Using Speer Lawman 124gr., I put 150 rounds through the 9mm Shield today, in fifty 3 round sets, using both OEM mags. The slide locked back only twice.

This is a problem since new, 16 months ago, with multiple ammo brands. Any suggestions?

Any feeding problems? Failures to feed or eject?

If it's 16 months old I guess its been cleaned and lubed, but are you using oil or grease on the slide?

Four common problems with failure to lock back:

1. Wimp ammo
2. Wimp grip ( I don't mean squeeze the gun, I mean lock your arms all the way back to your shoulder and chest muscles) yooutube seeklander - Bing video
3. Riding slide or slide lock with thumb, which is easy to do on a Shield
4. Improper/ insufficient lube

Rarely, there can be a factory defect

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Science plus Art

Never had a feeding problem with it, and only use 115gr or 124gr American Eagle, Federal Champion, or Speer Lawman for plinking and 147gr HST Standard pressure for SD.

Its cleaned and lubed each time its used (monthly) with Hoppe's 9 solvent and oil and Mil-Comm TW-25b lube for slide grooves and tabs.

Speer Lawman is good stuff. I use that and Blazer Brass in both mine and my wife's Shields and there have been no problems at all.

Limp wristing or accidentally getting a finger on the slide lock button could cause it. Have someone watch you shoot the gun focusing on where you're fingers are in relation to the button.

Good ammo, locked Isosceles, and attentive maintenance.
My thumb doesn't ride, but barely touches the underside of the slide lock. On such a small grip, where should you put your thumbs?

Is there a part that I can check, to see if it's in spec. that might be the cause?

I have two early Shields. They were finicky about ammuntion until I replaced the recoil spring assemblies. You can't usually get them from S&W. There are third party vendors who make nice ones in stainless steel.

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Loyalty Above All.. but Honor

Have someone else shoot the gun and see if the same problem crops up.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Check the slide release to ensure it's correctly installed and has the requisite spring tension.

I have an OEM replacement RSA for the one that failed when the gun was new. Just occurred to me to switch the RSA's with the one in my husbands Shield and see what happens. Thanks.

Same thing happens with my husband shooting mine, but no problem at all when both of us shoot his.

Is that something that needs to be done by a gunsmith? Just by observation, I can't see any difference between mine and my husbands.

It requires a detail strip and reassembly. There are online instructions if you're comfortable; if not, any S&W armorer can do it.

Might be you can just do a field strip and look to see if the slide stop spring is in place.

Failure to lock back on the last round can have a lot of causes, but a troubled slide stop is the first one I look at; magazines second.

Silly I know but have you checked with S&W?

Not yet, I'm not eager to send another gun back to them unless I have to.

Ages ago, I had experienced a similar situation with a 1911. I think that the principal and geometry are similar with the Shield. I will make the dangerous presumption that you and your husband are interchanging magazines between your pistols, and that his functions properly with yours. If that is a safe presumption, it is then time to look at the slide lock itself.

There should be a small projection from the slide lock that passes through the frame and interacts with a small "L" foot on the magazine follower. It is this interaction that engages the slide lock. If the projection is too short, or the magazine follower "L" is deformed, the slide will not lock back.

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Judge control not gun control!

Knowing this bit of info I would now think the problem is with the gun itself and not the shooter. I would look closely at the slide lock button, mainly the part that contacts the magazine follower plate, and compare that to the one on the "working" Shield. Could be that tab needs a little tweaking.

I had the same problem with my shield 9. I thought it was a magazine problem, I even had S&W swap one out (which they did with out issue). It was driving me nuts and I was really starting to question the gun for self defense. I ran through every type of ammo from reloads to brass casing to aluminum casing and just beat my head against the wall because sometime the slide would lock but mostly it wouldn't. I found out it was me the whole time. I shoot with my thumbs forward and my right thumb would contact the slide release lever just barely and it would cause it to stay down. Once I was mindful of this and kept my thumb away from the lever I never had another issue with the slide locking back. Took a bit of practice but issue is 100% resolved and my shield will eat anything and ask for more. Remember that the only thing pushing the slide lock up is the mag spring so it doesn't take much to stop it. Also being a single stack your hand wraps around the grip more. Hope this helps.

No we have not done that yet, only tried the two that came with mine. Can try that next, along with RSA.

Will inspect it, thanks.

My thumb just barely touches it, but there is so little room for it to be anywhere else. I am going to try one-handed lefty next time to eliminate the possibility.

If the size of your Shield and it's ergonomics actually appear to be the problem because of how you HAVE to grip it, may I make a suggestion?

I believe that the Mauser HSC is about the size of your Shield, and I realize that it is a 380. However, the frame and slide are clean, no levers. The slide release is completely internal ... it goes into battery as a clip is inserted into the grip. I carry mine (when I carry it) with Hornady Critical Defense ammo.

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Judge control not gun control!

Thanks for suggesting an alternate. Reminds me of the Walther PPK which I always liked. It's sacrilege to say on a forum skewed to the classics, but I'm not comfortable buying used or or out-of-production firearms without warranty, due to my limited gun knowledge.

I do have a Sig P238 in my carry rotation, that I also shot yesterday. It predates my Shield, but has never had a problem, and seems to get better with each outing. So, .380 is covered.

Except for the slide locking back, The Shield has been dependable since installing the replacement RSA. I've been resigned to manually racking on reload, which is not the end of the world, just made a bit more annoying since my husband's Shield is fine, and I bought him that Shield too.

The slide stop spring is designed to keep the slide stop in the down position, so even if the slide stop spring was missing, an empty mag would lift it into the hold-open position. The spring is there to drop the slide stop it when a loaded mag is installed.

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Randy

With the pistol empty, slide closed ,no magazine , see if the slide stop lever is held down . It should have spring pressure down, but very light , just enough to keep it down. If that's the case then that isn't the issue. Are the magazines in those guns able to be disassembled ? I don't have one, so don't know , but if they can be taken apart , do so and give all parts and the body itself a good cleaning. Make sure the follower ( the follower is the part inside generally plastic in newer guns, that the bullets sit against )is coming all the way up to where it would contact the slide release lever and push it up.

Here is a video that shows an M&P magazine being taken apart to give you some idea. Not a complicated process, and one that is a good idea from time to time.

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1st smiles,lies.Last,gunfire.

Why talk about it? Call SW. They will fix it.

"Thank you for calling the SW customer support center."


By Telephone:
1-800-331-0852 (USA)
Mon-Fri 8:00AM-8:00PM Eastern Time


Contact Us - Smith & Wesson

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Still Running Against the Wind

Doesn't sound like that is really an option for her. And I don't blame her.

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1st smiles,lies.Last,gunfire.

I read that, eager vs have to to.

"I'm not eager to send another gun back to them unless I have to."



One of life's Major decisions

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Still Running Against the Wind

If it's me I'd exhaust every option open to me before sending a gun back to S&W. My personal preference is to work on my own stuff though.

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1st smiles,lies.Last,gunfire.

Thank you for the detailed troubleshoot procedure. It's as you describe, Slide Stop being held down by light spring pressure. The Follower in an empty Mag is pushing the slide release lever up some distance. I disassemble and wipe the Mags, Follower, Spring, and Base Plate with Hoppe's 9 and then a dry wipe, every time I shoot.

Great lesson, taught me a bunch, and thanks again. Didn't discover anything obvious. Maybe I just need to work on a different grip, like planting my thumb near the Mag release.

If it did not shoot, I would. I'd categorize this as an annoyance I'd rather live with than send it back.

I sent back a new 686+ that I'd searched for a year to find. It was returned in far worse condition than it was sent. After a second trip back, it was fixed, but it took months for both repair trips and was very exasperating. I will not do that again unless I have to.

Wanted to give it try before I chalked it up as a "feature" of the gun.

I had the exact same problem when my Shield was new, and the problem was me. The thumb on my strong hand naturally rests in the Shield slide lock when using the the standard grip from my full size M&P. It takes very little pressure on the slide lock to keep the slide from locking back after the last round. The fix is simple! Keep your thumb off the slide lock!!

I didn't see any mention about the magazines except the one that posted the link to magazine cleaning. Have you tried your Husband's magazine(s) in your gun? How many magazines do you have, and do you have the same issue with all magazines? Magazine springs have a front and a back, and some a top and bottom too! It the magazine spring is installed incorrectly it will often not lock the slide open because the spring binds or doesn't have enough pressure to push the slide stop up. Finally, does the slide lock with an empty magazine when you pull the slide to the rear manually? If not it is most likely the spring is incorrectly installed!

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Gunsmithing since 1961

Beginning to think that it might be my thumb. I guess my husbands lock is a bit stronger.

So far, I've only used the two that came with mine. Planning to try a swap as part of the troubleshoot. I'm sure about the re-assembly of the mag. It does lock back manually on an empty mag.

Although possible, it's improbable that both of your mags have the same defect. After reading all the posts and the OP's answers, I was beginning to think it's operator error. However, one of the major complaints about the M&P series is that the slide lock is too stiff to use as a slide release. I also find it difficult to believe you and your husband hold your Shield differently than you both hold his.

If the problem continues with his mags, I'd send it back to S&W whether I wanted to or not. If the problem goes away with his mags, problem solved. Contact S&W and see about trading mags.

Simple fix. Trade it for a revolver. Semi-Autos are a passing fad.

I've read that same comment many times, but mine is very easy to release, and my husband's is fairly similar.

I'm with ya Texmex, I never wanted a bottom feeder, but my husband convinced me to buy a few. The only one I like is my CZ-75B. My revolvers are the ones that "speak" to me, if ya know what I mean.

The slide stop is just that, it is not intended as a slide release.

I have the same gun and a problem with the slide lock is not
a "feature" of the gun.

I have sent many (untold)number of guns back to SW for warranty and have always received excellent service. One of the main reasons for buying a product that the company stand behind.Call, they e mail you a Fed Ex label. call Fed Ex they come and pick it up,

Your gun, your choice, good luck.

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Still Running Against the Wind

I have the same issue with my Shield - very easy to put minimal pressure on the slide stop causing the slide to not lock back on the last round. No such issues on my 40FS or 40c, even when shooting mouse-fart 9mm through conversion barrels.

The issue is that the Shield is a small pistol and it's very easy for your right thumb to make contact with the slide stop. When I overcompensate (putting my right thumb in a spot where it can't possibly contact the slide release), I don't have the issue.

Perhaps the magazine spring is a little weak at the extent of travel when the magazine is empty and thus puts too little pressure on the slide stop, but fundamentally it's user error.....