Usually on every thread where someone is thinking about buying a PC Shield, or when one is mentioned, there are always a few guys that throw out some doozies.
News flash ! A PC Shield ( or PC full-size) is NOT the same as a fully compensated pistol. There are two very small ports, not a half dozen or more.

Some of my favorites:
Noise. These (same) guys will tell you that you can shoot a "normal" pistol without earpro, but try shooting a ported PC S&W even with plugs and earmuffs and you will be instantly deafened.
B. S !
Any handgun is loud and you should be wearing earpro.
I don't find my PC Shield to be one bit louder than anything else.
( I do have a pistol with a compensator on it, a threaded Ruger MK IV .22, that thing is loud. I don't notice when shooting it as I'm directly behind it, but last Sunday I let a friend shoot it, and I was standing about 4 feet behind him and off to the side. Even with both earplugs and muffs, when he started shooting, I backed up a few feet, then backed up a few more ).
Yes, compensators are loud, but the PC Shield or FS PC are NOT compensated pistols.

Flash. These guys will tell you they wouldn't own a S&W PC model because the muzzle flash will,(1) blind you, (2) singe your eyebrows and (3) catch your clothes on fire.
B.S. !
The flash coming out of the muzzle is way, way more bright than what comes out of the 2 little ports. What powder your ammo is loaded with is what really makes a difference as to how much flash you'll see.
Look at a pic of a PC firing at night, and you'll see that the flash from the ports is nothing compared to what comes out of the muzzle.
The gasses are diverted at an angle away from you, not straight up, so even if you hold the pistol under your chin, you or your clothes aren't going to get burnt.

Cleanup.
Those uneducated few will say that they wouldn't own a PC S&W because it will take hours to chip off the baked on crud from the ports on the barrel and the cuts inside the slide.
B. S. !
The fouling at those two places is soft powder fouling, not hardened crud, and one quick swipe with solvent on a rag will remove them. It takes all of 6 seconds extra to clean up, over a non ported gun.

Anyone that actually owns a PC pistol will tell you that they are great, they haven't lost their eyebrows, been blinded or suffered permanent hearing damage, or spent an extra half hour cleaning their PC.
It would be nice if the guys that griped about them could realize that two tiny ports aren't the same as a compensated Race gun, and maybe you should try one before spouting the same nonsense every time someone mentions a PC Shield or PC Fullsize.

I've shot my PC Shield a lot, and shot it after dark, and held in against my hip. I haven't seen any of the things that the guys that don't own one will claim, and I doubt any of the other Performance Center owners have either. I think a lot of the misinformation is just guys who are trying to justify their choice of a non PC pistol, so they want to talk down the one that they don't own. Or playing on their memories of fully compensated pistols.

The two ports are just large enough to reduce muzzle flip some, and not so large as to cause problems.
Less muzzle rise means you get back on target quicker, which is always a good thing.
All Shields and FS M&P's are great guns, the PC models are just a touch better.

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U. S. Army Veteran

All that is probably true except for the part where all ported S&W owners will tell you their ported pistol is great.

Personally, I wish my pistol (.45 Shield) did not have the ports. They cause the front sight to get smutty in my experience and quickly kill the brightness of that front sight with the light-gathering insert.

I do still have my eyebrows, though....

The primary concern is retention shooting, which is extremely important from a civilian personal defense standpoint.

The retention shooting problem with ported guns is not just theoretical as many prominent instructors have not only warned about it, but many have witnessed the problems firsthand in their classes. Craig Douglas recently even banned the ported Shield specifically from his classes after a woman was injured by one.

A rather long and overly opinionated post with extreme positions stated. Since we are all entitled to our opinions, I don’t find it worth debating point by point, but it could be done easily.

Let me guess, you don't own or shoot a PC ?

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U. S. Army Veteran

most if not all of the OP's points are well taken.
as far as the post about too much smut on the front sight... wipe it off between mags or a few mags will take a few seconds and it's never a problem, unless for course you don't have the time....to me porting has always been a plus , really helps on 44 mags, 357's and such never everyones cup of tea but still a viable and effective perk.

Not worth debating, but you took the effort to respond to my long winded post.
I have no problems with you're thinking that my views on the PC models is overly opinionated and my extreme positions stated in the thread.
Because I have experience with one, I've carried it and shot it a lot in the last 3 1/2 years. And have experienced zero issues with it.

Guys either love them or hate them, and I've yet to see a guy that actually owns one that hates it.
Guevera, I can see where the sight could get smutted up from carbon, I just haven't seen it on mine.
I recently put a set of TFO's on the PC Shield, they have a longer front sight, so it's closer to the slide cuts. I haven't put many rounds through it since the upgrade, it remains to be seen if the dot will get smutted up.
If you'd rather have an unported pistol, you could probably find someone who would trade barrel and slide with you.

So a woman was injured by her PC Shield ? it would be interesting to hear the details of that and her level of experience.
Novices in any sport are more apt to be injured, whether it's auto racing, mountain climbing or shooting--- you name it.
Anyone heard of any men (or women) with a bit of experience under their belt getting hurt because of the two tiny ports ?

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U. S. Army Veteran

I have to take issue with your claim about ported guns not being louder.

Being the head firearms instructor at the PD I work for, I had the opportunity to test fire a PC Shield in 9mm that had been forfeitted to the PD by the court following a court case. When shooting, I wear a good pair of 3M muffs. Never had an issue with noise with pistols, rifles, shotguns or anything else when wearing these muffs, including an M2 machine gun at an MG shoot at one time.

After shooting a magazine through the PC Shield, my ears were ringing, even through the muffs. I have a standard Shield in 9mm and never had the issue. The muzzle blast was quite a bit louder out of the PC Shield and was a lot sharper. Maybe it was just me, but you can't make the blanket statement that noise increases from porting is BS, because for me with this gun, it wasn't. Maybe it's not an issue for most people, but it was for me, and I can't believe that I'm alone.

Porting can also be bad when shooting from retention. If you can remember to cant the top of the gun out away from your body when firing, not a big deal. If you forget to cant the gun outward, the blast from the ports can and has caused injury. The vast majority of the time, all it does is cause a sharp blast of gas and, aside from maybe blackening your clothes, no big deal. But it can cause injury, usually by blasting out unburned powder. Most people don't train in shooting from retention, so most don't know about the issue, but it is real. Because of this, my PD won't allow ported guns for duty use.

Experience doesn’t matter, it’s simply an inherent risk with ported guns when firing from retention. Gunsite instructors have stated they’ve witnessed the same thing. Here’s the incident at Douglas’ class along with his statement banning the porter Shield...

10/21/17 ECQC Albuquerque, N.M.

As of... - Shivworks and Shivworks Alumni

I currently have 8 handguns. I always wear muffs, and I can't say the .40 PC Shield is any noticeably louder than the others. They are all loud.
A friend has a 9mm PC Shield, and I've put about 150 rounds through it. Same there, it seems no louder than the others.
If they were fully compensated pistols, yes, they would be noticeably louder.

If you say the 9mm PC you shot was louder, bub075, I believe you.
We all have different perceptions and memories of noise, recoil and many other things. Maybe you were shooting on an indoor lane, and the report is different indoors.
Some will say their .45 Shield has more recoil than their .40 Shield, others will say just the opposite.

I have two other M&P's that aren't ported to compare with. If I thought there were issues with the PC, I'd just get rid of it and replace it with a non ported model. I really don't see much of a difference.
My thread was intended to point out the wild claims by some are unfounded, i.e. clothes on fire, loss of hearing, difficulty cleaning and being blinded.

Is the PC slightly more loud ? Perhaps, but I can't tell it.
If you think it is, or think the other issues mentioned are valid, just don't buy one.
I like my non ported M&P's just fine, but I'm not having second thoughts about the PC's porting, it has a bit less muzzle rise, and that's it.

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U. S. Army Veteran

I carry a PC Shield 45 every day, have thousands of rounds through it, and absolutely love it!

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Find a way or make one.

Groo here
I have heard this all before and most is a bunch of $*&*...
I carried 357 revolvers for a good 8 years at the S.O..
We shot from every which way with 125 gr frame cracking fire breathing
butt kickers.
No you will not go blind, we even used the flash as a light to find other targets.
Yes you can light your t-shirt from retention, shirts are cheap, my hide is not.
Is it noisy? Yep all guns are!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The sound just goes more places.
Those teachers that don't allow them have other problems like insurance, or modern shooters who think shooting should not
hurt.[ when we should not be thinking about such small things, rather
stuff like knives ,clubs, and bullets]
Ps. Yes I have ported , non-ported,and guns with breaks on them, autos ,revolvers and singleshots[some you can't shoot with out a break like a 50Alaskan ]
I just never though about it when the guns started to go off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I shot ported, large caliber, long barrel revolvers years ago. They would help bring the fire breathers back on target quicker.

I see absolutely no reason for porting a Shield; especially a 9MM. However, S&W did it. I assume that is because people want it and are willing to pay extra for it. Everyone wins.

Groo here
PS. Porting on a Shield [got one] does work a little with 40S&W
Less with 9mm, maybe more with 357sig[got the barrel not to range yet]
The thing is,,, if someone grabbed your ported gun [over the ports]
and you fired it, I Doubt the BG would still be hanging on.....
After all, the gasses comming out are around 30,000 PSI.[OUCH]

I have a PC 9mms Shield and love it, the front sight does get dirty faster and dirtier, I have never paid attention to sound differences between that and anything else. They look better than the non ported versions and looks matter

Someone else mentioned the front sight getting dirty, I have not had that happen. I don't even see soot on the outside of the slide cuts, only a little on the inside of the slide and outside on the barrel.

The comments from this thread reinforce my thoughts, those that have the PC Shield speak favorably about them, those that don't like them don't have one, or aren't speaking negatively about ported Shields, but about some other ported pistol (or revolver).
The discussion was supposed to be about ported Shields, not a MagnaPorted Model 629 revolver, or some other handgun.
My point being, if you don't own a PC Shield, or don't have some real experience with one, maybe you shouldn't be commenting about them.

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U. S. Army Veteran

I bought a PC 9 Shield because they had a used one at my LGS. I don't notice a difference in the noise level at my indoor range. However, once someone in the lane next to me asked what I was shooting because they found it so loud. Maybe because some of the flash and blast comes from the ports laterally. I think the front sight getting dirty and the PC being hard to clean are non issues. I can understand that retention shooting could be dangerous. A friend who owns a standard model Shield shot my PC and said the trigger is noticeably better. It has operated flawlessly and I'm pleased with it. Some manufacturers of plated ammo labeled FMJ like Federal Champion label it not for use in ported barrels. I really could do without the ports but don't find them a problem.

I’m sorry, I misunderstood. You started a thread trying to discredit anything negative posted about a ported gun. I thought maybe you wanted comments from people that have owned or shot ported guns and understood their application.

Clearly that is not the case. You only want to hear from people that bought a gun that derives no benefit from the porting other than the owner being able to say he has a ported gun, and S&W getting some extra money on the deal. Nothing wrong with them doing that though.

Porting a 29 may serve a purpose, porting a shield doesn’t. I thought people that have never owned a ported gun, and were considering a ported Shield, might be interested in why users with experience think they are worthless?? Those experienced folks won’t be owners of a ported Shield; but have valuable information to offer the folks that are considering them….don’t you think?

Late to the thread but it could've been the ammo and not the gun. Maybe cheap ammo?

If the gun was not ported, cheap or expensive ammo would not have caused such an injury.

Now, do certain types of bullets exacerbate the potential danger of porting? Yes. Bullets that are rather easily “shaved” when passing by the ports (soft lead, no jacket) can throw particles instead of just gas through the ports. Maybe other types of bullets too. I’m not an expert. Just applying logic.

This woman was injured because of porting, perhaps in combination with certain ammo, but the ammo was not the primary cause of the injury.

I ask because I've heard a lot of people claim ported barrel handguns was spitting shrapnel while they were shooting them.
In a defensive situation I don't really think you'll notice it unless you caught some in the eye.
I'll buy the standard model just because of the price difference.