The Race Gun m&p (9mm major)
I have done about a dozen shooting
matches, I love them, the adrenalin, the video game-ness of it, the Honing of
skills, and the comradery it is always so fun. Well I was at a pistol only
match and doing fine, but there was this retired doctor there on my squad. He
was shooting a heavily modified sti wildcat 2011 that was ported and compensated
and had a red dot sight (c-more). He out shot me every stage. Not by much but
enough to get my attention, now I am not a pro shooter my any means, I
typically only score in the top 25 out of 100 shooters, but as I watched him it
became obvious I was as good as he was, and yet he was still faster. He didn’t
need to reload as often, or line up his sights, or deal with recoil. I was not
in his class so it didn’t affect my ratings really, but it really bothered me
that he was faster. (Yes, this was an emotional buy) so I sold a rifle to
generate funds and started collecting parts to make a race gun. I started with
a m&p (because I love them) and I bought a aeti trigger kit an wolf recoil springs
tuning kit, a new front sight (custom height to match the body of the sight in
case the battery dies so I can still use it), a Leopold delta point 7.5moa red
dot, a sss magwell, and a tungsten guide rod. Then I stippled the grip and
sanded off the area around the mag release, polished the sear, installed the
trigger, and took the slide to my buddies machine shop. We spent 7 hours on a
milling machine. We skimmed the sides, cut the rear portion of the slide so
that the red dot on the sight sat the same height as where the iron sights once
sat, ported the barrel (6 ports at 45 degree two vertical), put 9 cuts into the
front of the slide (to lighten the reciprocating weight), and took a ball end
mill to the back (same reason). Then I sandblasted the slide to make it two
tone. (It is stainless so a finish is unnecessary.) The result is a fast
shooting, light weight, two tone, work of art. It gets tons of attention everywhere
I go. I shoot it all the time, it took a bunch of tuning to get it to shoot
right, but this thing is sexy. It is also very loud, shoots flames (night
shoots are hilarious), and sometimes bits of burning powder hit your arms and
face when shooting (which is kind of distracting) but all in all it is so cool.
It also moved me from the 18-29/100 to 4-9/100 at my local matches. It is crazy
what gear can do. Also my last match I was again squaded with the good doctor,
and I beat him by two seconds over all. (He is still a better shot than me but even
with a few misses I was faster.)
THE GOOD:
Have I mentioned that I love the
m&p pistol?
The leupold delta point is
amazing. I chose it because it was shorter (in body) than the rmr, and I liked
the screen size and dot, and it is idiot proof and I love that.
aeti makes a great competition
trigger, but I also polished every bit to make it better also the “ram” is necessary
when you have such a light trigger, splurge on that (it gives you a click that
you can feel and hear when the trigger is reset.)The sss magwell is great quality
and fits like a glove, I really like it, though I wish I had bought the bigger
one. The only issue is the armadillo mag
extenders will need to be modified to run them, it’s not hard but worth
mentioning.
The tungsten guide rod didn’t make
any noticeable difference, but makes swapping springs easier.
Porting a pistol is fun for
competition, but dumb for carry guns.
I am blessed to have such good
friends, thanks Sam.
Taylor freelance extensions are
nice, and though hard to grip in the rain, they work great.
THE BAD:
It likes to throw stuff at you through the ported barrel.
Night shooting with this is a bad idea, it blinds you.
It is way louder than my compensated ar15’s
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I spent a lot of money, time ,and planning to make this gun
a reality and I do love it. Normally I choose practical guns, this one is not
at all, but it is a bunch of fun and an awesome learning experience. Also it
looks, feels and shoots dang sexy, what’s not to love. I also took some pro mag
32 round mags and de-burred them then I installed factory base plates and
followers, and added glock 33 round mag springs. They work really well now.
Nobody “needs” a race gun, but they can be a great project
if you are into that sort of thing.
Go to a shooting match, if you can, they are a ton of fun
and will help you in a fight (Though I must say I am not fond of idpa, maybe
don’t start on one of them.)
