S&W M&P 2.0 9mm somewhat scientific 25 yard accuracy test results (vs. HK P30L)

[LSW]

Hello,

Today I acquired an M&P 2.0 9mm 4.25" barreled "full size" handgun. I wanted to test the pistol for accuracy so I set up some NRA slowfire bullseye targets at 25 yards. Temperature was approximately 80 degrees, 5-10 mph quartering headwind, sunny, 500 feet above sea level. The M&P had the stock sights. I am certainly not the most talented handgun shooter in the world, having put downrage only somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-40k rounds in my time. To compensate for that, I used a handgun that has a reputation for accuracy, the Heckler and Koch P30L in .40 S&W w/ the Light LEM trigger, as a "control", by which to measure the M&P's performance. The H&K has truglo night sights. I shot 5x 5 shot groups with the S&W, then shot 5x 5 shot groups with the P30L, then shot 5x more 5 shot groups with the S&W to establish a rough accuracy baseline for the pistol (50 rounds S&W, 25 rounds HK). My technique is to throw out the smallest and largest groups for each pistol to try and eliminate the role of luck and then average the remaining group sizes. The S&W used Federal P9HST4 147gr +p and the HK used P40HST1 180gr ammunition. Shooting position was resting on sandbags from a bench, shooter seated (distance 25 yards as stated).



The results were as follows:

S&W M&P 2.0 9mm = 3.3256" average 5 shot group
H&K P30L = 3.6197" average 5 shot group

Here are the targets for those interested. Maybe the S&W benefited slightly from my method because it had a 6" group thrown out, but likewise the HK had a 5" group thrown out. There was no cherry picking, all fired groups are displayed. I did fire a cold bore sight off target with both pistols to warm them up before testing. I fired a total of 330 rounds of P9HST4 through the S&W with no malfunctions doing other drills after this test. I will commence from here with a 2000 round challenge as I am pleased with it thus far. The stock rear sight seems like it might need to be drifted slightly to the right, however I expect to be installing trijicon night sights on it soon enough so probably won't bother. The trigger pull weight on the M&P 2.0 measures a consistent 5.5 pounds.

S&W M&P 2.0 9mm, groups 2 and 8 thrown out, remainder averaged











HK P30L 40 S&W Light LEM - groups 1 & 4 thrown out, remainder averaged

[DallasBronco]

Thanks for sharing this. That was a pretty good bit of effort to collect and report. Glad to hear you're having good luck with the pistol so far. I've been a long time M&P fan and would like to see these be what everyone had hoped for.

[98z28]

Good stuff. Thank you! I am willing to bet a couple PF dollars that you could knock about an inch off your average group size with the M&P using quality 124gr ammo. The few M&P 2.0's I've played with all showed a clear preference for 124gr JHP ammo over 147gr pills.

Your experience brings up an interesting point about practical accuracy. I would bet my next paycheck that the HK is capable of more mechanically accuracy than the M&P, yet the HK turned in larger groups in your hands. If you ran accuracy intensive drills on a timer, I bet the difference would be even more pronounced.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[LSW]

Thanks, I'll definitely be testing some different ammo in the M&P 2.0. Maybe some P9HST1 124's and some Atlanta Arms 115gr match. At the end of the day if the pistol is shooting less than 4" groups on average at 25 yards in my hands, I'm pretty satisfied (because that probably means it's shooting less than 3" mechanically, allotting 25% for my own deficiencies in sight picture and trigger pull). If I get some bigger targets perhaps some 50 yard testing as well.

[JHC]

That was just outstanding and a heckuva lot of work.

[SecondsCount]

Thanks for posting your results.

I would be curious how the 2.0 shoots with 115 ball as I had a 1.0 that shot my 124HP loads at around 3" but was closer to 5" with 115 grain ammo.

[Guinnessman]

Thank you for the very detailed post on the M&P. It is great to see the improvement in accuracy with the 2.0.

It's great that Smith and Wesson has upped their game with the new 2.0. When one manufacturer ups the game hopefully the rest will follow suit.

[ubervic]

Very interesting and very well done.

I ran a MP9FS for over three years and loved the ergonomics. Left it a year and a half ago, mainly to master the TDA platform....but now I'm seriously pondering going back to M&P.

[LSW]

Did some more groups today at the end of normal practice this time with cheap range trash Blazer brass 124gr FMJ. Not too bad. I noticed POI was an inch or two lower than with the 147gr +p HST though. Also this was at 21 yards instead of 25 because that was max distance at the bay I was in, so I added 19% to to the true average to establish the number below. 670 rounds through the pistol now with no malfunctions (370 P9HST4, 300 Blazer Brass 124 gr FMJ).

Also managed to do a few clean 3.5 second 10 yard bill drills with it, which for me is good considering my draw from the untucked polo shirt concealment runs about 1.9 on par.

Blazer 124gr 5 shot average ~ 25 yd: 3.6497"

[Guinnessman]

My so called liberal Mother in Law wants to start shooting, and buy a gun for self defense. We are going to hit the range a couple of times the next two weeks to get her started, and then hit up a local store for some gun shopping.

After seeing the positive reports here, it may be a good option for her. Good times.