M&P 380 EZ

[warhawk]

My wife is a small gal, 5’ tall with her shoes on, maybe. She has small hands and not much strength. But to her credit, she is interested in self defense and learning to shoot. I think it took having grand babies to convince her. We have tried every gun I could think of, some I owned, some we rented. The current favorites are :

Ruger LCRx 38
Walther CCp 9mm

She likes the LCRx the best, but it has a fair amount of recoil since it’s so light. The Walther CCP has been one of very few semi autos that she can rack the slide. She can also manage the little 9mm and 380 SIGs that are 1911 platform (sort of) but she won’t carry one cocked and locked. No amount of convincing is going to make her accept a cocked and locked gun. The CCP feels good in the hand, and it’s a little larger than other small 9mms and she handles it fine. But, it’s got long gritty trigger pull that she hasn’t gotten comfortable with. Her favorite gun is my S&W model 622, and she threatened to just carry it, while a 22 is better than nothing, there are much better options.

Enter the Little M&P 380 EZ. I think Smith has a winner with this gun. It’s the ONLY semi auto that she’s been able to easily load the magazine. The slide is even easier to rack than the CCP, and the trigger is great. I just brought it home yesterday and we haven’t had it out to th range yet. She likes the thumb safety, she didn’t feel comfortable with any of the guns without one (Glock 380, Shield, etc).

I’ll post a report once we shoot it.

By the way, we had always shot at the local indoor range. Last weekend we shot at the outdoor range and she loved it. She suggested we not go to the indoor range any more. I would have bet money she would have preferred the indoor range.

[warhawk]

I still haven’t shot the 380, but my wife is thrilled with it. She can load the magazine herself, without a loading tool, that’s huge for her.

Anyway, I read somewhere online that the M&P 380 is the same size as the M&P 22 compact and that they are very similar. So I looked at one, and long story short I no longer own an import revolver, in its place we have an M&P 22 Compact. She has already claimed it as hers. The two M&Ps are identical in size, controls are exactly the same with the exception of the grip safety on the 380. She can manage the slide just fine, and the magazine is even easier to load than the 380.

Two things I don’t care for on the 22. 1) it is not easy to take down for cleaning. You have to first remove the thread adapter, I haven’t even tried yet but one online reviewer broke the tool trying to get it off. And 2) the trigger is better on the 380, the pull weight is about the same but the 22 trigger is gritty. Hopefully it will smooth up with use.

[AxeHandle]

EKW has the part you need for your M&P 22. Heat that threaded piece before you try to remove it.
ewkarms.com/zen8/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=231

FWIW if the wife can run the LCRx find a LCR 327 for her try. It shoots the pop gun 32s as well as 327s.

[Otony]

Axehandle is onto something with an LCR in .327, but I will make another suggestion. Over time, I’ve noticed that just about anyone can manage to shoot a 3” barreled Chiefs Special, but it is the rare neophyte that can manage the same little J-frame sporting a 2” barrel. Better yet is a 3 incher that has a square butt rather than the round posterior.

Adding the extra inch of barrel, plus the small wedge that makes the grip frame square, turns a somewhat unmanageable snubnose into a scaled down K-frame that is VERY shootable. My wife (who carries a 2” hammerless .32 mag J-frame) regards the 3” .38 Special Chief as her “big” gun, and shoots it well. The extra weight of the all steel S&W gives you an advantage over the lighter weight of the LCRx, and doesn't add a great deal of tonnage in doing so. Something else to consider?

Otony

[warhawk]

I load 148 gr wadcutter loads for her to practice with. She then loads it with some sort of a hollow point for carry.

I have a 3 inch 36-6 (full underlug and adjustable sights). She prefers the LCRx, I think mainly because of the light DA trigger on the Ruger.

I whittled my accumulation down several years ago, with an eye toward loading for a minimum number of different calibers. The .327 bug hasn’t been able to overcome that, yet.

[wheelguns]

I got my wife the 3” LCRX in .38spl, and I load some hbwc’s with 2.7gns of bullseye for her. She loved it. Had that 380ez been out, she might have reconsidered.

[crazycarl]

My wife's in the same boat. Little hands, not great grip strength, etc. She's been happy with her little Walthers, starting with a P22 & graduating to a PK380 after several months. When the CCP was released, stepping up to a 9mm was a no-brainer. I don't particularly care for them, but they work, she shoots them well & likes them.

[taffin]

[

By the way, we had always shot at the local indoor range. Last weekend we shot at the outdoor range and she loved it. She suggested we not go to the indoor range any more. I would have bet money she would have preferred the indoor range.

[/quote]
I KNOW EXACTLY HOW SHE FEELS--THE LIGHTING IS BETTER, THE NOISE IS LESS AND THE BREATHING IS CERTAINLY BETTER.

[AxeHandle]

We've been running a S&W Promotion at work. We have most of the M&Ps, including the 380 EZ, available for customers to shoot. It has proven to be been a hit. Easy to load, easy to run, reliable, and not expensive.

[500fksjr]

Jul 2, 2018 6:56:43 GMT -5 AxeHandle said:

We've been running a S&W Promotion at work. We have most of the M&Ps, including the 380 EZ, available for customers to shoot. It has proven to be been a hit. Easy to load, easy to run, reliable, and not expensive.

What is the difference between the M&P/2.0 an tis 380 EZ your refering to? Thanks in advance!

[AxeHandle]

The 2.0 comes in many flavors. It is the current production S&W M&P semi auto. Full size, compact, and Shield.. 9mm, 40, and 45.... The 380EZ is a 380 semi auto that is the size of the Shield.

[500fksjr]

Jul 3, 2018 17:36:19 GMT -5 AxeHandle said:

The 2.0 comes in many flavors. It is the current production S&W M&P semi auto. Full size, compact, and Shield.. 9mm, 40, and 45.... The 380EZ is a 380 semi auto that is the size of the Shield.

Thanks