Is shield plus performance a good edc?

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Wingt

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First time gun owner. I like the look and feel of the shield plus performance. I am a big guy 270lbs. Do you think this pistol is a good concealed carry weight wise and for edc? The sig 365 felt small to me.

Also can someone recommend a good iwb and owb holster for this? Do the fiber optics make any difference in terms of a holster? Thanks
 
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Personally I use a Sig P365 for EDC. I am 6 feet and weigh about 210 if that give you any basis for comparison. I pocket carry 70% of the time and the Shield would be too big and bulky for me. The most important thing is that I shoot the P365 quite well and have no problem with its compact size.

If you are a larger guy, wear loose fitting clothing, then the Shield might fit the bill for you. Nothing at all wrong with the pistol from what I have seen and read, and of course the most important thing is how it conceals and shoots for you. Carry methods are also a determining factor and climate is a factor as well.

When is comes to EDC it becomes a very personal factor in determong what is right for you.
 
Welcome to the carry crowd.
Nothing wrong with your choice.
Alien Gear holsters have a variety of types, are relatively inexpensive, and will swap kydex shells for free if you change firearms.

How an EDC looks is at the bottom of my list, and how it feels can be radically improved with grip tape or sleeves. Can you carry it comfortably, safely, and hit your target?
Good luck.



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Does the gun ( S&W) fit adaquately well in your hand ? Can you shoot it with reasonably sufficient accuracy and control ?

If yes , then congratulations . the Shield plus will work for you .

As above Un ported is better than ported .

Dress around the gun .

Heck , a big guy such as you'd self should be able to carry full size- ish .
 
jjmIII_Ruger said:
The regular Shield + is so soft shooting already. I prefer it over the Performance model. I don't want the porting.
Click to expand...

I am new, can you explain what is meant by "soft shooting"? thanks. Less recoil I guess, as in a compliment to the pistol?
 
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"Soft shooting" means a low-recoil defensive pistol with an exceptionally mild level of kick.

For concealed carry, you want a pistol that you can get a good combat grip on to extract it from the holster. Often, pistols with a short or thin grip may not work well for big guys with big hands. You don't want to be fumbling with the gun at crunch time.

I bought a plain jane Romero holster with a separate mag carrier to move my first CCW around my waist to see what was the most comfortable and left me feeling the most confident. Once I discovered that I like to carry just in front of my strong hand hip bone, then I started buying IWB holsters. I didn't like plastic and ended up going with leather only options. I use the Romero mag carrier to pocket carry an extra mag.

Ultimately, I ended up finding the thin leather Don Hume H715-M shielded open top the best choice for me.

Fiber optics is a personal choice. In a self defense event which often happens suddenly and within 7 yards, you may never use your sights - just point and shoot.
 
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If you go with leather, make sure it's stiff. Soft leather can find itself into the trigger guard. I personally prefer kydex for striker fired pistols due to their triggers.
 
Have you considered a normal sized gun? Many people, especially women and new shooters, think that "smaller is better" when it comes to self defense firearms.

For some reason, in the past 5 or so years even grown men believe they need a tiny, micro pistol like a Sig 365 or whatever or they would be just too big and heavy to carry. That's not true, and I'd bet that many of them can't shoot micro guns as well.

The smaller and lighter the gun, the more it will recoil, the more it is hard to get a grip on, the shorter the sight radius, etc.

Personally I use a gun the size of a Glock 19 or bigger for 85% of my carry chores. My main winter preference is a full size 1911 or Beretta 92. Don't think you have to get a tiny gun made for a child's hand to be able to conceal it. That's just not true, and most of the time bigger guns are much easier to shoot well.

One other point: Don't think that you need to have an IWB holster. A good belt scabbard works great and is more comfortable with nothing more than an untucked button down shirt.
 
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The M&P Shield is a great EDC Pistol PERIOD, regardless of what model you get.

I still carry my Performance Center M&P40 Shield 1.0 in warm weather.

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Yet another vote for passing on the "Performance" model of this pistol. I found the porting an unnecessary and obnoxious feature and it quickly dirtied up the front sight. I didn't like those sights to begin with as "fiber optic" always looks cheap and fragile to me. I got rid of my inappropriately-named "Performance" model for just these reasons.
 
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I don’t have the Performance model, so I can’t speak on that. But I do have the regular Shield Plus with the 3.1” barrel and love it. The trigger is fantastic, and I shoot it just as well as my 1911 from 5 to 15 yards. Someone mentioned “softer” shooting, and I have to agree. I think what they meant is that despite its size and lighter weight, it’s not snappy in the hands and recoil is manageable, which really surprised me. I haven’t shot the other subcompacts, like the Glock 43, Hellcat, P365, etc., so I can’t compare how those feel in the hand. But I have shot a relatively light, snub-nosed .38, and I did not enjoy shooting it. It was really snappy, meaning it feels like someone punching your open palm, not really hard but hard enough where it’s a bit uncomfortable - not painful just uncomfortable. That’s not the case at all with my Shield Plus. I don’t know how S&W did it, but for me, at least, there’s no snappiness and surprisingly manageable recoil.

Being smaller and lighter, it obviously conceals better than my 1911 when carrying concealed. I’m 6’ but lean at 165 lbs and can conceal either one with a large, untucked shirt strongside. But the weight difference is more noticeable between my Shield Plus and 1911. For my 1911, I need a much thicker, more expensive dedicated gun belt to carry OWB. Otherwise, the weight of the gun (no matter the holster used), tends to cause the holstered gun to bow out a bit from the grip and requires cinching the belt down uncomfortably tight to keep my pants from sagging down. That’s not an issue with the much lighter Shield Plus when wearing a thinner, synthetic gun belt OWB. As an aside, it’s also not an issue when wearing the heavier 1911 IWB - only OWB.

Just thought I’d share my experience with the Shield Plus. Hopefully it helps you decide if you want it or not.
 
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