When carrying the Shield concealed

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davemercer

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For those who carry the Shield concealed, I am interested in whether you use the 7 or 8 round magazine. Also your reasons for choice and if it is really harder to conceal with 8 round mag. Also do you shoot better with one mag than the other? Draw better with one mag or the other?
 
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About 90% of the time, I carry the 7 round mag. In coat weather I carry the 8 round. I don't think the 8 round is really that much harder to cover with a shirt but every little bit helps. At the end of the day, it's a personal choice. 7 + 1 or 8 + 1, one extra round probably won't make that much of a difference. If I miss the bad guy with 8 rounds, I'm probably going to miss him with the 9th too.

Jeff
 
I always carry the extended mag in the gun with the 7 round mag as a spare. I never noticed any difference shooting, I doubt there would be.

This gun is very easy to conceal, great gun for EDC.
 
I'm able to Front Pocket Carry with the 7 round mag.
Not able to do that with the 8 round. Simple enough. :)
 
When I carry my Shield it is for the priority of low profile, most often AIWB. The 7-round mag gives me the shortest grip and best concealability.

I use an 8-round for backup as concealing it is not a problem and every extra round counts when you need it.

Summer with lighter weight clothing is a little more challenging to conceal my preferred EDC, a FS M&P 9 RMR with the short hi-cap.

The Shield grip is long enough for me to get a good firing grip on the draw and to shoot well with either mag. I have average size hands.
 
I use the 7rd magazine exclusively. To me, the point is concealability...I also carry a spare 7rd magazine, and 5 rounds of 38 +P, carried in a magazine shaped like a S&W model 49 Bodyguard...
 
Thinking back 2yrs... Once I got some extra 7round mags, I don't think my 8round mag has left the box.
 
I personally don't think that the higher capacity mag will make much difference given a proper holster held by a good belt. I have a 40C as well as a FS 40 & have no problems concealing either IWB or OWB. Many times I compromise & carry a FS 15 round mag in the compact. Since it's the grip that will print & not the barrel length it's the same as carrying the FS M&P. Understand that I'm in an open carry state & there is no law against printing. I still take pride in being able to conceal well, though. I hate to advertise. Also understand that I'm in a northern state & a good part of the year is sweat shirt weather or worse. In the warmer months I wear T shirts untucked & mostly IWB at 5:00 o'clock in a De Santis Pro Stealth holster & a 5.11 Double Duty belt. So far nobody has screamed "gun" in any of my many forays into civilization like stores & the bank.
 
I only use the flush mags, because I shoot better with my pinky tucked under the basepad. The added concealability is just a bonus. I bought a Shield when they first came out and have done a fair amount of testing and concluded the small circumference of the semi-single stack mag well is problematic for my hand proportions (XL glove size). If I use the extended mag (or extend base plates) that allow the pinky to be included in the firing grip, it keeps my middle and ring fingers from being able to fully close around the mag well. I also seem to be able to better index the gun with just the two fingers. Closing the pinky tends to cause my hand to move too far around the grip and works to loosen my grip and pull the other two fingers that direction. It was highly counter-intuitive to consider that I'd be able to shoot better minus the pinky finger, but thousands of test rounds later, I feel certain this is the case for me. I can't claim this will the case for all Shield shooters, but if you have big mitts, it may be worth experimenting some, before completely writing off the flush mags.
 
I always carry with the short mag in the gun, because it conceals better. I use the extended for the spare because it's bigger, easier to handle and reload with.

I carry the extended spare without the plastic filler, which is useless in my opinion.

/c
 
I carry with the 8 round. My wife says it doesn't make any difference in concealment on me so why not?

What I found surprising was that I don't shoot better with the extended mag. It feels funny holding it, but shooting, I guess I have better things to be thinking about.
 
I have 5, 8-round mags and 1, 7-round mag. I use the 7 round mag only while cleaning the gun or at the range. For me, it doesn't make a bit of difference in concealability (I don't "pocket" carry) and the 8-round mags fit much better in my hands for firing.
 
Chuck Jones said:
I carry the extended spare without the plastic filler, which is useless in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I'd need to check this with the Shield, but with SOME pistols, if reloading from a Slide Locked Open (emergency reload) the sleeve prevents Over-Insertion of the mag into the pistol.

With a closed slide, it's not an issue, but with an open slide (again, with some brands) with extended mags, if slammed home, they can over-insert, bending/breaking the ejector and (possibly) damaging the top of the mag.

[Edit to add]
I just checked this and YES... With the sleeve removed and the slide locked open, it IS possible to over-insert the 8 round mag into the shield.
The top of the mag does make contact with the ejector and Could bend/damage it, if the mag were slammed into the mag well.
Naturally... under normal, UNstessfull instances, one wouldn't 'slam the mag home', but if being carried as a spare, or even during competition, it's easy to apply more force than 'normal'.
 
Last edited:
AIWB with the 7rd mag and the 8rd mag as the backup. But I might try switching them as i'm running the Incog with the mag caddy that rides slightly higher then the gun itself and tends to print a little with the 8rd mag in it.
 
davemercer said:
For those who carry the Shield concealed, I am interested in whether you use the 7 or 8 round magazine. Also your reasons for choice and if it is really harder to conceal with 8 round mag. Also do you shoot better with one mag than the other? Draw better with one mag or the other?
Click to expand...

I was carrying the 8 round mag practically 100% of the time since it gave me a three finger grip even though it printed a bit more than the 7 round mag.
Then I read of this forum about the Pierce grip extension that gave the 7 round mag just a little more surface for my pinky without the extra on the back of the mag (I have XL size hands).
Now I carry the 7 round mag with extension and carry the 8 round as a spare.
 
7-round mag with NDZ floor plate extensions. Smaller profile, but the mag extension gives me a full grip.
 
I find no functional difference in conceal-ability (is that a word?) between the 7 or 8 rounders. I use the 8-rounders exclusively because I can get a full grip with them. So an 8-rounder in the gun & one for spare. YMMV. Currently carrying in a N82 (Nate Squared) AIWB holster. Works great & very comfortable. Though if I'm nitpicking I dislike that the clip is on front of the holster....
 
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