Is there any advantage for getting one for my shield? Thanks.

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MP SHIELD 9

I can't think of a benefit, except to the manufacturer of the stainless steel part.

There was a recent discussion here dealing with a member who installed a stainless guide rod. After some shooting his slide stuck open.

Seemed to be the concencus that the guide rood had battered some molded plastic tabs on the frame.

Sometimes a manufacturer has a reason for the parts they use and the material they're made of.

Picked up one of the SSGuiderods for one of my Shields. Works good and a little easier to retract the slide completely. I use this gun/guide rod set up for my girlfriends gun. She has trouble fully retracting the slide with the stock setup and doesn't mind the slightly greater recoil with the single spring.

I've gotta go with the thought that the engineers who spent a lot of time and S&W money in product design & development had good reasons for the way the product comes from the factory.

Only one they won't rust as fast

Yeah, their reason is to save money by using a plastic guide rod. If available, I will routinely substitute a stainless guide rod in every pistol I own.

You must have a rare Shield, mine came with a metal guide rod...or maybe I have the rare one that didn't come with a plastic one...hmm!

I think some grew up when manufacturers didn't have marketing or finance departments or when the US didn't have much in the way of foreign competition. Nothing is perfect and only $$$ prevents products from being that way. Why doesn't S&W debur the bore the the firing safety pin rides in to prevent the gritty trigger pull many notice? Seems like if I were an engineer I would have told manufacturing that it needs to be deburred. How about an improved firing safety pin itself or hey how about improving the seer?

I'm betting some marketing guy in cahoots with the budget committee had some say in it and over-rode the engineer's wishes. I'm betting the marketing guy had a more-brilliant idea and said: "Hey, why don't we release an improved version and label it 'Performance Center' and charge 50 more bucks for it, I'm sure people will buy it"

What's the benefit?

My Glock 17, 9mm comes with a plastic one and I'm betting that's what Bonephish was referring to. I'm betting a plastic guide rod is a hell of a lot cheaper than a metal one. Why does Glock use a plastic guide rod and S&Ws come with metal (albeit cheap metal)?

Speaking of the Glock and Shield: My Glock uses a single recoil spring and the Shield uses two. Clearly someone must be wrong. On the Shield, the .40 cal and the 9mm both use the same exact recoil assembly. You're telling me that a .40 cal and 9mm bullet exert the same recoil pressure when fired?!?!

Read the reviews of those who've actually installed and used it:

Why spend $40.00 plus shipping to buy something you already have? I don't see any advantage in the SS RSA with the single spring?
Some people can't leave well enough alone!

"...if it ain't broke......"

mb

And sometimes you just can't teach an old dog new tricks. Why use autoloaders? Stick to a J-frame. Why use bullets? Ball and powder worked fine and we even won our independence because of it. That's proven technology right there.

And what if it is broken?

Shield Recoil Spring Fell Apart

What if it's broken multiple times on the same owner? I'm sure some will say it's 100% user error.

What do you say to those who've actually had their RSA fail\come apart? Some of you preach how not to mess with anything because your life depends on it. What if someone had their RSA break and they've done absolutely no mods........who cares if it's covered under warranty.......if it breaks when you need it to function most what good is it?

Are you paying the $40? Is it coming out of your pocket? Is some S&W employee going to lose his job because of it? Is some S&W deity going to be offended that the Shield has been modified and strike you down? I'll agree that it's probably only worth $5 in materials but the company who sells them is probably employing a few people that would otherwise be collecting food stamps on yours and my $$.

I wonder how many still think synthetic motor oil is snake oil despite that many new cars have it as a factory fill.

I'll bring up another controversial subject: Dry teflon lube. I notice that Remington and S&W now make\brand as their own such a product. Snake Oil? The military is starting to use it now.

I love how guys are experts on things they've never tried/used. If you have actually tried the SS RSA and can speak from DIRECT EXPERIENCE that it's ****, that's one thing.

Do you feel the same about Talon grips? Personally I love how my Shield fits and the grip seems fine to me but I'm not going to poo poo on those who feel the need to use them.

I want to add: I love my Shield.........I absolutely friggin love it and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

I love mine also. Over 2,000 rds. so far... and stock as it came from the manufacturer. No problems or issues. Racking to lock back slide is a little difficult but quite manageable.

mb

As an engineer, I take offense to this statement! It's not the engineers that try to save a few pennies here or there, it is the CEO and all the accountants! I don't know a single engineer that will design something "cheaply"!

I agree with you 100%!
If a newly designed product comes out and then is proven defective, the design will undergo changes needed. The problem with many short sighted thinkers is they think they know more than the design engineers! They all want to build a better mouse trap but they don't have the ability, so they start changing the product's design. Cut a little piece off here... bend this part a little, add a spring or clamp, (Duct Tape also works wonders for them), now they have something they think is an improvement and that they can say is their designed product improvement and they can be proud of re-engineering it!

mb

Marty, seeing as you have difficulty racking the slide, looks like the SS guide rod is right up your alley. My wife (95 lbs wet) had difficulty racking the slide (even using proper technique) and she can confidently rack it now with the SS guide rod installed (I hadn't even lubed it yet, simply swapped my stock, broken-in RSA for the SS guide rod). I'll report back on recoil\muzzle flip difference once I get back from the range.

I can only comment on my Shield 9mm experience when replacing the stock two stage recoil spring vs. SS single stage spring as noted. For my particular loads (115 gr JHPs), there was a noticeable improvement in accuracy. Noticeable being about a 30% reduction in overall group size. Testing was done at 25 yards.

Granted everyone will be on a case by case basis, but I noticed just the opposite a couple years ago when trying a Sprinco two stage recoil reduction spring in my M&P 45. In this case, a load that was every accurate with the stock spring went to pot with the Sprinco.

Interesting. I didn't notice any real change in group size or point of impact between the two recoil spring assembles. I shoot 124 & 147 grain standard pressure loads. I was not benching though, all shooting was off hand.

I'm no longer using the SS assembly but I'm curious now and will run the two the next time I do some bench shooting.

My wife also struggled with the slide. Tried the SSGuide Rod with spring, didnt work for the wife.

While this (the single spring design) helps the racking, locking type issues that the weaker handed may experience, we determined that my wifes wrists were not strong enough to back the recoil properly and she went from -0- failures to a 50% failure rate on FTL's or FTF's sooooo back in went the OEM spring that provides more pressure to return the slide to battery.

I WOULD state however that it worked perfectly for me with no problems at all.

All done with 115's and never got far enough to determine muzzle flip etc.

The above statement was made in another forum a few months back. Today we have a couple thou rounds through it and it is much better on racking and the wife no longer has trouble with it. (albeit training has a part to play here) Also taught her to utilize the "shoulder shrug" method instead of her arms and it is much easier for her.

Interesting, I'm trying to understand........is she pulling the slide all the way back and letting go or does she pull the slide all the way back and and then ride it forward with her weak hand? My wife was doing the latter initially until I told her: "just let it slam forward, it's not going to hurt anything".

I quoted ya before you edited. I think if I'm right, she learned the proper technique and now pulls the slide back and releases vs slowing it down with her weak hand thinking letting it slam could hurt the pistol.

Im sorry. The reply was C/P from another site where they were up to speed on context......so I was adding context.

To be honest, yes, she did do that in the beginning (soft touch the slide closed) and created some FTF's that we finally figured out (being the first round in the mag all the time). Fixxed that problem.

We are 55, she has slight arthritis, so my description was of actually firing a round. Im going to say the weaker spring creates a harder recoil of the slide which applied more "flip" pressure to her wrists and allowed/forced her to let the gun move more.
IE.... limp wristing..... simply from not having the strength to retain the weapon properly. I ran through a mag at speed with -0- issue immediately after she had 50% plus failures.

None of this is "scientific" or "measurable".....actually not even noticeable, aside from searching for the answer to a sudden 50% failure rate.

That being said, the only difference was the new SS rod/spring. Replacement of the OEM unit and the gun was back to normal (relatively perfect performance).

Thanks for going into further detail. I have the stock RSA still so I'll go back and forth with her/myself to see which we like better (it's ultimately my gun so I'll keep what I like better until we get her her own).

Do you like the SS rod/spring better or the stock for yourself?

WIFEY ALERT

My wife decided to start shooting this xmas. Needless to say I was thrilled. M&P22c

Then she quickly decided to get her CHL....enter the Shield 9

Daily range practice made short order of the CHL requirements.

Her mannerisms, shooting, knowledge of the sport and of the weapons available rivals or exceeds mine (in 6 mo. time!)

All that to say she struggles with a slide a bit but is a million times better at dealing with them than she was.

We watch Hicock vids at night on the big screen.

Shooting has taken over our lives......and we love it!!!

This vid on racking has helped her immensely. YMMV

Thats a great question. Ill answer it from MY viewpoint only.

I couldnt care less.

I shoot a SD with all the APEX stuff in it and I have a (dont hate me) Diamondback that I love. My goto gun is a XDM45.

The Shield was for her but we like it so much that we both used it for our CHL. I have to say though that I LOVE that little gun and am just waiting for the 299 price point before I get me one. With the PC out and the 45 coming I feel that time will be soon. Palmetto had them for 329 the other day so we are close.

I think the evidence was overwhelming (with the wife) that the single spring allows a stiffer recoil in the slide. I feel like the gun kicks enough and is loud enough already so some extra kick isnt for me. I also like the stiffness of the OEM spring being a dual design and assuredly slams it back into battery so personally....I vote OEM.

Little bias there because it IS the wifes

I let it go a week later for 30 bucks. (the rod/spring)

Also OT FYI.....we LOVE the Pro-Mag 10 rounders and with a clean/oil we have had perfect performance out of them.

I was wondering the same thing about the S/S Guide Rod. I saw several threads/pics of the damage it had done to the slide! No ammo type was mentioned. I e mailed Ruger and got a basic form letter back stating they do not recommend after market parts in their gun :O . I also read a lot of people who love the S/S RSA! I think they all say that. So in my case I will stay with the plastic RSA and I have a spare for back up. YMMV

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9mm Shield

.....and I should clarify. We didnt experience any destructive issues although we only had to run about 30-40 rounds through before we figured out it wasnt for us.

Wow a lots of opinions I thought I would just your opinions over here about a ss guide rod. I read on another forum people automatically swapping them out as for me I'm staying with the one that came on my shield.

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MP SHIELD 9

Yea I know lots of guys are swapping automatically because of the word plastic. ...but they dont seem to mind the word "polymer"

But seriously, I know I blathered on and on but at least it wasnt my opinion....it was experience

My .02....YMMV

I always research and determine things for myself. Reference a stainless steel RSA (not just the rod) my opinion based on my recent experience with STAINLESS STEEL GUIDE RODS, INC. they do as advertised.
There's no question M&P Shields have a reputation for being hard to rack, especially locking the slide back via the slide lock. There
have been a number of posts about this.
First, other than being hard to rack, I've never had a problem with the RSA that came with my two Shields.
However, based on a poster's experience here/ found the replacement stainless steel spring easier to rack/ I ordered one form STAINLESS STEEL GUIDE RODS,inc and it slipped in easy and racked easier. A hundred rounds > flawless.
I've just a few minutes ago ordered a second one from them for my other Shield.
Poli Viejo

IMO easier to rack only means the slide will move back faster and bank it's stops harder. The Shield is hard to rack because the RSA need to absorb the energy. I maybe wrong but have tested RSA springs when looking for the right weight when I added a comp to my 9L. I even created a tester to measure the springs to check on weights.

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USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

This is why I stopped using my SS RSA. I shoot the Shield quite a bit and the additional wear factor of the lighter RSA concerned me. I don't shoot +P loads but I generally run 3-400 rounds through it monthly.

While I'm no stranger to modifying my guns to taste and performance I've decided to stay with the engineer's designed RSA which I'd wager affords greater pistol longevity.

I don't see anything wrong with the guide rod being made out of SS it is the spring that concerns me.

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USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

Nor do I. Stainless is just dandy for the rod. But the designers felt this pistol was best served by a dual spring RSA of a particular spring rate. I'm reluctant to deviate from their knowledgeable opinions.

I ordered the SS guiderod assembly and tried it out in my Shield. It's well made and definite makes it easier to rack the slide. I also have the Mag Guts +1 kits in all my mags nod it won't lock back after firing the last round. I think it speeds up the action wit the lighter spring and it just throws off the timing and that thin little follower in the Mag Guts kit. Anyways, if anyone wants the spring (it's basically brand new) I'll send it to you to try in your gun. If you like it and it works for you you can send me $25 and keep it. That's 1/2 price basically and if it doesn't work out just send it back. My dad put it in his Shield 9 (no Mag Guts) and it worked 100%. It also worked fine in my gun with my dad's non Mag Guts mags. Message me if interested.