place my fingertips just so on a certain point and now it comes up with the sight perfectly aligned. I posted a target shot my XDm .45 a while ago where I pulled the shots low by aiming and firing but put them in one hole just instinct pointing and firing.

I�m really sold on these Croatian pistols, they have all the good points of a Glock with even more good stuff IMO, and you don�t have to worry about safety with handloads either.

Bingo!!! Can't beat the Hi-Power in 9mm.

Alternatively, you could get a Beretta 92 or a Taurus PT92. My PT92AF is my longest-shooting 9mm pistol and damn near my most-fired pistol of all time.

I've seen more 1911's chambered in 9mm puke bullets than any other 9mm gun. I'm told you can make 'em run, but damn near every 9mm 1911 I've seen sucked unless it had had major gunsmith work done on it.

This would be the ultimate 9mm range gun. But with a MSRP of $2399 you won't see too many.

Sig P210 Legend Target

The Beretta is a great shooter, but the poster indicated he has small hands. The trigger reach on the 92 isn't good for small hands.

I agree with you. Love my XDM 45. Very accurate.

seriously can't believe it hasn't been mentioned CZ 75!!!! its going to be 2-300 less than a browning HP. for less than a $100 you can have a trigger job done to it, replace the main spring with an 18# spring and you should have a pretty decent 3# pull. for a full size gun to shoot at the range a CZ 75 is where its at. I personally don't care for XD's the trigger isn't as good as a glock it feels heavier, more creppy and has too long of take up for me over the glock.

I've shot both the XDM and M and P a bunch. Both very nice guns but the XDM fits my big hands hand better. Now maybe that's just a function of which backstrap was installed, I don't know.

You are not going to wrong with either so I'd pick whichever fits best.

I believe the CZ75 was mentioned. I can't believe you missed it.

Dan

To answer your question directly, I haven't owned an XD and so can't comment on that part. I've owned two identical S&W M&P Compacts in 9mm. I carry the current one frequently. It has shot every time I've pulled the trigger, whether a handload or a hot +P+ JHP was under the striker. It is handsome enough for a black plastic gun, but it is a black plastic gun. Some like the inserts for the grips. I have small hands too, but I don't see much difference between inserts. Neither does the wife. I don't even know enough about the XD to know if it has a rail, but I like it that the M&P does. I finally found an aftermarket flashlight that would fit the short thing. The Smith model will break the bank.

Anyway, high praise for the M&P here. Nothing spectacular about it. It just gets the job done.

I have a 5" M&P 9mm Pro Series and it has been fantastic. I have the small back strap on it and it fits my small/medium hand size like a glove. The M&P has a very low bore and sits very low in the hand; the felt recoil is like a .22 LR target pistol to me. The Pro Series trigger is pretty nice for a striker fired gun and the reset is crisp and short on my pistol. I have 1,250 assorted rounds through mine of various hardball and hollowpoint and it has been 100% reliable. I cannot make it choke, even when I tried with some very weak/limp wrist holds and grips, it just refuses to malfunction. My son has the same M&P Pro Series gun with the 4 �� barrel and hasn�t cleaned his for over 1,500 rounds now and it chugs right along with zero issues.

Accuracy in my gun with 147 gr. ammo surprised me � sub 1 �� groups at 25 yards handheld from a seated rest. My last range session with some Federal and Winchester 147 gr. flat point FMJ�s produced several groups of 1� right at point of aim. Some groups opened up to just less than 1 �� and I�ve replicated this several times during various range sessions since buying this pistol so it isn't a fluke single group. That is about as good as my eyes will allow me to shoot at 25 yards. Tin cans and clay pigeons get torn up pretty easily out at the 50 yard berm on our handgun range. Again, the accuracy surprised me! The only negative comment I can make is that this gun is strongly oriented toward the heavier 147 gr. bullet weight. It shoots very low with 115�s and just a bit better with 124 grain bullets. But those 147�s cluster so nicely right on the green fiber optic dot that it is hardly worth mentioning the other bullet weights.

While my son�s gun has been reliable it isn�t quite as accurate, nor is the trigger quite as good as mine. His gun sights are regulated a bit closer for the other bullet weights and will shoot to point of aim with 124 gr. bullets. Accuracy with his gun seems to average about 2 �� - 3" with the better loads. For me the M&P is an easy pistol to like and I prefer it to the others for a poly frame striker fired gun.

I have the XDM match with adjustable sight. I like it a lot.
I had a Beretta Storm, a good gun, but I prefer the XDM.

Of the two you mention, I'd probably make a run at the Smith and Wesson.

all good guns mentioned here,
the HiPower after a trigger job,
( I guess that can be said for any..)
The CZ 75

But my favorite, tack drivin 9?
G 34. right out of the box.


I know it's a Glock, but have you fired one?
You'll be a believer.