About a month ago, my 7 round mag spring failed. It bent where the coils reduce in size and collapsed in the mag. I only noticed because I couldn't load the 7th round in the mag. At the time I had read that it was a somewhat common problem, so I contacted S&W Customer Service. They said they would send me a new spring, no questions asked, for free. I received the new spring in the mail yesterday, and it does not look like the old spring. For one thing, the termination of the coils on both ends have been bent in at 90 degrees, so neither end will sit properly on the follower. Another difference is the replacement spring is the same width from end to end. It also appears to be a different material than the original ones. Did S&W change the spring design recently, maybe to address the bending issue? Or did I receive the wrong spring for my Shield 9? The packaging it came in says "Mag Spring Shield Rev B". Thanks in advance.

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Interesting, chrome silicone maybe?, 'Rev B'. Going to contact S&W and see if I can swap all mine out.

If this is indeed an upgraded spring, the issue lies in the 90 degree bends in the spring ends. There needs to be a modified follower to match, similar to the full size M&P magazine followers. As is, this spring will not work with the shield magazine follower since there is not a hole for the bent spring end to fit in. Instead, the bent end rests completely on the ridge on the bottom of the plastic follower, digging into the plastic.

So back to my original question, has anyone seen this type of mag spring before? Has anyone else ordered a new spring from S&W for their Shield?

None of my Shield Mags need different springs.

__________________
USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

Wrong spring, doesn't look like it'll fit in the current Shield mag.

I had the same issue with 3 Shield mags with collapse springs. It's a known issue that has since been addressed by SW with new rev. springs.
They sent me 3 new springs that has smaller diameter and larger diameter.

Contact SW again and ask for the correct spring.

Snap a pic of the bottom of your follower. Does it have a place for the hook part the spring to engage into?

I checked once I saw pictures of the duty m&p magazine spring followers since they do have a hole for the bent end. Even still, they only have it on one end and the spring gets larger in diameter to accommodate the double stack. The spring I received is the same diameter end to end and both ends have the 90 degree bend...

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Call S&W and ask them if you need a Rev B follower because the spring they sent you doesn't fit properly and see what they say. I just bought a bunch of spare factory mags and maybe they're all being liquidated for newer model designs. You could just cut the hook off one side so it will fit.

That's very interesting. I had a similar issue. Here is what my failed spring looked like:


S&W also sent me new springs, but my new ones look exactly like the old ones. I wonder if my new ones will eventually fail like the one in the picture?

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Freedom isn't free.

Rastoff, that's what mine looked like when I pulled it out of the magazine. I plan on contacting S&W when I get a chance. I am out of town and busy during their service hours. I will let you guys know what they tell me. Thanks for everyone's input.

I called to get a new spring last week. Didn't get it yet. Wolff sells a spring but it is identical in shape to the shield spring and has the two coil sizes but is a different color material.
Some members have reported getting springs recently from s&w and have received the same spring as the original.
When I called last week the guy on the phone said this issue is rare and that they have sold 3 million shield pistols in the last 3 years.
We will see.....he didn't say anything about new design springs and followers.

Too me it looks like the wrong spring got picked and sent to you.....

I have 3 (two 8's and a 7) magazines. All 3 of them are nearly impossible to hand load with the last round. It doesn't sound like S&W has an answer to the problem. Does anyone know of an after market magazine spring that allows for loading the last round?

Magguts makes what you desire.....but they are expensive .

Sounds like your spring might be messed up too. When the spring is not bent, I can load all rounds by hand.

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Freedom isn't free.

His could be messed up. A lot of people are saying their mags are hard too load....maybe they are all effed?

s&W sent me two springs and they re same as the originals.

Just in case I picked up some Wolff ones as well.

Just an update to this thread, I got a second replacement spring from S&W and it was the right one this time. Took it out this weekend and it worked fine. I guess we will see how long until the new fails...

-JB

Thanks for the update. My mag loader took all the concern out of loading the mags for the Shield.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

The two they sent me were identical to the originals as well.

My being able to load my mags by hand might be a product of repetition. I generally shoot somewhere around 6K rounds per year through various guns. Therefore, I load a lot of mags.

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Freedom isn't free.

I also received 3 replacement springs like yours with the hook at the ends. I cut the horizontal hook off inside of the spring and very slightly reduced the radius of the bends of the spring so it matched the contours of the follower now the spring fits the follower as good as the original spring did. I don't anticipate any future problems with this issue

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Response to Post 14. I had the same difficulty fully loading my 7 round Shield Magazines. Contacted S&W and was told the spring lengths for the 7 and 8 round magazines are the same. Their fix was to leave the 7 round magazines fully loaded for a couple of weeks. Tried that but they were still extremely difficult to fully load. Ended up shortening the 7 round springs slightly and now they fully load fine.

Just got the shield 1 week ago and the magazine spring is bent already after just 40 rounds. I'm hoping s&w comes up with a long term fix. This is my 1st s&w and it sure leaves a bad 1st impression. I guess I'll see how quickly they fix mine.

Here's what mine looks like:

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I had this same spring issue twice in 7 round mags. The first was after only one day on the range with the magazine that came with the S&W Shield; it wasn't feeding correctly. Took the mag back to the store and they opened it up and saw the exact thing posted here; they replaced the mag for me. The second time was after around 1,000 rounds. Went to the range today and while ejecting the defensive rounds all wouldn't come out. Opened it up and the spring was bunched up at the same place (like another pic I saw on this thread). Going to call S&W for a replacement. Thanks for the heads-up on the follower.
P.S. I've got another 7 round mag with the same number of rounds through it that has not had this problem.

Update on my issue. S&W sent a replacement spring out in less than a business week. I was impressed with the no questions asked quick service. Although, I did buy another magazine just in case.

Has anyone tried the Wolff replacement Shield springs? Thoughts?

Well my new Perf Center 9mm Shield had 125 rounds thru and thew spring failed like all the pics, sooooo being like really pissed I called Wolff and Smith. First ordered good Wolff springs because my trust in smith is gone for this issue! The Perf center said nicely, I'll send 2 free. I said what is wrong...he said if they load fully a few times without failing....then they are good...HAHAHA depend on a carry gun with this ****? Well Wolff snickered and said we have no issue with our springs no worries. The spring I had bend on me is dead soft....it can bend all over and hold that bend and bend back to another form...lol NOT SPRING STEEL IN THE PROPER TEMPER !
omg Smith it is an awesome gun but what the hell ya thinking ??
I hope no deaths happen from **** failing springs ...like no bang !

Ok I got my Wolff and they are flawless and smooth!
Got my Smith replacements in the mail ! JUNK what ? Yes Junk! They are the same width and not necked down in width like wolff and their own originals. They are too wide and rub at the follower due to stupid bend hook that forces spring to hit side and run/ drag. OMG THEY JUST DONT GET IT !!! Thank God for Wolff !!

3 million magazines? Probably

3 million pistols? Only if they sold 2 million in the 7 months before he told you that.

Smith & Wesson ships millionth Shield

Same old Smith lack of quality control !! My chamber was full of tool marks and a nick from tooling! I polished it out myself cause it works and shoots great ! Damn Smith!!