We made it! We have concluded the 2,000-round testing of the Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact, with a final round count of 2,042 rounds. Each segment of testing is available here:
Note: The count is slightly off for two reasons: first, NovX ammo comes in boxes of 26, and second, I ran two magazines of defensive ammunition through the M&P Compact at the end of testing. At no point during testing was the Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact cleaned or lubricated. It was taken out of the box in which it was shipped and the testing began. No cleaning or lubrication was performed until after the conclusion of testing.
Ammunition used in testing:
Aguila Ammunition 115-grain FMJ 300 rounds
Barnes 115-grain +P TAC-XPD 100 rounds
Browning Ammunition’s 147-grain BXP 69 rounds
Browning 147-grain BPT 250 rounds
Federal Premium Train & Protect 115-grain VHP 100 rounds
Federal Premium Syntech 124-grain TSJ 100 rounds
Hornady 124-grain +P Critical Duty Flexlock 250 rounds
MagTech 124-grain LRN 100 rounds
NOVX 65-grain +P ARX 156 rounds
Sellier & Bellot 115-grain FMJ 200 rounds
SIG Sauer 147-grain V-Crown 214 rounds
Speer Lawman RHT 100-grain frangible 100 rounds
Winchester White Box 115-grain FMJ 103 rounds
In our testing, we experienced two problems overall. At some point between rounds 250 and 500, the rear sight worked itself loose. About 5 minutes with LocTite and an allen wrench and it was rectified, and no further problems with the rear sight or point-of-aim were experienced in testing. Second, round 1,054, a Browning 147-grain BPT round failed to fire after being chambered. Upon inspection, the impression of the firing pin on this round did not appear different than those made on other Browning BPT rounds from that range session, which indicates that the problem may have been related to that particular round. In total, 250 rounds of this ammunition were fired with only the one issue.
We didn’t just shoot the Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact for this test. For the vast bulk of the past three months, it has been carried daily. Most full-size and/or first generation M&P holsters will work with the Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact, but we opted for two holsters for appendix-style carry: the Dark Star Gear Orion and the PHLster Classic. Both keep the Compact secure and protected; either are excellent choices for appendix carry for any suitable pistol.
One of the great things about the Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact is the size. Smith & Wesson obviously listened to the market and offered a usable size that concealed-carry practitioners want. It’s sized similar to other compact models, not so small that the pinky finger is handing out in space, but not so large that the full-size version might as well be used. Any smaller, and the excellent Shield comes into play; since we started this torture test, Smith & Wesson introduced a Compact with a 3.6-inch barrel, so it is entirely possible that even more variants will come into play.
Lastly, for the express purpose of making the 2,000 round test work more efficiently, we strongly recommend the Maglula Uplula pistol magazine loader. It makes short work of resupplying the 15-, 17- and even 20-round magazines (we added a Hyve extension to one of the 17-rounders) to keep the Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact shooting. We can only imagine how much more difficult this test would have been if we’d had to refill all those magazines by hand.
The Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact proved to be reliable and quite accurate. Most shooting occurred at distances between 5 and 10 yards, and accuracy was on par with a full-size first generation M&P with an Apex trigger and Trijicon HD XR sights. This is with a bone-stock Compact, mind you. The upgrades Smith & Wesson made in the M2.0 are quite evident and appropriate, and while we would have changed sights to night sights just for usefulness, the factory white dots were certainly sufficient for testing. Overall, the Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 Compact impressed everyone that shot it.
For the TL/DR crowd, let’s just leave it at 10/10, would torture test again.
