Well, yesterday afternoon I finally got the opportunity to run a box of ammunition through the S&W M&P 40 Compact that followed us home a little while ago. Nice shooting gun! With a 3-1/2″ barrel it’s not exactly a long range target pistol, but that’s not what I bought it for. What surprised me was the ease with which two rounds can be put very close together, very quickly. I’ve tried the “double-tap” with a couple of revolvers with less than impressive results. With the M&P, the muzzle flip isn’t bad, and the barrel seems to settle right back down where it was originally aimed. The follow-up shot is quick and instinctive, no aiming, just two quick trigger squeezes.
This is the first semi-auto pistol bigger than a .22 I’ve owned. I have fired a couple of 1911 .45s as well as an XD45. This one seems to be a good compromise between stopping power, recoil, size and weight. I can’t wait to try some IDPA style shooting with it.