Competition handgun

[Dowtom]

Looking to see what else I should do to my competition gun. Also does anyone recommend a thin front post fiber optic for smith and Wesson 9

Smith as Wesson full-size 9mm
Apex FSS trigger kit
Apex competition striker spring
Hi viz front fiber optic post

Trigger pull is between 2 and 3lb 5oz

 

[Biggfoot44]

Catagoric Response - "Competition" is a broad concept . We could probably make assumptions from the context , but class rules, and prevailing requirements to be competitive do vary .

Meanwhile, iron sight configurations have a large helping of personal preference involved .

As a rule of thumb, plenty of daylight on each side of front sight in your sight picture, is generally considered advantageous for fast target acquisition.

Doing so by means of "narrow-ish , yet still highly visable " front sight vs wide front sight and huge rear sight notch, is conductive to more precise aiming when desired . In theory. Depends on your eyesight. Depends on length of your arms/ shooting stance. And YMMV.

But this concept isn't new . Same concept with S&W adjustable sight revolvers. A 1/10 (.100) width front sight, used with rear sight blade of dimentions usually used in conjunction with 1/8 (.125) front sight.

 

[Magnumite]

I assume the pistol is being used in speed or action shooting. biggfoot gave a good review of sights. For speed sights, trigger and relative hand fit are prodominant features.

The pistol is set up okay to begin. The f.o. sight are fast tonusecand you have a good quality trigger. You need to determine what you need in the pistol by shooting it. Shoot at a target about 10 yards away and fire 6 shots as quickly as you can do so safely at a paper plate (this is similar to the Bill Drill). Shoot only as fast as you can and still hit the paper plate. The idea is not just to jump the trigger six times but to watch the front sight, where it was when the shot broke, how it moves, how and if it returns to its originsl position. Correlate the sight movement to the each shooting cycle. Note the discrepencies you see and feel in the pistol's manner in your hands. This will help you see seek out shooting technique and pistol hardware improvements.

I had a full size M&P9 Pro. Trigger and sight corrections were performed. I like a black bullseye type sight picture..as biggfoot said, its preference. Trigger quality was good and about 4.5 pounds, quite useable. It was extremely reliable and had a good shooting manner. On closer paper plate sized targets it shot fast and tracked very well from shot to shot, target to target. It could even decently deliver on huminoid or silhouette targets out to 25 yards. Clay birds at 15 yards were out of its league.

 

[smokey]

What competition? Knowing the rules would help steer towards a good setup. As always, good skills with a stock gun punk mediocre skills with a completely hooked up gun...so make sure to wisely allocate where that money is going to improve. $200 in ammo/training is probably going to have a better impact on shooting growth than $200 in sights and trigger work if the shooter isn't skilled enough to be held back by the gun.

 

[smokey]

Oh, if you haven't already, don't forget about mags. If legal for the competition and division you're shooting, something like the taran tactical basepads are awesome(assuming you can load more than 10 and on mag length restrictions).
http://tarantacticalinnovations.com/base-pad-kit-for-m-p/

More mags mean you don't have to constantly be loading and can concentrate on helping to do things like run the shot timer/paste/score. If you don't have at least 3 mags, make sure to pickup more to avoid running dry in a stage.

 

[Minuteman]

Hi.

That's a plenty serviceable pistol, especially for IDPA, or any other sports/action shooting. I'd just leave it stock, maybe put on a fiber front sight, but really not necessary.

I probably wouldn't recommend lightening the trigger, they usually come around 5 pounds, which is about perfect. I'm not much of a competitor, like all my stuff to be the same as anything I might have to actually use, so 'competing' with a light trigger, then having a 'normal' trigger for everything else, doesn't make much sense to me. But if you are seriously getting into competition, you'll get better advice from someone else; also read the IDPA and other journals, lots of great advice there too.

 

[Dowtom]

Sorry it's range gun and also a local club steel challenge. They doing really enforce many rules except optics put you in a separate class

 

[Minuteman]

Sorry it's range gun and also a local club steel challenge. They doing really enforce many rules except optics put you in a separate class

Ah, ok, cool.

Do this, would be a real head turner:

 

[smokey]

Sorry it's range gun and also a local club steel challenge. They doing really enforce many rules except optics put you in a separate class

In what way are your skills being held back by the gun? If the answer is "my skills aren't good enough for the gun to be the limiting factor"(Which covers 99% of people), invest in more practice. If you are capable of better accuracy than the gun can currently deliver, then an aftermarket fitted barrel may help. You could also experiment with hand-loads and different(lighter) recoil springs to get less recoil and faster follow-up shots. You may want to also look for a good range belt/holster/mag carriers/enlarged magwell for general helpfulness in operating the gun.

 

[jimbobborg]

Low recoil and low noise rounds would be your best bet with that pistol in Steel Challenge. There's no power factor in SC, so ammunition is whatever you want as long as it's not too fast and doesn't have any steel in the bullet.

 

[Dowtom]

Yeah I'm going to tweak my reloads to softest possible load. I'm more so to the rest of you guys asking who makes a good thin front fiber post

 

[OEH]

Dawson Precision

 

[alucard0822]

In most cases more practice, and a good progressive reloading setup are the best places to spend money when you first get into competition, as others have said. A good shooter with a factory pistol will outshoot a new shooter with a pricey custom pistol any day, but nothing wrong with adapting the pistol to your style, or modifying it to better suit the rules of a competition you might want to shoot. A good belt, holster, and mag pouches are also a must, and plenty of mags.

I was an early adopter of the M&P pro, have been using this pistol for about 8 years of competition, and it has evolved into a decent competitive pistol that I can shoot well. Started out with a fitted stainless barrel, mine came with a defective factory barrel, and couldn't group for S#!t, newer models won't have that issue. Tightening up the barrel fit and lapping the bore help keep it clean and accurate, although a reliable factory barrel beats an amazing, but unreliable aftermarket one. Added Novak adjustable plain black rear and a matching front, they are about the factory width, but taller, and the front is green FO. Talon rubberized grips help immensely, had skateboard tape before that, stock it is too slippery. Swapped in the newest factory striker and sear block, S&W is on the 3rd or 4th revision, had occasional stoppages before. Most of the internal changes are just polished or worked by me similar to the old Burwell trigger job, and added a RAM to improve reset feel. Added a SSS magwell, extended mag release, and Apex trigger, these changes took me out of production/SSP divisions, and into Limited/ESP for most matches, but I was shooting very little IDPA/USPSA and a lot more steel and 3 gun where the better grip, faster mag changes, and faster trigger improved my times while staying in the same 3Gun and steel classes. +5rd Springer precision extensions go with the magwell, and hold 22rds, factory base pads no longer work, have a couple SSS +0 "IDPA" legal base pads if I shoot that discipline again.

 

[Dowtom]

Nice set up. Yeah I already reload just looking to swap my front base as it is very thick. I definitely keep practicing. I try to go weekly and practice target transitions for a few hours

 

[Blaster229]

I think I'd mod the grip.

 

[Racer Doug14]

No one said get a glock? Surprise surprise.

 

[Dowtom]

Haha yeah don't care for Glock. It's my CCW gun but as soon as I have a9c it won't be.