is the ergonomics. We keep the medium grip on this pistol for the wife but it's not so tiny I need to change it to shoot it, but I’m not a fan of the small grip. Ambidextrous slide releases and the safe cleaning feature seal the deal for me on these pistols. It also holds 12+1. They are stiff out of the box, but after break in the wife can easily use the pistol and rack the slide. The trigger is probably the hardest part of the pistol to master. Mastering this pistol however has made it a lot easier to transition to the 40 S&W.

The Smith & Wesson M&P 40c is my DC. It holds 10 +1 and I typically prefer it in my Crossbreed Supertuck Deluxe. If you are not familiar with the 40 S&W round it is barely of legal drinking age. This shortened 10mm round gives us more stopping power over the 9mm IF we can effectively control its recoil in the compact handguns. As I said earlier, mastering the 9mm of this exact handgun made the transition a breeze, but it wouldn't be out of the question to purchase this one first. I thoroughly enjoy owning two of these pistols and only wish I could find a good shoulder rig and I’d be interested in trying them both on. So for now I will continue to carry the M&P 40c with my Smith & Wesson 38 special Airweight for back up. Look for the review on that firearm coming soon. A trip to the range is required for sighting my new Crimson Trace Laser grip that Santa brought me!

By J. Fox

Chief Instructor