I picked up my Shield 9mm the Friday after Christmas. During the last week, I disassembled and cleaned and lubed it a couple of times and also dry fired probably a couple hundred times to get the feel of the gun and trigger.
At the range yesterday, I shot about 40 rounds just to break it in a little and to get used to the weapon. Then I settled in to see what I could do. This is typical of what I was doing at 25 feet. Not real impressive, but adequate at that range. The flyer to the left is from a previous group.
Feeling fairly confident, I moved back to 25 yards. That was a very humbling experience. With the same point of aim, I was getting a larger group, as to be expected, but the rounds were all impacting very high. (Sorry, no Pics of that)
I then put it on a rest and got the group down to about 8", but impacting above the silhouette's right shoulder, around 12-13 inches high and 4 inches left with that same target and POA.
I can handle the 4" left, but the 13" high was causing me a bit of consternation. Well, after a good nights sleep and a bit of studying, I have come to the conclusion that it is my sight picture. With my old, aging, eyes, I am in the habit of just lining up the top of the front sight with the top of the rear sight and ignoring the white dots. That works pretty well with my other pistols, but when you do that with a Shield, the front dot is about a 16th of an inch higher than the rear dots. With such a short sight radius, that makes a big difference at 25 yards. At least it makes me feel better about the gun, and hopefully my next range trip will prove to be more satisfying.
All in all, I put 50 rounds of Blazer Brass 115gr, 16 rounds of Federal HST 124gr standard pressure, and 19 rounds of Rem Golden Saber 124gr +P through the Shield with nary a bobble on the part of the pistol. I even "plus oned" in the chamber a couple of times with no problems either. Recoil was fairly pleasant with the Blazers, but I could tell the HST's were a little hotter, and Golden Saber +Ps were starting to get pretty snappy. In the end, I wish I would have brought more target rounds with me. I am going to try Fiocchi, WWB, and UMC next time.
The Shield seems to be rock solid. I just need more practice with it. It is so small and concealable, I will be carrying it during the shorts and tee shirt season, with my XDm 45 3.8 compact taking up the duty in colder weather. I have a couple of hybrid holsters (Alien Gear shell and Firearm Holster) and a MIC holster on the way. Today, I will be installing a set of rubberized Talon grips.
And that's all I have to say about that.