Shield 9mm Magazine Spring

My Shield has 527 rounds through it. I use four 8 round mags and one seven round mag. In two of the eight round mags I can now load all 8 rounds by hand (I don't but I can). The others still require the mag loader which is just fine.

I have cleaned all of my mags once. Never a problem.

 
I have 4 of the 7 round mags with the Pearce pinky finger extension. I have had two of the mags collapse on me in exactly the same manner and both on the same day. I called S&W customer service and asked if there was a problem with the springs. I was assured there was no problem but as we talked some more I got the distinct feeling there was. Anyway he insisted that he send me replacement springs for all my mags even though I was only having trouble with two of them. I received the springs yesterday and they are a distinctly different color.and finish. Having been a mechanical engineer for 45 years and having designed maybe 200 different springs I know for a fact that different surface treatments can have a vastly different effect on the stress rates of the spring material. I am going to the range soon to try out the new springs.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Had the same issue and S&W confirmed that there's recent increase in Shield spring failure. I think S&W have since corrected the collapse spring issue but there are still bad springs in circulation.

I always test out my pistol including mags for a few hundred rounds before even considering it as a suitable self defense tool in order to weed out potential issues.
 
Shield 9mm magazine spring

Apparently S&W still has not fixed this issue, as I just picked up a brand new 9mm Shield yesterday 6-18-2017 and upon test firing the gun today on the first attempt to reload the 7rd mag the follower jammed in the mag tube on round #5. Upon disassembling the mag found the magazine spring folded over just like everyone else. I find this completely irresponsible for S&W to be aware of this continuing issue for this long, on a firearm marketed purposely at the self defense market, without a focused effort to get it resolved. There has to be some serious liability attached to this issue if someone gets hurt due to the issue.
 

Attachments

  • Shield_mag_disassembled.jpg
    Shield_mag_disassembled.jpg
    65.5 KB · Views: 70
Happened to me today, too. Have had the 9mm Shield for about a month, with one 7- and three 8-round mags, all of which have been shot regularly for a total of probably 600 flawless-function rounds. It quickly became my daily carry piece, with 7+1 in the gun and an 8 rounder on the belt. (Its excellent power, slim profile, rapid reloading and easy shooting displaced the 5 and 6 shot J frame revolvers I carried for years. I don't miss 'em, EXCEPT for this worry about a functioning magazine.)

When refilling the 7 round mag today I noticed that there was practically no follower pressure when inserting the first round into the mag, and then I could NOT get more than 5 rounds in, even with the Caldwell loader. I could see multiple spring wires through one of the witness holes, and when I took the mag apart I found the typical bent spring.

I'll call S&W on Monday, and based on prior reports on this forum will expect to get some new springs in the mail. I also ordered some Wolff springs - I've used a lot of their springs on a lot of other guns over the years and trust 'em.

But it has me wondering - WHEN do you really trust these S&W springs in a carry gun? I've probably put more than a hundred rounds through the mag that failed today, and have to wonder what would have happened if I were using it in earnest?

In the short run I put a Walther PPS in the (same) holster. I'll have 6+1 in the gun plus an 8-rounder on the belt, so I'll only be down 1 round from the Shield. But I'll have MecGar magazines with straight springs, in which I have complete confidence.

So for the long term, what do people do with these things? Just put new S&W springs in and hope for the best? (I thought I'd read reports that the replacement springs fail, too.) I could just switch to Wolff springs, or even the MagGuts things. If MecGar made mags for the Shield I'd be tempted to get some of them for daily carry, but AFAIK they're not available.
 
I have 4 shields, 2 Shield 9mm (Safety No safety) 1 Shield 40 and 1 Shield 45. I have not had one single issues with any of the magazines. The 9mm no safety i shoot and carry the most has been 100% flawless with factory 7 and 8 round mags. I also use the Magguts +2 springs which have been equally flawless. recently attended a Steel frenzy course (700 + round count) used my Shield 9mm for most of that course with NO issues. S&W may had a bad batch of Shield springs, But for the most part they work and work well

1SG
out
 
I got my Shield 9mm the first week of April 2017. I have fired well over 1,000 rounds from my one 7 round and seven 8 round magazines and have never experienced this problem. When you consider the number of Shields in use and the infinitesimally small number of complaints, this is not a wide spread problem.
 
Leave your mags assembled. Take them apart only if you drop them I the mud or some other dirty substance. Shoot the gun, a lot.

I have lots of rounds through my Shield 9 both mags (and several additional ones I've bought, and never had a problem.

Enjoy the shooting. It will cure your paranoia.
 
Mr.Shield said:
I was at the range yesterday and had the spring in the 8rd mag bend on me. I bent it back and reloaded two more times before it bent again.
6f5fbdab6e52346cfab77c9f4a268afe.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I'm still trying to imagine how that spring would get a bend like that in it while inside the magazine body.
Trying to put the spring back in after having disassembled the magazine, and it bends to the side before you can get it in all the way, yes.
I've done that, but it doesn't put a bend in it near as bad as yours, if at all.
Why did you have to disassemble the magazine at the range ?
 
Last edited:
KPWants said:
When you consider the number of Shields in use and the infinitesimally small number of complaints, this is not a wide spread problem.
Click to expand...

It is probably as small a problem as the internal lock on a S&W revolver locking up the gun on its own, without the key being turned. It DOES happen, but as with these bent magazine springs the percentage of revolvers likely to be affected is tiny. And if it's a range gun, if the problem arises it's a 1 minute job to dig out the key from your range bag and fix it.

But if it's a gun that HAS to work for you immediately, whenEVER you call on it, the fact that a known problem isn't very likely to occur is small comfort. That's why I removed the internal lock on the one J frame carry gun I had. That fixes the lock problem, permanently.

And for a Shield that's a daily carry gun, the question is - what's the best equivalent of removing the internal lock from a revolver? Obviously you can't just remove the mag spring, so what do you replace it with? Another S&W spring? Or one from Wolff or MagGuts? Or as I've done temporarily - replace the gun?
 
Guess I'm lucky !!

I have 7 each of the 8 round mags and 1 each of the 7 round. Have sent at least 9,000 rounds lthru my 9mm Shield and "NO" spring problems, Mags are taken down and cleaned about every 6 months. Followers cleaned monthly with 91% alcohol.
 
I have had a Shield 9 for about 3 years, and recently bought a 45. I have several magazines for each. Never had had a problem with the 9, and had one malfunction with the 45 first time out. I performed immediate action and kept on shooting. With a semi-auto there is always the chance of a malfunction. Do what you can to minimize the possibility, practice immediate action drills, and carry extra magazines.
 
It appears from the many reports I've seen that the springs fail (bend) DURING MAGAZINE LOADING, but NOT while firing. Have I missed reports of failures to feed due to the spring having folded while the gun is being shot?

S&W is providing new springs after I called 'em about my failure experience, but I also have some Wolff springs on order which should be here in a few days. The Shield has been completely reliable over probably 700 rounds now, except for this one spring failure. If the spring failures do not occur during shooting, I'll be inclined to put the new Wolff springs in the mags and return the Shield to its place as my daily carry piece.

But if I've missed reports of springs folding up while the gun is being shot, I may just leave the Walther PPS in the daily carry holster, and give some additional thought about how to get comfortable with the Shield again.
 
Same exact problem as everyone else and it happened during the first time I shot it.
 
cbpat1 said:
Same exact problem as everyone else and it happened during the first time I shot it.
Click to expand...



Yep, same here with a seven rounder. First time out (and I want to say early in the session, probably 6 or so compression cycles) and it failed.

I had similar issues with an m&p45. CD sent me 6 new mag springs and followers.

My guess is they use more than one supplier for small parts, and QC/QA isn't as high as it should be, especially for the number of shields their pumping out. I don't think it's a coincidence you can find shield mags for less than 20 bucks per pretty easily.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
23 round Smith & Wesson magazine spring failure
Replies
5
Views
594
whiteowl369
W
B
9mm magazine speed loaders
2
Replies
35
Views
2K
agksimon
agksimon
J
M&P Shield Plus Carry comp heavy/heavyrecoil spring
Replies
12
Views
2K
cromag27
C
P
Recoil spring
Replies
3
Views
356
Beju
B
B
M&P Shield 9mm CA Compliant Magazine Questions
Replies
1
Views
873
Saudade
Saudade

Latest posts

Back
Top