First time shooting my MP9FS

frantic29 · August 6th, 2012, 03:56 PM

Got my chance to go shoot my MP9 for the first time today. This is my very first handgun so I have a lot of learning to do. First off now I know what people mean when they say gritty trigger. The two that I shot before I bought this one were both range guns so they had had several thousand rounds through them so the trigger had had time to smooth out. I'm assuming mine will do the same. Either way I shot it pretty well. All I had was 50 rounds. I shot at 10-20-25 yards with 3 mags and only hit out of the 6" circle I was aiming at once so I'll call that good for the first 50 through the gun. Also, after the first couple of rounds I didn't really suffer from low left. Mostly was 1" right. But for whatever reason you can put any gun in my hands, rifle, shotgun, or pistol and I will still shoot 1"-3" right. Never have figured that one out.

No malfunctions for either the ammo (Federal Champion) or the gun. First impressions were this is my favorite pistol I have ever shot. Leading up to buying this I shot two MP40, CZ75b (9mm), Beretta 92 (9mm), and a Rock Island 1911 (45ACP). So I don't have much experience but I think I made a good decision for my first handgun.

The things I liked about the MP are the ergonomics of the grip, very little recoil even over the heavier CZ and Beretta although I was probably shooting different loads out of them, and the ambidextrous controls+thumb safety. I am coming from rifles and shotgun where everything has a safety so it makes me feel more comfortable and my girlfriend shoots lefty so that make the ambi nice.

Only negative I found was that I had trouble finding the front sight at times. Probably a grip issue I am assuming. I am sure that will get much better with practice. Anyway I am excited and rambling. Any suggestions for me to look at on my 1"-3" right and finding the front sight let me know.

jasonuscg · August 6th, 2012, 05:37 PM

Just so you know the M&P uses magazines.

frantic29 · August 6th, 2012, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonuscg

Just so you know the M&P uses magazines.

Yeah, old habit. Didn't really know what the difference was till a few days ago. Just didn't catch myself this time. I really like the quotes in your signature by the way.

jasonuscg · August 6th, 2012, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frantic29

Yeah, old habit. Didn't really know what the difference was till a few days ago. Just didn't catch myself this time. I really like the quotes in your signature by the way.

Hey, no problem and I like those quotes to.

“Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.”
~ Bertolt Brecht

“It is wiser to find out than to suppose”
~ Mark Twain

OperatorX · August 7th, 2012, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frantic29

Only negative I found was that I had trouble finding the front sight at times. Probably a grip issue I am assuming. I am sure that will get much better with practice. Anyway I am excited and rambling. Any suggestions for me to look at on my 1"-3" right and finding the front sight let me know.

I got my 9mm Pro 5” a month ago and it was shooting to the right with my reloads. I’ve not done anything with the sights yet as I want to try a different load and some boxed ammo before I attempt to change it. Bench the pistol and do some slow fire to see if it’s you or the gun. You can also have someone more experienced fire it as well to see if it’s an issue. As for finding the sights, this will come with practice. You need to build up some muscle memory and learning to draw and fire from a holster can help. You want to develop a clean stroke where you bring the pistol up and work to pick up the front site as you push the gun out away from your body. It takes time and practice but dry fire practice is cheap and pays off.

350ci · August 7th, 2012, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frantic29

Only negative I found was that I had trouble finding the front sight at times. Probably a grip issue I am assuming. I am sure that will get much better with practice. Anyway I am excited and rambling. Any suggestions for me to look at on my 1"-3" right and finding the front sight let me know.

i was having this problem, it was taking me entirely to long to find the front sight and what i did to solve the problem after doing some research on the 10-8 sights was simply use some fingernail polish (black) to black out my rear dot sights and now i can find that front sight incredibly fast.

i'll try and post a pic of it later for you or i may have one on my cell but since tapatalk isn't working i'll email it to myself and attach it for you...

Keeter1911 · August 8th, 2012, 07:11 AM

Congrats on your new gun!

On the 1-3" problem, I would suggest just holding a 2 inches to the left of the intended POI, or if you have the tools, drift the front sight.

As far as the trigger goes, some of the gritty feeling will go away after a few hundred rounds. I run the Apex drop in forward set sear kit and their rams on all four of my M&P's along with Apex's ram kit. The kit/ram combo drops trigger travel and totally eliminates the gritty felling. It will also drop the trigger pull weight considerably (The average across my 4 M&P's is 4 lbs, 9 ounces as measured by a Lyman Digital Trigger Scale after installing the aforementioned parts/kits). Apex also make a Competiton kit that I am told drops the pull way down to around 3 pounds. I opted for the heavier pull as I carry my guns. The kits improved the accuracey of all of my M&P's considerably. Here is their webisite address: Welcome to Apex Tactical Specialties, Inc. If you are mechanically inclined they are relatively easy to install. I would watch the intallation videos a couple of times before attempting it.

I shoot my Belgian made Browning Hi Power better than any pistol that I own. In the past I have owned Glocks, Rugers, Sigs, and a Beretta. In polymer pistols, I currently own 2 Springfield Xdm's (one in 9 and the other is the Competition XDM in a 45) along with my M&P's. I also own a few variations of 1911 platforms. My M&P's are by far my favorite combat, self defense pistols and generally all around fun to shoot pistols. The ergonomics just seem to fit me better on the M&P's.

You did good!

frantic29 · August 8th, 2012, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 350ci

i was having this problem, it was taking me entirely to long to find the front sight and what i did to solve the problem after doing some research on the 10-8 sights was simply use some fingernail polish (black) to black out my rear dot sights and now i can find that front sight incredibly fast.

i'll try and post a pic of it later for you or i may have one on my cell but since tapatalk isn't working i'll email it to myself and attach it for you...

I was thinking about putting a different color on the front sight to help me pick it up quicker as I am bringing the gun up. Sort of the same principle just a little backwards. I like having the dots on the rear so I may just try changing the front first then I can always black the rears later if I need to. Thanks for the idea

TOF · August 8th, 2012, 08:02 AM

Try the different grip inserts. They will change how your trigger finger addresses the trigger and might shift you back towards center a bit.

Align the profile of the sights rather than the white dots when aiming. Equal amounts of light to the left and right of the front blade just might solve the offset problem.

Don't attempt to adjust the sight till you have a bit more experience shooting.

frantic29 · August 8th, 2012, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TOF

Try the different grip inserts. They will change how your trigger finger addresses the trigger and might shift you back towards center a bit.

Align the profile of the sights rather than the white dots when aiming. Equal amounts of light to the left and right of the front blade just might solve the offset problem.

Don't attempt to adjust the sight till you have a bit more experience shooting.

Didn't even think about changing grips. I know I need more experience shooting. I wasn't going to adjust the sights at all till I shot a lot more. Also, I am going to begin doing my own reloads so I probably won't mess with a whole lot till I find a load that I like the performance. As long as I can be consistent even if that consistency is an 1" right I know its something I can deal with and fix with other adjustments down the road.

I'll look for the light more on either side as well. Didn't think about that. Seems like that would help with target acquisition as well.

Thanks for all the help guys.

srings · August 8th, 2012, 05:16 PM

My first time shooting my S&W FS 9mm will be this coming Friday. I'm so stoked. After tons of research plus lots of testing out different handguns at the range, I went with this model. Looking to put 100 to 150 rounds through it. Gonna be a blast! It was great reading this thread...thanks for posting frantic29. It'll be interesting to see if or how these issues flesh themselves out at the range.

Happy shooting fellas!

August 6th, 2012, 03:56 PM	#1
frantic29 Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Kansas Posts: 16	First time shooting my MP9FS Got my chance to go shoot my MP9 for the first time today. This is my very first handgun so I have a lot of learning to do. First off now I know what people mean when they say gritty trigger. The two that I shot before I bought this one were both range guns so they had had several thousand rounds through them so the trigger had had time to smooth out. I'm assuming mine will do the same. Either way I shot it pretty well. All I had was 50 rounds. I shot at 10-20-25 yards with 3 mags and only hit out of the 6" circle I was aiming at once so I'll call that good for the first 50 through the gun. Also, after the first couple of rounds I didn't really suffer from low left. Mostly was 1" right. But for whatever reason you can put any gun in my hands, rifle, shotgun, or pistol and I will still shoot 1"-3" right. Never have figured that one out. No malfunctions for either the ammo (Federal Champion) or the gun. First impressions were this is my favorite pistol I have ever shot. Leading up to buying this I shot two MP40, CZ75b (9mm), Beretta 92 (9mm), and a Rock Island 1911 (45ACP). So I don't have much experience but I think I made a good decision for my first handgun. The things I liked about the MP are the ergonomics of the grip, very little recoil even over the heavier CZ and Beretta although I was probably shooting different loads out of them, and the ambidextrous controls+thumb safety. I am coming from rifles and shotgun where everything has a safety so it makes me feel more comfortable and my girlfriend shoots lefty so that make the ambi nice. Only negative I found was that I had trouble finding the front sight at times. Probably a grip issue I am assuming. I am sure that will get much better with practice. Anyway I am excited and rambling. Any suggestions for me to look at on my 1"-3" right and finding the front sight let me know. Last edited by frantic29; August 6th, 2012 at 07:23 PM.

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August 6th, 2012, 05:37 PM	#2
jasonuscg Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Salish Sea Posts: 3,337	Just so you know the M&P uses magazines.

August 8th, 2012, 07:11 AM	#7
Keeter1911 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Bastrop, Texas Posts: 635	Congrats on your new gun! On the 1-3" problem, I would suggest just holding a 2 inches to the left of the intended POI, or if you have the tools, drift the front sight. As far as the trigger goes, some of the gritty feeling will go away after a few hundred rounds. I run the Apex drop in forward set sear kit and their rams on all four of my M&P's along with Apex's ram kit. The kit/ram combo drops trigger travel and totally eliminates the gritty felling. It will also drop the trigger pull weight considerably (The average across my 4 M&P's is 4 lbs, 9 ounces as measured by a Lyman Digital Trigger Scale after installing the aforementioned parts/kits). Apex also make a Competiton kit that I am told drops the pull way down to around 3 pounds. I opted for the heavier pull as I carry my guns. The kits improved the accuracey of all of my M&P's considerably. Here is their webisite address: Welcome to Apex Tactical Specialties, Inc. If you are mechanically inclined they are relatively easy to install. I would watch the intallation videos a couple of times before attempting it. I shoot my Belgian made Browning Hi Power better than any pistol that I own. In the past I have owned Glocks, Rugers, Sigs, and a Beretta. In polymer pistols, I currently own 2 Springfield Xdm's (one in 9 and the other is the Competition XDM in a 45) along with my M&P's. I also own a few variations of 1911 platforms. My M&P's are by far my favorite combat, self defense pistols and generally all around fun to shoot pistols. The ergonomics just seem to fit me better on the M&P's. You did good!

August 8th, 2012, 08:02 AM	#9
TOF Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Northern Arizona Posts: 2,919	Try the different grip inserts. They will change how your trigger finger addresses the trigger and might shift you back towards center a bit. Align the profile of the sights rather than the white dots when aiming. Equal amounts of light to the left and right of the front blade just might solve the offset problem. Don't attempt to adjust the sight till you have a bit more experience shooting.

August 8th, 2012, 05:16 PM	#11
srings Member Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Dayton, OH Posts: 231	My first time shooting my S&W FS 9mm will be this coming Friday. I'm so stoked. After tons of research plus lots of testing out different handguns at the range, I went with this model. Looking to put 100 to 150 rounds through it. Gonna be a blast! It was great reading this thread...thanks for posting frantic29. It'll be interesting to see if or how these issues flesh themselves out at the range. Happy shooting fellas!