Looking to purchase first handgun (currently own rifle and shotgun). After firing 6 different 9mms yesterday I've pretty much settled on a M&P9. Hard to say why exactly, some of the others I can clearly say what I did not like about them, others it was more of a gut feeling I guess. If the opportunity to shot other 9mms present itself while waiting on permit I would do so. 

 

Anyway, looking at the S&W website can be a bit confusing on all the different variations. Some are easy enough to determine (number of rounds, full size or compact, PRO Series, etc...) others a bit more difficult to see the differences or benefits. I believe I've narrowed it down to four. SKU 109201, 109251, 109301, & 109351. All are 10 round, 4.25" barrel length. 109201 & 109301 have 6.5lb trigger pull; 109251 & 109351 are 10lbs trigger pull. The only difference I see between each with the same trigger pull is overall length 7.5" vs 7.63".

 

Trigger pull is clear to me (I do not know what I fired yesterday). All other things being the same I would imagine a longer overall length would be mean better control? But is there really a noticeable difference in 0.13"? How hard/expensive is it to change trigger pull? Meaning if I could only find one with a 10lb pull and I wanted to swap for the 6.5lb pull.

 

This will be a range/HD weapon used primarily by me, but able to be used by wife if needed. 

 

TIA

Kevin

 

Smith & Wesson - Compare Products.pdf

 

 

The ones with the 10lb trigger are MA complaint guns....... you wont really find them around here anyway....

 

The lengths of all the Full-size are the same.....  dont know why they differ in the specs

As with most M&P owners. They feel the gun shoots a hell of a lot better after installing a Apex tactical Dcaek kit. Worked wonders on my .40

Don't forget to look into

109201 has  a magazine safety

 

109301 has NO magazine safety

 

Those are the 2 versions that you most likely will look at...

 

If you find a MA compatible gun for a significant savings..... an APEX trigger kit will get you back down to a reasonable trigger

109201 has  a magazine safety

 

109301 has NO magazine safety....

 

Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for, why couldn't S&W make it that clear on their site?

Since I see the pros/cons of the mag safety debate I do not see it being a deal breaker if I can only locate one version and not both.

Now I feel confident in knowing any M&P9 full size I can locate will work for me. 

Different trigger weights.

External safety vs. no external safety.

Magazine disconnect vs no disconnect.

Different magazine capacities.

 

Then when you factor in they used to make a long slide version, and they have the pro series and now the C.O.R.E series, there are lots of different variations. 

109201 has  a magazine safety

 

109301 has NO magazine safety

 

Those are the 2 versions that you most likely will look at...

 

If you find a MA compatible gun for a significant savings..... an APEX trigger kit will get you back down to a reasonable trigger

If the MA ones really are cheaper, then the above idea is GENIUS.

As mentioned above, definitely look into the Apex DCAEK... It makes a huge difference in the trigger, especially after you break it in.  After 200 or 300 rounds, my DCAEK trigger became sooooooo nice in my full size M&P9.

Doesnt that take you out of production division? At that point you are at a disadvantage in limited, as you are scoring minor. I found that just dropping in the RAM made a difference in my 9Pro.

No....

Apex AEK kits are legal for production ..... They are internal mods