I’m going to write this with a few caveats, maybe it will help some of you, maybe not.
Caveats: I’m relatively “new” to shooting in comparison to most of the board, the guns I have are slightly dissimilar, and I didn’t put many rounds through them all things considered. With that in mind:
I own a Gen 3 Glock 23 and a S&W M&P Pro also in .40 so I thought I’d do a write-up on the two since they are similar and compete in the same market so to speak.
The Glock is out of the box stock with zero mods. The .40 Pro comes from the factory with a lightened trigger pull (~4.5-5 lbs.) and to that I had my ‘smith add an Apex Tactical Comp AEK. The Pro comes with a .60 fiber optic front sight to which I swapped the green for a red fiber. Lastly, I had the entire grip stippled. So, they aren’t comparable models.
With that said, I also only fired about 100 rounds through each of them.
Grip: Without a Gen 4 Glock I can’t say they are equal here. Both “point” well for me and feel more or less the same. The “Glock hump” feels a little odd when dry-firing but I didn’t notice it when shooting. The M&P has a removable back strap in 3 different sizes which I really like but they lose points for the material as it is rubber-like and not the same consistency as the rest of the grip.
Trigger: This is the largest and most obvious difference between the two. I think Glock’s website quotes a ~5.5 lb. pull and the S&W Pro is supposed to be ~4.5-5.0. The work I had done to it probably drops mine to around 3 lbs. The difference to me is in the length of the pull. The design of the S&W safety has you taking up the safety as part of the pull; the trigger is actually hinged for the bottom portion unlike Glock’s safety in the center of the trigger. While there’s no weight or resistance to overcome, it makes for a long pull. Both have almost no creep to them and a short reset, but the M&P’s isn’t that positive. To that end, Apex has just released their RAM to overcome this. While you can spend about the same for a good, light trigger for both pistols, depending on your application some would argue you shouldn’t need to do any trigger work. I guess this is a matter of preference. Out of the box, I think the Glock wins hands down.
Accuracy: I didn’t test this but I’ve seen Larry Vickers and Jason Falla compare the two. I’ll say they are both more qualified than I to rate the pistols here and the results were the same in that neither pistol had an edge (given similar models).
Reliability: At about 100 rounds you can’t judge too much here, but shooting the same Federal 165 gr. ammo I had zero failures in either pistol.
Sights: I think the M&P has better factory sights, but many of us would replace these straight-away regardless of the pistol.
Conclusion: I’d trust my life to either pistol although the M&P is being set up as a competition gun. I don’t think you’d notice any issues with either though I think the factory trigger on the Glock is better (regardless of the M&P model). Ultimately, what are you comfortable with and if the trigger is an issue then cleaning it up isn’t too much of a problem or that expensive. The S&W team just did really well at the USPSA Nationals so the M&P will run with the Glocks. I’d recommend either gun to anyone.
Caveats: I’m relatively “new” to shooting in comparison to most of the board, the guns I have are slightly dissimilar, and I didn’t put many rounds through them all things considered. With that in mind:
I own a Gen 3 Glock 23 and a S&W M&P Pro also in .40 so I thought I’d do a write-up on the two since they are similar and compete in the same market so to speak.
The Glock is out of the box stock with zero mods. The .40 Pro comes from the factory with a lightened trigger pull (~4.5-5 lbs.) and to that I had my ‘smith add an Apex Tactical Comp AEK. The Pro comes with a .60 fiber optic front sight to which I swapped the green for a red fiber. Lastly, I had the entire grip stippled. So, they aren’t comparable models.
With that said, I also only fired about 100 rounds through each of them.
Grip: Without a Gen 4 Glock I can’t say they are equal here. Both “point” well for me and feel more or less the same. The “Glock hump” feels a little odd when dry-firing but I didn’t notice it when shooting. The M&P has a removable back strap in 3 different sizes which I really like but they lose points for the material as it is rubber-like and not the same consistency as the rest of the grip.
Trigger: This is the largest and most obvious difference between the two. I think Glock’s website quotes a ~5.5 lb. pull and the S&W Pro is supposed to be ~4.5-5.0. The work I had done to it probably drops mine to around 3 lbs. The difference to me is in the length of the pull. The design of the S&W safety has you taking up the safety as part of the pull; the trigger is actually hinged for the bottom portion unlike Glock’s safety in the center of the trigger. While there’s no weight or resistance to overcome, it makes for a long pull. Both have almost no creep to them and a short reset, but the M&P’s isn’t that positive. To that end, Apex has just released their RAM to overcome this. While you can spend about the same for a good, light trigger for both pistols, depending on your application some would argue you shouldn’t need to do any trigger work. I guess this is a matter of preference. Out of the box, I think the Glock wins hands down.
Accuracy: I didn’t test this but I’ve seen Larry Vickers and Jason Falla compare the two. I’ll say they are both more qualified than I to rate the pistols here and the results were the same in that neither pistol had an edge (given similar models).
Reliability: At about 100 rounds you can’t judge too much here, but shooting the same Federal 165 gr. ammo I had zero failures in either pistol.
Sights: I think the M&P has better factory sights, but many of us would replace these straight-away regardless of the pistol.
Conclusion: I’d trust my life to either pistol although the M&P is being set up as a competition gun. I don’t think you’d notice any issues with either though I think the factory trigger on the Glock is better (regardless of the M&P model). Ultimately, what are you comfortable with and if the trigger is an issue then cleaning it up isn’t too much of a problem or that expensive. The S&W team just did really well at the USPSA Nationals so the M&P will run with the Glocks. I’d recommend either gun to anyone.
