The sights.

I ran 250 rnds of a variety of factory 115 grian FMJ.... All perfect! No slide jammed back. I am VERY pleased with the controllability of this relatively small light handgun! I like the trigger. I probably will not do anything with it as I prefer a relative heavy trigger pull for a self defense gun.

The sight was not drifted to total center at the factory Not too bad but noticeably towards the right looking at it from the rear of the gun. Also, the rear sight is slightly off in the same diection although not as bad. So the front and rear sights are sort-of agreeing with each other. Therefore the sighting system is towards the right of the barrel and as a result, all the groups at 7 and fifteen yards were just to the left of POA by an inch or so.

I knew about this off centered sight before I shot it today but I wanted to know if there were any other more important problems besides the sight. I called S&W customer Service last Monday morning and told the person about the sights and that I'd be shooting it soon to make sure that is the only issue. He told me they would send me a Fed Ex Pre Paid label with the auth number and center it for me. Very nice interaction and I have no problems sending it in but I asked him the turn-around time and he said it would possibly take a month!

He told me I'd need to send the whole gun in so they could adjust it, shoot it and confirm it's shooting POA, POI. (too bad they did not do that before it left the factory right?)

So here are my choices;

1 - Send it and lose it for a month
2 - Forget about it and live with it (I know that ain't gonna happen with my OCD!)
3 - Get a local gunsmith to adjust it (but I've read that these sights are really difficult to move!)

Anyone have a similar experience and what course of action did you take?

But overall, I am VERY pleased with my new Shield. Just a little bummed that I may need to lose it for a while.

Just get some night sights online and have them installed locally.

Thanks. I did think of that but just not in the financial cards right now. Too many toys recent purchased.

If they offered to fix it now, I'd bet they'd fix it later if you decide not to go with different sights. My fronts sights weren't perfectly center and assumed it was zero'd at the factory but still hits closer than I can POA to POI so good enough for me .

My Shield 45 needed a little tweak to the front sight, I purchased a JMT sight tool and also knew I was going to pull the rear sight for some other refinement.
If by chance you live in my area let me know, we can adjust your sights while you wait.
Karl

Your local range might adjust the sights for a small fee.... then you won't have to send it back...

You have lived without it all your life so another month should not be a real problem for you. On the other hand I doubt they would guarantee POA/POI on return to you either. If you plan to some day put night sights on it why not just wait until the money is in your toy box to replace them.

CS always tell you it'll be longer than it will be. More like two weeks.
I'd go ahead and send it in. I think you'll find your Shield just fine without a lot of mods. I agree with you about the trigger weight.
These are designed as SD pistols and server that well. Albeit there's been some posters bragging about accuracy at fifty yards.
I think that's bit of a stretch. Fifty yards? Only until I can get to my rifle.
Stay safe,
Poli Viejo

This is good advice. My range (I'm a member) adjusted my Shield .45's sights for free. It took less than 1/2 hour to get them properly aligned. If you are a member of your range, or are otherwise a good customer, they may do it for free or for some minimal charge.

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What, me worry?

I really appreciate you nice offer. I live in SE PA so that would be a long drive!

Yes I agree and also think the factory sights are fine; no real need for night sights at this time. Now if the factory sights were plastic with the U shaped outline rear, then I'd be swapping it out now!

Thanks everyone for the input!

I already know what S&W is offering and it may be only 2 weeks as was pointed out.

My outdoor range is pretty much unsupervised; no range officer....

My plan today is to call my local FFL shop and ask if he has the tool and capability to adjust these sights. I also will call my local gunsmith to ask the same. If I get a positive response, I may go that route instead of shipping it back for such a non-functional, non-technical issue.

My hesitation on the gunsmith or local FFL shop is due to several discussions I've read regarding the difficulty people have had moving the Shield's sights. I've even read somewhere that a gunsmith refused to adjust them due to the stubborn nature of the sights. Not sure if this is all true but that is why I'll be listening carefully to my gunsmith's response at my request. If there is any hesitation, off it will go to Smith and Wesson!

One more thing; Half of my rnds fired were done one-handed and I noted the beautiful mild recoil and controllablity of this small pistol! I was getting 2 inch groups (albeit to the left) at 5 and 7 yards shooting with no support grip! I am thrilled with the behavior and performance of this gun and equally happy that the only problem I have is an out of spec sight!

my Shield front sight was slightly off center to the right. I put the slide in a padded vice and put two layers of masking tape on the end of a punch and centered it myself with the punch and a small hammer

There is a very similar thread on a shield with off center front sight floating around here this week. Use the search function for all the info you could ask for.

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Dave

A fiber optic front sight is only 25 or 30 bucks and not too difficult to install yourself, I'm planning on putting one on mine.

So here's the outcome;

I called my gunsmith and told him the problem he said that sometimes these shields are incredibly difficult and trying to move the front and backside. He said it varies from sample to sample. He remembered one time where he needed to cut the back sight off it was so stubborn. He told me I would be better off sending it back to Smith and Wesson. They have extra sights on hand in case they ding my sites in their attempt to center them.

The fed ex label has been sent to me already. Today they told me 4to 6 weeks! Ugh well I hope it's less but as someone mentioned, I've lived without a Shield all my life so....

I'll live with my CZ and LCP for a while!

I did my sights in 20 minutes with a good quality unversal pusher. I think anything is possible, but they werent a problem with the tool in my case.

Well, that goes along with so many varied reports of success and failure in attempts to adjust these sights. I've read accounts such as yours as well as accounts of apparently welded front and rears. Your experience makes me think I may be waisting my time sending it back.

I need to go to my local gun shop to get a few things. I'm very friendly with the owner so you never know! "Sure, I'll look at it!" 10 minutes later - "There, centered!"

I'd be thrilled haha....

It could be...

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It's The Carbonaro Effect!

Only 1" to the left at 15 yards. How can you rule out it is you and not the sights?

Personally I would shoot it a bunch before touching or sending the gun back. As pointed out poi for the gunsmith may be different than for your eyesight. (In fact it may already be that way).

Have you tried a different size backstrap yet? How you are gripping the gun makes a big difference.

For 1" your sight will need to be drifted over very little. In fact it is more likely you will overcorrect it and the gun will shoot to the right.

As commented it is a easy fix is using a BRASS punch and hammer and tap the rear sight to the right.

While you mention OCD do you want the sights perfectly centered on the slide or your groups perfectly centered in the bullseye on the target? The two are not necessarily compatible.

Thanks for the input. Regarding over compensating the sights; Ugh NO! that would drive me crazy.

The one inch to the left was more identifiable at 5 and 7 yards. The 15 yards, while the group print left of center, was more spread out due to the distance.

You do have a good point regarding grip and subjectivity of the person sighting in a gun. The Shield has no back strap replacements like the M&P series butI can get the after market Talon Grips though which seem to get great reviews.

I remember I had a Sig 250 with the same exact sight problem and I sent it back to Sig who centered it perfectly. I cannot remember how it effected POA/POI though. It was years ago.

My .40 and 9mm Shields both required sight adjustment. I used the RST Gen. III Rear Sight Tool for successfully aligning the sights for both. If you don't want to buy the tool and do it yourself, the Handgunner shop in Topton was my go to place when I lived in S.E. PA. I would be very surprised if they can't fix it, and their prices were very reasonable.

Thanks Bob_C

I did call the shop in Topton. The person I spoke with was very nice and he said it could be done but I when I asked where Topton was in relationship to where I am, it was approx 45 miles so I will not have time for a round-trip.

I needed to complete some business at my local FFL and he offered to move my sight. I went yesterday afternoon and he took my pistol and he agreed that it was noticeably towards the right looking from the rear. So here is what happened; He used the least aggressive technique to push the sight over and when that failed, he used brass punches. I was standing right there and he bent two punches trying to budge the sight. This confirmed what my gunsmith told me and other on-line accounts of the stubborn Shield sights. While I do not doubt other's experiences of easily moving these sights, I am concluding that it just depends on the specific sample which accounts for such a diverse report of one's experience.

The shop owner's opinion was that since it was so far over to the left as you look at the muzzle, and most of my POI was towards the left, if it were his gun, he would send it back.

I'll be sending it back on Monday.

Getting my Vedder Holster tomorrow so I'll carry it for a day and sadly send it off for a month. I'm just glad it has been 100% reliable and that the only issue is the sight!

Have you shot it from a rest? That is the only real way to judge where the gun is shooting. So many people report the Shield shooting left when they first buy it, and it is usually because they are not accustomed to the grip yet. Bench rest it if you haven't before changing anything.

I have some time Tuesday to bench rest it (hope there is no rain!)

I will give this a try.

So if I take out most of my human error by benching this pistol, and it shoots perfectly POA/POI, wouldn't that indicate it was sighted in at the factory and it was determined the sight needed to be towards the right? But I wouldn't think production pistols are giving this level of attention.

Interesting thread and lots of good advice but something very important may heve been overlooked:
If both front and rear sights are to the right or left, they cancel out any errors. Realize that the REAR sight should be moved in the SAME direction as you want to move your group.
However, the FRONT sight should be moved in the OPPOSITE direction of where you are want to move your group.
In your case, both sights to the right introduce NO ERROR so the problem is only visual, not functional. Iwould leave them alone.
If, after shooting the gun over several range trips and at different distances and at different targets, you still shoot to the right or left consistently, move ONLY the front sight slightly in the OPPOSITE direction of where you want your groups to move.
The rear sights on Shields are NOT meant to be adjusted. The dovetail is purposely designed with no room for meaningful adjustment and there is a set screw installed to prevent movement and it is permanently red loctited in place.
The front sight IS designed to be adjusted slightly and it should be moved only with a non-marking punch and NOT a sight pusher.
Sight pushers exert extreme pressure on the slide and sight; have been known to crack slides and snap off sights; rarely ever fit perfectly; usually "jump" the sight past your intended spot; and good ones are very expensive. A careful steady hand with a non-marking punch and a small hammer will usually get the job done more precisely for almost no cost.
As a rule, Shields come out of the box with rear sights more to the right than perfectly centered. Front sights are usually pretty close to center. The factory does NOT adjust sights based on where the gun shoots in normal production. And finally, Shields with perfectly centered sights may, from a Ransom Rest, shoot several inches in any direction from the X ring.
Please don't drive yourself nuts and deteriorate your gun trying to get perfect visual alignment of your sights because cosmetics never won a gunfight.
Best regards and enjoy your Shield.

Thanks Nonuthin.

Interesting that you noted the rear sights on Shields are often slightly, and I understand it to mean very slightly, to the right. my rear sight is so slightly towards the right I think it would go unnoticed by most. I have no real objection with the rear when it comes down to it. The front is the main issue.

I plan to shoot from a rest to see if it's really effecting the POI and I'll decide how important it is to address it at the expense of losing it for a while. I just received my Vedder Holster today and this is my first Kydex holster.

As I shared above, tapping the front sight with brass punches did not budge mine so if I decide the POA is not to my liking, I'll ship it off to S&W.

You confirm my thoughts regarding whether S&W goes to any trouble in sighting pistols. Other than returns or custom pistols, I'd say they do not.

My best efforts at the range the other day produced overall groupings to the left so moving the front sight towards the left (as viewed from the rear....) would create a POI a little towards the right.

That is the goal of shooting from a rest, to determine where it hitting in relation to POA. I sight in all my guns when I buy them. I haven't had to adjust my Shield though, although some people have to.

S&W always wants you send them the whole gun.( even to get new parts). They are very controlling company in that regard. My experience has been that they tell you it will take 2 weeks, then 5-7 days later, the box shows up at your door . Then , I live in MA so it doesn't take long to ship back from Springfield? I would let them fix the sights, then if they damage them, you'll get new sights right away.My .02

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S&W BG380, S&W 915 9mm

Well, I'm going to the outdoor range Tuesday night to sight in my new AR so I'll take the time to rest the Shield.

If the rnds print to the left (like I think they will) it'll be shipped.

I hope your right on the shorter then expected time!