Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Impressions - S&W Performance Center M&P 9mm Ported

One of the VarmintSons bought himself a "home defense" pistol as he lives out Seattle way (Mountlake Terrace) and the long summer of love out there got him motivated to augment his long guns with a high capacity semi-auto pistol.
Pickins were/are VERY slim out there and about 3 months ago he was able to secure a brand new Smith & Wesson Performance Center "ported" M&P in 9m/m.
This model has just wonderful fiber optic sights that aided myself and the VarmintWife's shooting when we took our son and his pistol out to the range yesterday while he is here for the week.
I liked EVERY thing about this high capacity pistol not just the wonderful fiber-optic sights (green dot front and orange dots in the rear), the grip fit me perfectly and was stipled EXTRA non-slip style along with the deeply scaled slide gripping area - all handling and operating of this pistol was positive/non slip.
The front of the frame was equipped with a pleasingly designed/looking rail system as well.
We tried 5 different brands/styles of ammunition including hollow-points and round nose FMJ - all functioned fine - I am guesstimating we ran right at 100 rounds through it with no hitches or glitches!
The pistol has an ambidextrous slide bar lock and it appears the magazine release can be reversed for left handed shooters.
The pistol came with two high capacity magazines (17 rounds apiece) and again they functioned flawlessly and were relatively easy to load.
I didn't have the balls to ask the VarmintSon how much this PC Smith cost him but he did relay that he was glad that the folks at Lynnwood Guns got it in, notified him and sold it to him!
They allowed one box of ammo to go with the gun and he has been shopping the north Seattle area ever since buying the gun for more ammo with NO luck!
I had some ammo around and borrowed some more and pulled in a favor from a LGS here in SW Montana to get another box on the down low!
Ammo in this caliber is gonna be a problem for some time, I am afraid.
Accuracy wise we set our target stantion up and NO sight adjustments were needed - so away we went shooting orange center clay pigeons pretty regularly at 15 yards.
I was impressed with this pistols feel and function and it appeared to me the six "ports" on the forward frame help in allowing for immediate re-acquisition of sight picture!
But the most impressive feature of this Smith & Wesson Performance Center M&P for me was it appearance - I mean it looked COOL and looked GREAT!
Maybe when things get back to normal (if they ever do?) I will add one of these to my pair of Glocks in 9m/m?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The M&P 2.0 is an excellent pistol!

MOGC: I had NOT paid much attention to them up til now. I was sure impressed with it.
I just now returned from my LGS and the owner and I got to talking about these S&W M&P 9m/m pistols and he relayed how he had sold a ton of them and never had any complaints about them - he reiterated how unusual this was.
Then he relayed how he had bought and shot one a while back and how much he liked it and how reliable it is.
Yeah i'd kind'a like to have one for myself.
We'll see.
Good job S&W (a fine American company!).
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I bought an M&P 9mm police trade-in gun about four years ago. No chokes, gags or pukes in all that time. None whatsoever. It's a Gen 1 gun, though, and doesn't have the newer stippling. It's not the most accurate pistol I've ever shot, either, but it works 100% of the time. Hard to argue with that.

It doesn't have much character to it, but it was and is, a functional tool.

I don't shoot it much, just enough to keep "current", but it's okay. I prefer my 1911s in .45, but it's okay.

VarmintGuy,
Thanks for the review. I have been toying with getting a 2.0 for awhile. I recently got a G19 MOS instead, but I still want the 2.0!

As for ammo in the greater Seattle area, have your son watch the classifieds on www.WAGuns.org. It won't be cheap, but there is ammo to be had there.

Waders: Wade thanks for that heads up - I will relay that to him tomorrow he is out visiting high school chums right now.
I am gonna check the factory box to make sure which model/generation his pistol is - give me a minute.
And indeed the box end description label says "2.0" on it.
It also relays how the barrel is 4.25" long.
And I want to clarify that the slide is ported with 6 neatly done ports and the barrel has two ports angled at the 6 ports on the slide.
Anyway I really like this pistol and may get one if for no other reason than to keep up with the VarmintKids!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Ratsmacker: Thank you for your input on the reliability/functionality of the M&P 9m/m.
Keep up the good work S&W (and get rid of the hillary lock on your revolvers PUH-LEEZE).
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy