TDA to striker - A short photo story of progression

[hossb7]

I feel I'm against the grain of the general consensus on P-F. My first handgun was a P226 and after 6 years and ~12,000 rounds I felt I'd be better suited with one trigger pull.

Sig:



Me in an AFHF class in 2010:





In the class I posted a Wall of Fame worthy F.A.S.T. time and was impressed at my own abilities but I still felt limited. Based on the experience of shooters on here, I have no doubt now that I could have continued to work that gun, but I was looking for consistency.

Based on this feeling, I bought an M&P 9mm (very lightly used) from a close friend.



On my first outing I shot a 47/50 and then a 49/50 on Dot Torture, all with a front sight dot that fell out:





But that never slowed anyone down, right?

[hossb7]

Initially, I was plagued by accuracy issues. I was hitting around 5-6 inches at distance. Without the flier, this would have been solid.



Close up (as we all know), accuracy is just fine:





After shooting Randy Lee's M&P in a Bruce Grey class I knew I wanted to get the DCAEK as well as some other upgrades. Fortunately, APEX is close enough to me that I drove over and it got a facelift.




I don't know if it's a combination of the sights/trigger (or just my own ability improving), but I was hitting ~3 inches at 25 yards. (unfortunately no pics of this target).

Thus far, I've owned the M&P for just over a year and put around 2,500 rounds downrange and I must admit, I've really come to love this gun.

I posted this last bit in the Drills sub-forum over the weekend, but I wanted to include it here as the current conclusion to this post

It's been a long time since this post:

My best (and only) was 6.33 clean. I don't remember the split times, though

The last time I shot this drill for score was in March of 2010 and I got 6.33 seconds, earning me an "Advanced" score and placing me on the Wall of Fame.

Back then I was using my Sig P226R in a Bladetech OWB holster (I think?) shooting 124gr Speer Lawman ammo. This time I'm using my M&P 9mm in an Atomic Dog OWB holster (it was cheap), and 115gr PMC.

This is the first time since that I've shot it with a timer.

• 5.53 seconds (clean): 1.89 / 0.61 / 2.12 / 0.34 / 0.30 / 0.27

I know I can speed up on my draw (this was shot cold) and I can improve the reload speed but either regardless I'm pretty stoked.

The night before shooting I was thinking I really wanted to get sub-6 seconds on the drill. After I shot it and looked at the timer (in bright sunlight) and thought the last shot read 5.93 and I was pretty happy. It wasn't until I was in the car on the drive back when I saw it was actually 0.40/seconds faster!

Thanks for reading!

[graffex]

Nice man. I'm excited to get a M&P. I've shot the Glock platform since I started shooting pistols, and now that I sold mine a while back when times were tough, I've decided to move to the M&P. I didn't like the trigger as much at first, but now I've warmed up to it I can shoot it equally as well as my old Glocks. The superior ergonomics and true ambi capability as a lefty won me over. I know with the apex kit it will be even better. Just waiting on this handgun liscencing class I have to take because of Marylands retarded new laws and a M&P 9 full size will be mine. Hoping mine doesn't have any fleas

[Rich]

I'm glad the M&P 9mm is working for you.

Good luck.

[hossb7]

Nice man. I'm excited to get a M&P. I've shot the Glock platform since I started shooting pistols, and now that I sold mine a while back when times were tough, I've decided to move to the M&P. I didn't like the trigger as much at first, but now I've warmed up to it I can shoot it equally as well as my old Glocks. The superior ergonomics and true ambi capability as a lefty won me over. I know with the apex kit it will be even better. Just waiting on this handgun liscencing class I have to take because of Marylands retarded new laws and a M&P 9 full size will be mine. Hoping mine doesn't have any fleas

Thanks. I'll be getting a Gen 4 Glock 19 this year. I don't know which one I'll like more.

I'm glad the M&P 9mm is working for you.

Good luck.

Yeah, it's really too bad that they haven't solved (or addressed?) the accuracy issues. I think it's an incredibly solid performer and has fantastic potential if S&W can get them squared away.

[David S.]

Yeah, it's really too bad that they haven't solved (or addressed?) the accuracy issues. I think it's an incredibly solid performer and has fantastic potential if S&W can get them squared away.

I think we'd get a couple if they got that squared away. Best of luck and hard work.

[YVK]

Funny, I shot Glock 19 in that same class. Now I've sold almost all strikers and have more TDAs than I know what to do with. I still have that 19 though.

Glad the M&P is working well for you. I wanted to like mine, but couldn't.

[hossb7]

Funny, I shot Glock 19 in that same class. Now I've sold almost all strikers and have more TDAs than I know what to do with. I still have that 19 though.

Glad the M&P is working well for you. I wanted to like mine, but couldn't.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll never sell the P226. For a "do-anything" gun I prefer the striker.

[Savage Hands]

Nice job Muchacho!


That Gen 4 Glock sounds like a nice addition to your lineup

[hossb7]

Nice job Muchacho!


That Gen 4 Glock sounds like a nice addition to your lineup

Thanks, brother.

I think it will do nicely. At SHOT I held the Gen 3 and 4 back to back and the difference was obvious.