I picked up a shield 40 caliber this weekend and took it to the range to try it out. I field stripped it and cleaned it before I shot it, and overall I am very pleased. It ran flawlessly with winchester white box, federal, and Speer Gold Dot 165 grain with one exception. I had one failure to feed with the Gold dots. It was when I had run about 150 rounds through it, so it could have been a little dirty at that point. I just did the tap, rack, bang drill and it cleared easily.

I will go ahead and say it before it is mentioned, I was not limp wristing. In fact I purposely limp wristed through several magazines full to try to produce a malfunction, I could not.

I have had trouble with other autos ( Glock, Walther, and Kahr ) digesting 165 grain Gold Dots before. Has anyone else had trouble with this particular ammo feeding?

What do you use for your self defense loading in your 40 cal.?

Gold Dots are great for SD, But I started carrying the 165 grain Federal HST's in my personal CCW weapon.
I think the HST's perform a little better.

Can't go wrong with either.

__________________
John

Ammo choices are like opinions, everybody has one. Seriously, It sounds like you are on the right track, trying a variety of ammo to insure reliable functioning. I like heavier bullets in a short barrel, as velocity is often less than advertised. I also worry about the hollow points plugging with cloth so I carry Critical Defense 165 gr in my 40c. Then again it's just my opinion. Hope this helps

I use the Federal P40HST1B 180 gr HP's in my Shield 40, never a problem with them.

Speer Gold Dot, Federal HST, as well as other Well Known brands discussed in other threads are all good. I've even had good reliability with Winchester XSZ (From Bass Pro). Try a sample of each and see which is more reliable in your pistol.

While I don't think MagTech puts out any SD rounds, but if they did, I'd be wary of it (nor would I recommend MagTech for range practice). As I wrote in the Shield40 picky on ammo thread, where the OP wrote that he experienced several FTXs with it...

I have never had a problem with any Speer Gold Dot in several different calibers, guns, or weights.

It is the only SD ammo that I use.

do the federal HST rounds have a little pointer profile than the gold dots? I think the trouble is those big hollow point noses are catching on the feed ramp.