I naively started to call Smith and Wesson and air my concerns about what I am reading on some threads about the kabooms. But that will not get me anywhere as they have their canned answers guided by the legal eagles. I get all that. I am not so concerned about whether there is an epidemic of Shield 40 kabooms, as I don't think there are. My concern has been about S&Ws response. IMO, they have responded in a way that appears like they don't care, OR, they have something to hide. If there aren't that many kabooms, then just give someone another Shield and be done with it. Also, getting the Shield 9mm over the .40 isn't my only option. I am considering the Ruger 40C and the M&P 40C, as well as the XD 40 subcompact. Granted, I lose the thinness, but my body and wardrobe that I can wear (semi retired) will let me consider something thicker. That being said, I still would rather have the Shield 40 because of the way my wife's Shield 9 performs. There is no easy answer here and each person must be persuaded in their own mind. I am glad we still live in an America where the pointed opinions on both sides of an argument are still allowed and we don't need a nanny state to decide things for us. When common sense makes good sense, seek no other sense.

How can we address the accusations? It seems there is a problem with a few 40 shields. What more do you want people to say? You are saying that people with the 40 shield are pretty much jaded (what I'm guessing you're trying to say) into thinking that its the person that made it blow up when on a few occasions the ammo might be suspect and that we, people with shields that haven't blown up, don't want to believe it? What exactly are we supposed to say/do? You also can't add "the shields that may have had failures that people don't post about". Since we don't know about them it's just speculation at that point.

Am I going to sell my 40 shield? No. If it happens it happens and not much is going to be able to be done about it if it does. The minute you start to second guess a purchase before you have even left your house proves that maybe you shouldn't get the pistol. There are plenty of 40 shield owners that are happy with the purchase. Me included. I intend to keep shooting it until I either get tired of it or it "blows up" on me. YMMV

So you came to this forum hoping someone would talk you into buying a certain gun???? Are you easily influenced by others? Maybe another hobby is in order.

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Minimize the variables

yeah, about 30 threads online on how the shield sucks, and a few reviews from 2012 before all the trouble happened saying its a good gun. I guess I should just ignore those 30 threads?

It is what it is, a cheap mass produced gun that was marginally designed. I was taken by the cheap price and the really thin body, but now realize you get what you pay for, and also that I would gladly tradeoff a few more ounces of steel vs. getting fingers blown off (maybe).

I think it is the injection molded barrel that worries me....sounds like it would be hard to get that to be as strong as a steel blank turned on a gun lathe.

[QUOTE=spanz1;137991698]yeah, about 30 threads online on how the shield sucks, and a few reviews from 2012 before all the trouble happened saying its a good gun. I guess I should just ignore those 30 threads?

Man, it is really hard to take you seriously when you spout this kind of nonsense. I don't even know where to start, so I won't. Do what you want, I'm done.

Personally, I had to really dig to find negative threads about the wildly popular and hard to find Shield. Yes, there are four or five complaints about truly catastrophic failures in the .40 cal model, and those few incidents have been linked to in a number of places around the internet (particularly Glock forums). Yes those incidents did sway me toward the 9mm (which has had no kabooms). But to call the Shield a cheap, mass produced gun of marginal design really stretches credulity. That being said, it sounds like the Shield is not the gun for you. Fortunately, there are plenty of other ones out there.