Loading Shield - problem

[cmlevy1952]

Hey. Just purchased a new 9mm Shield w/o the safety. Immediatey upon getting it home, I read the Manual and watched a few YouTube videos re: field stripping, cleaning and lubricating a new Shield.

I enxountered no problems except S&W, as well as videographers, had trouble visualizing the switch that is pushed down into the handle. I finally located the "yellow" part and had no problem in moving it appropriately. Otherwise the procedures and parts were standard - a body, slide, spring assembly and barrel. And that little switch located in the back of the chamber.

Upon rebuilding the gun, one of the last steps is to slide the rack back and lock it with the notch. (The yellow switch automatically goes back into place when a magazine is inserted but I may have moved it back myself. And I did not follow the work around suggested by use of the trigger in striping it down).

The problem is that once you insert the magazine it causes the notch to release and a cartridge is chambered by the slide moving forward under pressure. The solution appeared to me to be easy; first release the rack by pushing the notch down which causes the slide to release to its normal position, all before the magazine is inserted. When I did so, however, the magazine would not load. It would jam in the handle about an inch before it should have snaped into place. I tried setting it with my palm to no avail.

Its hard for me to believe that the chambering of a round after stripping down a gun is mandatory, which would also be a requirement on each subsequent magazine. Add to that - there is no safety. Therefore, would this be cocked and unlocked rather than the P938's cocked and locked?

I suspect the design is proper but I erroneously rebuilt the gun. The dealer says he can't help because he never took down a Shield. You would think he would want to know the answer by doing his own research and his own viewing of the videos but that was not the case.

So, help please.

Chuck

 

[Smoke]

This would be a lot easier to figure out with pictures. FWIW I have a NS 9MM Shield in my back pocket, in a pocket holster with a round chambered right now. It's been there all day, every day for a couple of months and i don't have any more holes in my butt than i did the day I was born

 

[Decipher]

You should be able to do all of this as you first tried. You do NOT need to chamber the round for it to come back together. I've had mine apart many times. Make sure everything is aligned properly. With a full magazine, it takes quite a bit of pressure to get it locked in.

I hope you plan to carry with a round chambered. My Shield has a safety that I never use. It's clear it's there for those who have a fear of carrying a loaded weapon. I carry chambered, safety off without ever having a single issue or concern. It doesn't go bang unless I tell it to.

 

[MSG Glenn]

I encountered the problem of a mag not going in all the way after loading & reloading mags in the pistol many hundreds of times in my M&P40C. When I checked the mag I noticed the top round was protruding slightly. I normally tap the back of the mag to set the rounds but when I topped it off with the +1 round I must have forgotten to do that. I just gave the back of the mag a slap to set the round & all was well.

My 40C has no safety either & I've been carrying it for over a year - every day, all day as well as my older full size M&P which I carried for 2 years before that & never had a firing mishap. The M&Ps won't fire unless the trigger is pulled. That's why you must be careful to keep your finger off the trigger & there are no obstacles like a piece of clothing in the way when drawing or more importantly re-holstering.

Many M&Ps will chamber a round when you insert the mag with force like slapping it in sharply. I normally load a mag with the slide closed & chamber a round after it's in place by pulling the slide all the way back & letting it go. At the range with the slide locked back I'll either put the mag in gently & manually chamber a round or slap it in & about 90% of the time it'll chamber by itself.

I hope this answers your questions about what I think you were asking. If not then rephrase them & I or someone else will be more than likely be able to help.

 

[RobzGuns]

The problem is that once you insert the magazine it causes the notch to release and a cartridge is chambered by the slide moving forward under pressure.

While some pistols do this by design, my Shield's slide does not automatically release when inserting a mag. Interesting.

The solution appeared to me to be easy; first release the rack by pushing the notch down which causes the slide to release to its normal position, all before the magazine is inserted. When I did so, however, the magazine would not load. It would jam in the handle about an inch before it should have snapped into place. I tried setting it with my palm to no avail.

This is not uncommon with the flush mag, as the springs are VERY tight at first and if the mag is full, one needs to really slam it home with gusto. You would experience this same problem if you racked the 1st round, topped off the mag (to +1 status) and reinserting the mag. The mag springs will loosen over time and seating a Full Mag will become easier.

If looking for an easy solution, why not manually moving the yellow bar to the 'up' position with your finger? Or... easier yet... Insert an Empty mag to move it to the 'up' position. With an Empty mag, if the slide still slams shut, there's a problem with the slide lock.

 

[Mountain Walker]

Don't lose a finger

The problem is that once you insert the magazine it causes the notch to release and a cartridge is chambered by the slide moving forward under pressure.

Its hard for me to believe that the chambering of a round after stripping down a gun is mandatory
Chuck

Chuck, if you are going to use a magazine for re-assembly, it should be unloaded, empty, and devoid of any cartridges. But you knew this and are winding us up...right?

Just to be clear, everyone needs to keep fingers well clear of the ejection port. Use a pencil to push down the little yellow lever. That dual spring on the Shield is strong enough to snip a finger right off! I always cringe when I see videos with people manually checking chamber with little finger.

Initially, when re-assembling the new Shield, I gently inserted an empty magazine and then moved the slide back. During this process I gently locked the empty magazine in place so that the slide would be locked back by the empty magazine pushing up on the slide stop. At this point, I was free to rotate the take down lever to normal position and the gun was completely assembled.

Update: As a condition of use or breaking in the pistol, I am now pretty easily able to jack the slide back and push up the slide stop without the use of an empty magazine. Couldn't do that when the gun was new. Now it's a case of normal field stripping and re-assembly. Perhaps new owners should just jack the slide back on an empty magazine and leave the gun open in the "T" position for a day in the gun safe.

 

[dimitri]

Are you using a full mag to push up the sear deactivation lever during reassembly? Eeeek! Use your finger, or an empty mag.

 

[Mountain Walker]

Are you using a full mag to push up the sear deactivation lever during reassembly? Eeeek! Use your finger, or an empty mag.

Not the finger, a pencil,pen, screwdriver is much safer. Unlikely the slide would be released, but what could a person do if the finger got caught in the ejection port? Call 911??

 

[hoc9sw]

Use a pocket screwdriver for that lever. I've seen someone get a finger "nipped off". Messy, and broken bone or not, you'll loose a good handkerchief in stopping the bleeding.

But no, using a loaded mag to reassemble is not a good idea.

 

[Kevin58]

To field strip

• Remove the magazine
• Check chamber to make sure the gun is empty
• lock the slide back
• rotate the slide release lever
• release the slide lock
• pull the trigger and take the slide off the frame

To reassemble

• replace the slide on the frame
• lock the slide back
• rotate slide release lever to original position
• pull slide all the way to the rear and release

Gun is reassembled. You DO NOT need or want a round in the magazine or chamber to do any of this.

 

[hoc9sw]

You do have to push "down" the disconnect lever before releasing the slide lock on the shield. More like moving from vertical to ~30 degrees (I also found it hard to find from the videos).

 

[Lycan]

To field strip

• Remove the magazine
• Check chamber to make sure the gun is empty
• lock the slide back
• rotate the slide release lever
• release the slide lock
• pull the trigger and take the slide off the frame

To reassemble

• replace the slide on the frame
• lock the slide back
• rotate slide release lever to original position
• pull slide all the way to the rear and release

Gun is reassembled. You DO NOT need or want a round in the magazine or chamber to do any of this.

You left out a step for Shields with the mag safety. To do it this way, you need to insert a magazine before the trigger can be pulled to release the slide. Then the mag can be dropped and the slide taken off. It's still pretty simple, just one extra step. Obviously, a loaded mag SHOULD NEVER be use for this. I use an empty 7 rounder just for this.

Or...just use the sear takedown lever instead.

 

[Don 73]

This is not uncommon with the flush mag, as the springs are VERY tight at first and if the mag is full, one needs to really slam it home with gusto. You would experience this same problem if you racked the 1st round, topped off the mag (to +1 status) and reinserting the mag. The mag springs will loosen over time and seating a Full Mag will become easier.

The finger groove mags also are difficult to load into the gun when new & fully loaded. You are totally right about how tight the springs are in a new M&P

 

[Smoke]

Maybe I'm missing something, when I reassemble my Shield a magazine isn't required at all but I do reload it after I put it back together. I think that may be what the OP is trying to say.

 

[skip4309]

To field strip

• Remove the magazine
• Check chamber to make sure the gun is empty
• lock the slide back
• rotate the slide release lever
• release the slide lock
• pull the trigger and take the slide off the frame

To reassemble

• replace the slide on the frame
• lock the slide back
• rotate slide release lever to original position
• pull slide all the way to the rear and release

Gun is reassembled. You DO NOT need or want a round in the magazine or chamber to do any of this.

I agree...the yellow take down lever is not necessary. The ONLY purpose it serves is so you DO NOT HAVE TO PULL THE TRIGGER to disassemble. I never use it...like most people (and Glock owners) just make sure your weapon is empty. Their should not be any ammo or loaded mags in the same room when you are working on a gun...period....

 

[Stratajema]

Use a pocket screwdriver for that lever. I've seen someone get a finger "nipped off". Messy, and broken bone or not, you'll loose a good handkerchief in stopping the bleeding.

I didn't think that was possible. I will need to reread the manual to see if the lawyers included that warning. Because they sure have thought of every other possible warning. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[USMCshooter]

Didn't see anyone mention this, but sounds like some of you have the mag safety version.

 

[RobzGuns]

I've never had ANY of my slides inadvertently slam shut by themselves, where I'd have been in danger of getting my finger nipped and thought 'Boy...I'm glad my finger wasn't in there!'... and this dates back to my Beretta 70S back in the early '70s, or the Military Issue 1911 (and those were in terrible condition). I haven't even seen it happen to anyone else either. Maybe I've simply been lucky, or maybe this phenomena only happens to those who use the Slide Lock as a 'Slide Release' and the notch (and/or lever) got worn down a bit by this repeated action... Who Knows?

Anyway... Since this seems to be a sore spot for some, perhaps I should clarify my earlier post, where I wrote:

If looking for an easy solution, why not manually moving the yellow bar to the 'up' position with your finger? Or... easier yet... Insert an Empty mag to move it to the 'up' position.

I did not actually mean to try and reach down through the ejection port to manually move the yellow bar in to the 'up' position with his finger. I meant to manually move it before reassembly, While The Slide Is Still Off The Frame.
I can't actually reach deep enough into that area to snag the bar.

 

[cmlevy1952]

I accept the criticism. It's a learning process and I never had to deal with a magazine for reassembly (as will be explained below). I made the mistake in correctly another problem I was having with the spring/rod assembly (customer service thinks).

I have a feeling that another problem(s) was arising at same time and was getting somewhat frustrated (bad!) since the gun was brand new. In this regard, after field stripping it (with cleaning and light lube) and making certain that the spring was centered and in place (per YouTube videos), I could not rack the slide back.

Customer Service had me hit the spring assembly rod with a mallet. The second tap and the spring recoiled under the muzzle and I was able to rack the slide back. So I took it down again. The spring looked fine BUT I noticed the rings of the spring were not parallel to each other. Looked odd but I was not sure if that was a defect. I reassembled the gun but now the slide locked back with ease but it would not release!! The spring assembly was not protruding but somehow I got the slide to release. I thing it might have been the magazine that "might have had" ammo in it.

So, the question is whether the spring should look as I described it. I don't want to take it down to the range and then hear that the spring should be parallel, like a slinky just separated by space. So, do the rings that make up the spring go out of alignment to each other when compressed. I hope this make sense; I only use the slinky example for imagery of a "spring" that is perfectly parallel which is not what I am expecting. But I just don't expect the rings to compress in a wavy manner rather than being identical to the adjacent rings.

If I cannot confirm that the spring is normal as described, I think I better return it under the shipping label I was already provided.

Thanks again,

Chuck

 

[dullh]

Youtube is both a blessing and a curse.

Some things you can not rectify watching a video.

There are a number of "noobs" coming on here with problems that are not problems. Those of us that have been around a while have experience to guide us.

You should find local experience, someone who can show you in first person how your new autoloading handgun works.

It truly is a matter of safety. If you don't know the minor nuances present in every autoloading pistol, ask around (in person) until you find someone who does...the person you may keep from getting accidentally shot is you