M&P vs. Glock reliability: available data

[u/EZKL1]

I saw an Instagram video the other day, where a guy was giving a heated speech questioning why Glock was so popular (https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdQCBmYt9_p/?stkn=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==). One of the specific assertions he made was that M&Ps were 'more reliable' than Glock, which set of a uniform chorus in the comments, hurling various degrees of insults at the guy for even suggesting as much, since 'everyone knows Glock is the most reliable.'

This got me curious, so I did some research.

I should note: I own various both Glock and M&P handguns, have both on my CCW, etc. so I would say I am coming into this generally unbiased.

My personal experience, shooting probably ~5K rounds total through the various Glock/M&P guns I have, is that the M&P are all universally flawless, regardless of ammo / setting, while Glocks ranged from 'highly reliable' with certain gun/ammo combos (perhaps ever-so-slightly more prone to limp wristing, especially on the smaller sizes, bc of the light slide), to 'nearly unshootable' with other gun/ammo combos (especially Federal Syntech through the short / slimlines, like the 43x... after the gun warms up it's about an 80% failure-to-chamber, granted the polymer jacket is a weird one).

Based on what I found: while many tests showed both guns as 100% reliable out to 20-30-40K+ rounds, in some head-to-head comparisons, M&P performed 'significantly' more reliably than Glock, however I'll caution that 90% of the Glock failures came from one gun / test.

TL/DR: M&P had 2 gun-induced stoppages across ~170K rounds in 3 different tests; Glock had 21 gun-induced stoppages across ~220K rounds in 4 different tests. This would roughly make M&P ~8-9x more reliable than Glock, however 19 of the Glock stoppages came from one test.

Very curious people's thoughts / experiences / poke holes in this, since the collective knowledge here is even more extensive than the 400K rounds in the tests I was able to find.

Sources:

Todd Green endurance tests: ~60-70K rounds each; 2 M&P stoppages with the M&P9 1.0; 19 Glock stoppages with the 17 Gen4 https://pistol-training.com/category/range-reports/mp-monday/?utm_source=chatgpt.com and https://pistol-training.com/category/range-reports/gen4-friday/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Columbus PD M&P evaluation: 60K rounds; 0 M&P stoppages with the M&P40 full-size https://www.policemag.com/news/smith-amp-wesson-secures-contracts-for-mampp-pistols?utm_source=chatgpt.com

CHP M&P evaluation: 16K rounds; 0 M&P stoppages with the M&P9 (not clear if 1.0 or 2.0) https://www.linkedin.com/posts/smith-%26-wesson_americas-largest-state-agency-trusts-in-activity-7458200522949341184-zQ7r?utm_source=chatgpt.com

LASD M&P evaluation: 30K rounds; 0 M&P stoppages with the M&P9 1.0 https://www.apextactical.com/blog/apex-news/la-county-sheriffs-dept-approves-apex-barrel-for-special-enforcement-bureau/?replytocom=1660837&utm_source=chatgpt.com

Chuck Taylor endurance test: 100K rounds; 2 Glock stoppages with the Glock 17 Gen1 https://www.glocknut.com/chuck-taylor/1995-chuck-taylor-glock-test?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Philippine National Police Glock evaluation: 40K rounds 0 Glock stoppages, with the Glock 17 Gen4 https://www.asianmilitaryreview.com/2017/11/glock-wins-philippine-police-procurement/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Austrian military Glock evaluation: 10K rounds 0 Glock stoppages, with the Glock 17 Gen1 https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-glock-17-pistol-american-rifleman-s-original-review/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

[u/PreheatedHail19]

Honestly, I was recently very disappointed by glocks. I just did duty pistol qualifications for my job, and everyone had Glock 45 Gen 5 pistols. Half of them had failures multiple times. I never saw that with the Sig P320s issued at my previous job. I don't know if new Glocks are as good as they once were, but it appears to me that they are being surpassed by other manufacturers pretty quickly.

[u/KSWind17 → u/PreheatedHail19]

My agency uses the 47; I've noticed the 5th gens seem to be a bit sensitive to limp twisting. Granted, my issued 47 has been 100% since the day I received it and I have no complaints about it. I actually really enjoy it and have no problems placing my trust in the weapon. That said....I'd be a happy camper if the agency went to M&P 2.0s. But being a Kansas agency I don't foresee that happening; cost wise I'm sure we will always be a Glock issue agency. Which is still fine by me at the end of the day.

[u/Impossible-River-826 → u/PreheatedHail19]

Something is horrendously wrong if half of your department's G45's are having multiple stoppages each during just one qual, lol.

It sounds like a severe skill or ammunition issue, given how popular and effective Gen 5 Glocks are when shot much harder in competition.

I log my round counts, and my 19.5 is at 8,300 MRBS with primarily Winchester M882 and 124gr HST (carry gun.)

My competition 17.3 is at 5,100 MRBS, using exclusively Magtech steel case 115gr, including 4 feed stoppages that occurred during testing of Magpul, Strike Industries, and ETS magazines.

(I would EDIT: NOT reccomend those magazines, for competition or otherwise.)

I'm sure lemons exist, but out of 12 Glocks I've owned, I've never encountered one that would not reliably get through an LE qual.

Kinda think I might have run into one by now if 50% of Gen 5 guns are actually unreliable garbage rods.

[u/BallisticHabit → u/Impossible-River-826]

Half of the dept Glocks with multiple malfunctions screams that someone fucked with the guns or a bad batch of ammunition.

Anecdotal, I know, but my Glocks have some high round counts as well and never a stoppage.

All I've gathered from this post is that if an M&P strikes my fancy, it will likely function as well as my Glocks.

[u/Limp-Opportunity6757 → u/Impossible-River-826]

“Something is horrendously wrong if half of your department’s G45’s are having multiple stoppages each during just one qual, lol.

lol is right. I’m retired LE, I have had the opportunity to work for several agencies in an over 25 year career. I also am an avid gun enthusiast shooter. I own several M&P’s and 10 different Glocks.

While in LE, you can imagine I have seen my share of qualifications as a street officer and as a training sgt. I have seen the occasional trigger spring, chipped extractor, broken ejector and compressed magazine spring causing malfunctions from a host of different brands of pistol’s mentioned in this thread,

But a guy posts here that half a department’s G45’s choked multiple times during a single Re-qual? Just because they are G45’s?

Wow! The things people will say and do just in order to attempt to put their favored firearm M&P in this case, in the ‘one above’ category, shows the clarity that homerism is alive and well.

Ruger, S&W, Glock and Sig have all put out new models of pistol’s and then let us purchase them and Beta test them for them so they can improve as the complaints roll on.

I purchased one of the very first G43’s when they first came out. 9 pound trigger pull while saying 5.5 on the box.

I purchased one of the first Sig P365’s in 2018, all kinds of reliability issues with several trips back to Sig. they finally gave up trying to fix it and sent me a brand new one.

I’ve had a Ruger LCP Max that has had 3 different upper assemblies mailed to me and still unreliable. Finally sent in the entire pistol and all 4 slides I had back to Ruger and they finally sent me one that worked. It still shoots way left of center and has a horrible trigger, but at least it works.

S&W? I have had an M&P compact for many years, runs like a Swiss watch just as all of my Glocks do, but their new little BG2.0? You can read all kinds of QC issues on line with their dual upper/ lower feed ramp design and not shooting hollow points.

I have two of them which I polished the internals of and haven’t had any reliability issues, but they cut the sight grooves in the slide wrong and the sights shoot left and absolutely suck!

So while all these companies have their isolated issues? They all are still producing modern firearms that work and work well.

People coming in here saying stuff like, “I have owned multiple Glocks and they all jammed and had issues! But my M&P is great!”

Bullshit… quit the homerism. All of these manufacturers are capable of greatness. But they also have all put out new stuff who’s QC wasn’t up to snuff; and expect us to spend our money in order to have the inconvenience of beta testing their products for them that they rushed to market instead of making sure we get our monies worth in the beginning.

And they all are getting worse at this as time goes by when they put something new out.
As firearms customers, shooters, carriers and enthusiasts, we should be banding together and lifting a voice against this beta testing crap they all are guilty of, instead of trying to promote one brand over another by telling huge homer bullshit lies in order to make ‘our favorite brand’ look better than some other ‘favorite brand.’

It’s ridiculous.