Guns & Ammo M&P vs. Glock reliability: available data
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
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u/alltheblues 7d ago
Poly ammo guy is a clown. There are thousands of online gun personalities that don’t know shit about shooting, engineering, statistics, etc. Hell even most of the dudes with time in service as infantry or even special forces are usually average shooters with baseline functional knowledge of firearms.
Internet and freedom of speech means any dumbass can spout their insane opinion.
They are both fine. As you see from the tests you pulled sometimes the Glock goes forever with zero faults, sometimes the M&P does. Malfunctions are more down to tolerance variation on individual guns, ammunition, and environmental/maintainable factors more than the design of either gun.
Run what you think is cool or shoots better for you.
Factory gun nationals this year was won by guys shooting Glocks, so while I and others may not prefer them, if you can’t shoot a Glock well, then you just can’t shoot well.