I went shopping for a replacement M&P Pro and found a reasonable price on a used gun over at Triangle Shooting Academy (TSA). I’d been watching both Armslist & the Carolina Shooters Club forum for a used Pro since my last one was liberated from my house. I wasn’t seeing any used guns posted for sale unless they had been liberally modified and the seller wanted over $1000 for the firearm. Since I mostly shoot IDPA the excessive modifications would make the gun illegal to shoot. I looked at these “For Sale” ads and thought “Good luck with that!” and waited. And waited. I finally decided I was tired of waiting and started calling every gun store in driving distance. TSA had what I was looking for.
Of note, I paid $75 more than I paid for my 1st used M&P Pro. I bought the first in November 2015 and the second in February 2017 – 15 months apart. They are much more scarce than when I originally shopped for this gun.
In the photo above, you can see the used gun I bought up top and a friend’s CORE below. They are basically the same gun but the CORE has the option of a removable cut out on the slide to place in red dot optics. Also the front and back sites are higher so they can co-witness with the optics, if mounted.
There are two other differences visible in the photo above:
- The CORE had an aftermarket trigger. The Pro does not (in this photo, stay tuned).
- The CORE has the upgraded / stippled small back strap and the Pro has a regular, un-stippled small M&P 9mm back strap.
It appears the previous owner either swapped out the small back strap with another M&P non-Pro owner or S&W ran short and shipped it this way.
I resorted to eBay to purchase the proper back strap. I found none for sale. I looked at a few forums and found some posts leading me to believe S&W was restricting the resale to verified Pro or CORE owners.
So I called S&W and hit “3” for M&P Customer Service. I explained what I had and what I wanted. The gentleman at S&W M&P customer service dropped a small Pro back strap in the mail to me. No charge.
That was a lovely experience. Thanks S&W!
I will be watching my mailbox for it’s arrival.
UPDATE: Here’s a bit more information from the packing slip included with the shipment. The part number for the Small M&P Pro back strap is: 424300000 with a description
“SM M&PGRIPINST W/HEAVY TEXPANELS”