New shield problem

[Ozarkdave]

Just got this a couple days ago. First time shooting it today. Shot three mags, all was good. Ready to clean it and slide won't open. Looks like a spring or something. Now I have to send it back. Here is a pic.

[mckenney99]

Kind of hard to tell from the photo.
Looks like the little flat silver spring for the takedown latch has popped out of its recess. If that is the case, you should be able to see the groove, in the locking block, for that spring just below the spring. If you can get a small flat bladed screw driver on top of the right side of the spring you should be able to push the horizontal portion of the spring down and then inward into its corresponding groove. If you can then get the slide off as normal. then take you punch or screwdriver and just gently go along that spring and seat it more fully into its recess.
I saw a few of these issues early on and haven't seen one for awhile. Normally, once you have the spring fully seated, it is never an issue again.

[ken158]

Agree with mckenney99, that was an issue in some earlier Shields but once the spring is seated, the problem corrected itself.

[Ozarkdave]

Finally got the slide off, little tricky! Looks like it may have got bent.

[Fastbolt]

That's the slide stop lever spring, which is a curved flat-wire spring seated inside a groove in the L/side of the locking block. The spring is supposed to be fully seated inside the groove of the locking block, meaning flush with the outside of the block.

It's not supposed to be removed for normal maintenance, and armorers are told that it's only supposed to be removed from the side of the block for replacement. There's a "wavy" spot on the top leg of the wire that keeps it seated inside the groove. It's pressed down into the groove to seat it. If (once) the spring is damaged, though, replacing it with a new one is the corrective repair.

Call S&W and ask them to send you a shipping label for a warranty return, then box up the Shield according to directions and include a letter (and pic of the stuck position, if you print it). They'll install a new spring for you. (If there's a tolerance spec issue with the groove in which the wire spring fits, they'll install a new locking block, etc.) It's a quick repair, and they'll make it right.

This spring not being (and remaining) properly seated was reported to have infrequently occurred back when the Shield was first being assembled and shipped as they were rushing to fill the heavy demand. FWIW, the Shield was the best-selling handgun in the world for several months when it was a new model line, and Shield sales broke every sales record ever recorded by the company in its history. The Shield is produced in its own production line.

[mckenney99]

Originally Posted by Ozarkdave

Finally got the slide off, little tricky! Looks like it may have got bent.

If you are talking about the little "hump" in the middle of the top/horizontal leg, my 9mm Shield's spring has the same " little hump".
Once you get the spring back into its recess, just gently go along the entire spring and press inward to push it fully into its recess.

After reading about this issue on this Forum, with the early Shield's, I checked both my 9mm and my 45acp, neither were completely seated. In the gunshop where I worked at the time, I just made it standard practice to check all of the Shields that came in the shop. Found a few that needed a slight nudge.

[Fastbolt]

Originally Posted by mckenney99

If you are talking about the little "hump" in the middle of the top/horizontal leg, my 9mm Shield's spring has the same " little hump".
Once you get the spring back into its recess, just gently go along the entire spring and press inward to push it fully into its recess.

After reading about this issue on this Forum, with the early Shield's, I checked both my 9mm and my 45acp, neither were completely seated. In the gunshop where I worked at the time, I just made it standard practice to check all of the Shields that came in the shop. Found a few that needed a slight nudge.

The potential problem is that if the flat-wire spring has been bent or otherwise damaged, it may not remain "flat" inside the groove as it should.

Better to replace it with a new one, and at the same time let a repair tech also look at the groove in the MIM locking block to make sure the spring hadn't popped out because of a spec issue. (Different issue than an assembler not properly pressing it flat within the groove, making sure the "bump" fit snugly in the tight spot of the groove, or the particular spring was defective in the first place.)

[Ozarkdave]

I guess I will have to call Monday and send it back. I thought I would ask for a new spring and put it in myself but I put the slide back on and now cannot get it off. I'll tell you guys, if the M&P stands for Military and Police and this was a duty gun, you would be dead. It looks like alot of people have had this problem. Tell me I have not bought the wrong gun, I do like it and it's my first 9mm and it's for my birthday. Hope I didn't go with the wrong one. I was thinking that if it's for military and police it would have to be reliable and I would be good to go.

[Goldstar225]

Don't despair, you've got one of the best compact personal defensive sidearms made. Unfortunately some mechanical devices not perfect out of the box. Send it in and have it made right.

[markmiela]

I have a Shield 1.0, 2500 or more rounds through it. Also, a couple million sold and carried everyday so nope you didn’t make the wrong choice. Send it back Smith will fix it and you will love it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[scott.amy00]

Unfortunately or fortunately we're so accustomed to getting reliable, bulletproof handguns and rifles these days, that when there is a problem, we feel we made a mistake and question the reliability and capabilities of a defense pistol. Like others have said, let S&W handle it at their end and relax, you've got a fantastic pistol and made no mistake!

Sent from my SM-A115U using Tapatalk

[rwsmith]

Give them a chance to fix it. Something ain't right. I've sent pistols back and once they are fixed they are good to go.

[Ozarkdave]

Thanks guys. I got the darn thing in there!
I'll call and ask for a new one but this is working for now. I will keep a 👁️ on it.

[Execpro]

Second picture is correct! Just take a small flathead screwdriver and press
spring into slot. Make sure it is ALL the way in!
I had to press my spring in also. It wasn’t all the way out like yours, but
needed to be pressed in also.
You shouldn’t have any problems, if the spring wasn’t bent, and it looks
like it wasn’t or you couldn’t have gotten it back in place. JMO
Enjoy your new pistol ! I loved my 9mm Shield !

Be SAFE and Shoot Often !

[Inusuit]

Love a story with a happy ending. Enjoy your new S&W.

[armorer951]

If you don't properly peen the spring leg into the slot, it will likely come out again.

[swsig]

It would be best not to carry the Shield, due to the possibility of the spring popping out again. I suggest that you restrict it to range use only until you get S&W to repair it.

[Saudade]

While my 2013 Shield 1.0 has never had this problem, this issue does comes up from time to time.

You can order replacement springs here:

Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 9 / 40 Slide Stop Spring: MGW

[PaPow]

My very first shield 9 did this right out of the box brand new before i even put the first rounds in it. I replaced the spring years ago, been shootin it for many years now, no issues. Call S&W and get a spring, replace it, good to go. Its not impossible that it wasnt installed correctly at the factory. They ARE a mass produced firearm. Chit happens. Fix it and move on.