strokin7.3
Sharpshooter
Picked up one of the new M&P Bodyguards the other week. Only been able to run about 70 rounds or so through it but here are my initial impressions.
Pros:
-Size for concealment. Pocket-able but it also disappears when you appendix carry it and it's small enough that it doesn't interfere with anything when you're bending over.
-Second strike capable. LCP does not have this ability and I think it is a definite plus for two reasons. One being if you encounter light primer strike it allows you to treat it similar to a revolver and just keep pulling the trigger. And two doing dry fire practice with it allows you to not have to cycle the slide to reset the trigger, which to me is a huge blessing and one of the best things about a double action trigger and trigger control is definitely one of the things that need to be practiced with DOA guns. Huge plus here over the LCP in my opinion.
-Legitimate sights that are adjustable!!
-Comes with 2 magazines! Another Plus over the LCP. Granted one is a flat baseplate and one has a pinky extension (if you can call it that? It is more of a get the rest of your ring finger on there extension), I wish S&W would ship two of each baseplate because I for one cant stand the extensions, and I know that a lot of people prefer the extensions so it'd be nice if we could all choose how to set up our magazines.
-Ease of take down. Not as easy as its big brothers in the M&P line but its easy enough a caveman can do it.
-Steel guide-rod, maybe not a big deal to some but I think its a nice touch.
-Accurate, well as accurate as a pocket rocket can be. Slow deliberate fire I was punching holes right next to each other at 15 feet. Now when you speed it up a bit its a little harder to keep the groups small but I was still on paper (8.5x11") with every shot dumping the magazine as quickly as possible.
-Reliable... So far at least. It ran FMJ and JHP like a boss!
-Weight, I don't think it weighs anything, at all, it is light. This along with it's size make it super easy to carry.
-No crappy laser (that's hard to turn on and not bright enough to see in the day) to fumble around with.
Cons:
-Size. There isn't a whole lot of gun to hold onto, but that is one of the things you give up for this kind of gun. The grip is super small and even with my smallish hands (wear a size medium glove) my booger hook still reaches out to the other side of the pistol and hits my off hand. Even though there isn't a lot of grip to hold onto I never felt like the gun was recoiling out of control or was going to fly out of my hands.
-Trigger. Its a double action only trigger. Pretty heavy but smooth, by far not the worst trigger I've even laid a finger on but it is the worst out of all the guns that I own. It's pretty difficult to not jerk the trigger while firing espescially when you combine it with the size of the gun, going to take some training to get used to. Also on the trigger reset (if you want to call it that, pretty much have to go all the way out with it) there is a click about halfway out that throws me off and makes me think that it has reset, it hasn't and causes me to short stroke the trigger. When using the second strike it only clicks once at the very end of the reset. See video
-The sights suck! Small, hard to pick up in low light, the front sight is ramped (why couldn't they have put a dot on there??) and the rear sight can snag when drawing out of a pocket. The rear sight is also ramped opposite of the front so racking the slide off the belt is a no go. I believe XS makes big dots for these though so I'm probably going to make the switch to those here in the near future. Also even though the factory sights suck, they are still better than the LCP sights.
-Already complained about the magazine baseplates... Give us the option to have two of the same with both magazines S&W!!!!
-It's .380.. Not trying to start a caliber war and I know .380 can get the job done but I would prefer to have a little more oomph in my self defense round. Plus .380 can be pretty elusive at times.
-Thumb safety. Wish Smith would have left this one off of there. It's pointless with a trigger like this one is equipped with. It is hard to engage though so leaving it off shouldn't be too big of a problem and it is easy to take off so if it does ever engage I can swipe it down quickly since my thumb rides right there anyways. I realize that the manual safety may be a pro to some people, but it is a definite con to me.
-It's not striker fired. A boy can dream can't he?
Over all:
I like the pistol. I think it makes a great back up or super deep concealment gun for carrying in those places you're not supposed to. I wouldn't want it to be the only thing I had on me if I were to be walking through a sketchy neighborhood, but if it were between the bodyguard and nothing I'd much rather have the bodyguard with me. It's fun to shoot which I think is kinda rare in a pocket pistol. I think getting some better sights on there and practicing with it and I will be well served!
And the sight picture for reference.
And a quick video showing the clicks in the trigger reset.
<a href="http://youtu.be/KxM6jsM2d4s" target="_blank">[video=youtube_share;KxM6jsM2d4s]http://youtu.be/KxM6jsM2d4s[/video]
Pros:
-Size for concealment. Pocket-able but it also disappears when you appendix carry it and it's small enough that it doesn't interfere with anything when you're bending over.
-Second strike capable. LCP does not have this ability and I think it is a definite plus for two reasons. One being if you encounter light primer strike it allows you to treat it similar to a revolver and just keep pulling the trigger. And two doing dry fire practice with it allows you to not have to cycle the slide to reset the trigger, which to me is a huge blessing and one of the best things about a double action trigger and trigger control is definitely one of the things that need to be practiced with DOA guns. Huge plus here over the LCP in my opinion.
-Legitimate sights that are adjustable!!
-Comes with 2 magazines! Another Plus over the LCP. Granted one is a flat baseplate and one has a pinky extension (if you can call it that? It is more of a get the rest of your ring finger on there extension), I wish S&W would ship two of each baseplate because I for one cant stand the extensions, and I know that a lot of people prefer the extensions so it'd be nice if we could all choose how to set up our magazines.
-Ease of take down. Not as easy as its big brothers in the M&P line but its easy enough a caveman can do it.
-Steel guide-rod, maybe not a big deal to some but I think its a nice touch.
-Accurate, well as accurate as a pocket rocket can be. Slow deliberate fire I was punching holes right next to each other at 15 feet. Now when you speed it up a bit its a little harder to keep the groups small but I was still on paper (8.5x11") with every shot dumping the magazine as quickly as possible.
-Reliable... So far at least. It ran FMJ and JHP like a boss!
-Weight, I don't think it weighs anything, at all, it is light. This along with it's size make it super easy to carry.
-No crappy laser (that's hard to turn on and not bright enough to see in the day) to fumble around with.
Cons:
-Size. There isn't a whole lot of gun to hold onto, but that is one of the things you give up for this kind of gun. The grip is super small and even with my smallish hands (wear a size medium glove) my booger hook still reaches out to the other side of the pistol and hits my off hand. Even though there isn't a lot of grip to hold onto I never felt like the gun was recoiling out of control or was going to fly out of my hands.
-Trigger. Its a double action only trigger. Pretty heavy but smooth, by far not the worst trigger I've even laid a finger on but it is the worst out of all the guns that I own. It's pretty difficult to not jerk the trigger while firing espescially when you combine it with the size of the gun, going to take some training to get used to. Also on the trigger reset (if you want to call it that, pretty much have to go all the way out with it) there is a click about halfway out that throws me off and makes me think that it has reset, it hasn't and causes me to short stroke the trigger. When using the second strike it only clicks once at the very end of the reset. See video
-The sights suck! Small, hard to pick up in low light, the front sight is ramped (why couldn't they have put a dot on there??) and the rear sight can snag when drawing out of a pocket. The rear sight is also ramped opposite of the front so racking the slide off the belt is a no go. I believe XS makes big dots for these though so I'm probably going to make the switch to those here in the near future. Also even though the factory sights suck, they are still better than the LCP sights.
-Already complained about the magazine baseplates... Give us the option to have two of the same with both magazines S&W!!!!
-It's .380.. Not trying to start a caliber war and I know .380 can get the job done but I would prefer to have a little more oomph in my self defense round. Plus .380 can be pretty elusive at times.
-Thumb safety. Wish Smith would have left this one off of there. It's pointless with a trigger like this one is equipped with. It is hard to engage though so leaving it off shouldn't be too big of a problem and it is easy to take off so if it does ever engage I can swipe it down quickly since my thumb rides right there anyways. I realize that the manual safety may be a pro to some people, but it is a definite con to me.
-It's not striker fired. A boy can dream can't he?
Over all:
I like the pistol. I think it makes a great back up or super deep concealment gun for carrying in those places you're not supposed to. I wouldn't want it to be the only thing I had on me if I were to be walking through a sketchy neighborhood, but if it were between the bodyguard and nothing I'd much rather have the bodyguard with me. It's fun to shoot which I think is kinda rare in a pocket pistol. I think getting some better sights on there and practicing with it and I will be well served!
And the sight picture for reference.
And a quick video showing the clicks in the trigger reset.
<a href="http://youtu.be/KxM6jsM2d4s" target="_blank">[video=youtube_share;KxM6jsM2d4s]http://youtu.be/KxM6jsM2d4s[/video]
