Smith & Wesson's Equalizer

There is a trail camera placed a quarter mile back in the woods. I should have retrieved it two months ago, but it is cold outside and I am not motivated to go off the road to retrieve it; put on my boots and drag my ass out to get it.

I do have family visiting soon. I might be able to convince them to take a nature walk out in the general direction of the camera and retrieve it… especially if I promise it will contain pictures of kittens and puppies in the wild. They are from out of state. God bless them, I love them.

The S&W Equalizer…

I was wondering why we have such a penchant for naming things; pets, firearms,  vehicles, activities… both personal and private. We give things a human quality. We identify purpose. We inject emotion where none might otherwise exist. We create a solution to fill a need, real or perceived.

Equal is a relative term, so equalizer would follow. Firearms are tools, they provide a means. The depth and breadth of that equality depends on which hand it is placed and the capabilities of the opposition.

The Smith and Wesson Equalizer provides a tool for self defense. It is accommodating for those new to firearms, exposed only to fundamental training and for those having had the benefit of greater experience and training… ease of operation and control, safety features, reliability.

The Equalizer is an internal hammer fired pistol, which contributes to its short, crisp trigger pull. All fire control pieces are secured to the pistol’s internal steel chassis, which extends to the front of the grip frame’s dust cover. The combination of poly grip frame and steel chassis make for a very stable assembly.

The Equalizer is a link-less tilting barrel design, the barrel is ramped for reliable feed of virtually any type ammunition. The Equalizer’s recoil spring rate is lighter than prior Shield EZ products and slide gripping surfaces have been significantly revised, both changes resulting in easier racking. A benefit important to many.

The subject pistol is an Equalizer NTS, no thumb safety. For those with the preference, there is a thumb safety version. Controls are where expected, making for carry over experience from other semi autos. The magazine release profile, relative to the grip, is in easy reach of the outstretched thumb, however, it offers enough resistance to prevent casual thumb contact release. The magazine release is reversible.

The steel, three dot pattern sights are rugged, if a bit less streamlined. The rear sight is adjustable for windage, anchored in a dovetail with a hex head set screw. The optical mount for red dot sights is useful. My first inclination is to question the presence of a red dot sight on a micro-compact pistol, but on second thought, it makes a good deal of sense. Fast on target, precise in aim, does not require three points in alignment. The pistol is accurate, the trigger is excellent, the red dot sight increases the Equalizer’s potential.

A really nice touch. The S&W Equalizer package includes three magazines that optimize the pistol for everything from concealed carry to range work. They also provide a grip length appropriate for the individual user. The Equalizer does not have a magazine disconnect, so it will fire a chambered round with the magazine removed.

The UpLULA magazine loader is welcome. It seems manufacturers want to assure reliable feed, so they tend to use heavy magazine spring rates. Load five or six high capacity mags with pure thumb power and you will have a clear understanding of the problem. The LULA makes loading magazines easy, for anyone.

Rear view of the Equalizer with 13+1 magazine in place illustrates degree of grip extension. For folks who may be concerned by the presence of a grip safety, after all the presence of a grip safety stopped the 1911 from being popular… sarcasm, it is pretty passive to shooting. The proper high grip will of course assure the safety is sufficiently compressed, but so will lightly depressing the base of the safety.

The pistol is narrow, even with wide high capacity magazines. No, I don’t know how they did that. Magic I would guess.

The 9mm Luger Cartridge. Oh, shut up!

I have come to accept that people either embrace the 9mm Luger as a reliable cartridge for self defense, or they don’. No amount of persuasion will change the respective opinions. All I can say is that exterior ballistics, performance in ballistic gel and law enforcement shooting reports world over suggest it does very well. Especially in a package this small, which often chambered for the 380 Automatic.

An endearing qualities? A much broader segment of the population can shoot a 9mm pistol for practice and under high stress defensive circumstances. Additionally, the comparatively small size of the cartridge is more easily accommodated by easy to conceal firearms.

From reader E Spatial Dendrite, “Joe, why do you insist on posting live fire chronograph data. It’s boring and it makes me sad?”. For me, it is entertaining when a review goes on and on about audible trigger resets, how rapidly a gun can empty a high cap mag, how many times they can hot a steel plate at 50 or 100 yards, but totally ignore what exits the barrel and impacts a target at realistic defensive shooting distances.

It is almost as though the assessment is based on competitive shooting event circumstances, rather than use for personal defense or professional carry. Ammunition performance cannot be gleaned from the flap on an ammo box and lethality is not driven by the aesthetics or popularity of a firearm.

Quantified performance

For the purpose of self defense, the Equalizer is an accurate pistol with any of the noted loads, so selection can be predicated on velocity and bullet expansion/penetration properties. The groups were shot from a rest with a red dot sight in place. A two hand hold effort easily yielded sub 4″ 10 yard groups. Reconciling the two efforts, a better shooter would have yielded much better 10 yard groups, but 4″ works for me.

Overall?

 

For anyone that wants a good defensive firearm, the Equalizer is a good pistol. It is easy to use, which keeps focus on the crisis at hand and not pistol operation. It is accurate, reliable and has more than enough capacity. For folks without gorilla hand strength, the Equalizer is easy to rack.

For advanced folks, the Equalizer has big magazine capacity, super glue like frame gripping surfaces, front and rear slide gripping surface, and a front accessory rail to mount flashlights, bayonets, radar… virtually anything to keep pace with your Tactical/Ninja like moves. Good pistol.