Ytcoinshooter
Active member
My first post outside of the intro forum. I wanted to get some experience with my shield and dig (read) into many of the topics posted here before participating. A bit more than 7 weeks now with it and 600+ rounds. This long post is a compilation of notes I kept from my range sessions. I had a couple of glitches that I believe are now solved and my Shield 9mm seems to be everything I was looking for subcompact 9mm. During this time I too had a locking (out of battery) issue not unlike I read in another thread but worth mentioning. I've also had a couple of light primer strikes. Those rounds did fire upon reloading them at the top of a new magazine.
First time out with the new 9mm shield, shooting 200 rounds, a combination of Aguila 124 grain and Federal 115 grain without issue I cleaned and oiled.
During the next trip to the range I was about 90 rounds (of 100) into a Remington umc 100 box, 115 gr. So to finish those I opened a box of blazer brass 115 gr and had a magazine with a couple Blazers as the last rounds. The slide would return a couple of millimeters out of battery and no amount of tapping or rapping would help. I did manage to clear this a couple of times then I couldn't budge it. The RO after much banging of the slide on the bench cleared it and said it looked "dry". He didn't strip the slide off to look. OK, so even though I know the gun was cleaned and oiled I took his word because of his far greater experience. So I put my shield away and finished my time with my BG 380 and wifey's G 42. Later at home I cleaned and oiled it and checked my ammo usage. I was only one round into the box of blazer.
So I returned the next day to burn up the box of Blazer ammo and this jamming out of battery happened on nearly every other or second to third round (never got more than shot or two off between jams) with the blazer brass 115. It didn't matter how many were in the magazine. The first round would fire then it would be jammed a few mm out of battery. It appeared the round wouldn't fully feed into the chamber. Fortunately I was able to clear em all myself with my arthritic hands. Now I'm bothered. I'm stubborn and got through those 49 rounds. Continuing during this very same session I ran flawlessly through 50 rounds of federal and 100 of the Winchester white box 115 gr. I chalked it up to "maybe" the blazer brass though I haven't seen this ammo noted as an issue in the shield. Instead of contacting S&W I returned to my well respected gunsmith who I bought it new from and they polished the feed ramp then we talked about how different weight 115, 124 and 147 grain may affect cycling. While there I wasn't real happy with the trigger for a couple of reasons (I know it's supposed to be better than previous M&P's) and THEY said it was gritty...I also didn't like the weight of the pull. I also mentioned that I had a couple of light primer strikes as well. So I left it there for them to install the Apex duty / carry kit and anything else they saw fit to address. I picked up the shield the second day after dropping it off and head straight to the range. All I can say is it flawlessly ate 50 more blazer 115 gr brass, 50 Federal gr, 80 Aguila 124 gr and 7 golden sabre 124 gr. I was smiling! My shield ate ammo like a pig. Very smooth, crisp trigger action. Everything I shot was ball ammo except for the 7 golden sabres. At that point about 600+ rounds through it and am feeling confident and looking forward to burning more 9mm ammo. I'm trying as many different brands and weights of brass cased ammo. No steel cased ammo for me. It caused issues in the G42 and my LGS said they should have told me upon purchase not to use it. They've seen multiple problems incl damaged extractors in the Glock. Never bought any of that Tulamo in 9mm, but I did finish the last of the steel cased .380 in my BG380 without a hitch after the G42 choked on it, the only issue encountered with that pistol.
I know there are many who wouldn't polish the feed ramps. The gunsmith I used has the best rep in the area and a large LEO clientele. I hold the opinion that on a locked breech pistol like the shield with the ramp being one piece with the barrel, it's replaceable if needed but I would never tinker with my own gun, so I rightly trusted this second generation gunsmith shop. All 3 pistols have polished ramps now.
As for the other work (Apex duty / carry kit) he did, I suppose that's for another post but I'm so pleased, it was surely worth it. I'm not jerking at all, reset is sweet too.
Next I returned a week after my last flawless range session. The Shield continues to run like she should. About 100 rounds more and it was again flawless. I spent time making sure my grip was supportive and steady using my support hand index finger against the front of the trigger guard. Vastly more accurate and my 50 ft shots showed a huge improvement. At the defensive distance of 25 ft the shield is at home. I would have put more through it but I was also shooting my BG .380 and G42 employing this grip technique I learned from Jerry Miculek via YouTube. He's so clear and easy to understand. I've been shooting the BG 380 a lot because in summer clothes it is better concealed on my body type. The shield is THE defensive pistol I chose after researching everything regardless of cost, but fits me best in cooler weather. The BG 380 was just a practical purchase because it was used and at $270, (the test cartridge envelope is dated 7-16-12) I couldn't pass it up. The BG cycles great and I'm pleased.
The Shield, I'm really impressed with it after tweaking and am looking forward to giving it a workout next range trip.
Now some would have said I should have sent in to S&W warranty dept. but I like my LGS and didn't mind spending my money there. Springfield Ma. is about a 45 minute ride from where I live and would like to take one of their factory tours.
My next consideration is obtaining my Florida concealed carry permit (2 packets received) as we just bought property there to escape the snow after the Mrs. retires next year. There is an indoor range almost around the corner, 8/10 of a mile from the property and I'm figuring on buying a pistol or two in Florida to keep there. It'll be very strange shopping and not having the restrictions my state has imposed on firearms.
I hope something in my post is a benefit to someone having issues with their shield.
First time out with the new 9mm shield, shooting 200 rounds, a combination of Aguila 124 grain and Federal 115 grain without issue I cleaned and oiled.
During the next trip to the range I was about 90 rounds (of 100) into a Remington umc 100 box, 115 gr. So to finish those I opened a box of blazer brass 115 gr and had a magazine with a couple Blazers as the last rounds. The slide would return a couple of millimeters out of battery and no amount of tapping or rapping would help. I did manage to clear this a couple of times then I couldn't budge it. The RO after much banging of the slide on the bench cleared it and said it looked "dry". He didn't strip the slide off to look. OK, so even though I know the gun was cleaned and oiled I took his word because of his far greater experience. So I put my shield away and finished my time with my BG 380 and wifey's G 42. Later at home I cleaned and oiled it and checked my ammo usage. I was only one round into the box of blazer.
So I returned the next day to burn up the box of Blazer ammo and this jamming out of battery happened on nearly every other or second to third round (never got more than shot or two off between jams) with the blazer brass 115. It didn't matter how many were in the magazine. The first round would fire then it would be jammed a few mm out of battery. It appeared the round wouldn't fully feed into the chamber. Fortunately I was able to clear em all myself with my arthritic hands. Now I'm bothered. I'm stubborn and got through those 49 rounds. Continuing during this very same session I ran flawlessly through 50 rounds of federal and 100 of the Winchester white box 115 gr. I chalked it up to "maybe" the blazer brass though I haven't seen this ammo noted as an issue in the shield. Instead of contacting S&W I returned to my well respected gunsmith who I bought it new from and they polished the feed ramp then we talked about how different weight 115, 124 and 147 grain may affect cycling. While there I wasn't real happy with the trigger for a couple of reasons (I know it's supposed to be better than previous M&P's) and THEY said it was gritty...I also didn't like the weight of the pull. I also mentioned that I had a couple of light primer strikes as well. So I left it there for them to install the Apex duty / carry kit and anything else they saw fit to address. I picked up the shield the second day after dropping it off and head straight to the range. All I can say is it flawlessly ate 50 more blazer 115 gr brass, 50 Federal gr, 80 Aguila 124 gr and 7 golden sabre 124 gr. I was smiling! My shield ate ammo like a pig. Very smooth, crisp trigger action. Everything I shot was ball ammo except for the 7 golden sabres. At that point about 600+ rounds through it and am feeling confident and looking forward to burning more 9mm ammo. I'm trying as many different brands and weights of brass cased ammo. No steel cased ammo for me. It caused issues in the G42 and my LGS said they should have told me upon purchase not to use it. They've seen multiple problems incl damaged extractors in the Glock. Never bought any of that Tulamo in 9mm, but I did finish the last of the steel cased .380 in my BG380 without a hitch after the G42 choked on it, the only issue encountered with that pistol.
I know there are many who wouldn't polish the feed ramps. The gunsmith I used has the best rep in the area and a large LEO clientele. I hold the opinion that on a locked breech pistol like the shield with the ramp being one piece with the barrel, it's replaceable if needed but I would never tinker with my own gun, so I rightly trusted this second generation gunsmith shop. All 3 pistols have polished ramps now.
As for the other work (Apex duty / carry kit) he did, I suppose that's for another post but I'm so pleased, it was surely worth it. I'm not jerking at all, reset is sweet too.
Next I returned a week after my last flawless range session. The Shield continues to run like she should. About 100 rounds more and it was again flawless. I spent time making sure my grip was supportive and steady using my support hand index finger against the front of the trigger guard. Vastly more accurate and my 50 ft shots showed a huge improvement. At the defensive distance of 25 ft the shield is at home. I would have put more through it but I was also shooting my BG .380 and G42 employing this grip technique I learned from Jerry Miculek via YouTube. He's so clear and easy to understand. I've been shooting the BG 380 a lot because in summer clothes it is better concealed on my body type. The shield is THE defensive pistol I chose after researching everything regardless of cost, but fits me best in cooler weather. The BG 380 was just a practical purchase because it was used and at $270, (the test cartridge envelope is dated 7-16-12) I couldn't pass it up. The BG cycles great and I'm pleased.
The Shield, I'm really impressed with it after tweaking and am looking forward to giving it a workout next range trip.
Now some would have said I should have sent in to S&W warranty dept. but I like my LGS and didn't mind spending my money there. Springfield Ma. is about a 45 minute ride from where I live and would like to take one of their factory tours.
My next consideration is obtaining my Florida concealed carry permit (2 packets received) as we just bought property there to escape the snow after the Mrs. retires next year. There is an indoor range almost around the corner, 8/10 of a mile from the property and I'm figuring on buying a pistol or two in Florida to keep there. It'll be very strange shopping and not having the restrictions my state has imposed on firearms.
I hope something in my post is a benefit to someone having issues with their shield.
