I traded for a Shield 9mm this weekend. It's been fired "less than 500 rounds" per the previous owner. 500 rounds seems like a lot for a compact pistol but it looks new and came with box and all papers.

Might not have come out on the good side of dollar value, but traded with a friend and we both got something we wanted and got rid of something we weren't crazy about.

It's my first 9mm and first striker-fired pistol. I ordered ammunition last night, 115- and 124-gr ball and 115gr HP.

-Mark

congrats !!!! enjoy it. it is a great pistol


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M&P 9, Shield9.

Congrats on a purchase of a fine pistol.... 500 rounds is not "a lot" for a M&P pistol. With S&W's lifetime warranty I say shoot the heck out of it and enjoy it... I have over 8400 rounds in my M&P shield and it still looks really good and going strong... It's doing what it's designed for.

I've run 364 rounds through mine and looks like new. Never a problem. Enjoy!

Congrats! I agree with the others, my Shield has over 2k rounds through it and it's a year and a half old. It's probably one of the best shooting compacts out there and IMO shoots more like a larger gun.

Thanks for the comments. I didn't expect that 500 rounds would hurt it, but it is encouraging to hear specific experiences. He did say "less than", so I don't really know the round count. I do know that he bought a .40 and a 9 and liked the .40 better.

This one does have a thumb safety, which would not have been my choice if buying new. That's a mighty small lever.

-Mark

Mark,

Enjoy the "new" Shield!

When the ammo gets in, I'd suggest some time on bullseye targets, maybe from a rest, to see if you get better accuracy at 10 or 15 yards, from 115gr, 124gr and maybe a few 147gr. Once you've established that, then expand into different ranges, targets and what you find fun to shoot at.

After a few hundred rounds, you'll know if you want to look at trigger or sight options.

Otherwise, have fun, work the trigger break and buy ammo and magazines while you can.

Mine also has the thumb safety. This is what I do, an you can do it or chose not to it's no biggie but thsi is what I do... I enagage the safety whenever I load a magazine in & rack the slide to chamber a live round, as well as engaging the safety when unloading the pistol. Right before I holster the weapon, I turn the safety off....

So in other words, load/unloading = safety on... After loading & before inserting pistol in holster = click safety off... whenever the pistol is loaded & out of its holster, that safety is on.

Congrats on the shield! My shield is the best gun I own. Enjoy!!

My safety is on until the weapon is pointed downrange. It stays off until I have finished my day of target shooting. Then it goes back on until next it is pointing down range.

For a Shield, 500 rounds is just getting broken in. Mine has 3156 rounds through it.

Mine likes 124g FMJ and the Remington 115g JHP better than the average 115g FMJ. Carry ammo is 124g HST JHP.

Spent a little time with the Shield yesterday. The target shows my first 20 shots, using Mr. Rastoff's exercise (20 shots total, 4,6,6, and 4 at 3,5,7 and 10 yards, respectively), and 124gr ball ammo. The gun seems to be plenty accurate; the pilot could use some work. The striker-fired mechanism is definitely different from either single- or double-action.
There were no failures to feed or fire in about 120 rounds. The slide only locked back on empty about half the time, though.
-Mark

Attached Images

Shield_target.jpg (63.7 KB, 123 views)

Congrats on the New to you Shield I had 500 round s in the first month lol .. Like other said do not worry about 500 rounds. Just clean it a shoot it.. You may want to check out Talon Grip Tape, gives you a better grip! And Look into the UPULA Magazine loader your fingers will thank you

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9mm Shield

🔺🔺🔺🔺🔺🔺🔺🔺
What Radco said. I have close to 6,000 rounds through my 9mm Shield (NTS) and love that little pistol. I've had a fair amount of experience with Sigs, Glocks, CZs...all great firearms--but I was quite surprised that my Shield turned out to be my favorite by far. Now, if it could just fit 15-17 rounds in the same dimensions it'd be perfect ;-).

I agree with you my Shield is my favorite carry weapon . I have over 1k rounds now assorted ammo with 0 issues. I also have a batch of 1800 rounds that is calling my name to burn it up :O

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9mm Shield

Thanks for the info. I'm not worried about the round count now that it's mine. My first range trip added about 120 to whatever the count was. The mag loader sounds like a good idea; it does take a pretty good push to load them.

What about the slide failing to lock back? Is that likely to be a mag issue?

Thanks again.
-Mark

maybe too simplistic...but my "anal military" training has me thinking a good cleaning MIGHT fix the locking back issue......

IO am not sure if the magazine is the issue or not. I am no expert , sort of new to the Semi Auto Pistols.. My guess is the magazine. Does it do it with both magazines? Also E Bay has OEM 8 round Shield Magazines around 23& shipped FYI
But I would do a good cleaning as well.. ALot of Videos on You Tube ,, Please keep us posted on what you find! Also try the search box about the slide not locking. There may be a answer.. I post a link if I find a thread

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9mm Shield

500rds, he broke it in for you.

It'll last you a lifetime


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I'm a fan of starting with the simple things. Does it with both mags, so cleaning could be the fix. It looked clean, and the previous owner tends to do more cleaning than shooting, but I didn't clean it before the first range trip.
-Mark

500 rounds is barely broken in.

If a gun has a manual safety, use the manual safety. Even if you don't want to use it, use it. It can accidentally be engaged and if you don't practice, train, and expect to have to disengage it, it could ***** you at the wrong time.

No safety is better imo. But if it has one, use it.

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Qoheleth 12:13-14

That's a good point, and one I hadn't thought about.
-Mark

After 3yrs and some 3500 rounds, I love my Shield 40/9 (bought it as a 40 but also shoot it as a 9mm). It's been a very accurate firearm out to 10 yards despite its short barrel. Beyond that I prefer my full size pistols. I didn't have much choice about the safety as that's what was available back then. I'm fine with it as I've been practicing condition 1 carry for years so it's second nature to me.

I realize the non-safety versions are considerably more popular, and I understand why and don't dismiss the argument, but I personally really like having the option, especially in a striker-fired pistol (I particularly like DA/SA pistols with a hammer and decocker, like the CZ75BD, gen3 Smiths,etc.).
I find the safety on the Shield to be very intuitively placed, and disengages quickly and easily with a very natural sweep of the thumb. Also, I haven't found it to be prone to being accidentaly engaged (and I generally pocket carry).
I think with these discussions folks often tend to get carried away with the perceived likelyhood of finding themsleves in a running gun battle with multiple ninja-assasins, but tend to forget that the odds are vastly more likely the pistol will spend it's entire (non shooting-range) existence just being carried, transported, holstered and unholstered, and stored, with the possibilty of an accidental discharge during all this being much more likely than ever needing to draw and start firing, much less in a fraction of a second.

Well, I figured this out, but it didn't make me feel smart.

Simple pilot error.

I was letting my thumb ride too high on the side of the gun and it was bumping the release lever. If I keep my thumb low, there is no problem. I fired 100 rounds last night, mostly with 3-5 in the mag and a few full mags, and the slide locked back every time.

I repainted the white dot on the front sight, which was missing when I got the gun. That seems to have corrected my former issue with shooting slightly low. The dot arrangement doesn't seem as precise as black sights, but it's visible in a wider variety of lighting conditions.

Also, in roughly 300 rounds so far, there have been no failures to feed or fire.

-Mark

I would say " leave the manual safety off, but just in-case drill knocking the safety off (down) anyway.

I recently purchased a Performance Center ported 9mm Shield. With the slide locked to the rear and with a empty magazine, the slide release is very difficult to engage. With the magazine out the slide release is a bit easier. Is this a break in issue or something else?

Mark, I've spent various parts of my career in aircraft maintenance, in one capacity or another. It's amazing how many maintenance "squawks" turn out to be pilot error. And how hard it is to convince them of it.

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Southern Comfort
Retired USAF

just picked up my m&p shild today.
sad in ca the loaded chamber indicator has wording on it.
(loaded when up)
do all states that have "LCI" have this or are some just black?
if black who sells one so i can get the ugly words off the gun.
not just a sticker. letters are dimpled in and side of the indicator are red.
and i hope not a problem as the slide release does not release (empty mag) under load. have to pull the slide back to take pressure off of it. hard with ammo in the mag.
new gun? not even been to the range yet. so needs to "worn it" if nothing else.

packrat: wecome and congrats on the new shield. sorry that you have to endure the humiliation of the loaded chamber indicator. we here in the free state of Tennessee get to have the slide with a tiny little half hole that allows one to peep into and see a loaded round. So look at the bright side---at least you can still own a handgun. on to the other mater---the "slide release". There are some who will say it is not a slide release , it is a "slide stop" I do not want to flame an argument here about the issue. I would recommend that you alter your manner of operating the Shield to "slingshotting the slide with the off hand when needing to drop the slide, you will find that it is actually faster and more positive. I believe that using the lever to drop the slide will put more wear on the two surfaces that are engaged.The device is DESIGNED to lock open the slide when the mag becomes empty.(a very much needed feature) again sorry about California.....

yes it (). but with luck i will be out of here in a short number of years.
looking for a good place to store all my legally owned property now.
at 57 hard to start over, at the bottom. and to young to retire.


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Exactly. After you insert the new mag, if you are a righty, use the left hand to rack the slide all the way back, & let go. That's the proper way to "drop the slide". GARY

i call that a fail on safety.
as when you insert a fresh mag one should be able to just flip a lever and go into battery. not have to use so much valuable time racking a slide.
bad ju-ju getting caught with a empty chamber, full mag in the gun, and the slide locked back.

but as i work with this gun will see how it works out on this point.


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Don't feel bad Mark. I use the thumbs forward grip and initially was occasionally letting my thumb come in contact with the slide lock lever and caused the same problem that you experienced. Once I realized I was doing that I had to correct my thumb placement and it hasn't happened to me again.