Smith and Wesson's M&P 45 2.0

As the old Ford Escape speedometer spins like the wheels on a nickle slot machine, thoughts, dreams and lots of anxiety clear the path to a new car decision. Cursory examination suggests that in the past thirteen years, auto manufacturers have cut vehicle size in half, made everything but a steering wheel a luxury option and then, without shame, doubled the price. Rebates abound; $10,000 dollar incentives sound great… but lose their luster when applied to a $60,000 pick up truck. Compact SUVs are appealing, for those who don’t mind a dozen clowns piling out with each egress.

Technology now manages virtually all cars; lane centering, blind spot warnings, collision avoidance, self compensating suspension, and ice slippage recovery. There is voice response navigation, auto power down and speed reduction when entering corners at too high of a speed; near sentient AI is with us. I am afraid I will climb in and I will be taken some place I do not want to go. Perhaps some place where robots rule and humans obey and I will be transitioned into a cyborg.

Is my fear of robot Armageddon unreasonable? Perhaps, but in my defense I read a lot of space opera science fiction. Is my fear of change excessively front and center? Probably. The truth is, change happens around you even when you attempt to stand still. New firearms are nearly as accurate in the aggregate as firearms of the past that required Swiss watchmaker like finessing to perform as well.

Smith & Wesson’s M&P®45 M2.0 Threaded Barrel
SKU	11771
Manufacturer	Smith and Wesson
Point of Origin	Springfield, MA
Type	Striker
Caliber	45 Auto
Magazine Capacity	10
Barrel	5.0″
Rifling	1:10″
Overall Length	8.6″
Overall Height	5.6″
Overall Width	1.2″
Weight	25.3 Oz.
Sight Radius	6.9″
Trigger Pull – Actual	6 Lbs 2 Oz.
Rear Sight	Tall – 2 White Dots Steel
Front Sight	Tall -White Dot Steel
Barrel Material	SS – Armornite® Finish
Slide Material	Stainless Steel
Slide Finish	Armornite® Finish
Frame Material	Zytel Polymer
Grip	18° 4 Grip Contours
Thumb Safety	No
Magazine Disconnect	No
Loaded Chamber Indicator	Yes, Slide Top
MSRP	$599
Supplied with four grip inserts: Small. Medium, Medium Large, Large plus two magazines and hard case

The Smith & Wesson Military & Police product line was introduced in 2005, formally at Shot 2006. During its production run, M&P product has been chambered for the 9mm Luger, 357 SIG, 40 S&W, and 45 Auto. M&P 2.0 is new for 2017, available in 9mm Luger, 40 S&W and 45 Auto in fourteen non-Shield configurations.

Features of the M&P 2.0 evolution – Trigger function is greatly improved; lighter pull, crisp, less creep, and active travel has been reduced to approximately 1/8″. Reset is short with tactile and audible cues.

S&W states the M&P 2.0 has new aggressive grip texturing. That would be an understatement. It feels about like 60 grit sandpaper… but in a good way, except for people with corporate hands, and it definitely adds to control, including under rapid fire when maintaining continuity of grip is critical.

The 18° human engineered M&P grip is enhanced with four palm swell grip inserts: small, medium, medium large, and large to better fit the pistol to individual palm size and trigger reach. The magazine release is reversible to suit right or left hand shooters.

Visible even on the exterior surfaces above the under accessory rail, the M&P’s embedded stainless steel chassis has been extended in M&P 2.0 to reduce flex and the effects of torque when firing.

Highlighting

The tall sights are in support of the threaded barrel. They allow the shooter to peer over the barrel of a silencer. They certainly don’t get lost over a target under any circumstances. This version of the Smith & Wesson M&P45 2.0 has 1:10″ rifling to accommodate heavy and subsonic bullets. The non-threaded barrel version has 1:15″. I found no loss in accuracy within any ammunition from subsonic to +P supersonic.

Shooting suppressed

The Smith and Wesson M&P45 2.0 is about the same size as a 1911 Government model with the exception of the threaded portion of the barrel that protrudes 0.400″ from the face of the slide. The version of the M&P45 that does not have a threaded muzzle has a 4.6″ barrel. Fitted with an efficient AAC TI-Rant silencer. With full silencer in place, the pistol is just under 17″ long. In compact configuration, the overall length is reduced to an almost minuscule 15″.

A very nice feature. Just as rifles have increasingly moved toward adjustable pull length and comb height, Smith and Wesson’s palmswell inserts adapts the M&P45 2.0 to the individual shooter’s hand. Easy to change; remove the frame tool stowed in the butt of the grip and pull the insert out, a switch from the preinstalled medium to a medium large insert definitely improved handling and my shooting accuracy.

The M&P45 2.0 is a very controllable 45 Auto. With a comfortable high grip, the index finger does form an acute angle to reach the trigger and the low bore axis suppresses muzzle rise. Combined, this is a very soft shooting 45 Auto that permits rapid follow on shots.

Take down is… routine; mag out, clear firearm and lock open, remove thread protector, pull frame tool, remove grip insert, use tool to lower sear release lever, rotate take down lever… down, move slide forward and off. Compress and remove captive recoil spring, remove barrel. The coil spring is captive, so the entertainment of springs shooting through the air 1911 style has is not present. Protection of the grip frame comes from a cartridge guiding ramped barrel.

How does it shoot?

The Smith and Wesson M&P45 2.0 was shot with and without silencer, velocity difference appears on the table below. Suppressed subsonic ammunition was a gift to my ears. Supersonic ammo still sonic cracked, but to a much reduced degree. Accuracy was virtually the same, suppressed or not.suppressed. Accuracy data on the table reflects no silencer in place as the pistol would generally be used.

General Impressions…. I remember when he was only a bird colonel

I like the size and heft of the Smith and Wesson M&P45 2.0. The pistol has good balance and I particularly like the grip angle. Even with a full length, but lightweight silencer attached, the M&P is still a very shootable combination.

The sights, while tall to assure target line of sight with a silencer in place, are sharply defined and the relatively long sight radius contributes to accuracy. Both sights are dovetail mounted and drift adjustable, with the rear secured with a setscrew. There are lots of sight sets available for folks who have preferences for other types; fiber optics, low profile, Tritium night sights, both from Smith & Wesson and third party suppliers.

The gripping surfaces are more than just there. As mentioned earlier, the stippling on the grip frame is effective in hot, cold or wet weather… in other words, virtually any 24 hour period in Maine. The fish scaled rear slide gripping surfaces have one of the best patterns make slide racking easlier. The front small gripping surfaces are… very decorative.

The added magazine capacity, ten versus seven for a single stack 1911 magazine, comes pretty much without a penalty. The grip is not widened appreciably and its grip length gives me some place to firmly park my fingers.

The trigger is very good for a spring compressing striker, travel is brief, but the subject gun’s trigger squeeze fell into the six pound range. No, not a big deal, but for folks who are used to a crisp, three or four pound 1911 pistol trigger pull, the M&P will have a different feel. I do quite a bit of eleven to twelve pound trigger double action revolver shooting and it took only one magazine of ammunition to adapt.

During the course of shooting, the indicated ammunition and other handloads were loaded mixed into magazines. Still, the pistol cycled reliable, suppressed or not, with both standard pressure and +P pressure ammunition types. The slide always locked open on empty and ejected casings fell within six feet of where the pistol was being shot. At the end of the shooting sessions; no sore wrists or hands.

From a price standpoint, the M&P45 2.0… all of the M&P 2.0 pistols offer a good deal of value. It is a well done production firearm destined to give years of service, backed by Smith and Wesson.