C41 process B&W film is a crap shoot. I can come out looking amazing, or it can be horrid. Unfortunately, the outcome is less affected by your skill at exposing it right, and more by the development process. I have shot quite a bit of Kodak BW400CN, below are some (mixed) results:
Really good:
Very bad:
Both sets were taken with the same camera and lens, and developed by the same lab. At some point, the lab got some new staff, who are unbelievably incompetent. So bad that I don't use them any more.
My only other comment on B&W film is that Tri-X is one of the most forgiving film stocks in the world. It has a huge exposure latitude, allowing the user to get some kind of image even in difficult circumstances. Most of my friends who shot old, manual cameras favor it for that reason.