As you can see in these photos, this is about as simple as it gets. The term tactical cannot be applied to the M&P. The M&P revolver has served both police and the military for over 100 years. But most of all, it didn't break the household budget. It's simple, well balanced and fires a cartridge that is "good enough" to do the job. Between 1946 and today, when the average citizen walked into a gun shop looking for a handgun to protect his family, most likely it was the "plain Jane" M&P that went home with him. Many of these were bought for simple protection and many others were the basis of some "project" the owner had in mind. In addition to police guns, many of the 1 million "Victory Model" guns - essentially an M&P with a parkerized finish and a lanyard ring - were purchased after the end of the war. The M&P has, historically, been the most popular, best selling revolver in the S&W line-up.
And it was not unusual for some aspiring police officers to avoid applying at agencies using the "wrong" brand.
The marketing battles between the two companies rivals that of Coke vs. Colt also marketed several models to police departments, touting Colt's superior accuracy or the heavier duty frame of the Official Police. S&W wasn't the only brand in police holsters to be sure. In the post-war years, many police departments issued the M&P as the basic weapon for police officers. And that feature still exists in S&W revolvers today. It was just this sort of accident aboard a U.S. During WW-II, an internal safety lever was added to prevent an unintentional discharge if it was dropped. 32 caliber pistols.Ä«etween 1899 and about 1942 the M&P went through some relatively minor changes to improve the model. It was also a stronger frame & action than the break-top revolvers like the Schofield and smaller. This was a big advance over single-action revolvers with their loading gate. The M&P started life in 1899 with the idea of a swing-out cylinder for faster loading and reloading. Not because of it's "stopping power" and not because of fancy "tactical" features. For those of you born after police switched to semi-auto pistols, this was the most popular police revolver of all time.
I recently picked up a like-new Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolver, more commonly called the Model 10.