I've read a thread or two talking about instances of the MP .40 Shield blowing up on people. I have one and have about 400 rounds through it. Should I be worried? I really love this gun but would hate to get hurt or it failing on me since its my primary CCW.

With a bad reload or a squib round any gun can 'blow up'. I think if there's a problem with the .40 is that the frame is a bit light for that round because it was designed for 9mm and have been known to break after hard use. I'm sure part of it depends on the type of rounds shot through it. Maybe somebody with some authority will come by to verify this

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I have a Shield 40 and I no longer shoot it, due to the chance it might "Blow Up".

If you believe that after a few reports of a "Kabooms", that were mostly results of ammunition, that you need to worry about shooting the gun, then sell it.

My first sentence is totally false about no longer shooting my Shield 40. I shoot it often and use very high powered SD ammunition, without a single problem since May 2012. I would bet that every gun model made has had some type a major failure while shooting, due to an ammunition issue. The manufacturers can not design a gun to withstand over powered, over pressured ammunition, that is unless you don't mind lugging around a 20 pound gun.

The Shield 40 was designed and manufactured properly. As long as you use commercial manufactured ammunition that meets SAMMI specification, go out and shoot your 40, and forget about the "Blow Ups and Kabooms".

PS: I have no authority around here !


Bob

I've read "designed for 9mm" twice in the last two weeks here in regard to Shields, but I'd swear when I got mine in 2013, all the reading I did stated they were designed around the .40 S&W. The fact both models were introduced at the same time shows the .40 model wasn't an afterthought, and I can't see how the .40 is a design "compromise."

You are probably OK sticking with commercially available ammo.

The 40 is a high pressure cartidge loaded properly.

There is less margin of error than low pressure calibers.

Don't buy ammo because it's the baddest you can find.

If the 40 is any good at all, it's good with hum drum ammo.

If you want more, get a 45acp (a better caliber and low pressure to boot).

Just my opinion, of course.

Nothing wrong with a 40, they run at the same pressures as the 9mm.

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John

OP, I have not heard about any kabooms the past few weeks. I am wondering if it was a bad batch that was going kaboom. I personally have no interest in the 40 shield. 1 because of possible kabooms and 2. Because I dislike 40 s&w caliber. Lots of people love them though and swear by them.

Keep shooting it. If it blows up, let us know. I would not worry, however.

When ever I hear about a "Ka-boom", the first thing I think is bad ammo, usually a reload. Unless there is a fundamental flaw in the design of a weapon, which would be plastered all over the net in short order - It almost always the ammo, or an obstructed bore.

Larry

Not something I'd personally worry about at this time. The last time I recall this being brought up was a few months ago, and an actual reported problem, months before that. I would imagine in that 6-8 month window that there has been a lot of Shield .40s sold, and a whole lot of rounds fired. If something does happen, you can bet it'll find its way here.

Wow, I hope you weren't injured from that. I have a shield 9, but it really makes you wonder about them, considering most are used for carry, including mine.

If S&W will give you a letter to that effect (especially if they've ruled an obstructed bore out), your next move should be to contact WW, giving lot numbers from the box.

The very, very occasional double charge can exist. We've found the ammo makers very helpful in those cases. [we do buy a lot of ammo.]

Well I guess that rules out the 40 SW on a 9mm frame and reloaded ammo as possible causes for kabooms just proves that design and reloaded ammo is not always the cause

I don't do my own reloading and don't buy anything but commercial ammo by reputable companies. I guess, Ill keep blasting away with my .40 SW Shield. It gets better every time I take it to the range now that it is starting to break in. I'll let you all know if it ever goes kaboom and I live to tell about it....LOL

Seems to me that every blow-up has one thing in common. Winchester ammo.

Nah, mine blew up in Feb of 2013 using some old factory loaded glaser safety slugs. They were the self defense round with the blue plastic tip. Corbon bought out that company. At a reduced cost I bought a .40 replacement from S&W but decided to sell it and get another 9mm like my wife's. It was more of a peace of mind thing for me.

I come back to this forum every once in a while and see kaboom threads from time to time but its always the .40 and never the 9 (unless I missed one of those reports?). If its always reloads and double charges then wouldn't you see more 9mm kabooms for the same thing if they sell more of that caliber??

There are going to be a lot more people that have not had one blow up compared to those that have so obviously a majority of the posters will be singing the praises of the gun. I know one thing, after one blows up on you it changes your mindset in a hurry! Having said that I love the gun and plan to still carry the 9mm version.

Off the top of my head, I will say that Winchester is the only main line factory that have been implicated in a Kb. The others have been reloads, underwood, etc.

I had over 5K rounds of .40 S&W in the ammo closet when I bought my Shield, and then my M&P 40 Compact. I now have less than 3K rounds in the closet, with about the same round count through each. Winchester, Federal, Remington, Fiocchi, etc. Both run like the proverbial Singer sewing machine.

Now, I'm not a fan of long range sessions with the Shield, but it's been a great pistol. The grip frame is perfect for my hand.

I read a while back that they were having problems with some Shield 40s lighting off rounds slightly out of battery. Which would without a doubt stress the back of the case and cause a potential blow out situation. In fact I'm sure I've read at least one or two posts on here about guns FRB'ing. They were old posts though. One guy wrote a kaboom post on a Shield 40 and when he posted the pictures the gun clearly lit the cartridge off out of battery. There was a good bit of case sticking out the back of the chamber and every bit of exposed brass had blown away. There was just a tiny sliver at the top of the case holding the case head on still and the gun was completely destroyed. As everyone else has said this is few and far between but it does happen. Reading all the posts and internet hoopla made me decide to purchase the Shield 9 last year just to avoid any issues.

So you don't like S&W because hot ammo blew your gun up and they won't fix it free? Why should they? S&W didn't make the ammo.

It's an interesting question, Smith makes a weapon that is 99.9999% safe, and the ammo manufacturers make a product that is 99.9999% safe, so when you get that one in 1 million convergence, it's going to be hard to get anyone to pay for it, buyer beware.

Same here... Soon as I hear another pistol(or rifle) had a Ka-Boom, my 1st question, was it shooting reloads???

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NRA Life Benefactor Member

Smith & Wesson engineers said they found problems with my Shield and they did replace it. I don't shoot hot ammo!

Interesting, did they tell you what they found wrong with the gun?

Mine didn't.

It was HMR. I posted the pictures here.

Sounds like mine, except that the pistol wasn't destroyed.

Not this again...

sorry guys, but sometimes I really wonder about the validity of some of the stuff I see on these forums..

Every month or so the same old claims come up. It's like deja vu... IMHO, if there was an issue, it would be present in the thousands of Shield 40s already sold instead of only in the amount of cases that can be counted on one or two hands. More than likely, the shooters used a hot load...

What I find odd is Shield 40 owners reading and posting they are getting rid of their's because they're afraid of them blowing up, but yet I never see any extra mags for sale in the classifieds section...and we all know 2 mags are never enough so most everyone buys several spares...WHERE ARE ALL OF THESE SPARES?...are they keeping them as memento's?? I am constantly watching the Classified's of several gun forums and never see Shield 40 mags for sale...the occasional holster yes, but not mags!

Am I the only one that read this post? This was not ammo related.

The gunsmith at my LGS told me that he would not recommend buying a Shield in .40 but that the standard M&P FS or compact .40 was a better choice. I don't remember any specifics from his reasoning... just thought I would mention it. As mentioned earlier, I'm sure a "kaboom" can happen with any gun, any caliber, etc.

Guns are meant to be made of steel.

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Not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

Damn straight!

A LOT of hearsay in this thread, but very little evidence, if any at all.... There's more baloney in this thread than on a double meat BMT at Subway.

i have more than 2000 rds through my shield forty and i do reload and have had no problems at all.

You know, I have read these threads on several different forums and some people continually either question the posters with the problems or even "attack" them.

Well, it is never a problem until it happens to you.

I don't know what happened to these guns or why they blew up, but I appreciate someone posting that it has happened.

Each person can then decide whether they want to believe it or take it with a grain of salt.

For me, I have decided to only use 165gr or less in my Shield 40 and no Winchester white box. No reloads, but I never use reloads, anyway. I might use them if I reloaded them, but I don't reload.

Just bought my shield last week in 9mm.I almost bought a 40 but after a lot of thought went with the 9mm.Kabooms had nothing to do with me selecting the 9mm.I do have to say the shield is very thin.I will use +P ammo but not +P+ for that reason.I do think after reading here they may be something wrong with the shields in 40.Maybe the chamber is supported less in some barrels than others.But than again i cant believe smith would keep makeing it if they thought there was a problem? I do think glock is best in 9 or 40 for hot ammo.My 19 glock has always lived on +P+ 9 and my 27 in 40 has run some of the hotest 40 with no problems.But than again they are thicker and stronger build than a shield i do think

From my reading on this forum, several manufacturers have made 40s that have chambers with less than ideal support. (Glock included)

The sentence I quote above is the key. S&W is not going to knowingly mass produce a firearm that has a problem. The kabooms are due to bad ammo. Those rounds ruin an otherwise excellent firearm that functions safely as S&W designed it. If they produced them with known problems, then the number of kabooms would be high where less-stout rounds were blowing them up.

I've been following this subject for months, literal months.

So far, from what I've gathered, I've only been able to "prove" 6 actual kabooms posted online. It seems the same person has posted on at least a dozen forums. His pictures are regurgitated all over the net.

Of the 6 cases I've found, 4 were proven caused by reloads, and one was speculated to be caused by bullet set back. The other is a mystery as he posted once and dropped off the internet.

-edit-

The information I've posted pertains ONLY to the shield .40 cal.

Prasko...
Was one of the 6 a thread titled 'Shield Blew Up', posted by 'Puma Jim' on M&P-Pistol.com (and maybe a few other Forums?)?
His was proven to be due to Over-Pressurized MagTech ammo. MagTech is actually making good by sending him a check for a replacement Shield.

my-shield-blew-up-update.html
and
update-3-shield-40-blowup.html
(Links to m&p-pistol forum won't link)

That's a recent one I must of missed, but either way, ammo related, and not a design flaw like people are fearing.

Exactly... and as you alluded to in an earlier post. If there's only a handful of people with a problem (name the problem... ANY problem), they post it (usually Cut-and-Paste copies) to every single Forum they can find, it makes it look like there's an epidemic, when in fact, it's far from it.

And as ranvet and S&WForty mentioned, S&W wouldn't knowingly put more defective .40s on the shelves if there really was a problem. They'd put out a recall, like the 'Safety Alert' they did for the Shield Trigger Safeties back in 2013.

Makes sense the problem has been amplified by posts on the internet.Some company's though are loading 9mm and 40 to very high velocity numbers compared to the major ammo company's.I am at the point were i will only use the hottest loads that Law enforcement will use.I figure if they trust the numbers i can to.

I wish some of the keyboard artists who keep theorizing about M&P's firing out of battery would explain how a tilting breech gun can do this. And while they're at it they may as well explain how a polymer frame can be "too light" for a certain caliber. My S&W polymer autoloaders have metal inserts that mount the slide rails, barrel cam, sear parts, etc., all made of metal that carry and react the impulse loads of firing. How does a heavier polymer frame help or a lighter one hurt? Just wondering.

There is a similar post in Glocktalk about G23s, turned out it was caused by reloads.

My Shield seldom fires anything but my reloads. Its had nearly a thousand through it now. I still hate the recoil spring -- I want to hire someone to rack the slide for me. But once it gets a round in the chamber, its a great little shooter. Its a lot snappier than the FS. But I never give one thought to its structural safety.

Just bought my Shield in .40, won't give a second thought to trusting it. S&W has been my revolver manufacturer of choice for years and now that I have my first S&W automatic....well let's just say I trust and can't wait to verify!

A new .40 shield, no safety, cracked a few days ago while shooting factory ammunition. S&W has sent a return ticket. Based on what I'm reading, however, I have every expectation that Smith won't honor their warranty. It seems every other case I've read, they've kept the weapon and offered to sell the owner a new pistol at a slight discount.

I'm sure it generally is bad ammo but I can't help but notice that when I hear about a really nasty accident with a gun it seems to be a 40 more often than not. It could just be confirmation bias on my part but I really don't like or trust that caliber.

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I rue most days

I don't generally quote myself, but this post has aged, so to bring it forward to current; I received the letter from S&W today, advising that they won't honor their warranty. They stated the cracked frame isn't a defect in the product.

No surprise there. I haven't found a case online of a report of a failed shield in which they did honor their warranty.

One pistol with a failure out of battery, and another with less than 200 rounds of factory ammunition and a crack in the frame. Impressive.

Like most other reports I've encountered, S&W offered to sell me a new handgun. Won't honor the warranty, but will be happy to sell me another at a slightly discounted price.

Unimpressive.