To whom it may concern,

I recently purchased one of your M10 rifles in 5.45 from AIM Surplus. It arrived on Monday evening and I am now, as of Wednesday afternoon, shipping it back to AIM for a refund. I wish to inform you of some issues I saw with the rifle so that you may improve future production runs. I do not expect any action on your part.

- The very first thing I noticed, out of the box, was that the screw attaching the folding stock to the receiver was too long, preventing the stock from folding.

- The next thing I noticed was that the upper and lower handguard had been forced into place with what could only have been a tool such as a hammer (or perhaps superhuman strength). The handguard retaining cap had been bent/damaged at the rear as a result of this. Also, the screws attaching the upper handguard to the lower handguard were crossthreaded at a relatively extreme angle.

- The trunnion appeared to have had some material machined/ground away - for some unknown reason - at the rear on the right side.

- The magazine well had apparently been opened up to a degree that did not allow the use of some surplus Bulgarian magazines. Of the magazines that did fit, the pressure of the magwell on the sides of the magazines caused slow feeding, which resulted in bolt over base malfunctions with Russian surplus 5.45 ammunition.

- Projectile impacts past 10 yards resulted in oblong holes on paper.

Regards

Andrew Tuohy

In order to understand why I feel this way, let's look at why Glock is successful, and where I feel the M&P falls short. While I will attempt to be factual, there will be a number of factors that rely significantly on opinion. I hate being anecdotal, but I will have to be in this case.

Glocks are, in no particular order:

- Reliable*

- Durable

- Reasonably accurate

- Cheap

- Easy to find all factory parts for

- Easy to service

- Shipped with a borderline acceptable trigger

M&Ps are, in no particular order:

- Reliable

- Durable

- Less accurate than Glocks*

- Cheap*

- Not easy to find all factory parts for

- Easy to service

- Shipped with a borderline unacceptable trigger

Let's discuss the asterisks and differences.

- Certain models of Glock handguns are the gold standard for firearm reliability - other models of Glock handguns are dangerously unreliable. I would stake my reputation, however small it may be, on this statement. Note the lack of an asterisk for the M&P - in my experience, all M&P models seem to function very well.

- In my experience, M&Ps are less accurate than other factory handguns, such as Glocks. This is not an across-the-board rule, but I have had discussions with professional shooters who have made similar observations. The problem generally goes away with aftermarket barrels, they say. I know that my M&P9 Pro was simply unacceptable in terms of mid-to-long-range accuracy (25 to 150 yards).

- Glocks and M&Ps are priced similarly, although "blue label" Glocks sold to law enforcement and military personnel, as well as first responders, offer a bit of a price drop. S&W has law enforcement and military rebates, but that isn't exactly the same thing, and I am not a fan of rebates. S&W gets an asterisk because while a (reliable) Glock is a great handgun out of the box, the M&P practically requires that extra money be spent in order to fix deficiencies. At a minimum, I would want a replacement barrel and trigger/sear/etc thingy - the cost of these parts would push the "cheap" M&P dangerously close to HK P30 territory.

- You can buy any Glock small part you want for your Glock handgun, but Smith & Wesson won't sell certain parts to regular people. This is probably the biggest limiting factor for me regarding the M&P. I have little interest in aftermarket pistol components, or, at the very least, want factory spares on hand to serve as replacements. For all the excrement I may seem to shovel towards S&W in this article, I have a good amount of respect for the way a mechanical object was intended to be manufactured, assembled, and used by its designers, and wish to maintain a supply of factory replacement parts for firearms I own.

- The stock M&P trigger is not good at all. Before anyone says "Buy the Apex kit!" - read the above paragraph. Yes, it's better in terms of trigger pull. But if I can shoot well with a factory trigger, I'm happy with it, which is why I prefer the Glock to the M&P in terms of trigger quality. As far as competition goes, none of the top competitors are using stock triggers, so this doesn't really matter. But for duty and carry use, it is extremely relevant.

Now, Shelley covers stuff that makes the M&P "better," like the interchangeable grips and the ambi slide stop - and the grip angle, although that's one thing that has never bothered me with the Glock. I can go back and forth between a Glock and a 1911 without any real problems. I do like the beavertail of the M&P, although the interchangeable backstraps do not really matter all that much to me - the only one with real appeal is the Glock beavertail backstrap that I've had for over a year and like quite a bit. As for ambidextrous stuff, I think that left handed people should be shamed and humiliated for being the freaks that they are, so I don't care about that...just kidding. It's a nice feature, but nothing that puts the M&P over the top for me, and it hardly stands out in the crop of modern polymer pistols.

So Shelley isn't wrong to like the M&P, and maybe I'm not right to like the Glock. What say you?

High speed video of an AK-47 in 7.62x39 being fired, including a video of it without the top cover.

Please see my previous SHOT high speed video post for more information. Unlike the video in that link, the rifles in today's post are being shot by the same person. Here's some of what I had to say in that previous article:

The rate at which the bolt carrier assembly recoils rearward can have an effect on reliable extraction and ejection, even if extractor and ejector dimensions and springs are absolutely correct. The period of time during which the bolt is behind the stack of rounds in the magazine, neither traveling rearward or forward, has an effect on reliability in that the magazine may not have enough time to push the next round into place before the bolt comes forward again, resulting in a "bolt over base" malfunction that is most commonly seen on suppressed rifles, as they have much greater rates of fire. Also, high forward bolt carrier velocity can result in extreme bolt bounce, as noted previously, while low forward bolt carrier velocity could mean that there isn't enough force to overcome strong magazine springs, dirt or debris in the action, etc.

I travel a lot, and sometimes this travel is by commercial airline. In this video, I share some of the federal regulations, airline policies, and general tips regarding the proper way to bring firearms with you when you travel by commercial air carrier.

FAR 108.11

TSA Guidelines

NRA Link with Airline Policies

According to the spec sheet, the "polymer frame body" will allow "interchangeable colors." The weight is listed as 2.04lbs.

Note the screw on the forward portion of the trigger guard where it meets the dust cover

Polymer dust cover, trigger guard, and grip/magazine well, but the rails and guts are composed of a steel chassis. Doesn't appear to have a Swartz type firing pin safety.

These are some Swiss Stgw57s that were modified for various purposes. Both are chambered in 7.5x55 Swiss. The first one is, as you can see, set up for target shooting. It's called the "57 Phantom."

Can anyone guess what the strap on top of the barrel is for?

The second one has been shortened. The safety has been modified, and the rifle sports an Aimpoint and a Vltor Modstock. In case anyone is wondering, the Stgw57 does have a recoil buffer.

In case you were wondering about that muzzle brake - yes, it does work, and the rifle is reportedly very easy to control on full auto. Also, it causes most glorious flames to erupt from the muzzle in all directions.

These rifles were modified years ago, and he's been doing way cooler stuff since. Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately), because he is a normal guy with real gunsmithing skills, he is unlikely to be the subject of an American reality show about guns.