Just got a LaserMax sight for my Shield 40. It is very well made and fits on very solid. I bought it on Ebay for $86 which included free shipping. It shipped in only three days and the seller, "Fuddlebucks," was highly rated, and I see why. The current LaserMax website list prce is $129.

I've had a Crimson Trace laser on my Ruger LC9, which I got at a great price of $160 , ten months ago. The current Crimson Trace website list price is $219, but they now have a discounted price of $170. I like the LaserMax better because of the location of the on/off button. You can see in the photos that I have attached, that the LaserMax button is in front of the trigger guard along the side of the frame. The Crimson Trace is under the rear of the trigger guard, at the top front of the grip.

I have large hands and can only get two fingers on the grip of both guns. This created a few problems with the Crimson Trace on the LC9. The Crimson Trace is supposed to be very natural to turn on, just grip the gun and the laser should turn on. I had to "death grip it" to get it to turn on. A normal pressure grip would not turn it on. I spoke to customer service at Crimson Trace and they thought the unit was defective and sent out another. It was the same as it also took high grip pressure to turn on. I found that unless my finger wrapped around so it would push srtaight in on the button, it would not go on without an overly strong grip pressure. My finger naturally pushed the button in at a 50-60 degree angle, not 90 degrees, so it took higher pressure to turn on. I was not going to adjust a good grip, to get it to turn on.

The second problem is the Crimson Trace button sticks out 1/4 inch. This makes the gripping uncomfortable as the top finger is 1/4 inch further out than the bottom finger. I eventually glued a 3/16 inch thick piece of hard rubber under the button and covered it with a Talon Grip. The rubber block solved the uneven grip problem, but did not correct the death grip problem.

The LaserMax button is natural, but you do have to practice pushing it on before going for the trigger. Once on it stays on until you push it back from the other side. LaserMax claims 4 hours of battery life. The LaserMax button also works from the lefty side. In my opinion, the Crimson Trace laser for the LC9 looks better than the LaserMax on my Shield. Just smoother lines that blend in better. Crimson Trace is now making a laser for the Shield (website list price $219) which looks almost the same as the LaserMax unit. The Shield LaserMax does have nice stippling accents while the Crimson Trace model for the Shield is plain. Looks aren't important on a concealed gun. Function is what matters. I have a highly modified LC9, which includes a trigger kit. The kit reduced the trigger pull length to less than half that of a stock LC9. It also moved the break point forward 1/2 inch, as opposed to the stock LC9 breaking at the rear of the trigger guard. Yes that is a trigger stop that allows only 1/64 inch of over travel.

The stock Shield's trigger is still much better than my modifed LC9 (no comparisom to a stock LC9). I have installed an Apex kit in my Shield, which makes the Shield's trigger even better.







Bob