Plastic's fantastic in law enforcement circles. Our expert shooters wring out and compare four top contenders.
By Paul Scarlata
Throughout history, technological advances in firearms were just as likely to be greeted with derision as with enthusiasm. Fans of the matchlock musket distrusted the flintlock, while a few dozen decades later partisans of muzzleloading scoffed at the new concept of metallic cartridges. Later everyone believed that repeating firearms were too complicated and likely to get out of order in the field. And those smallbore, jacketed bullets could not possibly stop a determined enemy soldier like a heavy, slow-moving lead projectile. Or how about police using semiauto pistols instead of revolvers? The very idea was too ridiculous to contemplate.
Where it all began: The first of the truly successful polymer pistols was the revolutionary Glock 17. The so-called Third Generation pistol includes a finger-groove grip, accessory rail, extended magazine release and slide-stop lever.
Well, as history has proven, the above examples were not the first time the traditionalists among us were wrong, and they won't be the last.
The last two decades of the 20th century saw radical changes on the U.S. handgunning scene, the two most momentous being American law enforcement agencies switching en masse from the revolver to the self-loading pistol and the introduction of pistols that used frames, and other parts, made from polymer. While traditionalists were guardedly pessimistic about the first, they went absolutely ballistic over the second. Plastic pistols for cops?
Based on an average of three five-shot groups fired from a rest at 50 feet. Velocities are an average of five rounds chronographed 15 feet from the muzzle.
Everyone knew that real firearms were made from steel and walnut. They warned us that polymer handguns ("Tupperware pistols," as some liked to call them) would quickly wear out, degrade, melt or dissolve and scoffed at the notion that plastic could be as tough as steel. Despite these dire predictions and downright hatred directed toward them, polymer-frame pistols quickly became the hottest items on the police handgun market.
Heckler & Koch's newest entry in the plastic pistol market is the P2000. Visible here are the ambidextrous slide stop and magazine-release levers. (Inset) The P2000 comes with four interchangeable grip inserts to adapt the pistol to a variety of hand sizes.
And for good reason. Modern polymers provide equal, if not superior, resistance to wear, abrasion, solvents, oils and environmental extremes as steel and alloy-frame pistols. The frames can be molded into a variety of ergonomic shapes that do not require separate grip panels, permitting them to use high-capacity magazines without increasing the bulk of the grip, making them adaptable to persons with smaller hands. They are lighter than steel or alloy, which is a big plus when you have to lug one around for eight or 10 hours a day, and they have the added advantage of flexing under recoil, absorbing some of the recoil pulse so they shoot softer than heavier handguns.
The newest entry in the plastic pistol market is S&W's Military & Police. It has ambidextrous slide-stop levers, while the magazine catch can be switched from port to starboard. (Inset) The M&P has three different-size palm swells so the shooter can adapt the pistol to his hand size.
According to recent studies, it is estimated that more than 60 percent of American police officers now carry some sort of polymer-frame pistol. It didn't take civilian shooters long to recognize that the same features that made polymer pistols so practical for police service made them equally adaptable as home-defense, concealed carry, trail and competition handguns. Today almost every handgun maker of note offers a pistol with a polymer frame. So the question arises, Which plastic pistol is the best?
Springfield's XD has ambidextrous magazine-release catches and an external grip safety. Its ergonomic grip provides excellent control and natural pointability.
While there are many polymer-frame pistols that I could have included in this comparison test, I decided to limit myself to four of the brands that are most popular with American law enforcement agencies and thus acquired a Glock 17, Springfield XD, H&K P2000 and Smith & Wesson M&P.
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