Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Boomsticks: Cheesy name, but the gun ain't half bad.

Well, we got our first two S&W Molded Plastics M&Ps in at work, and they pretty much bounced off the shelf, finding new homes within hours of each other. A thumbnail sketch of my first impressions:

1) Ergos are good, with the ever-more-common ambi slide stop and a low-as-a-limbo-dancer bore axis. The interchangeable backstraps seem more useful than the earlier variety on the P-99/SW99 and P2000.

2) The trigger, while still having that godawful hinge in the middle like a Stigma trigger, feels shorter in stroke, with a much more positive break. Think improved Walther P99 QA, here.

3) The "fishscale" slide serrations conjure warm and fuzzy feelings of bucks-up Performance Center 945's, Kimber Raptors, and Ed Brown Kobra Carrys, and help one overlook the fact that this is at heart another mid-price cop gun with a mold line.

4) This is the most substantial-feeling plastic cop gun I have yet to heft. The frame has none of that hollow "'toks'-when-you-tap-it" feel that afflicts even pricey polymer pistols like the USP. If you've hefted an HK P9S, it feels like that.

All in all, I'm impressed. The basic Glock, with no revisions for almost a decade, is beginning to look a bit long in the tooth compared to some of these newer plastic popguns. Gaston's at the very least going to need to do something about grip adaptability to stay in the game long term.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess perceptions differ- I handled one at my local gun shop and to me it felt cheap, even in comparison to other plastic/polymer framed guns. The price wasn't competitive with the Glock, either ($750 or so, which is close to what a SIG would have cost at the same store). Yeah, the scalloped serrations were nice, but that wasn't enough to make me want to buy the gun.

Dave P.

Tam said...

$750 ?!?!?

$549 here.

Ben said...

Tam, that probably included the govmint licensing fee ;)

Paul said...

Maybe Glock will do a redesign... someday... when they get their website updated...

But they can't very well do the slim-grip .45 ACP, because their GAP round would immediately die... Dontcha think?

*Waits desperately for a Glock subcompact single-stack in a serious caliber*

Anonymous said...

Reeks of the Sigma project to me.

I'll wait on the two-tone Springfield XD in .45


Drake