I am 5-10, 175, and wear medium gloves sizes. All pistols with adjustable back straps seem to fit me best with the medium back strap. All three pistols are set up thus.
My first step was to clean all three pistols and wet lube all with Slip 2000 heavy. I gave it two days to penetrate to all parts, and then cycled and trigger pulled each one 40 times. This was to familiarize myself with each trigger, and to set the guns up for initial trigger pull measurements.
Ten measurements each gave me an average trigger pull of 7.25 pounds for the Sig, 6.25 for the Glock, and 5.25 for the S&W. I didn't expect quite that high a pull for the Sig, nor quite so low on the S&W, but there you have it. I will re-measure after several hundred rounds have been through each.
I measured take-up also. The take-up in all three guns is a bit gritty, but then it always is with new striker fired.
While quite heavy, the Sig has the shortest take-up at 1/8th inch! Let-off a bit spongy for my taste.
The M&P trigger has a much longer take-up but a crisper let-off than the other two.
The Glock trigger at this point comes in 3rd in my view. A good short 3/16 inch take-up , a quite spongey let-off, but a very decent re-set. Measurements were all attempted at the center of the triggers.
For sights, the Glock makes the mark with the best front sight which appears to be an Ameriglo. It is bright, and big, the way a battle sight should be.
I should probably rate the Sig sights second best because they are tritium. They are much smaller than they should be however for serious work.
The M&Pc sights are rugged, but plain white dot. Large, like they should be, but pretty useless in dark conditions. Great in daylight, but that's not good enough. They'll be replaced with TFO's if I keep it. Last place.
Grip stippling on all three feels OK with the Sig and Smith most alike. Not having shot these pieces my first impression is that the S&W will be the most aggressive, with the SIG in followup.
All three companies stand behind their pistols.
Next Chapter - off to the range.
I decided that hauling three pistol cases, a camera, notebook and pen, several hundred rounds of ammo, and a range bag with targets and the kitchen sink in it would be too awkward. So I put all into a rifle case and there you have it. Note the box of L.E. duty rounds. All three have to operate flawlessly with this ammo, right out of the box, or right back into the box they go!147 grain Winchester T series.
I am done my range sessions. The first point I would like to make is that I will NEVER again review more than two weapons at a time. Doing three is crazy, and your note taking has to be constant to remember which did what poorest/best! Each pistol consumed about 500 rounds. They were not cleaned during this review. And for the bored, let me state at this point that all three pistols functioned perfectly, with all ammunition. Zero malfunctions of ANY sort occurred. I did not drop these pistols from a plane over a cement runway at 400 miles an hour. I did not pack them with mud and let it thoroughly dry before testing. I did not bury them in the ocean for a year. I know, I know any REAL test would require all of those. But I did shoot them with NATO, Duty Ranger T Series and Federal ball ammo. I shot them limp wristed. I shot them upside down, laying on the right, and laying on the left. These are reliable to the true meaning of the word. If that is your main criteria for an EDC, then pick any of the three.
I began the first session with the duty 147 Winchester T-Series we carry. All shot this round well, though the SIG had significantly more perceived recoil than the other two. This in spite of the two oz. additional weight over the Glock and Smith.
I followed this with the high pressure NATO rounds. All fed this through
with no problems. The SIG did not care for it in the accuracy
department though, and again the recoil was VERY pronounced.
Next below are the 10 yard 115 ball ammo targets. Glock nails it, Sig and Smith lag. Now I want to emphasize, I am not target shooting. I am cadence shooting here. All three of these pistols will shoot 2-3 inch groups at 25 yards all day long from sandbags/vice/factory. Already been proven a dozen times. What we are looking for here, is the best overall EDC where you must be able to shoot accurately and quickly if needed.
Backing out to 15 yards, still cadence fire. No material difference that I can discern, though the Sig still has to be held with a bit more authority than the others.
Ok, time for rapid fire at 15 yards. Rapid fire to me is shooting as fast as you can, and still stay on target. Staccato fire if you will. All three performed but the S&W and Glock are a bit more spread than the SIG. On the other hand I had two misses with the Sig.
The next three targets are cadence fire at 25 yards. Glock quite tight! All three doing admirably.
The FBI Q target above shows nine rounds each from each pistol two to the chest, one to the head three times each. I am at 10 yards shooting as fast as I can from low ready. I don't have holsters for these guns. One miss Glock and one miss Sig.
These torture dot tests are interesting. Because I am new to these pistols I did the torture at three yards. Out of 50 possible I got 46 with the Glock, and 44 each with the Sig and Smith.
These tests require weak had only shooting, strong hand only shooting, and 8 other exercises. It is an excellent exercise. One thing I discovered is that Sig is VERY controllable with one hand. Perhaps that IS the weight advantage? The first dot is two handed five shot string. Glock and Smith nail it.
My third and last range session was at the steel plate range. I shot the six plates from 15 yards, but discovered the battery is dead in my shot timer. But I learned that all three pistols were fast and easy on plates. I did magazine after magazine and all were easy. I could tell here though that carrying a Glock 19 on duty did assist me here. All three pistols shot the man steel, the 16 inch steel and the 6 inch steel at 25 yards with no problem. So, what is my take? Here are some pros and cons for each pistol.
Sig 320 - A finely built pistol with arguably the best trigger. It has the heaviest pull, (still 7.5 lbs.) but the shortest take up and shortest re-set. (you'll only care when at the range people...) I did find that I had to consciously raise my finger up into the saddle of the trigger to avoid the sharp curve at the end of it. Like the Glock, it has that silly squared off trigger guard. Heaviest pistol, but with noticeably more recoil with all loads than the others. Go figure. Easiest to shoot rapidly one handed. The best grip stippling midway between the Glock and Smith. About perfect. Last four rounds are a bear to load in it's magazine (no Honey, I don't use a mag loader). It is a wonderful gun, but feels bigger and blockier than the other two. Accessory rail way overstated for an EDC. Better suited as a duty gun in full rig than an IWB. It has terrible sights. They are tritium night sights, but small and the most difficult to acquire rapidly. I liked it a ton, but won't bother to buy one. In short, Fugly, and Functional.
S&W M&P 9c 2.0 - another very well designed battle pistol, well engineered and accurate. Ergonomically (to me) the best of the three. Second best trigger. (still 5.5 lbs.)Nicely rounded trigger guard. Battle accurate. Easiest slide to retract and easiest mags to load (after you get that first nasty round started, thank you). Large white dot sights, great in the daylight at the range. Totally inadequate for a life saving instrument. TFO's going on it. There goes the 100 dollar price advantage! Grip stippling is a bit too aggressive for me, especially the back strap. I will mellow that with sandpaper. If I did not shoot quite so much I would leave it as is, but after 500 rounds, you really begin to notice it. Seems to handle recoil a lot better than the Sig, and marginally better than the Glock. Also a bit overstated in the rail department. This would be a better pistol with the Glock rail set up. Overall, can't think of much to bitch about other than sights. A great pistol, and since I own it, I will begin to seriously train with it.
Glock Gen 5 19 - Rugged, reliable and will shoot forever. Pure Glock, and Gen 5 or not, I don't see much change in the way it shoots from other generations. If anything, it reminds me of the duty 17 Gen 1 we were issued some 33 years ago. Battle accurate, reasonably priced, and plenty of aftermarket goodies if that is your bag. This Glock had the best sights by far of the three. Not even close. The Ameriglo front sight is big, and in your eye in an instant. This sight, or a TFO would make the other two pistols significantly better shooters. (um, what did I just do to Glock?) Decent grip stippling, not as ergonomic overall as the other two. A bit outdated is what comes to mind around shot number 400. The biggest fault of this pistol, for me, is the trigger/trigger guard. For three decades I have shot Glocks heavily and since day one, I have always gotten a nasty blood blister right side of my trigger finger pad from dragging against the inside of the trigger guard on each trigger pull. If I take the time to raise my finger on the trigger with this gun it slows me down noticeably. Rapid fire quickly becomes painful. When you are thinking about your finger, rather than the front sight and trigger, you are off. It is one of the traits that sent me to my M&P's. I shot this one well, because I carry one on duty. Advantage Glock. I will not be taking a Glock Gen 5 pistol as my EDC or off-duty.
Conclusions:
It would be an ideal world if everyone could shoot out these three pistols and then take their choice. And I will say, that if you own any one of these three pistols, you needn't spend 600 bucks looking for a better one. They are all three excellent in their own way, and ALL are more than adequate battle pieces. But if I had none of them (I didn't) and shot them as I did this past week, I believe I would quickly purchase the S&W. It just feels better in my hand. The Sig is an immensely comfortable gun to shoot, but just a bit too big in some ways for EDC. The Glock is the Oldsmobile, The SIG is the Mercedes, and the Smith the GT Mustang. Which do YOU want to drive?
Queries and comments welcome as is hate mail !
jackzeller@myfairpoint.net
