just released by Mag Guts. New follower, base plate and double spring system allows for an extra round in your factory mags. i have a set on both a flush and extended mag and am doing testing before i move to my carry mags. got a couple of mags thru each with no issues. locks back on empty.





Smith & Wesson Shield | MagGuts

Woohoo, pretty cool

This system's been discussed on one of the other S&W Forums. One of the concerns was the 'stability' of the metal follower (like on some 1911 mags), triggering the slide lock reliably.

Good to hear that it's working as advertised (so far). Does it make the mags any easier to get that last round in?

I've been pondering giving them a try on a couple of my mags.

Considering that the capacity of the Shield with either the 7 or 8 round mag (and 1 in the chamber) is sufficient for any likelly self-defense needs, I don't feel the need to run anything but stock magazines. Really not worth the risk.

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Stay protected my friends.

An extra round would be nice, but not sure I would trust it for carry.

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John

I had mag guts in two of my lcp magazines. Didn't care for them, went back to stock springs. Six plus one should do the job.

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Semper Fi until I die

I'll wait for more guinea pig input before trying that on my carry piece but I'm glad to see some aftermarket options starting up for the shield, thanks for the heads up

The name "Mag Guts" doesn't give my the warm fuzzies.

If you want more rounds, buy a bigger gun.

Why some people insist on re-inventing the wheel escapes me.

Besides...these magazine modifications have a habit of self-destructing - by blowing all the ammo out through the bottom...

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M&P's and K Frames Pleeze!

Thanks for posting but, for the cost of an entire mag I think I'd just carry an extra mag.

Intrigued, but not volunteering to be a beta tester. Some else please report on how these work, since the price is almost that of another whole mag.

The problem is that some Shield owners (including me) have complained about not being able to get 7 rounds loaded into the 7 round Shield magazine. Has nothing to do with breaking in the mag and everything to do with the mag spring being too long. I have decided to cut down the mag spring by one "spring loop" to see if that corrects the problem.

Considering that they make 'internals' for the P3AT, DB380 and LCP, I do kinda wonder why the Shield is the first 9mm they've tackled. Makes me wonder why they didn't tackle the PF-9, DB9, or LC9 first.

I ordered a couple to try out with two of my Spare mags. If they don't go 'Sproing' at the range and prove reliable, I'll consider them for EDC.

FWIW, I e-mailed them about the Shield .40, and just got a reply that they had "a few other irons in the fire right now", but said that they do plan on taking a look at it. They also added that they would put me a list of interested customers to contact when available. Don't know if I'd ever try em, I was just kinda curious.

I never had a problem getting 7 rounds into my 7 round magazine. It was tough, but I was able to do it. I did go buy an Uplula and now I don't even think about it.

Did it work ?

Same here, I've never had a problem getting 7 into my 7 magazine but I use an Uplula also. I prefer the feel of the 8 round mags with the grip extention so I bought 2 more of them off eBay and hardly use the 7 any more.

Take it from someone who spent 25 years in the office machine industry. Cutting down springs is a bad idea. They are engineered to do a certain job and you can't improve on it with a pair of cutters. Invest in a good mag loader.

Okay... I went ahead and ordered a couple, to test in my spare range mags, before trusting them to carry status. they arrived today, so I have not had a chance to give them a workout at the range, I can give you some first impressions. My main reason for getting them was not actually to squeek an extra 8th round into the 7 round mag (or 9th round into the 8 round mag). The reason was to make loading the last round into the mag (without needing to use an UpLULA ) and loading the (topped off) mag itself into the pistol without litrally Slamming it home. MagGuts does seem to do this.

For simplicity, the only mag I'm referring to here is the FLUSH (7 round) mag. Also, rather than constantly refering to 'the 7th round' vs 'the 8th round', I simply write 'Last Round'.

The Follower fits nicely and is very stabile. It does not 'rock' back & forth like some metal followers I've seen.
One big difference, which possibly makes it easier to get the last round (now, the 8th round) loaded, is that the 'Legs' of the follower is shorter than the legs of the factory follower. With the factory follower, after the last round is loaded, there is only (approx) 1/16th" extra 'push'. With the MagGuts internals, after the last round is loaded, there's at least twice the room (1/8th"?) in extra push. This not only makes it easier to get the last round loaded into the mag, but also makes it MUCH easier to load the (topped off) mag into the pistol when the slide is closed. All that's needed to load a full mag now, is a moderate Push, rather than a hard slam.

When hand cycling Snap-Caps, all rounds seem to feed and chamber without binding and the follower has been successfully engaging the Slide Stop after ejecting the last round.

If there's interest, I'll post follow-ups after putting several Hundred rounds down range. As mentioned above, I'm not going to blindl trust them as a carry mag... I want to test the new internals before considering using them for SD.

Could not agree more.... Your right on..

If it all comes down to that one extra round I'm carrying the wrong gun anyway

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Retired Career Security Guard

Those mag guts look interesting. Just bought this:

May have to try them. Thanks for posting.

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USMC 83'-87', NRA Member.

Ended up ordering 2 after positive reviews on M-P Pistol Forum.

Any update on these?

Just bought a new Shield 9 for carry and would always be welcome to have an extra round.

But not with the risk of unreliability.

Anyone been testing these over the last few months?

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M&P9 Shield, M&P9 CORE, S&W.38

I had trouble loading the new mags, so I went the Uplula route also. Great loader, works great!

I have them in 7 round and 8 round mags and have run 500+ rounds with no issues. You can, with a loader, put a 10th round in the modified 8 round mag and that can cause a jam. Called mag guts to see if this was normal and he said they advised using the stock, plastic baseplate on the 8 round mags. Problem solved (not that it really was a problem), now even with the Uplula, only 9 rounds will go in. Weather they are worth the money or not is up to you but they do work reliably.

I ordered one of these and installed it in a spare 7 round mag. The instructions are a bit confusing as to how to mate up the two springs. Youtube video was very helpful tho.

Loaded up the mag with 8 snap caps several times and cycled them thru the pistol with no problem. Next time I get to the range, I will test them extensively with live ammo, especially with 8+1. Nothing but good reviews on the M-P pistol forum.

Rather than tampering with the spring why not buy a loader?
In my experience, the spring does loosen up (or I got use to it being strong).
I'd carry with one less round before tampering with the spring!

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Stay protected my friends.

Why one more wheel guns have worked well with just 6 for years.

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USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

Capacity is a personal choice. With the threat of multiple attackers and the growing domestic terror threat, I choose to carry 2 mags with the +1 kits. I wish I lived somewhere that I was comfortable with 6 rounds, but my city is declining fast!

Yup... about 500 or so mag loads through the two I bought.

As mentioned in Experience with MagGuts?
While I'm now using MagGuts as my carry setup, I would strongly suggest that anyone who buys it, to do their own 'Shake Down' test before trusting it for carry... Just as anyone would strongly suggest that rather than blindly trusting a new handgun for carry, doing a 'Shake Down' on IT before carrying.

OP here. im up to well over 300 rounds thru two mags with no issues.

Bought two to try out. I put one in an 8 round mag and using an UpLuLa (had to ) got 9 rounds to fit. Had to slap the mag VERY hard to get it to fit with the slide closed. The 7 round mag is still a 7 round mag, no way you'll get an 8th round in, I use an Pearse grip extension so maybe that is what prevents an 8th round. Will take them to the range this weekend but so far not impressed.

Well that's a bummer ... I will only be running the 7 rounder when I carry in my shield with the Pierce extension plate and would like to add one more round if possible.

Bummer.

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M&P9 Shield, M&P9 CORE, S&W.38

If you can't EASILY get 8 rounds into the regular mag and 9 into the extended mag, something didn't go together right. Of course you wouldn't be impressed (yet). I'd suggest taking them apart and redoing them from scratch, until they do both accept 1 extra round and seat into the pistol with a simple push.

Check out the entire thread on mp-pistols forum I referenced on page 1 of this thread and you'll see that others have had the same problem and how they had to redo it. They may be a pain to get inserted properly, but once they do, you'll like 'em.

No issues here. I'm up to 182 rounds in each of my standard length mags with the new guts. No problems loading the last round, no feed issues, and very, very pleased. They have now transitioned to full time carry mags

I think for Concealed Carry I'm gonna pass

I need realiability more then an extra round if the time ever comes.

I did buy and extra 7 round mag so I think I wil use that mag when I carry and then maybe buy this kit for the 7 and 8 round mag that came with my Shield so I can have an extra round when shooting at the range.

If I ever buy these and try them I will be sure to come back and leave my thoughts.

Thanks

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M&P9 Shield, M&P9 CORE, S&W.38

@Falconman515...
Do get one for your range mag and thoroughly run it. When/if it proves reliable, THEN consider using it for carry. That's what I did... I didn't start off considering it for carry.
I just wanted something that would:

1. Make my range mags easier to load (without needing to have my UpLULA) and
2. Make it easier to seat the mags into the mag well (without needing to slam it home)

The fact that it allowed me to load an EXTRA round and still do those two items... Icing on the cake.

@oadad2015...
I just bought 3 more, for a total of 5 mags and 2 of these three sets did as yours did. I was just barely able to get the 8th round into the modified 7 round mag. I took them apart, checked spring orientation, reassembled... One mag, I needed to play with twice... and they now load properly AND seat easily. So don't give up on the spring kits yet.

Rest assured, that these last three setups will only be used as range mags, until they have proven themselves, just as I did with the first 2 mags. Once they've proven themselves, I'll move them into the carry rotation.

** Do not Blindly trust any new Carry Pistol, Trigger Kit install, or Spring modification, until thoroughly tested by you. **

I really agree with this...Were this to be a stable option then why did the S&W, Glock, Ruger, and other manufacturer engineers not design their mag's in this fashion and offer it as standard.?

One could say the EXACT same thing about Apex Trigger Kits, extended Mag Releases, extended Slide Stops, Night Sights and just about any other aftermarket piece, couldn't we??

Yes..I agree with this also...we most certainly could..but round capacity is a critical factor to all manufacturers and obviously increased capacity is a large marketing factor for any handgun. Trigger kits, extended mag releases, extended slide stops, different sights while very nice and desirable to some, in my opinion are not as critical as capacity. Therefore my thinking is that if they were as good as original spec's they would be original specs..I could envision feeding problems without some very high tolerance's which I am not sure these mag guts type conversions have. Just saying........

If you look back through a couple of my very early replies, Feeding problems and (in particular) the follower binding in the mag body WAS (and should be) a primary concern, which is why I put somewhere around 500 mags worth through each before I considered carrying with it. This is also why I recommend everyone who considers trying this to thoroughly test them BEFORE relying on them. Of course... How much testing is 'enough'? Depends on who you ask. How many rounds (or range sessions) did you run through your Shield before you considered it reliable enough to use it for EDC?

I'm not saying these are the best thing since sliced bread, but they're no worse of a mod than an aftermarket "+1" or "+2" mag extension, which could cause binding and/or feeding issues. (I'm obviously talking other guns here, since I don't know of any +1 or +2 extensions for the Shield)

RobzGuns,,THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!.. Took it apart and yep, the lower spring was backwards. While apart I polished the sides of the follower and both mags work great and insert with one finger not a slap with my palm -- now to the range with 300 rounds..

Ya I will still probably get a set for the 7 and 8 rounder that came with my Shield ... BUT I will no doubt pass for carry ... I just don't trust aftermarket parts like this for something I carry on me to safe my life ... it's gotta go bank Every Single Time and modifying is not smart no matter what way you slice it (not to mention if you ever use your carry pistol, Trust Me, that will go against you in court when you inevitably get sued by the family ... always VERY smart to keep your carry piece Stock!).

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M&P9 Shield, M&P9 CORE, S&W.38

Greetings
My 2 magguts came in today for my shield 9mm. Set one up in my 7 round mag and one in my 8. 150 rounds per mag of Speer 115 grain and Gold dot 124 +P without one single malfunction. Worked great and locked back when empty. Will do another several hundred rounds but so far in am pretty impressed.
Well made stuff
1SG
Out

First post, just bought a Shield 9 for EDC and Gunsite 250 Pistol Class in a few wks. I saw a YouTube video last week where a Shield guy took apart 7 and 8 rnd mags. Turns out springs are same length. He cut a couple of coils off his 7 rnd mag spring and got 8 into a 7. I won't do that. I was having trouble topping off mags and decided to get Uplula. I am VERY satisfied w/ its ability to reload mags fast and trouble free. Gunsite class has many pre-reqs, one of which is 6 single stack mags. So I ordered 4 more 8 rnds from Midway. Looking fwd to 5 day class

My feeling is not to mess with what is working. If the magazines you have right out of the box work why fool around with them? I think you are just asking for problems. If you can't get out of the situation you might be in with 15 rounds the extra couple won't make much of a difference. I'm very comfortable carrying my Shield with the factory mags.

Point taken. But if I can add an extra one I would. On a side note when i disassembled my Shield 7 round mag the spring was completely twisted and this was a factory mag. The magguts are a quality well made and works

I agree, and will not change out the springs in my Shield for anything other than factory originals. I competed in IPSC/USPSA Limited Class for many years. Shooters who messed with magazines often had problems with reliability. 1911s were designed for, and in my experience, function best with seven round magazines.

Another 100 rounds through the 8/9 round Shield Mag ZERO issues locked back after last round

I think at last count I am over 800rds in each of mine with zero issues. Very pleased with this upgrade.