The Glock 21SF was one of the faster pistols on the plate-rack drill, and all the testers liked its trigger pull. It was also deemed most accurate. Photos by James Walters and Nathan Reynolds.

Afterwards I asked my four gun testers to rate the pistols using scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best) numeric scale, and we came up with scores listed in the accompanying table. To complement this subjective rating, I asked everyone to lists any comments they had about each pistol.

I found it a bit strange that while they rated the M&P45’s sights and accuracy highly, it finished last in the plate stage. Go figure.

The only malfunctions we experienced were when the Taurus pistol’s magazine dropped free, seemingly of its own accord, which happened with two different shooters (once for each).

We also experienced difficulty seating one of the M&P magazines unless it was inserted exactly centered in the magazine well.

Three of the shooters found the Glock’s magazine release a bit difficult to depress. As for trigger control, it came as no surprise that my four assistants--1911 shooters to a man--found the shorter throw of the Glock more to their liking.

Everyone was in agreement that the XD 45 had the most ergonomically pleasing grip, although one said that had we installed the large palm swell on the M&P45 rather than the medium-sized one, the S&W most likely would have gotten his vote.

Three of the shooters managed to pinch the pinkies of their right hands when performing combat reloads with the Taurus, which accounts for its low score in that category. But in fairness it must be pointed out again that the 24/7 had the shortest grip frame of the four guns.

As they say, the numbers don’t lie. Granted, a majority of the grading was based on subjective measures, and one man’s treasure is another man’s junk, but in most cases the scores were pretty darned close--meaning you really can’t go wrong with any of these guns, depending on how you weight various handling/ shooting characteristics.

Test Results
TIMED FIRE DRILL
Pistol	Time (sec.)*
Springfield XD 45	23.3
Smith & Wesson M&P 45	24.8
Glock 21 SF	26.0
Taurus 24/7 Pro:	26.8
PLATE RACK DRILL
Springfield XD 45	41.3
Glock 21 SF	41.8
Taurus 24/7 Pro	43.0
Smith & Wesson M&P45	45.1
ERGONOMICS
Pistol	Avg. Score*
Springfield XD 45	8.5
Smith & Wesson M&P45	7.8
Glock 21 SF	7.5
Taurus 24/7 Pro	7.0
TRIGGER CONTROL
Glock 21 SF	8.0
Springfield XD 45	8.5
Taurus 24/7 Pro	7.3
Smith & Wesson M&P45	7.3
RECOIL CONTROL
Smith & Wesson M&P45	8.3
Springfield XD 45	8.0
Glock 21 SF	7.8
Taurus 24/7 Pro	7.5
SIGHTS
Smith & Wesson M&P45	8.3
Glock 21 SF	8.0
Springfield XH45	7.8
Taurus 24/7 Pro	7.5
ACCURACY**
Glock 21 SF	8.3
Smith & Wesson M&P45	8.3
Springfield XD 45	7.8
Taurus 24/7 Pro	6.3
EASE OF RELOADING
Springfield XD45	8.3
Glock 21 SF	7.0
Smith & Wesson M&P45	6.5
Taurus 24/7 Pro	4.3
EASE OF DISASSEMBLY
Springfield XD 45	9.0
Smith & Wesson M&P45	8.3
Taurus 24/7 Pro	8.3
GLock 21 SF	5.0
*Rounded to the nearest tenth ** Based on speed drills, not rest testing