For the first outing of our 2,000-round torture test with the Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact, one box of 100 rounds of Winchester White Box 115-grain FMJ rounds, two boxes of Aguila Ammunition 115-grain FMJ rounds and several magazines of Browning Ammunition’s 147-grain BXP defensive ammunition made the trek to the range. At ranges of 5 and 7 yards, slow- and rapid-fire testing along with strong-hand-only and weak-hand-only shooting expended the bulk of the ammunition.
Winchester’s ubiquitous “white box” 115-grain ammunition, the FMJ common to retail outlets and box stores, presented an interesting conundrum: the 100-round box actually contained 103 rounds in it. We ran this through the 15-round flush-fit magazines as well as 17-round magazines from the full-size M&P, with no malfunctions experienced. Aguila’s 115-grain FMJ saw similar incident-free function, with all 100 rounds feeding, firing and ejecting without trouble.
An interesting side note for both of the 115-grain FMJ sources: a 15-round .40 S&W magazine for the M&P was included among the 9 mm magazines. While initially we were reluctant to use this magazine in testing, due to the potential for misfeeds, the consistent operation of the gun led us to give it a try. In all instances, the M&P Compact fed from the .40 S&W magazines despite the different feed angle (because of the difference in cartridge size, the .40 S&W mags have a larger opening, and the 9 mm rounds sat much higher). Obviously we don’t recommend using incorrect magazines as part of any testing or practice, but the use of this magazine does illustrate that the M&P Compact is capable of powering through potential magazine-related malfunctions, such as expanded feed lips like those found on the .40 S&W magazine.
Browning’s BXP 147-grain JHP saw three magazines (two 15-round magazines and one 17-round variant) run without a single hiccup, bringing the total of rounds fired through the M&P Compact to 250 for the first range session. Accuracy with both the FMJ and JHP ammunition at 5 and 7 yards was excellent, with slow-fire resulting in one ragged hole just slightly left of center (we may or may not replace the sights down the road, so we’ll hold off on adjusting for now).
To recap: 250 rounds, 203 FMJ and 47 JHP were fired with no malfunctions of any type in the initial testing of the Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact. That makes 250 rounds down, 1,750 to go. Stay tuned to Shooting Illustrated for more updates on this project.
