I read through many older threads and might have missed if this was brought up before.

I carry my Shield with the 8rd. mag and one in the chamber. So far I've not had any feeding issues at all, but have noticed a troubling problem. If I lightly push back the slide (as if to press-check), the slide will stay out of battery. A light nudge will return the gun to battery.

The Shield is carried in a Blade-Tech Klipit appendix holster (which I love!) so the chance of accidentally being pushed out of battery is very slim. My concern is this: How can I see if the gun will fire out of battery without possibly blowing off some fingers? I don't have any primed brass to test that way. It appears as if the trigger disconnect would not let the gun fire, but it still worries me.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

I've occasionally had a gun slide a little out of battery when inserting it into a snug holster, but it always returns when it's drawn. I have a 9mm Shield and I can't say as I've ever had the problem you're experiencing. And while I'm no expert, and while I doubt the gun would fire, I'd never advise trying to fire the weapon even slightly out of battery.

Good luck!

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Too many S&W's to mention...

How about getting into the habit of routinely putting your thumb against the back of the slide and giving it a slight push?

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

It's a pretty common thing. I've seen it discussed with several different m&p's, not just the shield. The pressure of a full mag and one in the chamber pushes up on the slide of the gun with so much pressure that the slide can stay out of battery. I've only been able to make it do so when going out of my way though. Never had it happen while holstering.

Also, it should not fire when it is out of battery like that.

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ChanceFavorsThe
Prepared Mind

My lady-friend was smitten with the Shield, and got one when they first came out. She routinely had this problem, even after firing. It had to do with her grip more than anything. I fired 300 rds through it, without a hiccup, in case it needed "broken in".

The scary part was, depending on how far out of battery it was, it would either light-strike the primer, which results in just a "click", or not drop the striker at all. It went back to Smith, but they returned it, saying it was "in spec" which I can't argue with, as it always worked for me.

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Because of the metric system?

Possibly limp wristing caused her to have a ftf issue and the bullet got a little hung up when feeding. Or it's also possible that because of a poor grip, there was difficulty ejecting the last piece of brass which also could have hung the slide up just enough.

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ChanceFavorsThe
Prepared Mind

This goes out to the OP. But how old is your shield? how many rounds have been fired? My guess is it either needs a good cleaning or more likely a new recoil spring.... I would also suggest disassembling the magazine & cleaning it as well, I do that on all my mags I use.... But regardless, It shouldnt be doing that...

Thanks everyone. The gun only has about 5-600 rounds through it and it is very clean. I just visited a friend who purchased a new 9mm Shield two weeks ago and has not yet shot it. We compared them and both do the exact same thing.

I have never had it go out of battery while holstering it and have not had any operational problems at the range. I think I'll continue shooting it and just keep an eye on it.

I would do just that, keep on shooting it! These guns have really tight tolerances and its gonna take some range time to "break" them in... I put in so far about 400-500 rnds in my Shield 9mm and its just now starting to loosen up a bit, but mine never did that tho... Just keep shooting it, keep an eye on it and hopefull (probably) it loosen up and wont stick on you....

This can easily be tested and requires no ammunition.

Unload your gun.
With a full firing grip on the gun, reach under the gun with your support hand. Using your fingers grasp the slide and press it back just a little like this:


This picture was taken to demonstrate how to do a chamber check. That's why you see a casing in the pic. However, the motion is the same. Of course you won't need to pull the slide back this far; just enough to simulate what you saw with the full magazine.

Then, with the slide held back a little and the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, pull the trigger. Did you hear a click? If you did, then you'll know the gun will fire with the slide back a little. If you didn't hear a click, and you won't, then you know the gun won't fire when the slide is back a little.

This is how to check for the potential of an out-of-battery discharge. By using the underhand grip on the slide, your hand never gets in front of the muzzle. Thus, with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, there is no possibility of hurting anyone with this method.

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Freedom isn't free.

It would feed, then light-strike the primer. It was user error, for sure, but a self-defense pistol has to work in less-than-optimum conditions at times. We fixed it, though...with one of those Austrian thingies. No problems after that!

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Because of the metric system?

Just a quick note here, the entire M&P line is designed with very loose tolerances. It's what makes them more reliable. No "break in" period is necessary. If the gun isn't working right out of the box, it's broken or needs adjustment. This should be obvious from the OP's response that he's had no trouble when firing the gun.

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Freedom isn't free.

What "Austrian thingy" are you referring to? A Glock? I've seen more "limp wrist" issues with a Glock than with any other pistol. I'm glad her's is working for her.

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Freedom isn't free.

A Glock 19. I think the extra weight helps provide a little more stability, plus it seems a little more forgiving to a softer grip. No scientific stuff to back it up, just an observation.

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Because of the metric system?

The G19 is much larger than the Shield. Therefore, it's easier to get a solid grip for most people. She might have been just as happy with an M&P 9c.

No matter, the Glock is working for her and that's what really counts.

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Freedom isn't free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD2ebd3KECc

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Centennial Every Day

Agreed on all counts. I don't own any Glocks, but I can certainly see why people do. It's an excellent tool. No soul, though, but that's another thread!

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Because of the metric system?

Exactly - I do it all the time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A direct comparison between the Shield and the G19 is not reasonable. They are two completely different guns. A better comparison would be the G26 and Shield. Still quite different, but closer.

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Freedom isn't free.

I just talked to a second co-worker who just purchase a 9mm Shield. He also has not shot it yet, but found the same thing when he lightly pushed his slide out of battery with a full magazine and one in the chamber.

As best I can tell, it won't fire in this condition, as it seems to be just into the area where the trigger disconnect kicks in. My biggest worry is to have it fire out of battery and lose some fingers. I think it will be ok.

In the (almost) 3 Years I've had mine, it has never slipped out of battery on its own, or during holstering. If I Press Check with a topped off mag... Yes... It sometimes stays out of battery, so ya know what I do? I never Press Check it. If the mag is inserted in MY pistol, I know there's a round chambered.

Do you have a holster for it yet? If so, Just holster it multiple times (with the safety on, if your Shield has a safety) and see if holstering it will force it out of battery. If it does push out of battery, does pulling it out of the holster exert enough force to push it back into battery on its own? If not, do what others suggested and when holstering, build a habit of placing your thumb on the Slide Plate to press it completely into the holster.

There's no reason to Press Check them, since they have a 'witness hole' on top, but if you do feel the need to Press Check, just press it back into battery and know it's good to go.

When cycling rounds being fired, the return force of the slide is enough to make the slide go into battery on its own.

When racking the Slide, do NOT 'ride the slide' forward. This may cause it not to go fully into battery. Pull it back and let it go (on its own).

Do these simple routines and you won't need to worry about whether it's in battery, or not.

Now get your butts to the range and SHOOT those new Shields, rather than fretting over this.

There's always a need to do a chamber check. It's the only way to know 100% what the condition of the gun is. Of course this is only done during an administrative load.

You've also indicated the fix for any gun potentially staying out of battery; just help the slide forward. This is actually the proper way to do it because any gun could exhibit this anomaly.

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Freedom isn't free.

My Shield does the same thing. If I push back the slide a little it stays out of battery with a topped off mag +1. Is this an issue?

No... As mentioned earlier in reply #22, many pistols do this. Just press it back into battery.

As I stated above, the gun has about 500-600 rounds through it without issue. I carry the gun in a Blade-Tech Klipit appendix holster and it has never come out of battery while being carried, at least partially due to the holster having a mostly covered muzzle. That is not my concern.

My only concern is this: will the gun fire out of battery and cause me to lose fingers? From my limited testing, it appears it will not, but I wonder if anyone has tried this with primed, empty brass or another method to confirm, one way or another, if it will fire.

Safety is my only concern. I have never had a gun come out of battery during normal concealed carry in nearly thirty years of carrying.

As I demonstrated before, you can test it yourself. No need for primed brass or live rounds. If you don't hear the click, it didn't fire.

However, there's more you can do to assure yourself without live ammo. Watch the barrel as the slide is moved rearward. Once it moves about 3/32" the chamber will start to drop. It's only at this point that the gun is truly out-of-battery. Once the chamber drops, the striker cannot hit the primer because it has moved out of the way.

So, even if the gun could fire out-of-battery, which it can't, the round is fully contained within the chamber. Thus, your fingers are safe.

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Freedom isn't free.

Rastoff,

Thank you for the reply(s). It is tough to exactly replicate the same amount the slide is out of battery, but with testing it appears as if the trigger disconnect kicks in and it will not fire.

Thanks again to everyone for the help.

Even when the barrel has fully dropped, it is still in battery. The striker will release but I don't know if the striker would still be aligned enough with the primer to fire. Once the barrel is truly out of battery, the striker block is no longer being activated by the trigger bar so it is impossible for the striker to move forward.

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Centennial Every Day

#1 the shield has a peep hole up top that allows u to see a round in the chamber.

#2 my shield is always loaded. Noone plays with it, noone touches it. It's mine and I know for a fact it's always hot.

Now tell.me again why I need to do a pressure check.

When holstering ANY pistol, keep finger off the trigger. If slide movement is a problem, place thumb behind the slide to hold slide in battery during holstering. This can happen on ANY pistol, whether striker- or hammer-fired.

It's definitely a known issue and from what I can surmise happens to the overwhelming majority of Shield 9's. Mine did it even after 1500 rounds (until I sold it). A lot of people get fixated on not needing to do a press check. The press check isn't the issue, since you can always push the gun back into battery. The thing that always concerned me was if it goes OOB during a re-holster or a fight with a bad guy without me being aware of it, then the gun doesn't fire. I will say I think it's very difficult to knock the gun OOB. The chances of it happening are there but it's very small, IMO. I also don't agree a lot of guns do this. My XDs 9 and Glock 19 sure don't.

Yep. This happened to me when I first started shooting my new 9mm Shield. Not a problem with the Shield, but a problem with the "human" holding on to the slide as it traveled forward while racking a fresh magazine.

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MP Shield 9mm