Took the Shield 9 out again today and put roughly 100 rounds of Lawman 124gr down the pipe. Decided to run a few rounds of my personal protection ammo, Speer Gold Dot 124gr +P , so I put three rounds in the 7 round mag and took aim. First shot was a STOVEPIPE??. Cleared the gun and then fired the next two rounds fine. Now this ammo is freaking expensive so I put four more rounds in the same mag and all fired fine. I only brought one mags worth of this +P ammo to the range. Never dreamed I would have a stovepipe on that particular ammo. My Lawman 124gr has been flawless for several hundred rounds- I mean ZERO issues. So to my fellow S&W forum members, what's the deal? Maybe a limp wrist issue on that first shot with +P? Seems strange that I've never had any issues with any of my ammo before. May have to buy a few boxes of this ammo to make sure it functions properly but that's a lot of cash I would rather not spend, but not sure I have any other choice. Anyone else have this experience with +P quality ammo?

I don't feel comfortable carrying a particular gun/ammunition combo until I've put about 200 rounds through the gun without a burp.

I choose to carry Black Hills +P with the Hornady bullet or Federal 9BP. You can put 200 rounds downrange without taking out a second mortgage.

No issues with Gold Dot 124 +P short barrel or Gold Dot 147 over here. Make sure you buy the 50 round count LE box and not the 20 round personal protection box. The price per round is about .52 cents with the LE box.

+1... No problems for me with the GD 124 +P in mine either.

I called the manufacturer a couple years ago, to specifically ask what the difference in the 'LE' was and they said other than the 'LE' being 50 rounds per box and Personal Protection being 20 (the LE product number starts with a 5 and the PP starts with a 2 and the rest of the numbers are the same), there's No Difference between the two.

I always buy the 50 round LE pack. I just didn't expect to have a stovepipe on round one with a +P load.

Try more, or other brands. Your life is worth it.

You might consider non +P loads in your Shield. The compact model guns always seem to be more finely tuned than a full-size gun, and thus less able to handle variations in ammunition. If S&W set the gun up (by design) to run with standard pressure 9x19 ammo, it might be a bit less than trouble-free when using +P. I wonder how much good +P does in a Shield length barrel anyway... ?

I agree with MichiganScott about Federal 9BP, which always seems to work well in ANY 9mm pistol I have ever tried it in, and it is not terribly expensive. In my experience, it is pretty rare to find a type of ammunition that works so well in so many different guns. Must be pretty good stuff. I will take reliability over a few feet per second or the latest jazzy new bullet style any day.

+P performance is going to improve by a percentage. If your standard ammo leaves a 5 inch barrel at 1000 fps and the +P is 1200 fps, you have a 20% increase.

Same ammo in a 3 inch barrel will get the same results, a 20% increase in performance. Sure the fps is going to drop off from a 5 inch barrel to a 3 inch barrel, but the performance increase will still increase by 20%. This will also apply to foot pounds of energy.

I use CorBon +P in my 9mm carry. It specs are 115 gr JHP, 1350 fps, and 466 ft lbs energy. Most all other +P 9mm ammo specs out at 1200 fps or less, and 400 ft lbs energy or less. I use CorBon 40 S&W with specs of 135 gr JHP, 1325 fps, 526 ft lbs energy; I use CorBon 45 Auto +P 165 gr, 1250 fps, 573 ft lbs energy. The high foot pounds of energy is why I carry using CorBon. CorBon is always on the high side for all factory loaded SD ammunition. Would you rather get punched by a 140 pound guy or a 220 pound guy, if they both possess the same punching abilities? My choice is neither, but I think we all would prefer less punching power. That is what foot pounds of energy is, power.

Bob

M.A.H. supples has the GDHP 124 Grain +P for $25.00 Or SGAMMO has it as well, same price. So for about 50 bucks you can pump 100 rounds throught your EDC weapon and feel farily comfortable its gonna be reliable.
Just my 2 cents, As for the stove pipe, Could be that one bad round where the OAL was to little or to long, Limp wirst maybe.
I guess I would rather be punched on the arm by the 220# guy. Than punched in the Jaw by the 140# guy. SO I guess it all goes back to bullet placement NOT bullet weight.
Again my 2 cents
1SG
Out

Sure your thumb is pushing on slide stop inducing it.

When I read your post that was my first thought. After a hundred rounds of some pretty tame range ammo you rev it up with +P. Your muscle memory may not have been geared for the higher recoil.

I agree, placement is the most important issue. Even if you are using standard 9mm FMJ ammo, if you hit a bad guy in the sternum he is going down. I go to the range every week and send 200 - 300 rounds down range. I concentrate on obliterating a 3" or 4" bullseye at 50' with as few outliers as possable. I also vary the distance. Some people are lucky if they shoot once a month. In my opinion, if you carry, I believe that you are obligated to be competent. I see to many people who get a CCW and they barely know which end of the gun they should be on when they pull the trigger.

Has anybody shot Winchester 9mm NATO 124gr FMJ in their Shield. Supposed to be a 'hotter' load by 10% over regular stuff. Been doing research and read the owners manual but nothing conclusive, negative or positive about is this ammo safe to use in my pistol.

I always keep a couple hundred rounds of this Win NATO ammo around to break in a new gun. I find that the extra power does a great job of working the recoil aping on a new weapon. I can't see how this ammo would cause any negative effects on your gun. It's not +P+ by any stretch of the imagination. I have no concerns on using this ammo. Only problem I have is that the price on this Win NATO load has skyrocketed. Supply/Demand I guess. This ammo seems to be very popular right now.

Had this problem with my full size 9mm after much head scratching and disassembly and reassembly a group of friends and my self found that 1 I set the weapon to left hand ( the mag release to left hand) the mag release catches the mag follower ( hence all my mags stove pipe on the 5 round from the bottom of the mag) the quick fix was th reset the mag release back to right hand