Last year, I posted several reviews, including full-size M&P 10mm pistol with an upgraded spring, Crossbreed’s modular purse and bellyband holster, a Blackhawk T-series open carry holster for the desert and woods, and Primary Arms’ version of the Holosun 507C-X2 with a chevron reticle.
It’s been a little over a year, so I wanted to give readers a follow-up on how going with all of that gear. Long story short — everything is doing pretty well with some minor issues that have cropped up with the Crossbreed purse board.
The Gun and the ‘Sun
I’m pleased to report that I’ve had no problems with the Smith & Wesson M&P 10mm. I know that other reviewers had issues, which is why I upgraded the spring. That seems to have been the ticket, because I’ve had no malfunctions in over 500 rounds of live-fire with lots of racking and dry-fire along the way.
Like all springs, it broke in and it still soaks up a lot of that 10mm recoil just as it should and returns it all to battery reliably.
In the review for the spring (which was also a review of the pistol), I explained my reasoning for carrying a 10mm pistol. Fortunately, I haven’t had any need real-world live-fire defensive fire. But on the range, I’ve found that if I can rest on something or assume a kneeling position, this gun is quite accurate out to 100+ yards.
A big part of that accuracy is the chevron reticle in the sight. Instead of relying on a multi-MOA sized dot, you have a tiny aim point at the top of the chevron that allows for much tighter groups with more speed than is possible with irons or a traditional red dot.
At 100 yards, it’s pretty easy to hit a four-inch steel plate by putting the chevron on top of the plate like a hat, which adjusts for the bullet drop. That allows for accurate fire beyond point-blank range.
After about 11 months, the Holosun’s included CR1632 battery ran out. The 507C-X2 warned me that was coming by flashing the reticle…unlike most other red dots I’ve used. I went out and bought two new batteries, putting one in the sight and one in my wallet for a quick change next the time it flashes (that should be a long time as the site is rated for 50,000 hours).
My Purse Board Broke, But It’s OK
On a trip through Texas, I stopped at a good BBQ place in New Braunfels. The food, of course, was excellent (it was New Braunfels, after all), but the booth we sat in was a little tight. On the way out of the booth, I accidentally put my weight on my purse without realizing that the bottom of the purse board was resting on the corner of the table. The result was a loud SNAP sound that the whole restaurant heard but couldn’t identify.
Back in the car, I figured out that the whole bottom of the board had snapped loose from the main board that holds the gun. I could see that over time the weight of the 10mm had weakened the corner of the board, which was probably designed with a smaller pistol in mind.
I tore the fabric and discarded the bottom segment, and was left with a Pack Board instead of a Purse Board. For my purse setup, that wasn’t a problem because other things in there keep the gun vertical and secure. For women with a different purse setup, that could be problematic.
The T-series Holster Is Still Like New and Unexpectedly Useful
The Blackhawk T-series OWB holster gets at least some of the credit for keeping the number of defensive gun uses down to zero. Not only has it held up through tons of outdoor activities and yard work, but it holds the gun in such a way as to be not only visible, but very visible. Add to that the fact that I’m carrying a full-sized pistol with a big holographic sight on the top, and it makes for a very gnarly-looking rig.
During the summer months, I spent a lot of time out doing yard work at night to avoid the heat. The neighborhood I thought was a nice “manufactured home subdivision” full of nice abuelos and abuelas turned out to be a totally different place after midnight. We figured out that there are several drug houses along with one that had been taken over by a homeless bike theft gang that takes advantage of a mentally disabled guy who lives there.
On one occasion, one of the unhoused (isn’t that the preferred polite term in 2023?) bicycle appropriators decided he’d come up into the yard to see if he could let us know who the boss in the neighborhood was…or something. When I turned to face him and he saw the big pistol riding on my hip, his tough guy walk suddenly turned into the human equivalent of a dog with its tail between its legs. He muttered a quick apology and left.
It seems that attitudes can change. Between this and other occasions where they tried to threaten some other women in the neighborhood, the gang has seen the gun on my hip dozens of times, including once outside the holster when we helped an elderly woman clear some sheds they’d been sleeping in against her wishes. The useless local police in this Democrat-run city won’t do anything about the gang and the activities they engage in, but they seem to have learned how to be nice to other people in the neighborhood between bike thefts and fentanyl binges.
Before you jump into the comments and accuse me of telling tall tales, keep in mind where I live. Having a durable, visible, and fast deterrent on hand might not be necessary in the gated communities in the functional states some readers come from. But, if you spend enough time in New Mexico, you’ll figure out that the normal concealed carry Fudd rules often don’t apply here in the Land of Enchantment.
Stay safe out there.
Thanks for the helpful update. I have a full size M&P with an optic cut. I’ve never used a red dot on a pistol, but I’ve been considering one with that same reticle.
I’m glad I don’t live in Jennifer’s neighborhood. It sounds like they have some undesirable folks around. Thanks to the politicians for wrecking our country. I normally think OC with a big rig like that is overkill, but in her case it makes a lot of sense.
Me too. It sounds like she needs to think about carrying a rifle when out in her yard if that is what her neighborhood is coming to.
way to stand up to the scumbags ( I’m not politically correct ) in the neighborhood Nikita ,keep up the good work.
My only experience in N.M. was a very busy gas station off of I-40. The second I get out the vehicle people start begging for money, I kindly declined. A PCS move so not armed.
Same here. Driven through NM only twice, both times on the I-40 and only passing through. Drove right through Albuquerque without stopping and chose to fill up in smaller towns along the Eastern side of the state. Depressing.
I really think it’s deliberate, what the Leftist-controlled governments are doing in states like NM.
Crash the system.
Let things get so bad, the masses go all 1791 France and get the ‘revolution’ rolling. Yeah, *that* revolution, roll out the guillotines, and “Off with their heads!”
Only one *tiny* problem with that plan, us, when we refuse to go along with it, by force, if necessary…
Why would I call you a prevaricating author? My cook county ILL hood is going to he!! I don’t share half the BS going on here. I got my wife to carry at home & away…the bums are getting bolder 🙄.
I used to live in Chicago proper right off of Milwaukee near Wicker Park. Things were getting pretty bad before we left in 2017 but they have gotten so much worse since then. The burbs for the most part were nothing like in the city proper -especially to the north until you got to Waukegan. That’s a hole in its own right.
Back in the 80’s I lived in Albany Park & Montrose near Damen for about 5 years. You could walk around Damen & Montrose at night without fear. Not now. Did a lot of business in Chiraq but now I won’t go for any reason except a subpoena😧
Even in 2017 it was pretty safe most places if you kept your situational awareness. Since I was not trying to sell or purchase drugs I did not feel threatened by inter-gang violence anywhere . I wasn’t foolish enough to attempt to go for walks in Humboldt Park after dark but I did ride my bike through there during the day without fear.and just about anywhere in town during daylight hours.
Today?.not on my life…
“The Blackhawk T-series OWB holster gets at least some of the credit for keeping the number of defensive gun uses down to zero. Not only has it held up through tons of outdoor activities and yard work, but it holds the gun in such a way as to be not only visible, but very visible. … and it makes for a very gnarly-looking rig.”
Yep, that it does.
I can’t say for a fact in the times I used my Blackhawk T-series to open carry that its deterred …. but there has been a couple of times a few of the local thugs acting like they were looking for targets of opportunity simply left from a place I was after eyeing the Glock 22 carrying in the Blackhawk, a very short heard back-n-forth ‘hey uh lets not do this right now might get shot’ type of conversation between them in one case. Of course this could have happened with any holster, and there have been a few times in the past where its happened when open carrying with other holsters too.
Cool especially the reticle design. Not sure if my eyes would allow it to focus enough to be useful if it isn’t a prism type but could see that being a lot of fun with 9×25 Dillon at range (if one gets bored and has more reloading equipment than sense). All the same happy to see more good 10mm options and way more ammo and components floating around.
I have astigmatism. My red dot is a smudge. I checked out a green Holosun circle dot reticle, and it looked good. I haven’t seen one of these chevron reticles in the wild.
Same but I will let you know how it looks if I run into one.
I also suffer from pretty bad astigmatism and have never been much of a fan of modern optics although “modern” might not be the best term since it has been a few years since I’ve even tried any of the newest tech.
Iron sights have always worked well for me and I am not a fan of electronic tech on firearms. I prefer the KISS principle when it comes to defensive gear. Then again I prefer the kids keep off of my lawn as well. They should take their toys and play in somone else’s yard.
Depending on definitions of old vs new and budget there is always the acog to get a lot of the performance in a simple not electronic (unless we are getting into radioactive decay) package.
I put a set of Trijcons on my G19 back in the mid-90’s. They were okay and kind of neat but have long since gone dark. The whole thought of buying new every few years turned me off and I really have no urge to buy more for the old gluck or to put them on any of my many other guns.
Google Holosun with Vulcan Reticle. There is a green one. It is nice and plays well with astigmatism.
I’ve got green and red dots, no vulcans, and green doesn’t fix much with my astigmatism. Wonder if a different shape would?
Interestingly, what fixes it with my AR is a 3x magnifier with my red dot. I guess it has something to do with adding a good lens in front of the stupid lens in my eye?
Safe – I have a “ACSS reticle” (red chevron) on a full-size 9mm Glock. Scored 8/10 on the Eli Dicken Challenge with 65-yr-old eyes and hands.
The chevron point is more precise than a 3MOA red dot that annoyingly covers the target. I have the same problem with tritium iron sights.
Well if I ever get around to pistol optics the chevron seems like the way to go much like the ACOG reticle. Wonder if tritium+fiber optic is an option there. Funny enough the tritium sights work great for me at 40+ yards as it is just a little green circle to focus on in a white dot.
9i0% of the time, I carry a GLOCK Mod 22 (.40 S&W Cal). No onehas spotted it yet. It all depends on how you carry.
Investigation of a Monster: The Police Report of the Louisville Mass Casualty Incident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezFvY2oFTKI
Yikes. Tnx for the link, 40.
There’s a reason they didn’t talk about him that much.
Yep, big pharma is a big problem. FDA approval process & possible corruption needs to be explored as well.
Sorry, but no one should be allowed to buy a gun after they’ve started any medication that “may cause suicidal thoughts.” Add them to NICS or create a 2nd DB. It would end a lot of suicide by gun and suicide by cop like this one, other mass shootings, etc.
Did you have any issues with the aggressive stippling on the grip?
I’ve heard that some people sand it down. You might want it for 10mm.
Good article overall, but why (once your battery failed at ~1/6 its rated service life) would you continue to credit the manufacturer’s estimate?
the manufactures estimate and ‘rated service’ doesn’t include battery usage from the thing coming on when you move around and staying on as a result of that.
Worst-case-scenario (even if they mean the batteries die after simply existing for that long, whether it ever turns on or not) 50Khours is 5.7 years; the X2 was only released in 2020, so even if she had the very first one that rolled off the line, there is no conceivable way it got anywhere close to their estimate.
With many electronic devices the boot-up/warmup sequence tends to draw a lot more power than once it is just running. If the automatic turn-on is cycling on and off constantly it is conceivable that it could draw more power during the active portions of the day than it would if it just kept itself on all the time.
I’ve got a laser range finder that runs on 3v lithium CR2 batteries. They have a pretty long lifespan and an aggressive power-save mode but if the unit is being carried or bumped around it can blow through a battery pretty darn quickly in a day or so even if it isn’t being used.
Those batteries are expensive at local stores so I ended up buying in bulk from online so at least I would have fresh batteries ready when I needed the thing.
5.7 years if the design on duty cycle is 25%, when its on all the time due to movement in those times the on duty cycle is 100% meaning its going to use a lot more power from the battery… thus its practical and reasonable that a battery in such a device would not actually last the full battery rated time if not at the design on duty cycle of 25% all the time.
Shes using the Primary Arms’ version of the Holosun 507C-X2, not the Holosun 507C-X2. The the Primary Arms’ version is rated 10,001 – 25,000 Hours battery life (not the 50,000 hours she points to in her article).
A. Best-Case: As with practically every product, rated life would mean 50Khrs of actual use, to include every moment from activation (intentional or not) to auto-shutoff, but not the large majority of the time it’s idling in a drawer or safe.
B. Worst-Case: To be extremely generous, we’d give them a pass even if the battery died 50Khrs after being put into the device, without ever being turned on. Problem is, it died ~8Khrs after Ms. Sensiba bought it, and NMT 30Khrs after the whole product line came into existence.
C. If, as I think you’re suggesting, auto-on / off can diminish battery life worse than continuous use, that would mean the fundamental premise of the company’s whole product line is inherently flawed, and there are no conceivable circumstances where the product can both meet rated service life and deliver any value-added.
Fail regardless, unless I’m missing something big.
.40,
Ah, posted my above response to Nikita before seeing yours (even though it appeared after). The combination of duty cycle and it being a copy with a different rating makes sense. Thanks!
Is 50,000 hours the rated battery life or the rated life of the LED which illuminates the reticle?
Last I heard 50,000 hours is an oft-quoted lifespan of low-power LEDs (light-emitting diodes which are the standard component that everyone uses these days to illuminate something) before they might burn out. I cannot begin to imagine a small lithium “coin” battery supplying any useful amount of current to anything for anywhere close to 50,000 hours.
A few seconds of research led me to a source which claimed that CR2032 lithium coin batteries have a capacity on the order of 240 milliAmp-hours. Such a battery would only be able to source 4.8 microAmps for 50,000 hours. Last I checked, LEDs (light-emitting diodes) need something like 1 milliAmp to illuminate which is more than 200 times greater than 4.8 microAmps.
IIRC, s&w went with a 1:10 twist on the 2.0.
I believe that was a good decision. IMO, the usual 1:16 does not take full advantage of the 10mm’s capability, especially at longer ranges and with hotter loads.
Sounds like you might need to carry a rifle in your neighborhood or at least in your backyard if things are getting that bad. A pistol, even serious iron like a 10mm, isn’t going to really cut it against feral packs of multiples.
A lone thug may turn and tuck tail but once they group up can tend to get more “assertive” in their behavior. Perhaps a couple of neighborhood watch team patrols regularly carrying rifles is more like it to get the message across that you and your neighbors aren’t the droids they are looking for.
If the local plods don’t warn or set an example for “brandishing” and “intimidation” of those unfortunate unhomed individuals.
True. If things are really getting that bad then it is likely that the powers that be in her locality are quite bluish and a large part of the problem themselves.
Here in Florida you’re going to be arrested if you are seen carrying a rifle out of doors unless you can prove you are hunting. Florida is pretty squeamish about visible firearms and fearful of weapons in general. Gunahine state indeed….
Jennifer
Thank you so much for this article. I really want the M&P 10mm but my LGS said hold off. Jennifer please let us know who manufacturer’s the spring and what weight it is.
muckraker,
Why did your local gun store tell you to hold-off on the M&P 10mm?
Some people were having issues, which is why she changed the spring.
Click the first link in the article. It takes you to an article about the spring.
Or maybe he wanted you to wait and buy a performance center ported 5.6″ one for just a few more dollars….
Darn it! I have been thinking about a semi-auto pistol chambered in 10mm Auto. And I carry a S&W M&P40 full-size semi-auto pistol every day. Now I have to seriously consider acquiring and probably even carrying the M&P in 10mm Auto.
Additional motivation: I am keenly interested in handgun hunting for white-tailed deer at ranges up to 50 yards. My recent “equipment check” with my .44 Magnum revolver (with 8-inch barrel) did not go very well at 35 yards–my shots were all over the place and I don’t think it was me. If this M&P in 10mm Auto can shoot consistent 4-inch groups at even 50 yards (author claimed 4-inch groups at 100 yards), I am having a hard time finding a reason to NOT buy one.
Maybe it is time to retire my M&P40 chambered in .40 S&W and move up to 10mm Auto.
Bonus: I believe that I could load and shoot my .40 S&W ammunition that I already have on-hand in a semi-auto pistol chambered for 10mm Auto.
Ameriglo needs to make standard height night sights for optic ready (C.O.R.E) M&P pistols. Not everyone wants an optic or super high snagging iron sights. They also need to make them for HK VP-9 OR models too.
That won’t happen. I switched mine out for tritium sights since I don’t have an optic on it. (.40 CORE)
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