hey guys new to site, have a new shield in 9mm....love this thing...was wondering your opinion on dry firing the shield...have read different reviews on line. (including use of dummy rnds) but didnt find anything on shield manual on dry firing....so whats your opinions????? your personal experiences!!!!

and does anyone know if s&w or pearce is gonna make a finger extension for the 7 rnd mag......

Dry firing your Shield is fine, but if you are worried about it you can use snap caps. You did get an 8-round mag with your pistol??
Haven't heard anything about a finger extension for the 7-round mag, but that's a good question. Congrats on your new pistol. Enjoy!!

Hey patbelly, yes i got it with 2 mags, 7&8 rnders.....i prefer the 7 but a 1/2 entension for the pinky would be nice, i carry the 8 rnder as my spare mag.....

I too like the 7 rounder and my pinky pretty much fits on the grip. But, if they made a pinky extension for the 7-rounder, I would give it a try. Something to think about for sure.

Go to the S&W website. Look under FAQ. That question is asked and the answer is YES, you can dry fire the Shield.

Bob

Third question from the top...

S&W FAQs

Edmo

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I still use snap caps. It is a cheap investment. Racking the slide 1/2" will re-cock the striker and not eject the dummy round.

what about an empty casing?

would that be about the same as a snap cap?

I dry fire my center fire pistols On an empty chamber all the time. Never had a problem. Don't like snap caps because i don't want to get in the habit of dry firing any weapon with a round, even a dummy round, in the chamber. I don't dry fire unless I have checked the weapon to make sure it is clear, racked the slide several times and then checked it again before each trigger pull.

Safety habits must be redundant and eliminate to the fullest extent possible any chance of operator error. Any safety routine that relies on recognizing the difference between the appearance of a live round and a dummy round or expended casing is, IMO, dangerous because there is no failsafe for an incorrect observation.

One of the reasons that I don't like magazine disconnect safeties is because I don't like having a magazine in my pistol when I'm dry firing.

My recommendation if you dry fire is to place all magazines and ammuntion of any sort, live or expended in another room, lock the slide back, observe that the chamber is empty, put your finger in the chamber to confirm, rack the slide several times and then make a final observation of clear before pulling the trigger.

I know this sounds excessive, but just this weekend that procedure prevented a potential mishap for me. I returned home from the range with my 1911. I believed the gun was unloaded because I always clear my weapons before leaving the range. When I racked the slide back to cleck that the weapon was clear, a live round popped out. The only thing that I can figure is that I was shooting two pistols at the range. I must have cleared one, got distracted and then forgot that I had not cleared the other. The lesson - memory will fail you. Use safety procedures that assume that your memory and observations are wrong.

Centerfire pistols are designed to be dry fired on an empty chamber. Don't put something in the chamber that isn't needed because one day that something may turn out to be a live round.

Mr. P, I don't think a fired casing would have the same cushioning ability as a snap cap. The snap caps I use have spring loaded primer areas to cushion the firing pin blows. I am not saying you need or have to have one, I just prefer to use one. I also prefer to use the snap because it looks a lot different than an empty casing, referring to the safety concerns expressed above.

thanks for the input