Disclaimer, I'm wholeheartedly in the M&P camp. That being said, this is really a Chevy vs. Ford argument. Definitely shoot them both as they'll fit you very differently. If you like the ergonomics of them both, flip a coin.
There are holsters, sights and accessories available out the wazoo for them both.
I've been around a buttload of M&Ps without issues. But some have had problems, just like the Gen4 Glocks had bugs to fix. Buy one, shoot it. If it's bad, they'll make it right.
Reference the TXDPS issue:First of all, DPS hasn't "dropped" the M&P. They're simply issuing Sigs they had in stock while they work out the issue with S&W. Which makes sense, it'd be absurd to postpone and backlog cadet training while waiting on S&W to troubleshoot the problem.
As you are aware I approved the adoption of the Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm as the Department�s service handgun beginning with Recruit School A14. However, we have been experiencing malfunctions during Recruit School firearms training, which is unacceptable, and I have suspended the transition to the Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm.
Even if the manufacturer is able to address our issues over the next week, we cannot afford to risk the extra training time that was added to address transition contingincies. Education, Training and Research will continue to work with the manufacturer on this issue, but today, Trooper Trainees will be issued Sig Sauer 357 handguns, which we have in our inventory as a precaution.
DPS claims that they experienced "malfunctions" and "movement". Let's talk about each of those.
1-Malfunctions
What's the cause of the VAST majority of malfunctions in auto pistols? Magazines. And behind that, ammo.
When DPS experienced their malfunctions there were other reports coming out about bad magazines from S&W, who had added a second supplier of followers. Those followers were later found to be a cause of malfunctions.
I've also heard that ammo may be a contributing factor, from someone that I'd expect to know. The story is that when DPS did their initial T&E of the M&P they used standard 9mm ammo. Then when they decided to proceed with the transition they ordered some really hot loaded 9mm, in an effort to mimic the performance of their old .357Sig load. The guns weren't sprung for the hotter ammo and malfunctions followed.
And all of the malfunctions occurred with cadets (new shooters). It's not uncommon for shooters to induce malfunctions through a weak or improper grip.
I don't doubt they had malfunctions. But when I see someone have a malfunction with an autoloader I look at the magazines, the ammo, the shooter and in a distant last place...the gun.
2-Movement
DPS said that they experienced "movement of less than 10 microns" in the pistols. This is what I simply call BS on.
A piece of copy paper is roughly 100 microns thick. So take a sheet of paper, slice into TEN equally thick pieces of paper. LESS than one of those new pieces of paper is how much "movement" DPS claims they found.
GIMME. A. BREAK.
One-I don't thick the guys running the range in Florence, Texas have the capability to measure less than 10 microns of movement.
Two-In order for them to know that there was less than 10 micros of movement, they'd've had to actually measure and document the dimensions of each of the 114 pistols issued in the class. And how would they have known to measure the precise part that "moved" to a level of less than 10 microns of accuracy before issuing the pistol and then known to measure that particular part afterwards?
Three-The M&Ps aren't super tight 1911 bullseye guns. I've completely stripped and done trigger work on two M&Ps this week. A punch and hammer on my kitchen table broke them down. For crying out loud....THEY RATTLE WHEN YOU SHAKE THEM. A pistol that has daylight shining through it between the slide and frame, that rattles when it shakes, suddenly had catastrophic failures when some part moved LESS THAN THE THICKNESS OF 1/10th OF A SHEET OF COPY PAPER.
Lastly--From someone who's been involved in a lot of police politics, the whole thing stinks. The guys at the range weren't the same guys who decided to switch guns or who decided to go with the M&P. The whole fiasco sounds to me like a pissing contest between the range guys who measured "movement of less than ten microns" and the administrators who made the decisions.