Have a quick question about my new shield I picked up today. I have the no safety model and when I pull the slide back the trigger moves back all the way to the trigger safety. And if I let it return slowly it is real gritty right before it is in battery. This seems odd to me as my 9c is smooth as silk. Also I have put 250 rounds of mixed FMJ and JHP. Thanks for the help, Mike.

Don't ride the slide back, let it go.

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SDMF

I just rode it back to see if I could see where it catches. But should the trigger move all the way back to the trigger safety every time the slide is pulled back?

my trigger only moves back about 1/8" and then it stops. Not sure if it is a problem though on yours just because it moves all the way.

I also have the No Thumb Safety model with a little over 300 rounds downrange.

Depending where I measure. If I look from the side it moves back to the point where the safety catch on the back of the trigger touches the frame. Just never had a firearm do this before.

The trigger bar is dragging on the striker block. The striker block is also the source of the gritty feeling.

You can do three things.

Put a few hundred more rounds through it an it will smooth out.

Buy and install an Apex USB.

Remove and polish the existing striker block, and trigger bar.

It is often the sides of the striker block hole (in the slide) that is the cause of most of the grittiness. S&W drills that hole after the slide has already been nitrided/melonite treated.

That is not the proper trigger "behavior" for an M&P Shield. Some part in the M&P is out of spec. Here is what the position of the trigger safety should look like when the Shield's slide is retracted:

http://www.gunblast.com/images/SW-Shield/DSC04688.JPG

It looks like that when it is all the way back it just moves when you start to move the slide.

Sounds like it's time to take advantage of that 'lifetime warranty' thing. I don't think S&W would want a gun out there that is misbehaving like that.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

It is hard to say which part is out of spec. Maybe it is the trigger bar, and then maybe not. I would call S&W customer service to discuss it.

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up returning it today for a different one and the new one is spot on. Again thanks for the help.