I got a new Shield 9mm a couple of months ago and I absolutely love it. However, my Shield came with these two weird circles ghosted into the side of the slide. I also wanted to give the gun a unique look, as it's only available in all black. So I sent my slide off to Accurate Plating and Weaponry (aka APW Cogan) to be refinished in matte hard chrome. Benefits of a hard chrome finish include wear/scratch resistance due to high surface hardness (70+ on Rockwell scale), very slick/reduces friction, easy cleanup (fouling won't stick), corrosion resistance, and good looks.

How my Shield looked before, with weird circles surrounding the M&P logo




APW is also a full service gunsmithing facility, so while they had my slide I had them install new sights for me. While they were doing the sights I also had them install an Apex Ultimate Striker Block. For the sights I went with a unique combo i've never seen anybody use before: An Ameriglo SW-212-230-G ProGlo tritium front sight with "lime lumi" photoluminescent ring (glows bright green when charged with light), and the new Shield-specific 10-8 performance plain black U-notch rear sight. The idea with this setup is that the fluorescent green front sight is visible under pretty much any lighting condition. In low to no light, the Trijicon tritium insert takes over.

Ameriglo ProGlo front sight, same dimension as factory with .230" height x .140" width.



10-8 Performance Shield rear sight. Same height as factory rear with .160" height. I went with the wider .156" U-notch width to have more light on either side of the front sight blade and it worked out perfect. It also features a corrosion-resistant black nitrocarburized coating.



APW quoted a 4-6 week turnaround and while being very busy, they held to their promise and had my completed slide sent back in just under 6 weeks. The hard chrome job came out absolutely awesome and much better than I had anticipated. The sights and striker block were installed perfectly as well without a single mark on them.

Here's what it looked like just as I had unwrapped it, sweet!



Hard Chromed!





Detail shots of the sights. Notice the unique rounded no-snag edges of the 10-8 Shield specific rear, with glare-reducing serrated face and cocking ledge.







Old distracting white 3 dot sight picture we are all used to.



New "clean" sight picture. Plain black rear sight draws your focus naturally to the front sight where it belongs. The U-notch and front ring are extremely fast to acquire. Just put the big circle in the U-shape and press! You can still line up the top of the front blade with the top edges of the rear for precision shooting if you wish.





This sucker is bright at night. When the glow from the ring wears off you still have a Trijicon tritium insert in the center to rely on.



I had also installed an Apex Competition AEK kit in the lower half of my Shield while I was waiting to get the slide back. The factory trigger pull weight in my Shield was a bit heavy for my liking at 6 lbs 4 oz. No matter how hard I tried, I could never get the trigger to break without making the front sight move.



Out of the Competition AEK kit, I only installed the competition sear spring, hard sear, and ultimate striker block. I left the trigger return spring and striker spring factory. For good measure, I polished the foot of the striker, the nub on the trigger bar that contacts the striker block, as well as the loop on the trigger bar that contacts the sear. The final trigger pull came out just as I had wanted with a lighter/smoother pull, slightly reduced pre and overtravel, and a much shorter reset. Final pull weight consistently breaks at 3 lbs 10 oz, and I can now break the trigger without moving the sights.



Some more eye candy, for your viewing pleasure





Thanks for reading

Whoa! I like it!

I will keep my 40 Shield black, but I am going to look into the new sights.

Awesome looking set up!

Sweet set up...nice vision and execution on your Shield!

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M&P FS 9mm
M&P Shield 9mm

Very nice pictures. I'm sure a whole bunch of us are really curious as to how this Shield performs at the range?

That is just sweet. Now when I look at my Shield I'm jealous. Great job.

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M&P 9mm Shield
M&P40C, 686 6

That's nice. The 10-8 sight is a great item - had one on my duty 1911, and your combination looks like it will work well for you.

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NHI, 10-8.

Holy Moley that is BEAUTIFUL!!!

If you dont mind me asking.....what was the total cost from factory stock to now-meaning your additions only.

DR

Very sweet looking Shield. I'd add a set of Talon grips and call it complete. Thanks for the great pics!

Great post/pics and beautiful gun. What does it cost to have the slide refinished like yours?

Thanks for the nice comments guys, i'm extremely pleased with how it turned out.

I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, but will give a short range report when I do. I especially like how these sights turned out. It was a gamble mixing and matching this set, but with the dimensions the exact same as factory, it should not change the POI. The setup is very similar to the Trijicon HD and Ameriglo Pro iDot full sets.

The cost for the hard chrome job from APW was actually pretty reasonable for what you get IMO. The matte hard chrome finish including stripping/prepping as well as polishing/plating the extractor was $80. Disassembly/reassembly of the slide as well as installing my new sights, and Apex ultimate striker block was only $25. So total from APW not including shipping was $105...not bad.

The front sight direct from Ameriglo was $65.25 and the 10-8 rear sight direct from them was $56.50.

The Apex competition AEK kit cost me about $86 on Ebay.

So these additions cost me a total of around $207.75. And yes, it was absolutely worth it!

Awesome gun, the hard chrome is cheaper than I would have guessed, looks great!

I really like your selection for the sights. I have XS sights on my Shield, which I really like, but I may have to look closer at your setup. Nice.

Tagged for a great gun! I have those same circles on mine.
Do you think the other 10-8 rear sight would have worked better?
P.S. Talon grip, and your good to go!

It shore looks purty but can it shoot? lol

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Former USN, Retired US Army

Looks sweet! I love when people take a gun and make it their own

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9mm Shield

Nice, very well done. I especially like the the sight set-up. I like the room in the rear for lining up the front. I am going to go that route based on this thread. Thank you for posting.

That turned out nice.
I like your trigger modifications too.

Very nice! I had mine Robar-ed and it looks very similar but think the cost was higher. Sounds like a great company to work with.....quality work at fair prices. Congrats.

Very Nice, one of the best looking Shields I've seen. I also dig the sights. Congrats

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John 3:16, Carry Everyday!

Hardened chrome. I live in Arizona and would like to find a local company to do the work. What kind of company should I look for? Thanks.

Bad *****. I'm definitely getting my .40 Shield done.

I checked out apwcogan.com and am confused on pricing. Prices listed are way higher than you mentioned. Knowing nothing about metallurgy I will fall back on "I am confused". What type of company am I looking for and/or are they few and far between?

Thanks/Don

Very nice !

ordering that front sight asap! Im usually not a fan at all of bi-tone but man that finish is clean!

Look really good, both the slide and the sights.

Thanks for the replies fellas, I appreciate it.

What other 10-8 sight are you referring to? The full size M&P 10-8 rear?

Give them a call for a more accurate price quote. They are nice people to deal with. I spoke with a fellow there named Duane and he spent over 20 minutes with me going over different options and what not. He sounds a bit "southern" lol, but is glad to help out. They can also do other styles of hard chrome finishes such as full polished, full brushed finish, matte top with brushed sides, etc.

You did your research and now reap the rewards. That hard chrome finish is much more durable then the factory Melonite and the price was right. The sights you chose look great and should enhance target acquisition, that front sight is so bright Ray Charles could see it. I had Robar NP3 2 of my Shields which was a lot more money. Also I put XS sights on one that I don't like in practise, your sight setup is more to my liking. Let us know how it shoots.

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That's because they are located in the Great State of Alabama. Don't let that slow, deliberate speech fool you...

Your Shields look awesome in NP3, very nice! I run NP3 coated internals in my Beretta and it slicks up the action like no other. Really good stuff.

This sight setup is quite similar to the XS Big Dots in that you have a nice bright ball up front to draw your focus, with the benefit of using a traditional sight picture if you wish. I had originally considered doing a fiber optic front sight with a black rear, but fiber optics are only good when you have decent light. I liked how the color of the Ameriglo ProGlo stuck out like a sore thumb in most any light, with the photoluminescent ring and tritium to help you out at night.

That was what I was trying to get across. Nothing like that good old fashioned southern hospitality

Also I forgot to mention that APW does the factory finishes for several OEM's such as Colt, Springfield, Kel-Tec, Kahr, and FN.

I had just the slide on my CZ75 done in satin nickel and used Mac's Restorations HOME PAGE in Tucson. The price was very reasonable (about $50) and the work was first rate.

Thank you. Your CZ looks great. I really like that 2 tone look! Here's a pic of my old EDC......

I agree!!!!

APW Cogan does good work, I had them build me a custom revolver Hard Chromed and all.

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NRA Pistol/Rifle Inst. RSO

He got the wider opening, I was wondering if it would be better with the stadard opening? I am amjust putting the Pro glow front sight on mine, and keeping the factory rear.

The wider opening is good for fast acquisition, the smallest ones are better for accuracy, the standard is in between the two

Awesome!

I love it all!

Great looking shield, and an awesome write up. Those sights inspired me to black out the rear dots on my Shield. If I like it as well as I think I will, new sights will be coming in short order.

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M&P9/9C/Shieldx2/Sportx2/15-22

Do you just send the slide? Are any parts in the slide to be removed? I found a company that does slides in nickel boron that looks very much like the hard chrome.

Thanks/Don

Another question re: hard chrome. I found a local company that will do the outside of my slide in hard chrome. Is that pretty standard and will it look good?

Thanks again.

When I sent my CZ slide to Mac's Restorations, I removed the extractor and the firing pin first. He specifically requested I leave the sights on (he removed and replaced them). Don't forget you can send just the slide by USPS (priority mail) much cheaper than UPS or Fedex.

I'm not sure how wide the notch is on the factory rear sight, but I think the 10-8 rear with the wider .156" notch is ideal for the .140" width front sight. A .140" width front sight and a .140" width rear notch on a short sight radius gun would seem like the front sight would pretty much fill the notch all the way.

Yes I sent the slide only, but had APW do all the disassembly and reassembly during the hard chrome process. Basically the sights, extractor assembly, striker assembly, plastic striker channel liner, and striker block assembly all need to be removed.

Hard chroming is a widely used industrial plating process but I can't comment on the quality of the local company's work. The quality can definitely vary. I went with APW because they have a reputation for being one of the top dogs when it comes to hard chrome.

Loving them sights! Very nice!

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Aim small miss small

That looks really keen. I really like the sights. Can the chrome get thick enough to to interfere the slide rails?

That is one nice setup... Job well done sir, might I suggest the Talon Grips in Granulate Black to finish off the job.....

That does look very nice and really changes the whole look of the gun IMHO. Not something I could afford to do but nice for you. Thanks for sharing the pics.

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44 Garrett Defender Ammo 4 me.