Pistols I saw last week & what stood out

[cheby]

Depends on the gun... Shock buffers run forever in Shadow 2s with light competition loads. In CZ Tactical Sports 40SW, however, they last for 600rds at best. I used to replace them every day during a multiple day major match or during a long practice day. I would still use them because I would be breaking everything on my CZs without them. I was breaking slide stops every 2K, both rear and front sights multiple times (At 10K intervals), CGW firing pins and extractors (At 10K as well), and had to reapply the blue loktite constantly on every damn screw. Then I started using the shock buffers and all those issues stopped or became less frequent.
In my real Limited 40SW guns they last for a long time even with lighter recoil springs. The buffer I am currently running is at 7K or more, I stopped counting.

[Wingate's Hairbrush]

My post wasn't meant to discount what you said. I just wanted to point out that shock buffers aren't always a bad idea--at least in some guns. I don't think I got lucky. My two other S2s have many 1000's on their buffers as well.

Understood -- nor was mine. As the discussion is opening up to shokbuffs more generally, I wanted to emphasize I'm only familiar with issues related to Wilson's (haven't looked into it anywhere else). Rock on.

[cheby]

I am running the Wilson shock buffer now in my 2011 40SW. As I said, they last for a long time.

[OlongJohnson]

Doesn't the Beretta M9A1 use a polymer buffer? And the USP has a second-spring buffer system. If a gun is designed to use it, it should work. Adding it to a functional design with no other changes is changing the design from what is proven and validated (or not so validated, as the case may be), and things may or may not play well.

[HCM]

Doesn't the Beretta M9A1 use a polymer buffer? And the USP has a second-spring buffer system. If a gun is designed to use it, it should work. Adding it to a functional design with no other changes is changing the design from what is proven and validated (or not so validated, as the case may be), and things may or may not play well.

No on Beretta. You are thinking of the 92A1/96A1 which has a different RSA system to try and address issues with the use of .40 in 92/96 type guns.

The M9a1 is a regular M9 with a light rail and better front strap texture.

The full size USP ‘s 2nd spring buffer works in terms of recoil reduction but at the caost of making the gun track like crap at speed.

[JAD]

Team Kansas
Gunsite "250+"
June 2007

[claymore504]

I have a really, really, really, late M&P 1.0 Compact, and it's demonstrating early unlocking big time. Do the guns tend to work (wear) their way out of this, or should I resign myself to an Apex barrel. The real issue for me here is that I tore the market apart, looking for an American made 9mm Compact, and the M&P was the only thing out there that checked all the boxes on my list. The M&P 2.0 Compact doesn't because Smiff made the grip too long when they made it into a 15 round. Anyway, I'm willing to put some money and effort in this one to bring it up to snuff.

You could Apex your current gen 1 M&P, or look at getting an M2.0 Sub-Compact. May be really hard to find right now though.

https://www.smith-wesson.com/firearm...o-thumb-safety

[claymore504]

Great information on this post. OP, thank you for sahring what you encountered in those classes. I remember when the xd came out and I really wanted one for my first handgun when I was getting off of active duty. I held one in a gun store and did not like the way it felt at all. Ended up with a Glock 22. So, I never got in to the xd line. Years later I have a friend that is on a small department near me that is issued the xd in 40. I joined him at the range one day and he let me fire it. I could not wait to give it back to him. I just did not like anything about it. I was shooting an FNS40 at the time and I let him fire that and he was amazed at how much more he liked it over his service pistol. To this day I still do not like the xd. I have several friends that run them and I will try them when they get the latest model and can't wait to give them back.

[TxRod]

I'm really enjoying following this thread. This is interesting stuff derived from real-world experience. Please keep it up, OP. Thank you.

[358156hp]

You could Apex your current gen 1 M&P, or look at getting an M2.0 Sub-Compact. May be really hard to find right now though.

https://www.smith-wesson.com/firearm...o-thumb-safety

I have a flat faced forward set sear & trigger kit for it, but haven't installed it yet.