Shield Manual Safety Question

[Sheepdogged]

My shield only has 2 positions, either on or off. Its an early one though. I would call Smiths customer service and ask them if their is a 3 position safety, and if they say no, request a shipping label. If they say yes ask them to explain the operation to you. It really doesn't sound right to me.

It's already been there. They said it was within acceptable specifications and they returned the pistol in the same condition.

 

[robrossk]

My Shield 1.0 is either on or off. Only checked it once when purchased but never use the safety.

 

[BUTA46]

Hi everyone, first post on the forum and I had to speak up. I have a Shield 9 v1 with the same thumb safety activity as the OP. It stops on the way up to the safe position. The pistol will still fire. The safety can then be moved up to the actual safe position. It's definitely a three stop evolution with two audible clicks when applying the safety. There is not a corresponding stop on the way down from Safe to Pew. Been that way since I got it new and I just know to push past the first click all the way to the second to engage the safety.
I put a bunch of Apex stuff in it and the trigger action is super sweet. Hi Viz sights look and view great for me but, yes a real bear to install the front.
And the manual shows on or off.

 

[Buford57]

I'm quite happy with mine. The tritium night sights it came with were there main reason I chose it, not the porting. In fact I like a small manual safety because my primary use for it is as an added measure of safety during reholstering. After the firearm is reholstered, it comes off.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

Bingo. Although mine is a 1.0, that is also my preferred use of the manual safety. Yours sounds out of spec to me.

 

[swsig]

It's already been there. They said it was within acceptable specifications and they returned the pistol in the same condition.

Don't take "No" for an answer. Call customer service, explain your experience and how potentially dangerous your safety is, and tell them that they need to look at your Shield again. When you send it in, include in the box a note saying that your Shield will fire with the safety in a "middle position" that it's not supposed to have. My experience wirh S&W customer service has been very positive, so give them another chance to make it right.

 

[Jessie]

Shield 45 1.0, on or off with no in between

 

[sdarc]

Shield 45 and 9 v1.0. Safeties on or off. No middle ground.

 

[LVSteve]

Safety is broken, IMHO.

Sideways pictures are the result of your MAC wanting to mess with the Windows world.

 

[Sheepdogged]

I have the PC ported Shield 2.0 in .40 SW and you're not entirely alone. I can sort of see what you mean though I would describe it more like the lever first unseats just a bit from the full down position, almost like it has a very slight amount of play in the off position. Then it has a very obvious click into the safe position. That first bit is only the slightest movement and I'd never mistake it for having the safety on. It's possible yours is more pronounced than mine.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

Yes and no. Yes, I can tell as the next [false] position isn't far, but it is every bit as positive and tactile as the on position. There is NO difference. It's stiff and very tactile and audible when it clicks and stays in this position.

So in a rush, or if my gun was in someone else's hands who was not familiar with the problem, it could easily cause someone to inadvertently believe it was engaged (not that anyone has permission to violate four cardinal rules of safe gun handling merely because they believed they turned on a manual safety).

In other words, it's not like there is a slight inclination to put in this position, make no mistake, it is the default if you didn't know better (luckily I do and did). If someone was not familiar with guns or this problem specifically, however, it would be easy to leave it in this false position.

 

[Sheepdogged]

I have 45 and a 9 Shield with safety.....Only 2 positions on mine. sounds like you are monkeying with it. Trying to make it do something that it doesn't do.

I'm not sure if you meant that for hyena or me (I assume the latter), but I assure you that is NOT the case. I've been around firearms for a fairly long time now. I am certainly no gunsmith, but I have done a fair amount of gunsmithing and I know a lot about firearms generally (more than most, thought that's not necessarily saying much). I didn't need to post this to know there is something wrong, but I just wanted to play devil's advocate by confirming with others before I contacted Smith & Wesson on Monday after the holiday. This is a very stiff, audible, and tactile position (EVERY bit as much as the full "on" position), and in NO WAY am I "Trying to make it do something that it doesn't do." I am just shocked that Smith & Wesson sent it back in this condition, but my suspicion is that they merely overlooked it. In other words, my primary reason for sending it into service, or at least the bulk of my letter I enclosed to them with the pistol, was focused on the trigger which seemed much heavier than it should have. I have a feeling they forgot about it. Either that or the person was rushed or didn't have the sense to understand this should not be acceptable. I know it's difficult to appreciate the problem not experiencing it first hand, but I assure you, it's the kind of thing that, once you handle it, you would agree anyone dismissing it would be demonstrating poor judgement in my opinion.

 

[Sheepdogged]

Hi everyone, first post on the forum and I had to speak up. I have a Shield 9 v1 with the same thumb safety activity as the OP. It stops on the way up to the safe position. The pistol will still fire. The safety can then be moved up to the actual safe position. It's definitely a three stop evolution with two audible clicks when applying the safety. There is not a corresponding stop on the way down from Safe to Pew. Been that way since I got it new and I just know to push past the first click all the way to the second to engage the safety.
I put a bunch of Apex stuff in it and the trigger action is super sweet. Hi Viz sights look and view great for me but, yes a real bear to install the front.
And the manual shows on or off.

I'm glad you chimed in. That's very helpful for me to know. Just to make a point to them, I am even thinking of changing the manual safety out myself as the part is only $6 on Midwestgunworks' website.

 

[BSA1]

Sheepdogged,

We have a 1.0 Shield that the safety works fine on. In fact shot it today.

I wonder many times have you operated the safety? I am suggesting that if it has not been very many times try switching the safety on and off repeatedly tomorrow while watching the football game on TV. Try switching it on and off a couple of hundred of times.This will let the safety wear away a offending burr or slightly out of spec part if there is one.

Warning: Make sure all live ammunition is safety stored in another round.
Otherwise the excitement of bad call or touchdown may result in a new TV.

 

[Sheepdogged]

Don't take "No" for an answer. Call customer service, explain your experience and how potentially dangerous your safety is, and tell them that they need to look at your Shield again. When you send it in, include in the box a note saying that your Shield will fire with the safety in a "middle position" that it's not supposed to have. My experience wirh S&W customer service has been very positive, so give them another chance to make it right.

I'm the same way. I'm just getting my ducks in a row. And to your point about letting them know it will fire in the middle position, I actually made almost that exact statement in the note I wrote that accompanied the firearm.

I've sent M&P's in for service on three other occasions over the last 14 years I've owned M&P's (four all together), and each time it has take almost exactly two weeks (and never more). This is the first time it's taken three, so maybe they are just busy at the moment and simply overlooked this.

I also agree with you as my experience has been mostly positive with their customer service, but I do have three or four exceptions to date. Two are from this experience (the trigger doesn't seem to be appreciably any better than my last non-PC Shield and—of course—the problem with the manual safety).

The other problem I had quite a few years ago was with a striker that broke on a new M&P Bodyguard 380 the first day I owned it (when they originally added the M&P facelift). I wasn't upset the first time it happened (these things happen), but I WAS annoyed that the firing pin broke a second time a year later).

The third issue was a brand new M&P9 M1.0 I owned right before the M2.0 line launched. Someone had clearly damaged the channel for the frame tool. I don't know if it was someone involved in the manufacturing process or someone working at the store I bought it from new, but someone jammed the tool in there so much that they not only broke the notch on the tool itself, but they deformed the channel the tool went into (so that it was oval and chewed up instead of round. As such, it 1) looked unsightly (not that it would be noticable when the tool was in place), and 2) it felt different from my other M&P pistols when I rotated the tool in and out of it. I had asked for a new frame in the letter I enclosed but Smith & Wesson just returned the original deformed one without comment (other than noting they gave me a new frame tool).

This was one of the last M&P M1.0 versions that they made (with all the updates, and it happened to have trigger every bit as good as my two M2.0's in my opinion), and all this happened some was some 10 or 12 years or more after owning my first M&P pistols, so it's not like I didn't know my way around them. When I ran a business, I would from time to time eat the cost of something even more expensive than a M&P frame to make my customers happy, so although I didn't care enough to pursue it beyond a complaint to S&W—and although I do feel Smith & Wesson's customer service is better than most—I no longer consider it exemplary. I didn't demand a new frame because I was sure that the cosmetic damage wasn't likely going to turn into a problem (e.g. the tool not seated sufficiently at some point), and given they have a lifetime warranty, it wasn't going to be a problem for me (though it might have become one for the next customer), but I also believe in being forthright with customers, and if I didn't call someone myself, I would certainly have one of my employees do it just as a courtesy and to ensure the customer agreed and was satisfied. Smith & Wesson, however, didn't even dignify my request for a new pistol with any response—at all. Similarly, they didn't acknowledge anything this time about the trigger or the manual safety.

 

[Sheepdogged]

I must say, even though I am a little disappointed in the trigger and manual safety at them moment, I am nonetheless very happy with the pistol as I know I'll get the issues resolved one way or another (even if I have to fix them). I have no regrets buying this over the P365 and Hellcat I purposely passed over (not that people are wrong for choosing them).

I also really like the Ameriglo sights I put on it. I wish they had rear serrations however like my Ameriglo Agent sights on my Glocks, but they are still an improvement over the factory ones in my opinion which had very weak serrations (and the fiber optics didn't pick up nearly as well for me indoors). Good serrations aren't really to reduce glare IMHO as much as they provide contrast, but these sight still have a nice sight picture even without serrations that is easy and quick to pick up. If Ameriglo combined the i-dot with the Agent or Bold sight serrations, they'd be more popular.

 

[ROB94045]

Yes and no. Yes, I can tell as the next [false] position isn't far, but it is every bit as positive and tactile as the on position. There is NO difference. It's stiff and very tactile and audible when it clicks and stays in this position.



So in a rush, or if my gun was in someone else's hands who was not familiar with the problem, it could easily cause someone to inadvertently believe it was engaged (not that anyone has permission to violate four cardinal rules of safe gun handling merely because they believed they turned on a manual safety).



In other words, it's not like there is a slight inclination to put in this position, make no mistake, it is the default if you didn't know better (luckily I do and did). If someone was not familiar with guns or this problem specifically, however, it would be easy to leave it in this false position.

Then yours is definitely different from mine.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

 

[shoots]

Shield safety

My Shield 40 safety is either on or off. Never seen one with a middle position.

 

[dirty & hairy]

Tell 'em it shoots with the safety on. Forget about the middle position that is not supposed to be there, just safety on and it goes bang.

 

[Sheepdogged]

Tell 'em it shoots with the safety on. Forget about the middle position that is not supposed to be there, just safety on and it goes bang.

That's brilliant!

 

[Rastoff]

Tell 'em it shoots with the safety on. Forget about the middle position that is not supposed to be there, just safety on and it goes bang.

So, your suggestion is to lie to the people you want to fix your gun? No, I wouldn't recommend this path.

Tell S&W everything you can. If you lie, as suggested above, they'll test it with the safety on and ignore the "middle" position issue because they'll just push it all the way up. They'll keep your gun for 2-4 weeks and send it back having done nothing. You'll be without your gun for a while, they won't fix it and you'll be right back here asking us for help.

Just tell them what you've found. That should be enough to get S&W to fix it.

 

[dirty & hairy]

Push up on the safety until it clicks, pull trigger, BANG.

Better?

The gun has already been in the shop and it came back "within spec". Chances are it will again unless you get their attention so they take a better look at the situation. We all agree something is wrong. Trying to explain the mysterious middle position could complicate matters IMO. Simply engage safety and it still shoots is hardly a lie - that's exactly what is happening.