XD(M) vs. M&P pro

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  • alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    I have been getting into handgun competitions more and more as time goes on, especially IDPA and have been looking into various pistols to use, and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. I have always been in search of that one pistol that fit me and my shooting style and can help me build my skills while giving me a decent edge. These two models are enhanced by Springfield and S&W for that purpose, a factory pistol that is geared twards action pistol shooting, based on reliable and proven platforms, and complete with many bells and whistles to help a novice shooter build solid skills, yet capable enough in the hands of an experienced shooter that they will not be readily outgrown.

    The numbers help show the differences amongst the models, my XD(M) is chambered in 40S&W and takes a little imagination to compare it with the M&P pro currently offered only in 9mm. Externally the XD(M) 40 and XD(M)9 are identical, and outside of the caliber, and associated recoil, the only other difference is capacity, where the 40 holds 16 rounds, and the 9mm holds 19, the M&P pro holds 17. Both have a similar action, basically a striker fired DAO mechanism that uses a precocked striker and sear that is lowered as the trigger is pulled.

    XD(M)40
    barrel length
    4.5"
    overall length
    7.5"
    width
    1.5"
    height
    5.75"
    weight
    32oz
    trigger pull
    5lb 2oz#
    standard features
    ambi mag release, oversized slide release, grip safety, striker indicator, loaded chamber indicator, 3 white dot sights, front and rear serrations, 3 interchangeable back straps.
    modifications
    PDP trigger stop and sear lever, internal polishing, solid guide rod(+1.5oz)
    tested with 155gr rainier flat point handloads 950fps 310fpe 147PF

    M&P pro 9mm
    barrel length
    5"
    overall length
    8.5"
    width
    1.25"
    height
    5.5
    weight
    26oz
    trigger pull
    4lb 6oz
    standard features
    ambi slide release, reversible mag release, loaded chamber witness hole, tru-glo green front sight/ solid black rear sight, 3 interchangeable palm swells.
    modifications
    internal polishing
    tested with 115gr UMC FMJ 1135fps 328fpe 130PF

    The trigger on the M&P pro is quite good out of the box, except for a little bit of a gritty feeling, the pro model uses a performance center sear that is shaped differently and coated with a slick feeling tan coating that seems to reduce friction, it has a lighter reset spring than the standard model, and the pull weight is noticeably lighter, with a shorter reset. The trigger has a very light takeup, then a short and very crisp break with minimal overtravel, it is leaps and bounds better than the standard M&P trigger and the factory XD(M) trigger, after some light polishing and 100 rounds down range, the grit is gone, and it is quite smooth. Comparitively the XD(M) trigger is almost a pound heavier, but because of the additional takup weight it feels far heavier than the M&P, and in factory form has comprable takeup. The XD(M) trigger has a lot of overtravel and a long reset out of the box, and the PDP trigger job gets rid of most of it, and reduces the takeup distance considerably, making for a short pull, but with a fairly soft break, where the M&P has a much crisper release.

    The sights on the M&P lend themselves well to competition, the green fiber insert on the front was very bright in daylight, and the flat plain black rear sight really makes the front sight easy to focus on, making for a quick and precise alignment, the XD(M) on the other hand uses a 3 dot setup, not as precise as the excellent M&P sights, but very quick to get close to alignment after the draw, although they are a little more cluttered and harder to focus on the front sight for precise shooting, under low light conditions the XD(M) sights have a distinct advantage as it was hard to line the M&P sights up without the bright green dot out front, this is true at dusk, or when shooting from the relatively dark covered range and enclosed pistol station into full daylight at my local range. In this case, the bright white dots of the XD(M) sights have an advantage.

    The controls on both pistols are large enough to operate easily, yet not so big they snag, or inadvertently release the mag, or lock the slide open. They both have some ambi and some single sided controls, the slide release on the M&P and the mag release on the XD(M) are ambi and work well, for me, I find the ambi mag release more useful being I mostly rack the slide overhand, although the XD(M) mag release is much harder to press than the M&P, and it gives up a lot of the advantage because of this. The M&P controls are lighter and smoother than the XD(M)s, although the XD(M) places the controls in a better spot, and they are more agressively checkered making them easier to feel and use. The striker and loaded chamber indicators on the XD(M) are much better than on the M&P. The M&P does not have a striker cock indicator, and has a small hole in the barrel hood that you can see a glint of brass in well lit conditions, most of the time however you have to pull the slide back a little to see if the chamber is loaded, with the XD(M) there is no question, if you see or feel the tab on top of the slide sticking up, it is loaded. The striker indicator has little to no usefulness though IMO, if the chamber is loaded, then you can infer the striker is cocked, or you have had a misfire, there is no way to decock it, and if the chamber isn't loaded, you have to rack the slide thereby cocking the striker anyway. The XD(M) does add a grip safety in addition to the GLOCK style padde safety though, making some people rest easier with a little more margin of safety than the M&Ps simple hinged trigger safety.

    The shape of the M&P is a very smooth organic shape, and it feels very comfortable in my hands, it is a collection of smooth curves and rouded edges compared the the XD(M)s squared off lines and corners, both have a comfortable grip, although the M&P has a little bit more palm swell, and the beavertail makes it easy to locate for fast draw and easy to place a consistent high hold on the pistol. The M&P sits lower in the hand and by swapping grip pannels changes the sides and backstrap of the grip in addition to the trigger reach with the large grip, the XD(M) uses backstraps that only change the bottom 2/3 of the pistol's backstrap, this adjusts the height that the pistol points more so than the size and shape of the grips, but does not change the width, grip pocket or trigger reach. The XD(M) has mostly flat sides except for deep scallops that hold your thumbs in the "thumbs forward" firing position as opposed to the "thumbs up" that I prefer, it does have much more agressive checkering, and while shooting stays planted in your hand while the mild stippling of the M&P does slide around a little bit in sweaty hands. The M&P has one of the lowest bore axis's of any pistol on the market, and even in 40S&W controls recoil and muzzle climb very well. The bore axis on the XD(M) is noticeably higher and produces more muzzle flip although with a slower and softer recoil given the ammo I was using and the substantial difference in weight. The pistols have a gigantic difference in feel and weight, the M&P is slim and light compared to the XD(M) and with a more rounded shape and shorter grip it feels like a much smaller gun, even though it has a 1/2" longer slide and barrel, this makes it easy to move fast from target to target, and quick to point.

    The XD(M) is simply a solid chunk of gun and with most of the weight above the hand, an aftermarket solid spring guide helps to move the balance forward to better steady the gun and control recoil, but at the expense of even more weight. The M&P is balanced very well, outside of being 20% lighter(23% lighter compared to my XD(M) with solid guide rod), the weight is placed further forward, and coupled with the high grip cuts recoil and helps steady aim.

    Shooting both back to back really gives you an appreciation of how far polymer pistols have come, both were 100% reliable and felt solid, there is very little frame flex in either and all primers showed solid deep dents, both are extremely accurate and grouped about 1.5" off a rest at 25 yards, although the M&P was faster to align the sights after recoil, this could be partially due to the difference in caliber although the soft shooting 40S&W handloads I was using in the XD(M) actually have less FPE than the factory 9mm ammo I was using in the M&P. With the M&P I could simply get a good grip on the pistol, and pull the trigger almost as fast as I could placing all shots right on target, the XD(M) had a bit softer felt recoil, but between the greater muzzle flip, lower hold/higher bore axis and worse sights it took a hair bit more time to get back on target after a shot.

    After shooting both, I have to say the M&P was easier to shoot, and while just as accurate as the XD(M) it can print comparable groups faster, under ideal daylight conditions with dry hands it is a formideable pistol, and should serve me well for a lot of IDPA and PSA matches. Another bonus is that the M&P is classified as a stock service pistol in IDPA and competes aggainst GLOCKs and other DAO pistols only, where the XD(M) is classified as an enhanced service pistol, and has to go toe to toe with accurized double stack 1911s and other SAO and SA/DA pistols like sig P-series and tuned CZ75s. The only real detractors are the small slide release, and generally mild stippling that could cause the pistol to slip with sweaty hands, or if it were covered in mud. The longer slide and 1" greater overall length due to the beavertail also take a little more effort to draw from a holster, or shoot around cover in some situations, but these do not really play into it's strong suit as the near ideal action pistol gun. The XD(M) however has much better checkering and a much easier to grip slide, making it stay put in my hands in sweaty or muddy conditions and despite the slower follow up shots, it is still faster than most any other 9mm pistol I own, including my much loved M&P 9 compact, it is a solid, rugged and reliable pistol with a host of modern safety features and with minor modifications has become near perfection. Given the choice, I would prefer to take the M&P to the range, or to the IDPA match, and keep the XD(M) loaded on my bedstand, or in an open carry rig, it is the better working gun in adverse or low light conditions.

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    RobMoore

    The Mad Scientist
    Feb 10, 2007
    4,765
    QA
    Nice writeup. For me, the M&P w/ Burwell standard trigger job is the fastest pistol I've ever shot (apart from a Glock 18c).

    Today I set a personal best at one of my standard drills. USPSA target @ 10 yards, 6 rounds from the holster, all A-zone hits. I can normally get this done in around 2.3-2.5 seconds.

    Today, 2.00 seconds. I also hit my fastest splits ever, with 2 of them measuring .11 seconds (the other 3 splits were .15-.18)
     

    krucam

    Ultimate Member
    Wow...great comparison!!

    When I bought my standard M&P .40 vs the XDm .40 which was my other choice, it only had to do with the "feel" in my hands and the smoothness of the slide. The M&P action was just smoother. Both felt good, the M&P felt comfortable and familiar on top of that. That was it in my decision. Both are fine guns.

    Wow...

    Mark C.
     

    smokey

    2A TEACHER
    Jan 31, 2008
    31,412
    whoa whoa whoa.....since when do you have an m&p pro? dangit jer! you're making it hard for me to use this extra summer money to pay down debt instead of trying to catch up to your collection.
     

    smokey

    2A TEACHER
    Jan 31, 2008
    31,412
    p.s.- u know what those teachers said growing up about not realizing your potential?....yeah, will u just go ahead and get hired by a magazine or something already?
     

    Apone

    Active Member
    May 1, 2009
    530
    Salida, CO
    This is a great review. I've been thinking about getting my wife one of these pistols in 9mm. She really enjoys shooting, and I don't want to keep giving her my hand-me-downs. By the looks of it - she may really enjoy the XDM 9mm if I can get my hands on one.
     

    3rdRcn

    RIP
    Industry Partner
    Sep 9, 2007
    8,961
    Harford County
    Nice writeup. For me, the M&P w/ Burwell standard trigger job is the fastest pistol I've ever shot (apart from a Glock 18c).

    Today I set a personal best at one of my standard drills. USPSA target @ 10 yards, 6 rounds from the holster, all A-zone hits. I can normally get this done in around 2.3-2.5 seconds.

    Today, 2.00 seconds. I also hit my fastest splits ever, with 2 of them measuring .11 seconds (the other 3 splits were .15-.18)

    Nice Rob!!!
     

    shadow116

    2nd Class Citizen
    Feb 28, 2008
    1,542
    Emmitsburg
    Nice writeup. For me, the M&P w/ Burwell standard trigger job is the fastest pistol I've ever shot (apart from a Glock 18c).

    For the last six or seven months, I have been trying to get an appointment for a Burwell trigger job. 1 telephone call to voice mail and 3 e-mails, with nothing back.

    Think I am going to try Bowie Concepts.
     

    parbreak

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 18, 2008
    1,070
    Nice write up!! I like both guns but the XD-M seems to fit my hand better and feel better and that's extremely important to me.

    Bryan
     

    alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    Thanks for the kind words, I try to write what I would have liked to read if I was researching a gun or in this case guns. I just want to contribute what I can to our great little community here.

    Just finished getting the M&P's trigger up to snuff.

    I just plain like a good trigger, unfortunately the art of a good factory trigger has kinda fallen to the lawyers and penny pinchers. I have been doing various degrees of trigger jobs since I bought my first gun, I try to match the job to the gun's purpose, and generally try to optimize the trigger to the gun's purpose. For any trigger, it must be smooth, from the factory there are machining marks and areas of high friction that contribute to a gritty feeling, sometimes it can be as easy as a good detail lube and a few hundred rounds to get rid of the bulk of this, in others refitting of some parts, or polishing is required.

    Overtravel and reset are also one of the areas that are neglected at the factory, overtravel is directly related to reset because any additional trigger movement after the shot is fired both hurts accuracy and requires the trigger to move forward at least that distance in order to reset for the next shot. A good trigger should have minimal overtravel and a short reset. With some duty or carry guns, a little longer overtravel and reset can help prevent inadvertent bump firing from trigger bounce especially in small duty caliber guns that tend to recoil more. The looser tolerences also allows a little more space for dirt and debris to accumulate that could block the trigger from firing in a gun with very tight tolerences. For this reason I allow a little more overtravel in defensive guns than those intended to punch paper and shoot steel.

    Trigger weight is not as important to me as some, I would rather have a smooth 7lb trigger with minimal overtravel and a short reset than a gritty 3lb trigger with a lot of overtravel. Very light triggers can also lead to reliability problems. Extremely light triggers can fire accidentally, or be slow to reset, a trigger must not sacrifice reliability, and in carry guns, some extra weight can help prevent your nerves from firing a shot that you did not mean to fire. For defensive pistols, I like a pull of 5-7lbs, for action shooting pistols 3-5lbs, and for target or bullseye pistols 2-3lbs, these weights are IMO are ideal for most pistols.

    On my M&P compact, I basically copied the burwell trigger job, I reshaped the sear to give a lighter and shorter pull, and radiused and polished the striker safety button to smooth it out, but in addition added an overtravel stop that both allowed me to set the trigger break further out, and greatly reduce overtravel and reset, It is my primary carry pistol, so I left the springs alone, and left a bit more overtravel than I normally like inorder to preseve the 5.5lbs of pull weight and keep the setup reliable, and it has functioned flawlessly over thousands of rounds worth of practice, a few IDPA competitions and daily concealed carry.

    For the new M&P pro, I wanted to take what I have learned from the job I did on the compact, and go a little further in order to get a perfect reliable pull that is versatile for a number of disciplines and shooting needs, however I have no intention of using it as a defensive pistol, so I can go lighter on the pull.

    I started yesterday by polishing the striker safety tab and sear engagement ramp on the trigger bar, these two spots have a lot of friction, and are the source of the majority of grit in the factory trigger pull, this alone is easy to do with polishing stones, or in my case a 1X30" belt sander using a leather belt and polishing compound, I took off just enough metal to remove the factory machining marks. This also included a detail strip and earch for burrs on engagement surfaces, there weren't any, so I baked on some militec, and lubed the components with grease, this alone made the trigger leaps and bounds better, but is normally what whould happen over time with use, but by performing this simple "fluff and buff" I don't have to wait 500 or so rounds for the trigger to "break in". Because the pro uses a performance center sear, there was no need to reshape it, it also has a smooth friction reducing coating, so I left it alone.

    Today, I removed the rear sight in order to get the striker safety button out, this part, it's spring and small round cover are the single biggest PITA involved in an M&P trigger job, the sight has to be pressed off, being careful not to lose the small spring and cover that come out whe the sight is moved out of the way, it also has to be held in place during reassembly as the sight is pressed back into place. As with al sight work, I started with a small dot from a sharpie in the top center gap between the slide and sight in order to lign it back up easier when reinstalling. To make pressing the sight out easier, I clamped the stripped slide between 2 peices of 2X4 to keep the finish from being marred, then stacked plywood around the slide in order to clamp it with even pressure and keep it in place, then simply used my hydraulic shop press to push the sight almost all the way off, and remove the button, spring and cover. Next I used a 9 micron grinding belt and with the safety button on the end of a punch, held it at an angle against the belt, allowing it to both spin, and be ground down evenly, a dab of grease in the spring pocket keeps the punch from damaging the button as it spins around it. I worked the button in short sections allowing it to cool from time to time as I rounded over the edge, I finished by polishing it with the leather belt. Then I cut a couple coils off of the safety plunger spring, and bent the free end flat just like it was, then gently streatched it, this keeps the correct preload, but reduces the spring pressure that the trigger tab has to overcome, both lightening and smoothing takeup. Then I reassembled the button, spring, cover assembly using a dab of grease to hold it together as I set it back up in the press. Once clamped in the press, I held the spring cover own with a punch as I gently pumped the handle and pressed the sight back into place, pulling the punch out as the sight covered the spring cover then stopped once my marks lined up.

    Next, I squared and polished the face of the striker tab that egages the sear with a fine sharpening stone. This part was flat, but a little rough, and should help with the pull, and to keep the friction reducing finish on the sear from wearing off.

    I then reassembled the pistol without the srtiker or cover in place, and using a punch the same diameter as the striker body checked that there was plenty of clearance from the safety button when the trigger was pulled, all was well, I then reassembled, and checked function with a pencil in the barrel, eraser side down, it jumped whe the pistol fired, soI know the striker is not being stopped by the safety, I also pushed the safety button down by hand, and it had plenty of resistance, and snapped back into place once I slid the punch off of it, so it should function as intended. This modification both takes the most grit out of the triger, and reduces the takeup weight more than any other, but if you take off too much metal from the button face it can easily cause misfires being the button has to be fully pressed by the tab on the trigger bar to deactivate the safety, you want to simply polish and radius it by removing as little metal as possible, and only clip 2 coils from the spring in order to keep this important safety feture functioning as intended. For those aprehensive about clipping and bending spring, wolff does make a lighter drop in replacement spring that functions the same as this mod.

    Now, I uses a peice of plastic from the tab of a Bic pencap, I shaped it to fit tightly aggainst the front of the factory trigger stop molded to the frame, then filed it to match, cut it to length, and glued it in place with model glue, allowing the glue to dry, then I kept pulling the trigger, and filing the face of the stop until the trigger would fire relibly when I pulled the trigger by the very end, then I did the same with a fine jewellers file and a .010" feeler gague in front of the stop, this allows a little extra tolerence so the trigger will still fire before being stopped even as parts wear over time, and resulted in .025" overtravel as measured from the hinge in the center of the trigger, just about perfect. For my M&P 9c carry gun, I used a .025" feeler gauge that resulted in .040" of overtravel, much better than factory, but still a loose enough tolerence to allow for some dirt and debris in order to maintain reliability.

    I got the gun all back together, and tested for function, everything works as it sould, and the trigger is now a thing of beauty, a light and smooth 1.5lb takeup with an abrupt and short 3lb 12 oz break, then no noticeable overtravel and a very short reset. Compared to the grit and 4lb 6oz trigger it had, the difference is night and day. The safety button also would bind slightly before as the trigger just started to be pulled, but now it is dead smooth. With this simple trigger job, no parts were needed, and only the striker safety spring was made to be lighter, so it should not affect reliability much if at all, the striker spring was left alone, as I always do in any gun I am woring on, changing it can drop some weight off of the trigger, especially in GLOCKs, but it is asking for trouble in the way of light strikes and reliability problems.

    Next I have to fire a few rounds at the range to test function, and see how much better it shoots.

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    INMY01TA

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 29, 2008
    5,816
    I got my XDM from Dan at GC yesterday. I handled the M&P pro while I was there, while all the above may be true the XDM was just too sexy to resist. :D
     

    alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    I got my XDM from Dan at GC yesterday. I handled the M&P pro while I was there, while all the above may be true the XDM was just too sexy to resist. :D

    Can't go wrong with either pistol. I have a lot of pistols, and they are my two favorites to shoot, and yes, the XD(M) is definitely the better looking of the two:D. Storm Lake is also making conversion barrels for the XDM to convert 40S&W guns to 357sig or 9mm. With the 357sig you only need to drop in the barrel, and you end up with 2 calibers, for 9mm though you need 9mm XD(M) mags. If you start with a 9mm XD(M) though you can't switch to the larger calibers without changing the slide.
     

    alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    Jer, two great write-ups! I'm with Rob, you completely missed your calling. When can we expect your debut in Guns and Ammo?

    You've been married, what, a week? Get off of here!


    Thanks for complimenting my meager little writeups, I like to write about what I have learned to share with others, There is no way I could do it professionally, but it's kinda fun to contribute what I can here as a hobby.

    The honeymoon was over soon after it started, Amy's been working since wednesday and I have been working since saturday, damn bills aren't going to pay themselves, and that wedding was expensive:( Did get a couple days off together though, so she wasn't completely neglected:innocent0
     

    Fire-4-Effect

    Active Member
    Aug 3, 2008
    658
    Frederick, Md
    Alucard,

    Fantastic review and comparison of both!

    I own an XD(m)9. I did own an M&P in the past but the appearance of the frame "sagging" in the front drove me bananas! Does not effect functionality but sure is distracting! In the end I could not get over it so I sold it. Great pistol with very minimal muzzle flip. Great gun, just wish it looked better! See below (not my gun but typical of the frame "sag")...

    I do see that yours seems to be fine now. That is how mine started out. Got more pronounced over time.

    Phil
     

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