Hey all,

I just came into a nice Gen 1 S&W M&P 40 fullsize gun.

I have a number of 9mm M&P, & have a 9mm conversion barrel for this .40.

I want to mark the .40 Mags as "Special" so I don't grab a .40 mag for a 9mm gun or vice versa...

I was thinking about getting some Special Floorplates to differentiate by sight & touch the two different calibers.

(A) Any suggestions on "Alternate Floorplates"?  Brands, vendors, ect...

(B) Also I noticed my .40 mags have two very different floorplate sets. (pictures below)





Any insight into why the same caliber magazines have such different magazine floorplates?

Thank You for any & all insight & suggestions!

BIGGER_HAMMER

I've got a 1st gen M&P as well and wound up with both styles of floor plates.

I decided I didn't like the huge forward lip because it kept getting snagged when doing magazine changes.  My initial fix was to use a hacksaw and emery board to cut off the lip and recontour everything a bit.  

I've since decided to bite the bullet and order the newest style of magazine bases and locking plates from the M&P COMPACT instead of the full size.  I just called up Smith & Wesson and ordered them directly.

Why not just use a paint pan or something similar to mark the mag or floor plate as 40 or any symbol to designate its different?

I have seen grip tape stickers with numbers that go on the bottom of mags as well.
Grip tape

One base is early and the other late bases. They interchange on the same mag bodies, 9 & 40 bases interchange. You can find other colors for bases, the FDE M&P 2.0’s came with FDE bases.

ETA the round lock pin is an earlier mag base.

Thanks to All for your insights & education!  

Arfcom University teaching me New & Important Stuff ...   Again!

I was looking at Ghost Inc. MOAB magazine bases.  Ghost Inc MOAB base plates for S&W M&P 4 pk

While I could paint them, because I have BOTH 9mm and .40 mags, I'd like to be 100% able to tell in pitch black that I'm not trying to feed .40 into a 9 or 9 into a .40.

I have a 9mm barrel, but it is threaded so I can tell by sight and touch which barrel is on.  I want to be able to do same with magazines too.

Anyone have experience with these?

BIGGER_HAMMER

You can use a soldering iron to make a raised dimple on the .40 baseplate like braille, also it would be visible so you can tell the .40 mag from the 9mm.

That is a low cost great idea!

Black & Smooth = 9mm (I have the most mags)

FDE & Textured = .40

I think a combo of some 'Differential' Paint and "Soldering Iron Stipple" might do the trick very well.

I hadn't though of that byourguns but "Thanks!"  

BIGGER_HAMMER

@byourguns