I just started shooting four months ago and bad about flinching at first. I spent a day at a outside range with my two old 9MM's and .38 Snub. I didn't worry about being a perfect marksman just wanted to get used to handling pistols. Practicing with a .22L helps plus fun

I am surprised of how many people my age (70) cannot operate any slide. I am no strong guy for sure and have arthritis but have no trouble handling any slide. Even when I present them the pistol with the slide open they cannot even pull it back enough for it to release & go into battery. I guess I am lucky. No wonder revolvers are making a comeback.

I'm pretty new to shooting semi auto pistols, but racking the slide is 10x easier if you hold the slide with your weak hand and push the grip with your strong hand. I apologize if this is common knowledge, but I figured it out trying to rack my Shield 40 when I got it. That thing is stiff.

To my original post choosing what gun to choose is not the issue anymore.
Both the shield 9mm and .40 are now both locked in my safe now the issue is a holster for it. I saw this one in the fourms but cant find it online anywhere. Can anyone tell me where I can find it?

Awesome Holster for your Shield

I am reading the posts, trying to decide on the which Performance Shield I want to buy (more on that later).

Just what I have been counseled by almost all instructors I have worked with, never use reloaded ammo for CCW. It opens up questions if you even are unfortunate enough to actually be involved in a SD shooting.

That being said, I shoot "white box" FMJ at the range in high volume, but always finish up with at least one magazine of my self defense JHP.

Just an opinion...

I am amazed by the amount of knowledge you guys know! I have a SW 9mm m&p, 9mm SD VE and a 9mm Shield. Love all but I do not think I would carry anything over a 9mm. just my two cents

Curious remarks and comments about racking the slide.

Racking the slide should be considered an essential component of operating a semiautomatic handgun safely. You can't safely hand anyone a pistol unless the action is open and it's unloaded. You can't unload a pistol unless you rack the slide to 100% verify the chamber is empty. You can't perform remedial action on any number of malfunctions if you aren't able to rack the slide.

Getting Good at racking the slide (especially under duress) is an Essential handgun skill, probably almost more so than proper shot placement. I've seen some absolutely Terrifying, positively Frightening actions being carried out by inexperienced shooters (including hands covering the muzzle, fingers slipping onto the trigger, loss of muzzle direction discipline in general) struggling with the slide.

I would not recommend modifying springs to fix that problem. Manufacturers set the spring tensions to what they are for a reason. The least annoying problem I've dealt with when messing with that was having shell casing ejected back into my face. But worse things like double feeding, stove piping and even frame failure can happen when you start messing with spring tension. Instead, I feel like the answer is in practicing on an UNLOADED firearm with ammo out of the room, and something like a refrigerator as a designated "safe direction" while one figures out how to rack the slide.

I'm speaking from experience. When I first bought a semiauto, getting the action open was A LOT tougher than I expected. But I figured out the technique of applying isometric tension to the slide and grip (getting adequate purchase on the front of the slide), bringing the gun in close to my body and using my chest muscles to power the fleshy bottom part of my hands to drive the grip one way and the slide the other. And then doing it repeatedly to get use to the tension.

Shooting it also breaks in the springs a bit. Also, there's nothing wrong with using some grips to build up some forearm and hand strength as well. I started using them while walking my dog and now everything from my trigger discipline to racking the slide become things that don't cause me handle the gun in an unsafe manner.

When all else fails, get someone to help you learn and get your technique right. As I said, if you ever Have to use your gun and it happens to malfunction at the same time, you've got to be able to rack that thing without struggling with it in order to get it running again.

Just my thoughts on the issue.