Tactical Jackalope
New member
Hello, all. It's been a while.
(Feel free to skip the boring intro)
It's been a while for a few things. A while since I've been on here, a while since I've taken a class (few years), and a while since I've found my home base again. What do I mean? We as humans love our tools. We aren't anywhere near the most powerful animals in the animal kingdom. We are where we are now because of our brains and what we can create with them.
I finally found a pistol that's well rounded and fits all my needs. Everything else has had something I didn't like. Examples? I'll name a few.
Let me start off with SIG Sauer classic P-Series. Some of you may remember how I've began shooting firearms at the age of 12 or 13. Handguns have always been a SIG Sauer P226 or Browning High-Power. SIG Sauer was my home base. 10 years sporting and almost another 10 years defensively. I found some better advantages in striker-fired guns, but didn't see a need to change. I mean, hell... I have so much time behind the DA/SA SIGs, why would I "fix what isn't broken"?
And then...I had a run in with SIG Sauer customer service. Which was the absolute worst customer service I've probably ever experienced (I've had better with General Electric). Why? Because the pistol was purchased used. Long story a bit shorter, and you can find it on this forum, the slide was out of spec and was eating the frame alive. SIG didn't want to cover it even with Bruce Gray in my corner. Didn't want to pay half, get me a new slide, nothing. Zero.
So, my emotional response was to ditch a company that doesn't stand by their product even when they themselves let it leave the factory a lemon. So the reason of not being the original buyer.
I turned to Glock and Heckler and Koch. Selling all my SIG pistols and destroying the P229. I trained and took classes and trained some more. Dry practice. Range sessions. It was proving difficult to be as comfortable and adequate with another firearms manufacturer after having been with SIG Sauer for so long. So a year later, I bought another P229 Elite Dark while I searched.
Enter Smith and Wesson M&P Review
Finally came along a Smith and Wesson M&P 9L again... I had one in the past, but dismissed it for an unknown reason. (Seriously, unknown. The USP 9 Compact, too small for my palms, pinch on mag changes, Glock, felt funny but dealt with it. etc)
So, it was like an extension of my arm. Tight "groupings" as well as fast and accurate defensive strings of fire.
One handed shooting, off handed, retention, and so on. Fired 500 rounds through the gun by doing drills and just plinking without a hiccup. It became my concealed carry weapon. Yes. Huge M&P Smith and Wesson long slide and with a Surefire X300U as well. Remember.. you're going to be fighting with this pistol if the need should ever arise.
I ended up going to Tactical Response in Camden Tennessee and taking my Smith and Wesson 9L with me in the same configuration that I carry on a day to day basis, X300U and all.
2-day Fighting Pistol course exposed to the elements. Rain, dirt, sweat, high round count, you name it. The pistol functioned flawlessly. There were things we were doing that I otherwise either wasn't able to do with a hammer fired weapon and or had to add a step or two if I was to have a hammer fired weapon.
I was overall content with myself and my abilities. In that they have not gotten rusty in just a couple years without formal training, which felt like a lifetime. Especially since I would train so often. So this felt amazing. My gear was great, mindset is back on track, and skill only improving more and more. Several extra tools in my tool box upstairs.
Got home and knew I had to have the compact 2.0. One of my best friends had just purchased one, a fellow HK nut of mine who is on this forum. (Who I know will chime in). I wanted a compact for the places where I'm supposed to be in the deepest of concealment. Where I don't want to even give off a hint of printing. I'd be lying if I said I hid the Smith and Wesson M&P 9L with the X300U perfectly. There was some printing but honest to God, barely any.
I got myself a brand new Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0 9mm Compact!
Took it to the range and every single aspect of the M&P 9L was somehow enhanced. One of the main ones being the trigger and the other being the fact that the slide doesn't go home by simply changing mags with the slide locked back. (The older M&Ps had a little tick when it came to that).
The 2.0 has metal insert throughout the frame of the handgun. Much more aggressive texturing. And did I mention I could finally sell my P229, 1911s, and even the *gasp* Glock 19?!
I know there's a stigma around selling guns. But I am not a collector anymore and never really was. I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to. Trying everything out, I guess. Well, I learned recently that since I am in a hurricane / natural disaster zone. Having to prepare for worst case scenario almost yearly guaranteed...Traveling light is better and less stressful for me. I invest all the money on the guns I've sold and am still selling on training, gear, medical equipment, rations, batteries, and so on.
During Hurricane Irma, I had 3 bags filled of guns. Heavy bags. In case the roof ripped off with the 185mph winds that barely missed us. Why? Because my money was/is invested into those guns.
So.... I found a home base again. Finally. A Smith and Wesson M&P Series. I have my 9L in my SHTF bag and my 2.0 on me at all times. I have a few others which I won't mention. But I'm travelling much lighter these days. I am the weapon and my firearms are my tools. Training in how to properly stop a threat in a myriad of different scenarios. Angles that one wouldn't otherwise think of unless placed there, outside the square box of a stagnant range and immediate action medical, triumphs everything else.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed my ramble. It was kind of supposed to be a "gun review" but I don't invest myself in the firearm itself, more of what I am capable of doing with that firearm. And granted, I can do this with any firearm you give me. God bless America.
P.S. The Smith and Wesson 2.0 Compact is an amazing gun. Time to hang up those Glock 19s, boys!
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
(Feel free to skip the boring intro)
It's been a while for a few things. A while since I've been on here, a while since I've taken a class (few years), and a while since I've found my home base again. What do I mean? We as humans love our tools. We aren't anywhere near the most powerful animals in the animal kingdom. We are where we are now because of our brains and what we can create with them.
I finally found a pistol that's well rounded and fits all my needs. Everything else has had something I didn't like. Examples? I'll name a few.
Let me start off with SIG Sauer classic P-Series. Some of you may remember how I've began shooting firearms at the age of 12 or 13. Handguns have always been a SIG Sauer P226 or Browning High-Power. SIG Sauer was my home base. 10 years sporting and almost another 10 years defensively. I found some better advantages in striker-fired guns, but didn't see a need to change. I mean, hell... I have so much time behind the DA/SA SIGs, why would I "fix what isn't broken"?
And then...I had a run in with SIG Sauer customer service. Which was the absolute worst customer service I've probably ever experienced (I've had better with General Electric). Why? Because the pistol was purchased used. Long story a bit shorter, and you can find it on this forum, the slide was out of spec and was eating the frame alive. SIG didn't want to cover it even with Bruce Gray in my corner. Didn't want to pay half, get me a new slide, nothing. Zero.
So, my emotional response was to ditch a company that doesn't stand by their product even when they themselves let it leave the factory a lemon. So the reason of not being the original buyer.
I turned to Glock and Heckler and Koch. Selling all my SIG pistols and destroying the P229. I trained and took classes and trained some more. Dry practice. Range sessions. It was proving difficult to be as comfortable and adequate with another firearms manufacturer after having been with SIG Sauer for so long. So a year later, I bought another P229 Elite Dark while I searched.
Enter Smith and Wesson M&P Review
Finally came along a Smith and Wesson M&P 9L again... I had one in the past, but dismissed it for an unknown reason. (Seriously, unknown. The USP 9 Compact, too small for my palms, pinch on mag changes, Glock, felt funny but dealt with it. etc)
So, it was like an extension of my arm. Tight "groupings" as well as fast and accurate defensive strings of fire.
One handed shooting, off handed, retention, and so on. Fired 500 rounds through the gun by doing drills and just plinking without a hiccup. It became my concealed carry weapon. Yes. Huge M&P Smith and Wesson long slide and with a Surefire X300U as well. Remember.. you're going to be fighting with this pistol if the need should ever arise.
I ended up going to Tactical Response in Camden Tennessee and taking my Smith and Wesson 9L with me in the same configuration that I carry on a day to day basis, X300U and all.
2-day Fighting Pistol course exposed to the elements. Rain, dirt, sweat, high round count, you name it. The pistol functioned flawlessly. There were things we were doing that I otherwise either wasn't able to do with a hammer fired weapon and or had to add a step or two if I was to have a hammer fired weapon.
I was overall content with myself and my abilities. In that they have not gotten rusty in just a couple years without formal training, which felt like a lifetime. Especially since I would train so often. So this felt amazing. My gear was great, mindset is back on track, and skill only improving more and more. Several extra tools in my tool box upstairs.
Got home and knew I had to have the compact 2.0. One of my best friends had just purchased one, a fellow HK nut of mine who is on this forum. (Who I know will chime in). I wanted a compact for the places where I'm supposed to be in the deepest of concealment. Where I don't want to even give off a hint of printing. I'd be lying if I said I hid the Smith and Wesson M&P 9L with the X300U perfectly. There was some printing but honest to God, barely any.
I got myself a brand new Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0 9mm Compact!
Took it to the range and every single aspect of the M&P 9L was somehow enhanced. One of the main ones being the trigger and the other being the fact that the slide doesn't go home by simply changing mags with the slide locked back. (The older M&Ps had a little tick when it came to that).
The 2.0 has metal insert throughout the frame of the handgun. Much more aggressive texturing. And did I mention I could finally sell my P229, 1911s, and even the *gasp* Glock 19?!
I know there's a stigma around selling guns. But I am not a collector anymore and never really was. I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to. Trying everything out, I guess. Well, I learned recently that since I am in a hurricane / natural disaster zone. Having to prepare for worst case scenario almost yearly guaranteed...Traveling light is better and less stressful for me. I invest all the money on the guns I've sold and am still selling on training, gear, medical equipment, rations, batteries, and so on.
During Hurricane Irma, I had 3 bags filled of guns. Heavy bags. In case the roof ripped off with the 185mph winds that barely missed us. Why? Because my money was/is invested into those guns.
So.... I found a home base again. Finally. A Smith and Wesson M&P Series. I have my 9L in my SHTF bag and my 2.0 on me at all times. I have a few others which I won't mention. But I'm travelling much lighter these days. I am the weapon and my firearms are my tools. Training in how to properly stop a threat in a myriad of different scenarios. Angles that one wouldn't otherwise think of unless placed there, outside the square box of a stagnant range and immediate action medical, triumphs everything else.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed my ramble. It was kind of supposed to be a "gun review" but I don't invest myself in the firearm itself, more of what I am capable of doing with that firearm. And granted, I can do this with any firearm you give me. God bless America.
P.S. The Smith and Wesson 2.0 Compact is an amazing gun. Time to hang up those Glock 19s, boys!
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
