Today was range day with my new little pocket pal. What a sweet shooting small gun. Pictures are deceiving as this thing is really small. But all of the controls and critical dimensions are larger gun sized., making it look like it's bigger brother M&P 2.0 unless there is something known sized in the picture for reference. Grip is proportionally smaller, but still allows you to get a good handle on it without it feeling lost in your hand. Good front to rear distance is perfect for medium sized hands without any finger overwrap. And I can still get a good partial pinkie finger on the 10 round mag, full purchase with the 12 rounder loaded up. The texture is aggressive enough to give a secure feel, but not so much to irritate the skin or hang up on clothing. Frame has "gas pedals" of the same texture on the forward portion, just above where the front of the triggerguard meets. I don't use a thumb forward grip, so didn't make any difference for me. But for those looking to index their support side thumb, it's there for y'all. Fit and finish is excellent, especially for one of the first guns out of the Marysville TN shop (slide, barrel and machining is TN, frame is still from MA).
Just as with shooting the rental one, it is a flat shooter due to the undercut triggerguard and more pronounced beavertail, putting your hand high on the grip. This keeps the bore axis low and fosters a high "gun up" stance to see/keep a visual sight picture. Follow-up shots are super quick. Speaking of the sights, they are the worst feature of this gun IMHO. The front sight is ok, tritium vial, but a dark orange ring thats hard to pick up. Coupled with the huge, rounded notch of the rear, without any reference dots, it has way too much space on all sides when trying to acquire proper sight alignment. Good thing they are easy to replace, but I only used them a few times in the 250 rounds fired as this is a natural point of aim type pistol for me, and thats what I concentrated on. The target I attached is the first 50 rounds of Blazer brass case 94gr. FMJs. The main body was two handed failure drill shots (2 center mass, 1 headshot) from the appendix carried holster, each time, as fast as I could possibly shoot. Here is where time counts and point/shoot is critical. The upper corners are one handed, "double tap" shots FAIC (fast as I can) from the holster also. Left hand is left target, right hand is right target. Very fast and controllable.
Functionally, the gun ran beautiful with no misfeeds, failures, or other hangups. Even with full mags. and slingshoting the first rounds. Love the serrations by the way. For a small gun, you can really get a purchase on them. Front serrations are also full sized, making press checks very positive. 200 rounds of the Blazer and finished up with 50 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense 90gr., which will be my carry ammo. and nary a hiccup. The carry ammo did not make any significant difference in felt recoil or muzzle rise. And what a nice, out of the box trigger. Flat faced for the most part with the unobtrusive trigger safety pad against the trigger body. Solid, smooth, light, relatively short pull right up to a definitive wall at about 90°, then a crisp break with zero overtravel. Reset is equally short and tactile, although not extremely audible. Thats ok, my trigger finger is all the audible I need. Overall I really like this trigger. Not a bit of mush and very positive. The feel and action is consistent, giving you confidence in it's repeatability that it will go bang the same way every time.
I think this pistol was a very good purchase for it's intended use, and will most likely get better over time with many more shots sent. Now to strip it down and give her a good cleaning.
Target pic. @ 7yds. Please cut the old partially blind guy some slack
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