This afternoon my wife and I went and rented both the Shield 9 and the M&P 9c for a true side-by-side comparison.

Magazines removed, the 9c is 2.7 ounces heavier than the shield, and ALL of that weight is above the hand. For an average-sized guy it's no big deal, but it was really uncomfortable for my wife. Having a loaded magazine installed makes a big difference in the balance, moreso on the 9c because of the extra finger grip. When switching back and forth between the two, the 9c feels slightly top-heavy by comparison.

The extra mass up top isn't all bad though; the 9c feels very sturdy and fills the hand completely, where the Shield feels a little small with my long, skinny fingers. The 9c does have less felt recoil than the shield - it's manageable enough for her to shoot one-handed (and that's coming from the same person who complained about the 9c's top-heaviness). But what's shocking is how well the Shield 9 cushions the recoil and recovers! In both my and my wife's estimation, the felt recoil was significantly less on the Shield 9 than the Kel-Tec P3AT or Ruger LCP .380s, both of which we have shot many times.

We did all of our shooting at 7 yards, and accuracy-wise it was a toss-up. She shot better with the Shield, I shot better with the 9c. If we had the smaller back-strap available for the 9c it would have been more comfortable for both of us, but it wouldn't have been a game changer.

In Florida where it's shorts and t-shirts year round, the Shield has the concealability advantage - a quarter of an inch in thickness makes a huge difference in light clothing IWB or pocket carry. It also fits better into purses, where the 9c is just a bit too bulky.

What does the 9c have going for it? Aside from holding 4 more rounds, ambidextrous controls matter to a lefty like me. And if you're going to burn through ammo at the range, fitting a full-size 17-round magazine to the 9c means twice as much shooting, compared to the max of 8 rounds in the Shield. If you've got space to concealed carry a full-size mag, you can have 30 (!) rounds at your disposal with just one mag change.

At the end of the day, my wife has chosen the Shield 9. I'm still on the fence between a Shield .40 or a 40c... luckily a friend of mine recently picked up a Shield 40 so I should get to try that one out soon!

-Laird