Another M&P only trip to the range today

[M1A4ME]

Sighted in the Holoson on my wife's new Equalizer 9MM.  I only shot it three times.  She wasn't happy with her groups and was looking to see if it was me or her (she still doesn't think about it maybe, sometimes, being ammo).  She shot lead 124 grain, jacketed hollow points, coated 147 grain LTC bullets and 147 grain plated hollow points. 

Ammo aside, she's not liking the trigger pull vs. her Shield or my Shield Plus (both stock triggers, as is the Equalizer) due to the way it feels/works.  The Equalizer is an internal hammer fired gun with a grip safety (this one also has the ambidextrous thumb safeties like my P07/P09/P01 guns that she sometimes shoots and likes) and thumb safeties.  I measured the trigger pull at 5.5 lbs. so it's heavier than either of us like.  It also has some creep after you think it has hit the wall, before it releases the hammer.  She's not happy with the amount/distance the trigger moves in the creep mode.

I had to keep correcting all that finger she wants to wrap around the trigger, the grip (wants to grab the grip with her right hand and set the pistol on her left hand turned palm up.  I don't know why she's started that left hand palm up thing.  I've not seen her do that before.  She also will not set that pistol down once she puts the sights on target.  No breaks, no set it down (or at least drop it to a 45 degree angle and breath/rest a bit) and get her breathing back to normal and give her muscles a short rest.  I'm standing there telling her to take a break and she's standing there holding the pistol up till she squeezes off the next shot.

Also seen her flinching without ever firing a shot.   She's doing that with the Equalizer and the groups aren't great.  Then I give her the Shield Plus and once again she shoots her best group of the day.  I even handed her that M&P .45 Compact with 230 grain FMJ in it and she shot it better than she shoots the Equalizer and I can tell its recoiling a lot more.  She says the recoil is what is bothering her but still shoots two guns that recoil more better.

I'm getting the Mantiss on that Equalizer and getting her to start dry firing on a regular basis. 

I may also attempt disassembling the Equalizer and doing some polishing of internals to see if I can make the trigger work better for her.

I shot some 230 LRN with 6.0 grains of Unique and I believe her group with the .45 and the FMJ ammo was just a bit better than mine.

Not giving up on the Equalizer after just one range trip.  It's not quickly/easily shooting with the Shields or the Shield Plus though.  Disappointing.  I'm sold on the Shields and Shield Plus 9MM for great shooting small pistols.

Got some pictures.  Phone is sitting on the charger so I won't get the pics in here till tomorrow.

[M1A4ME]

First target shows a couple groups from the Equalizer in the upper left quadrant.  Those are two shots close together with a third shot lower and left away from the other two shots.  No idea what the order is as I wore the wrong glasses down there and couldn't see the holes in the target as they were made.  She was getting two close and then dropping a third low/left.  But those three in the center (two together at 6 o'clock in the orange and one up about 1 o'clock just out of the orange) are her three shots with the M&P 2.0 Compact .45 acp.  Funny she can shoot that harder recoiling gun better than the 9MM.  Then again, the trigger is better on the .45 (Apex kit) than the factory Equalizer trigger (measured at 5.5 lbs. with some creep in it) and she noticed the difference and likes the Apex trigger.  No one's making stuff for the Equalizer yet (and may not).



Her last three shots from the Equalizer where just fine, but she's struggling with it.  Hard to make someone change the way they shoot, especially when they can shoot pretty good groups most of the time, to help them shoot even better.  Habits are hard to break.



My five shots with the M&P Compact .45 acp with 230 grain LRN and 6.0 grains of Unique.  Combination of maybe the ammo and gun and for sure me not being able to hold as tight/stready as I used to.  I know I need to work on my hands/fingers/arms to get some strength back in them.  The red dot makes the wobble/shake seem worse (maybe worse than it is) and that slows me down between shots which works on my hands/fingers/arms even more.



A decent day at the range all in all.

Oh, forgot, she had one failure to feed with the Equalizer and the 115 grain hollow points.  I looked/felt over the feed ramp and its pretty rough.  I'll have to do some polishing on that.  And I'll probably take it apart and do some exam/polishing of some internal parts to see if I can give her a better trigger pull.

[thedude]

I find the M&P in .45 to be a real tack driver. 

[M1A4ME]

Quite a few years back when I was trying to work with the 1.0 full sized 9, .357 SIG and .40 M&Ps to get them to shoot decent groups many people said the .45's shot better.  Said it was some kind of design/barrel lock up issue S&W knew about, but didn't bother to fix.  I bought my 2.0 9MM hoping they'd fixed it.  Nope.  had to by an Apex barrel to make that one shoot better, and find the right ammo for it.

I'm looking forward to shooting this M&P more.  But I need some work on my arms/shoulders/fingers to make sure any issues I have are the guns/loads and not me.

[czsargenty]

Sighted in the Holoson on my wife's new Equalizer 9MM.  I only shot it three times.  She wasn't happy with her groups and was looking to see if it was me or her (she still doesn't think about it maybe, sometimes, being ammo).  She shot lead 124 grain, jacketed hollow points, coated 147 grain LTC bullets and 147 grain plated hollow points. 

Ammo aside, she's not liking the trigger pull vs. her Shield or my Shield Plus (both stock triggers, as is the Equalizer) due to the way it feels/works.  The Equalizer is an internal hammer fired gun with a grip safety (this one also has the ambidextrous thumb safeties like my P07/P09/P01 guns that she sometimes shoots and likes) and thumb safeties.  I measured the trigger pull at 5.5 lbs. so it's heavier than either of us like.  It also has some creep after you think it has hit the wall, before it releases the hammer.  She's not happy with the amount/distance the trigger moves in the creep mode.

I had to keep correcting all that finger she wants to wrap around the trigger, the grip (wants to grab the grip with her right hand and set the pistol on her left hand turned palm up.  I don't know why she's started that left hand palm up thing.  I've not seen her do that before.  She also will not set that pistol down once she puts the sights on target.  No breaks, no set it down (or at least drop it to a 45 degree angle and breath/rest a bit) and get her breathing back to normal and give her muscles a short rest.  I'm standing there telling her to take a break and she's standing there holding the pistol up till she squeezes off the next shot.

Also seen her flinching without ever firing a shot.   She's doing that with the Equalizer and the groups aren't great.  Then I give her the Shield Plus and once again she shoots her best group of the day.  I even handed her that M&P .45 Compact with 230 grain FMJ in it and she shot it better than she shoots the Equalizer and I can tell its recoiling a lot more.  She says the recoil is what is bothering her but still shoots two guns that recoil more better.

I'm getting the Mantiss on that Equalizer and getting her to start dry firing on a regular basis. 

I may also attempt disassembling the Equalizer and doing some polishing of internals to see if I can make the trigger work better for her.

I shot some 230 LRN with 6.0 grains of Unique and I believe her group with the .45 and the FMJ ammo was just a bit better than mine.

Not giving up on the Equalizer after just one range trip.  It's not quickly/easily shooting with the Shields or the Shield Plus though.  Disappointing.  I'm sold on the Shields and Shield Plus 9MM for great shooting small pistols.

Got some pictures.  Phone is sitting on the charger so I won't get the pics in here till tomorrow.

Great. Thanks for sharing your range experience with us, buddy.