I took delivery of it about two weeks ago. Spent some time removing all the factory lube/preservative. There was quite a lot and the slide even felt a bit gritty when worked. Pretty smooth now. The bore was filthy.

Trigger pull was 6 lbs out of the box. Did a little bit of polishing on the connector and a lot of dry fire. After the polishing and dry fire, it is pretty consistent at just a hair over 5 lbs. The trigger is smooth and breaks cleanly. Much better than my Shield 9 was out of the box. I was planning on installing an Apex hard steel sear, but I may not need to.

I must say, it has a very aggressive grip texture, especially on the back strap. Hoping it will smooth out a little over time. If not, Talon Grips here I come.

I bought three extra 6 round mags from Quantico Tactical. Glad I have an UpLula. Very difficult to get the last round in right now. Just part of being new.

I finally got to the range with it yesterday. Recoil is stouter, but no more than my XDm .45 ACP 3.8" Compact. I seem to shoot it better than my Shield 9mm.

I put 216 rounds through it. I tried 3 different brands of FMJ. American Eagle, Fiocchi, and Magtech, all 230 gr. Also 41 rounds of Federal HST, and 25 rounds of Golden Saber. I was expecting at least one FTE or FT feed because it's new, but it ran flawlessly through everything. Not a single blip.

Until I got home that is. Field stripped it for cleaning, and was just starting to wipe down the RSA when it popped apart. No way I could get it back together.



I contacted customer service and they are sending me a new recoil spring assembly.

That's a real shame but send it back to S&W, they'll make it right.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Hopefully they will get you a new spring assembly to you quickly. I recently got a 45 shield had the 9mm shields. Great guns yeah I like the new trigger action on the 45 better than the 9mm as well as the grip I like the more textured grip. Especially when it gets hot out and get a little sweaty. But it is quite aggressive. Mine shot little low and way left. part my fault I was jerking trigger some. But I did have to bump my rear sight slightly to right . Now I shoot good consistent groups with her now. Anyway there a blast to shoot and hope S&W gets you fixed up quick. Have a great day!

This is not the first occurrence I've heard of where the recoil spring assembly had issues. Is there an updated or aftermarket replacement available. I thought they had this corrected. No issues with mine so far but I only have about 300 rounds through it.

I thought the grip was quite aggressive too. It will not smooth out over time. At least not before developing serious callouses. Try a little 400 grit sand paper on it first. You just need to knock down the high points. I'll bet it gets a lot better right quick.

Even if they have it fixed, there are still a few thousand out there with the original, defective RSA. If this is a manufacturing or design defect, I expect we'll see it a few more times.

The up side to this is it doesn't prevent the gun from working. If you shove that RSA back in, the gun will still work.

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Freedom isn't free.

Aargh! Not another recoil spring assembly problem! I'm sorry to see you have this problem with your Shield .45. A couple of years ago a number of Shield 9 owners suffered defective RSAs. I know because I was one of them. My experience in trying to get a good replacement RSA was so absurd, it ultimately became amusing. The original RSA was bent, the first replacement was part of a rifle sling assembly (close enough, right?), the second replacement came apart just like yours, and I finally got a good one after 3 1/2 months. I chronicled my adventure in this thread: Shield RSA one more time

Those events with the 9 did not sour me on Shields, because I am now the owner of a new Shield .45. So far (1500 rounds) the RSA is fine. I hope that S&W gets you a good RSA pronto.

Good Luck!

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What, me worry?

I used 200 grit very lightly. Worked well. Almost feels like a Talon Grip now.

Rifle Sling Assembly=RSA

Yeah, some new guy filling the orders, LOL.

Yaaaaay! Got my new RSA today. Two weeks, not bad.