Would you trust your LIFE to a new Shield?

Ok, guys and gals. Let's blow the foam off the beer and get really honest. First off, I'm a S&W fan and collector. I don't own a Shield, although I have a 39, a 59, and a 3913. All of these work like a marble rolling down a child's slide.

I also have a couple of (may I say the word?) Glocks. They work and have always worked 100% for me, right out of the factory box.

I enjoy browsing on the forum, and I note a proliferation of complaints about problems with the Shield of one form or another. So I want to ask a question of you Shield owners, and I know I will get completely honest answers from you.

The question is: Would you trust a brand-new, out-of-the-box Shield with your life?

The very first requirement for a self-protection handgun is that it go bang every time the go-switch is pressed. Anything less than 100% (OK, maybe less than 99.99%) could be fatal in a pucker situation, recognizing that nothing mechanical is always absolutely perfect. Still, it should be the goal for this gun.

So be honest with me, Shield owners. In your experience, out of the box, does this handgun meet the requirement? Yes or no. If not, why not?

John


Shield owner for five months. I would not trust it out of the box. I have been trusting mine after cleaning right out of the box and taking to range. No problems at all. Except you need a Magula to fill the magazines up with.
 
I do not, would not, could not trust any pistol right out of the box. That is why a new pistol needs cleaned right out of the box and it need many rounds fired before it becomes a EDC or a ADC (any day carry) (sorry just made that one up). You have to find out what ammo it likes to eat 100% of the time. Don
 
While I love the Shield enough to have given it to my daughter, I am afraid to say that I would want to break a new one in for awhile first and get through any issues it may have before I got to where I would trust it with my life.

There have simply been too many RSA issues with no redesign or improvement for me to be totally comfortable with it.

I finally got an assembly that works perfectly, but that was after two replacements (one unwound itself off the guide rod, and one was just bent) and a trip back to the mothership.

Its a great gun, but it needs to be carefully checked out when it comes out of the box.

When it gets right, it may well be the best little guns on the market.
 
Ok, guys and gals. Let's blow the foam off the beer and get really honest. First off, I'm a S&W fan and collector. I don't own a Shield, although I have a 39, a 59, and a 3913. All of these work like a marble rolling down a child's slide.

I also have a couple of (may I say the word?) Glocks. They work and have always worked 100% for me, right out of the factory box.

I enjoy browsing on the forum, and I note a proliferation of complaints about problems with the Shield of one form or another. So I want to ask a question of you Shield owners, and I know I will get completely honest answers from you.

The question is: Would you trust a brand-new, out-of-the-box Shield with your life?

The very first requirement for a self-protection handgun is that it go bang every time the go-switch is pressed. Anything less than 100% (OK, maybe less than 99.99%) could be fatal in a pucker situation, recognizing that nothing mechanical is always absolutely perfect. Still, it should be the goal for this gun.

So be honest with me, Shield owners. In your experience, out of the box, does this handgun meet the requirement? Yes or no. If not, why not?

John

No gun ever made was safe for SD 'right out of the box'. minimum 200 rounds, I prefer a 1000 rounds before I trust a gun with my life.
 
I don't carry my shield, and only have about 500 rounds through it in a years time of owning it. I carry a Ruger LC9S every day, all day, 1000+ rounds through it. Both guns are pretty much the same size, with the shield being just a hair bigger, and not by much! I've had a trigger job done on my shield but still don't like it. Still don't like the trigger, to long of a pull and really stacks at the end. The trigger on my Ruger lc9s is butter, right out of the box! I will say that I did have a few problems with my lc9s in the first couple hundred rounds, but I think that was the ammo I was using. The shield I've never had a problem with it, even with only 500 rounds through it. That being said, if for some reason I couldn't carry my lc9s. I wouldn't hesitate to grab my shield out of the safe and carry it!
 
I got my CCDW before I bought my Shield. I did my shooting test with a M&P 22FS. I researched and bought my shield not long after I got my CCDW back from the state. I carried it as soon as I had field stripped it and lubed it.

Since, I've put 1500-2000 rounds through it. Has it had a hiccup? I think? But we shoot in my back yard and even the Glocks and FN's have hiccups and nobody bats an eye. I trust my life with my Shield and will put it up against anybody who shows up in my back yard for reliability.
 
Started out with a FS40. Both the Shield40 when they first came out.
It got a good cleaning and lube first. It had 250-300 rounds down range before it went on the road with me. It continues to get between
300-500 yearly while at the range with my other guns. It continues to be my EDC. Not sure your "out of the box" scenario would be a practice
accepted by most you'll hear from here.
 
If you don't run 200-1000 rounds through it to test for reliability, you are plumb crazy. ANY gun.

This ^ is the real answer to the OP's question as it was posed. No one with any brains would take a brand-new gun out of the box and start carrying it without first squeezing through a few hundred rounds, including the self-defense ammo you plan to carry. Whatever brand/model of gun. That said, the Shield design is as reliable as any, as about a million happy Shield owners will profess.
 
I think it performed quite well. Slow fire was all in the center, rapid double taps spread out a little. This was unsupported at 7 yards.

IMG_0993.JPG
 
If you are asking would I be comfortable picking a shield up at the gun shop and put it on my person and expect it to be able to depend my life on it. The answer is no. Now if your asking after testing it would you carry it and depend your life on it. The answer is yes. I had an issue with my shield 9mm. I put a hundred rounds or so and had some issues with it feeding ammo near the end of the magazine. So I contacted smith and they had me send it out. When I got it back it worked flawless. I have no issues carrying for edc. I am glad I was able to shoot it before carrying it so I was able to see there was an issue and not wait for the time I needed it and have the issue a raise.
 
YES I have 3 shields 2 9mm 1 In 40 and they all have been utterly positively reliable and accurate. I added the magguts and TFO sights and they have been 100% reliable out of the box. My EDC shield in 9 no safety has well over 1,100 rounds with a single issue. It's accurate and reliable what more can one ask for?
1SG
Out
 
As soon as I get a couple hundred more rounds and my SD ammo set I would for sure.
 
Satisfied,I went in August and bought my own.Same story on this one. I had no malfunctions with the wife's gun. I had exactly one malf with mine when the slide locked back and failed to feed a round into the chamber. I slingshotted it and continued with no other problems.

I've experienced that about 3 or 4 times with my Shield 40. Each time it was with Speer Gold Dot hollow points. It appears the rounds can slide a little forward in the mags, and that particular bullet shape was hitting the slide stop. That is the only type of malfunction I recall having. I bought mine around May of 2013. The last couple hundred rounds were flawless. It's got at least 1,000 through it at this point.

I definitely trust it.
 
No one should trust any new, out of the box firearm for serious use. Any mechanical device made by humans (or machines) can have flaws. My last duty pistol got over 700 rounds fired through it malfunction free before going on the road with me. A new pistol should get a couple hundred rounds of ball and preferably 500 rounds of duty ammo through it, with no failures of any kind, before being carried. (And if it needs cleaning in that time, it is probably broken and needs armorer attention.) A Shield, or a custom $5000 1911 - doesn't matter.
 
I have a Shield and have never had a problem with it. I have about 1200 rounds through it. With that said, I usually carry a J-frame revolver.

Just last night at the range with my trusty J-Frame (442), I had one that didn't go off. Pulled the trigger, next one went bang. When I emptied the cylinder the one that didn't go bang had a nice normal looking dimple in the primer. I loaded it up again and it didn't go bang the second time either. Dead primer. Plenty of hit just no bang. Winchester White Box.

However, this is why I usually carry a DA revolver. If one doesn't go bang, just keep pulling the trigger. On a semi auto, the tap, wrack, try again procedure comes to play. Under extreme stress like when a bad guy is attacking, I'm not sure my reaction time is that fast. With the revolver, just pull the trigger again.

I'll risk the 2-3 fewer rounds for the security of knowing if one doesn't go bang the next one will.

Jeff
 
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