I am a still learning shooter and started with the 380 Shield EZ. Love it but want to work myself up to a 9mm. I also own a Kimber Micro 380 and have also shot my hubby’s Colt Detective .38 at the gun range. Of those 3, I think the Kimber has the most recoil but does not bother me. And I am a small female. Does anyone have any experience to share advice as to whether an M&P 9mm is a lot more/little more than the Kimber 380? If so, which M&P is it?
I live in a very rural area and am lucky to have one gun range here and they don’t rent guns. My birthday is in October and I’m already planning to ask for an M&P 9mm to add to my firing choices. I do have my Texas Carry License also.

I think you will enjoy the M&P 9. Mine is much nicer/easier to shoot than my Bodyguard .380. My GF prefers 9mm anything to .380. We are in our 60s and her hands aren’t particularly strong. She has 4 9mm pistols of her own and likes to shoot my M&P9 as well.


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I have 9mm Kimber Micro and as far as my 9mm firearms go it kicks the most just because it such a small gun. I never fired a 380 Kimber Micro but have fired my wifes 380 EZ and there is no comparison the 380EZ being a larger sized 380 is as they say EZ to shoot.

If your looking a full size M&P 9mm the felt recoil of it would be less, in my opinion, than the 380 micro. An M&P shield which I also own, would be comparable I would guess. My Kimber 9mm micro kicks more than my shields.

Remember the larger the gun the less felt recoil. I am going to say if you can handle the little Micro you can handle the Shield or any larger M&P in 9mm with no issue.

Thank you for that advice. I don’t pay any attention to the recoil on the Kimber Micro. I think as a still fairly inexperienced shooter, I think I am more worried about the anticipation of the 9mm recoil than I will find the actual experience. I will continue to get plenty of practice with the EZ but I am not really wanting to carry a gun with a grip safety. And again, I think that's probably another mind thing. I have not had a failure due to not engaging the grip safety properly since first shooting it.

I'm going to be the odd man here and recommend to seriously consider the Kahr CM9 9mm. It is a fantastic carry gun. It's not that much bigger than the Kimber 380 however it's slightly wider due to the 9mm chambering. No external safeties and has a unique double action only trigger that feels like a well tuned revolver.

If money was no option, then consider the all steel Kahr K9. It is IMHO one of the best concealed carry pistols on the market.

Check out at a 9mm Shield. It closely resembles your EZ without the grip safety and will carry as well. The M&P compact is another step up but heavier and wider.

Some of the tiny 380’s are unpleasant to shoot.

9mm pistols are kitty cats (to be pc) in terms of recoil in a gun large enough to offer a good sized grip: a grip large enough to get all your fingers on the grips.

OP will have no difficulty with most 9mm guns.

The 380 guns tend to be smaller in size. Moving up to a 9mm the pistols are a bit bigger so felt recoil should be similar. .380 is just a 9mm short. The smaller you go with 9mm the harder they are to rack the slide. The spring weight makes up for the small stature.

If your looking for a smallish carry choice, the Walther P99C is worth looking into. It is unique, being a decocking striker fired pistol, so the heavier first trigger pull takes the place of a safety.

P99 - Walther Arms

Yes as mentioned above, the crucial thing to understand is that there is a directly opposing relationship between caliber/bullet energy VS gun weight and grip size/grippable area.

Any 380 pocket pistol sized gun is going to recoil way more than a full-sized 9mm pistol.

There is sort of a tendency among gun shop salespeople to recommend smaller caliber guns for women...meanwhile those smaller guns tend to kick way more (despite being weaker calibers) and to be harder to shoot because they are much lighter and have much less grip to hang onto than a full-sized handgun does.

I always start new shooters on full-sized 9mms or full-sized 38's (if I am not starting them on a .22). You'll likely find nearly any full-sized 9mm easier to shoot than your Shield or your Kimber micro or your husband's Detective Special, again, despite the fact that the 9mm has more power. Good luck!

All good recommendations.

I would add to take a trip to the "big city" and rent as many 9mm's as you can. Start with some large steel frame guns. Even though you might not buy a heavy gun, it will help to acclimate yourself to the recoil characteristics of the 9 and full size guns. That and it's fun...

Then work your way down in size and weight until you find the one that is just right for you. Maybe it is a Shield, maybe a 2.0 Compact, maybe you find another brand that just fits you perfect.

The way a gun "feels" in your hand will have a dramatic difference in the perception of recoil.

Bottom line? If the Kimber 380 recoil doesn't both you, the M&P full size, compact, 3.6", etc. should all be very very manageable. I have a Sig P238 (similar to the K380) and it is a snappy little thing.

I am assuming this is a self defense gun? Take the time to find the right gun that you will train enough to be proficient. You life depends on it. If it didn't - you wouldn't need the firearm.

The Shield 9mm is a good choice. Even though it’s lighter than the compact, it’s slimmer profile using the 8 round magazine let’s you get a firmer grip to control recoil. It shoots like a bigger gun.

I owned a Shield 9MM and liked it very much. The only thing I found was the magazines had stiff springs, making them tough to load for someone w/compromised hand strength. The same was true of the recoil spring, making the slide hard to rack for some people. That said the gun was very accurate and rock solid reliable. S&W has a winner here.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

M wife shoots her new EZ very well and comfortably. She does not like the LCP or other small .380's. She also shoots my 9MM Shield well although she cannot reliably manipulate the slide well. Shooting the Shield is not fun for her even though she can shoot it very well. On the other hand, she loves to shoot our full sized MP9 even though the grip size is much larger. She can also manipulate the slide on that pistol satisfactorily. She has fun shooting the full size MP9 and she also shoots it very very well! Shooting the Shield EZ is also fun for her!

It's all about the size and weight of the gun and how it fits in your specific hand. What ever you choose, spend some time handling and holding different pistols in YOUR hands (at the LGS that has a good selection). Ask if you can try to manipulate the slide as part of your handling of the weapon. Make sure your trigger finger can reach the trigger properly without altering your grip on the gun. If you can't reach the trigger properly and comfortably, you won't be able to shoot that one well regardles of all other considerations, especially if you need to do so in a hurry! There are many fine weapons, but not all of them fit any of our hands well. If the gun does not fit your hand well and comfortably, it will not be the best gun for you even if someone else or every body else loves it!

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So long ... Ken

It is for self defense but I want to get more proficient with all of my current guns before I begin carrying one. And once I learned how to properly rack a slide with the close to the body, push/pull method, the Kimber Micro is a piece of cake. Course the EZ, you can move that slide with one finger. And FYI, hubby didn’t pick the EZ, but he did that pretty Kimber, LOL. I just gave it to him to carry, I don’t like the really small guns. Thank you, all, this is all great advice you have given.

Your welcome.

Felt recoil with .380s can vary widely. I don't recall which is which, but there is one operating mechanism (blowback?) that is very likely to make a .380 feel a lot worse than one should expect. I have been told the Glock M42 is not like that - and is amazingly gentle. The S&W Bodyguard is of the same nature from what I am told, but no personal knowledge. I will be testing the M42 when I get a chance. I got one a few weeks ago.

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NHI, 10-8.

All in all, 9mm's are rather tame. If/When you step into the right gun you'll do well with it.

My suggestion is:
Go to a shop with a wide range of 9mm's for sale and hold them all. See which ones fit your hand... if it doesn't fit your hand it won't shoot right.
Now, of the ones that fit your hand, consider actually carrying them. Size & weight, will it work as a carry gun?

Now, having narrowed down your considerations, venture to the city and rent the ones you like.

What Toby said....

Welcome to the seemingly never ending search for finding the perfect handgun for yourself.

If you want do some basic comparisons of different handgun models and their specifications, check out the website The Handgun Informaton Resource and do a site-search for the model(s) you are wanting to check out.

It does not take all bullet weights and velocities in consideration, but do find it useful for comparing different dimensions of the plethora of handgun models to choose from from today.

For instance it shows recoil from a Shield EZ .380 coming in at 3.5lbs, the Kimber micro 380 at 4.66lbs and the M&P 2.0 compact 9mm at 5.21lbs.

How those numbers actually translates to your perceived felt recoil still takes trying it to see how it goes. Generally using the same ammo, the heavier the handgun the less felt recoil there will be. The trade-off with using a heavier gun is it can take more effort to conceal and carrying it so which one to get depends on your needs.

Learning shooting technique is everything and practice is a good thing and more is better. It may be worthwhile to consider adding a .22 handgun to the mix at some point to enable more shooting time at less ammo cost and reduced recoil.

Recoil depends on the weight and speed of the bullet being fired, the weight of the gun it is fired from, how the gun fits your hand, and the type or action of the gun.

For guns like the Shield EZ and Kimber Micro that fire the same bullet, the lighter gun usually feels like it recoils more because it has less weight to resist recoil. Also, the smaller gun usually feels like it recoils more because the recoil force is distributed across a smaller area of your hand.

When comparing guns that fire different calibers, such as the Kimber Micro 380 and full-size M&P 9mm, things get more complex. The calculated "free recoil" for the Kimber is slightly less than for the M&P, but the M&P's grip is so much larger that the M&P probably has less felt recoil.

If the 28-ounce, full-size M&P 9mm would have about the felt recoil of the Kimber Micro 380, one of the old 38-ounce, all-steel S&W 5906 9mm pistols would have about the felt recoil of the Shield EZ.

Finally, felt recoil also depends on the type of gun. Revolvers and pistols with blowback actions dump all of their recoil force into your hand in one sharp blow. Pistols with locked-breech actions (like all of the ones mentioned above) impart their recoil force over time as the breech mechanism unlocks, which makes the felt recoil impulse less sharp.

Thanks to all again, this is great information.

Get some snap caps (I like the A-Zoom brand) and periodically mix one in with your live ammo. It's very easy to see your "flinch" when you really expected the gun to go bang but got a click instead. Knowing you're doing it is the first step to correcting it.

I have way more 9mm and 380s than I need.

I think you would be very pleased with an M&P 9c! It's a lovely gun for just about anything - and you can keep the 380 for when you really need to be covert! The 9c is really a big little gun! Or, is it a little big gun? It's great! A keeper for sure!

Hubby bought the Shield 9mm for me this week from Academy. Nice, huh? It will be about a week before we can make it to the range so I’m getting nervous now. But very happy!

99% of the above is correct. Find a local store and try various pistols as suggested above. My only concern is will you be able to rack the slide on the 9's. If so all is good but in my mind that after finding a few you like and that fit your hand you need to be able to operate the weapon. Therefore try racking the slide a few times and if so I don't think the 9 has much more recoil that a smaller 380 does. I have both but being over 75 years old I am finding the 9's getting a bit harder to rack. Have a S&W shield and a Sig 938 as well as a 238 sig. The Shield handles better but as I said the slide can be a bit harder to rack.

good luck on your choice and let us know what you find....

.380 is a 9mm round. 9x17 1,000 feet per second with a 100 grain bullet. The Luger is a 9x19 round 1,100 feet per second with a 115 grain bullet. As a matter of fact, .38 and 357 are the same diameter bullets as well .355.

Just saying!

I’m having no problems racking the slide. (See above post wher I say I did purchase the Shield 9mm, haven’t fired it yet.) However to field strip, I have to put the mag in to be able to lock the slide back to begin the takedown. I will make sure the mag is empty first.

That's what I do. Much easier than fighting that infernal Shield slide lock.

If you find the thin grip of the Shield has more felt recoil than you like, be sure to try one of the rubber grip sleeves for Hogue. That will help reduce the felt recoil.

M&P Shield - Grips for Smith & Wesson - Handgun Grips - Hogue Products

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Centennial Every Day

We have both the .380 EZ and the 2.0 M&P 9mm. Both are excellent guns. The problem is that if you begin with the .380 EZ, you'll never give it up to even try a 9mm.

Shot placement is king but not the entire court. There is a reason why police use 9mm and above. Human targets don’t just hang there waiting for the frontal center mass shot to hit.

I can't really comment comparing those two but I recently shot my M2.0 9mm back to back with a Glock 42, which is .380. I couldn't wait to get back to the M&P. -Not that the G42 was bad, it was just much more of a snappy feel compared to the "push" of my M&P. Recoil really is a subjective issue. You'd be surprised how "felt" recoil among a variety of guns is perceived by different people. It often defies the laws of physics.

Just wanted to give an update. Mostly because I am so pleased! Finally got to the range with my new Shield 9mm. Love, love, love it. So nice to fire, had no malfunctions and see what is meant by the recoil feeling like a push. On a B27 target, I had many rounds in the x circle and them many left but in the 9 circle so a nice pattern for a beginner who was nervous about stepping up to a 9mm. Now to continue to practice! And now I can definitely say, of my owned guns, that little micro 380 Kimber is the snappiest of all, no push there.

I have 3 9mm M&Ps and 2 380s. All of my 9s shoot softer than either of the 380s so I don't think you will have any problem moving up to 9mm.

I also have a Shield 9. Good choice IMO.

I am surprised everybody here has talked about guns but nobody mentioned ammo when it comes to felt recoil.

There are a ton of ammo choices, 115 grain, 124, 147 and even an ammo called 9mm low recoil. You might get a box of each, shoot and decide for yourself what works with your gun, for your needs and in your hand.

I also have a Shield 9. Good choice IMO.

I am surprised everybody here has talked about guns but nobody mentioned ammo when it comes to felt recoil.

There are a ton of ammo choices, 115 grain, 124, 147 and even an ammo called 9mm low recoil. You might get a box of each, shoot and decide for yourself what works with your gun, for your needs and in your hand.