Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 Metal HD Gun Review

The Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 Metal HD. Let’s check it out. (Available Here)

 

Guys, it’s a cycle. We’ve gone from steel, to aluminum, to polymer, and then back to steel and aluminum. And we still have polymer. I mean, there’s a lot of choices.

This is the golden age of the firearm world. Today we’re going to take a look at the Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0. And this is their metal series, and it’s the HD. This is brand new from Smith & Wesson.

There’s a lot of guys that are going to metal. Yes, it’s heavier, but man, it shoots extremely well. Whether it’s competitive or even home defense.

This just gives you a great option, and it has that M&P 2.0 reliability. There’s a lot of cool features about the metal series. So we’re going to take a deep dive, check out all the details, and a big thank you to Smith & Wesson for sending the M&P 2.0 Metal HD.

And while Smith & Wesson sent this for me to keep, we’re going to go through the pros and the cons. All right guys, the Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 Metal HD. HD stands for heavy duty.

This is an all metal handgun, has a stainless steel frame, so it is weighty. But this is made for competitive shooters, but also if you want to get shots on target accurately, this is a great way to do it very quickly. One of the things about a heavier gun is it just gives it more weight, which mitigates the recoil.

So let’s go ahead and drop our 17 round magazine. And you get two magazines with the handgun. Check the chamber, gun’s empty.

So this is a full size firearm, and magazines, there’s a little bit of a bevel here on the mag well, and of course the mags are tapered as well. So they go in really well, nice base plate. Now one thing, I’m going to start with the grip because we have a steel grip and we have checkering coming down in this panel.

But it has the polymer back straps that are typical for your M&P series. And you have four different options, so you can really set this up however you want to. And there is a polymer insert in the front.

So while you have all metal, you have that texturing of the polymer that’s going to give you a good solid grip. And one of the things about the metal, while we have all this checkering, and this is really nice, but the polymer can be definitely more aggressive, easier to get a hold of. Now one thing about the M&P series traditionally is the texturing has been really aggressive.

And here we have just a polymer M&P 2.0, and then we have the texturing. This is noticeably more aggressive than the texturing on the new metal HD. But man, it’s got a lot of grip to it.

One thing about the M&P is to me, it can be a little too aggressive. If you’re shooting it a lot, it can wear. Plus this catches on your clothes.

While Smith & Wesson really has a solid texturing on the grip, this to me is toned down just enough. And I really like this. I like the texturing feel.

The frame is a forged stainless steel, black armor knight finish. And we have a stainless steel slide with the black armor knight. These are forged.

The serrations are more aggressive. You can see they come up over the top of the slide. And then here at the back, it actually has these cocking ears, which I really like.

It allows you to get a little more leverage when you’re pulling that back. But even up front, I mean, this has a very aggressive texturing. I really like this.

Nice and wide and easy to grab. We have a five inch stainless steel barrel. So you’re going to get full length.

And we have a three slot Picatinny rail. We have our takedown lever. The slide stops actually come out just a little bit to make it really easy.

And they are ambidextrous. Your magazine release right here, very easy to get to. And it is switchable to the other side.

Now there are no frame safeties, which I really like. And a lot of times on metal guns, you will have the frame safety. But with this, with the striker fire system, you don’t need it because we have that little trigger shoe to block the action.

And since we’re talking about it, this is a flat face trigger. You can see the shoe that just blocks that little safety. So once you depress it, it disengages.

And then it comes back to a wall right at 90 degrees. And man, a really crisp break, tactile and audible. Reset really quick as well.

And you’ll notice that there is a little trigger stop here at the back. So it just comes and rests right on the trigger stop. And trigger pull weight with our Lyman trigger gauge and brown nails.

Three pounds, 14.3 ounces. Three pounds, 6.5 ounces. That is a really nice trigger pull.

I love the design in the metal. They have these little cavities and they are all throughout the frame. I think it just really makes this look nice.

And that is a nice touch by Smith & Wesson. It does relieve some of the weight and yet it keeps all the integrity. But it just looks good.

Then here we have the dust cover just coming out just a touch past the pick rail. Trigger guard is angled, comes down, has a nice undercut right into the trigger. So it gives you a good solid high-ride grip.

And we have a very low bore axis. Now, what is it about a bore axis? Well, if you really think about holding the gun way down here, when you fire it, it’s going to violently lift up. And that’s the mass of the slide coming back.

It’s not the recoil of the round as much as the force of that slide coming back. So the higher you get up on the grip and get closer to the slide, the more it’s going to ride directly over your hand. That is one thing for me that I really like, that lower bore axis.

It just shoots better. It shoots flatter. Now, these little cavities, they’re not really made for gas pedals or just recoil management, but you can use them for that.

And there is a little bit of a cut. We’ll be checking that out at the range when we get it down there. The back strap’s full.

It kind of comes out, and then it stops about right here. Now, you have this smoother area here. You have a smooth area right here between the trigger and your trigger finger.

And so it’s going to allow you to kind of just bring it into that cavity. And then it gives it just a little more comfort, a little more shortened length to be able to get to a full pad on that trigger. And of course, it’s according to what size hands you have.

But with a larger back strap, it does have a little bit of a wing that comes up. And that’s just going to go across here. It’s going to give you a little more distance with your back strap.

And so that, especially if you have larger hands, it’s very important to set that upright. Because for me, this is the smaller back strap. It allows the pad of my finger to rest right on the trigger.

And right here, it rests very naturally. If you have bigger hands, then you’re going to need more length. And so that grip just brings it out, and it gives you a little more distance.

And that is as important as just the way it feels. It’s getting that distance to where, naturally, your pad fits right on the trigger. And that way, you’re going to have much more control.

And again, with four different options, this is actually the medium, and then we have the small. So for even smaller hands, you can go with this. And again, it’s really important.

You don’t want that tip of your finger hitting that, and you want to definitely engage that safety. This also has the 18-degree grip angle, which is more in line with your 1911, which gives you a natural point of aim. It’s one of the things about the 1911.

It’s very pointable, and so is this gun. Now, one thing about it, with that longer slide, it gives it some real balance. And it’s really thin, but yet, it just swings very well.

And with the metal frame, it gives it a little more heft so you don’t go past your target. Now, the rear sight is a serrated U-notch sight. And then here at the front, we have a night vision.

And this is a tritium sight. And it has that yellow-green color to it that allows you to see it during the day. And then at night, your tritium will take over.

And it is just dovetailed in. So this just gives you an option. If you like it, you can go this way.

If not, you can switch these sights out. I love that matte finish right here of the Armor Knight finish. Then here we have the Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0. And this, of course, has the polymer frame.

We have those grip inserts as well. The one thing about this, again, is that it is more aggressive. They’ve kind of toned this down just a touch.

And I like that. This can be a little too aggressive, which a lot of guys love it. But this is a good, solid handgun.

One thing’s for sure, you’re not gonna let go of this gun. But you can see, of course, this is a little bit of an older model. I don’t have the front cocking serrations.

Still has the fish scale type serrations. And we just have three-dot sight. But overall, this is a great gun.

I think a big improvement with the trigger, the flat-faced trigger, more than this little hinged trigger. I haven’t been a huge fan of this, and I think Smith & Wesson is going away from it. But this is pretty much the same design.

This just has a lot of upgrades, and it has that stainless steel frame. And I’ll tell you what, guys, there is a huge weight difference. And obviously, this has a longer slide.

But this is definitely a light, very well-made handgun. But again, this is one of their older models. One thing, too, it has the little tool that fits right here at the bottom.

You can take this out, and this allows you to be able to change out your grips. And this actually works as a takedown tool as well. And it just goes in like this, and then you turn it, and it locks it in.

And it gives a little bit of backing behind your base pad. And when it comes to the weight, 38.1 ounces. It is a heavy beast.

But look at the standard 2.0 polymer frame, 26.8 ounces. Even though the slide is longer, this gives you an idea of the difference in weight. Over 10 ounces.

Now, because this is OpticsReady, Smith & Wesson has what they call their Core System. And each of these are an adapter plate for different models of Red Dot. In fact, Smith & Wesson pretty much says this covers the gamut of most of your Red Dot sights, unless it’s just something different.

These are polymer. And one of the things I like about polymer is that it acts like a crush washer. So when you put your sight on here and you tighten it down, it actually gives a little bit with the polymer.

And so you have a lot of choices. This way, you’re not ordering a specific plate for specific optic. You’ve got them all right here and you’re ready to go.

Now here’s your optics cover plate, and we’re gonna check out the Core System. Now here under the plate, you’ll notice that there are a couple of different options to put in your optic for the screws. And then we have these raised circles.

So whatever optic you choose, and this is for the RMR, and you see the corresponding circle. So when this goes in, it just fits down and it locks in around those circles. That’s gonna keep any kind of shift down.

It’s just gonna lock this in. And again, because of the polymer, it’s gonna give just a touch and it’s gonna act as a crush washer. And this is for the Trijicon RMR.

And of course it goes right on here and we’re gonna mount it. Can’t do it because it goes against YouTube policy to mount it, but we’re gonna mount it with the magic of editing. And voila, we have it on.

The one thing I love though about this system is it actually drops it down. It makes it more low on the handgun. So it doesn’t give it that rise.

And you can see it actually goes down below the surface of the slide. Here’s your plate. And again, it fits like a crush washer.

And to be honest, this gun actually looks much better with the red dot sight. It looks like it’s missing something without it because the gun is so large. So we’re gonna take this down to the range.

All right guys, a big thank you to Fiocchi for sponsoring our ammo. All made in the USA. One of the biggest suppliers of ammunition in the country.

And also Lula Loaders for saving our thumbs. Been a big fan of the M&P series, especially the 2.0. They really did some major upgrades. But with the metal, gives it a lot of heft.

This is what people used to shoot with heavy guns. And we’ve gotten really accustomed to that polymer. But there’s something about that metal that just has more slide to frame fit or it just has more balance to it.

And you’ve got that heavier frame that counteracts that heavier slide. So definitely some upgrades. And with this, I mean, it’s just a beautiful handgun.

Lots of features. The cocking serrations are top notch. The grip texturing, and of course, you can set that however you want to.

And I love the core system. 17 plus one in the magazine. It’s a great gun for competitive shooters.

Very little muzzle rise. It comes up and right back down. It just settles in the right spot.

And that’s really what competitive shooters want. It’s not necessarily shooting super flat. It’s being able to repeatedly bring that sight down and get it right back on target for a quick follow-up shot.

And this makes it a very fast shooting gun to deploy. But trigger is exceptional. The M&P triggers originally, that hinged trigger wasn’t a big fan.

But I really like this trigger. It is very crisp, 90 degrees. The big thing is the balance.

I mean, just putting it out, it tracks. It doesn’t overcompensate. When you’re bringing it around, it just stops where you’re wanting to stop.

One of the things about a lighter firearm is that it’ll tend to go a little farther. Just a great competitive option. Or again, if you just want to get a lot of shots on target very quickly and accurately, this is a great gun to have.

Home defense, this would be a beast. 17 plus one gives you a great round capacity. Tell you what, guys, there’s something about that metal frame.

It’s just totally different than the polymer. Whole nother feel. And aside from the original steel frames, which had little texturing, had kind of grips maybe or whatever, the texturing on this is just really what brings both worlds together, polymer and steel.

Good gun. Now guys, I did discover something while I was down at the range. For some reason I missed it at the tabletop, but it’s the trigger reset.

Now the trigger shoots extremely well. You saw the accuracy. In fact, that was the best out of about five, but they were all just on top of each other.

The big thing about the reset is that when you bring back the slide and you pull the trigger, it’s a really nice crisp break. Bring it back, I barely feel the reset. Now I did, I did feel it.

But it’s, when you’re shooting, it makes it a little more difficult to pick that up. So I think that they really need to maybe up the reset just a little bit because nice trigger pull. Very nice.

In fact, it does allow for great accuracy, but just barely hear it. I do barely feel it. If you get used to it and you know it’s there, it’s one thing.

But for some reason, when I came down here, that reset, it was a little tough to pick up. Now, as far as disassembly, we’re gonna drop our magazine, check the chamber, and the gun’s empty. First thing I wanna do is bring back our slide and put it in the slide lock.

And if you’ll look down into the slide, you’ll notice this little yellow green bar. And if we take and just drop that bar down, this just disengages the striker. And it means you don’t have to pull the trigger to disassemble.

If you don’t wanna pull that lever down, you can just pull the trigger. But this just gives you an extra safety measure. And when you reinsert your magazine, it’ll pop it right back into place.

Next, we’re gonna take our lever, bring it in the down position, and then just release your slide, and it comes right off. Here we have our recoil spring and guide rod, and it is all stainless steel. And then our five-inch barrel.

And again, this is stainless steel. It does have the Armanite finish on it, so it’s gonna hold up really well. Interior, the slide’s very well done.

You can see some relief cuts, striker, and we have our safety right here. And then we have the metal frame, the locking block, of course, the rear section. I mean, this is all steel as well.

I mean, this is a heavy-duty pistol. Set up like a striker fire pistol, but yet just beefed up. And guys, that’s all you need to do to field strip.

For reassembly, just drop in your barrel, recoil spring, and guide rod. And then we’re gonna bring it back over our frame. Put it in the slide lock, bring up your lever, drop it.

Now, again, that little green lever that’s down, as soon as you insert your magazine, it puts it right back into place. And so to test for function, we’re gonna have to re-cock it. But I do wanna show you the lever, and it has gone into the up position.

So we drop it, put our magazine in, test for function, and we’re back in business. Otis makes some of the best cleaning equipment out there. They make a number of different kits that are dedicated for different rifles, pistols.

They also have Shooter’s Choice, which makes excellent CLP and bore solvent and different cleaning materials. The Ripcord is one of their signatures, and there’s a whole system based around it. They are suppliers to the U.S. military.

So check out Otis Technologies, highly recommended, and we wanna thank Otis for being a sponsor of the channel. Now you get your Smith & Wesson box. We’re gonna open it up, and of course, here is your handgun.

It comes in this blue little cloth. One of the things with Smith & Wesson, it’s just their color is blue. Under here, we have a lot of accessories.

I’m just gonna go ahead and pull them out. So guys, with the gun, you get your extra magazine, you get those three back straps, and you get the core optics mounting system with the screws. And again, you get that tool that’s in the back of your grip.

Now you don’t have to have this actually inserted to function, but this is a cool way to be able to have that tool handy. Now guys, because this has just been released, I don’t have the MSRP or the price, and of course, that’s easy enough to find out. What are some pros and cons? Let’s talk about pros first.

First off, it’s a very shootable, balanced handgun. It definitely has weight. It’s got great balance.

The texturing is aggressive, and it is aggressive. It’s just not overly aggressive. The back strap system, while you have a metal frame, which is stainless steel, you have this polymer, which adds to a little more give and a little more comfort and more texturing.

And we have the panel in the front. Still have nice checkering that comes down through, but this really just kind of melts in your hand. Balance is very well done, and a lot of it has to do just with the weight.

It’s gonna give you a very solid, more controllable movement from target to target. Of course, you have your Picatinny rail. You can do different things.

I love the slide serrations. They’ve been vastly improved, and they’re very strong, and I love this cocking shelf at the end. Sights, U-notch at the back.

Night vision is my choice. I love night vision, and so this gives you that tritium option as well. Plus, it’s just daylight bright with the yellow-green donut around it.

Controls are Smith & Wesson. The trigger is a big plus. The flat-face trigger, the stop, it’s a very crisp trigger pull, which is gonna give you predictable pulls of the trigger, and it’s gonna allow for great accuracy.

Trigger’s a vast improvement. 17 rounds, and you get two magazines. The heft, I mean, it’s heavy.

The core system for the optics, this is great. You get all your plates. You can put on any kind of red dot you can come up with, and it’s gonna ride very low because these adapter plates are really thin.

So right out of the box, you’re able to take this to the range with a red dot. It’s red dot ready. And of course, with the two magazines, 17 plus one, that just gives you a lot of capacity.

So what are some cons? Well, it’s heavy. I mean, it is definitely a very heavy handgun. This is not something that most people would carry concealed.

Plus, it’s a fairly large gun. So this is great, though, for competition. It’s great for getting shots on target quickly and accurately.

That is the big plus. The forged frame and slide is also a big plus, and the barrel being stainless steel, and then with the Armonite finish, and it has high corrosion resistance. The extra grip panels, that’s just gonna allow you to get this gun in your hand at the exact link to the trigger from your finger.

I love that. I mean, overall, it’s a great handgun, and the M&P9 has been a proven system. This is just going to metal.

So really, other than it just being a little heavier, and it’s gonna cost a little more, those are the two cons that are not really cons. They’re just what they are. It may be a con for you purchasing this handgun, but if not, the original 2.0, and again, this is an older model.

These have been upgraded. So there’s definitely a lot of choices from Smith & Wesson. And you could be like me, and you could jump in with the Bodyguard 2.0. This isn’t 380.

It’s like the complete polar opposite. Great handgun, especially for deep concealment. But if you wanna get things done right, I think this is gonna be a great choice.

So guys, while there is a sea of polymer frame striker fire pistols, it’s really great to see that metal frame. Guys, when you take this out to the range, it is a whole different experience. A lot more control, a little more weight to help with the recoil, and then you have that M&P 2.0 design.

And so this just gives you the best of both worlds. And yet, it’s a little heavier, but still, it really shoots extremely well. And again, a big thank you to Smith & Wesson for sending the M&P 2.0 Metal HD for this review.

Be strong, be of good courage. God bless America. Long live the Republic.

 

-Don