Happened to me today, too. Have had the 9mm Shield for about a month, with one 7- and three 8-round mags, all of which have been shot regularly for a total of probably 600 flawless-function rounds. It quickly became my daily carry piece, with 7+1 in the gun and an 8 rounder on the belt. (Its excellent power, slim profile, rapid reloading and easy shooting displaced the 5 and 6 shot J frame revolvers I carried for years. I don't miss 'em, EXCEPT for this worry about a functioning magazine.)

When refilling the 7 round mag today I noticed that there was practically no follower pressure when inserting the first round into the mag, and then I could NOT get more than 5 rounds in, even with the Caldwell loader. I could see multiple spring wires through one of the witness holes, and when I took the mag apart I found the typical bent spring.

I'll call S&W on Monday, and based on prior reports on this forum will expect to get some new springs in the mail. I also ordered some Wolff springs - I've used a lot of their springs on a lot of other guns over the years and trust 'em.

But it has me wondering - WHEN do you really trust these S&W springs in a carry gun? I've probably put more than a hundred rounds through the mag that failed today, and have to wonder what would have happened if I were using it in earnest?

In the short run I put a Walther PPS in the (same) holster. I'll have 6+1 in the gun plus an 8-rounder on the belt, so I'll only be down 1 round from the Shield. But I'll have MecGar magazines with straight springs, in which I have complete confidence.

So for the long term, what do people do with these things? Just put new S&W springs in and hope for the best? (I thought I'd read reports that the replacement springs fail, too.) I could just switch to Wolff springs, or even the MagGuts things. If MecGar made mags for the Shield I'd be tempted to get some of them for daily carry, but AFAIK they're not available.