Has anyone seen this type of "rough" machining on the lower surface of their .45 Shield's slide? I can't imagine that it's by design...should it have been polished at the factory? You can feel the scalloped marks when racking the slide. I polished them smooth with a diamond file, and it made a big difference. Is it an issue, or just something that S&W feels will smooth out with use? BTW- this is not a picture of my .45 Shield, it's one I copied from an online video...same type of roughness.
.45 Shield Slide Issue?
- Thread starter Hawg Rider
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SwflG17Guy
Member
Yeah everybody has it
Pisgah
Member
That is NOT broke -- so, please, feel free to go ahead and fix it.
Sorry that you smoothed that out before you investigated! 
Those scallops are there by design by Smith and Wesson. They are actually part of the recoil management system.
Those scallops are there by design by Smith and Wesson. They are actually part of the recoil management system.
There was a lengthy thread about the "scallops" a few months back... sorry you missed it, it was pretty good.
Oh, and yep, it's how they all come from the factory.
Oh, and yep, it's how they all come from the factory.
OP
Scallops tear up the brass casings
Just FYI...I reload, and those scallops were tearing up my brass casings. I don't believe that polishing out those "scallops" had any noticeable affect on the felt recoil. Thanks for your replies!
Just FYI...I reload, and those scallops were tearing up my brass casings. I don't believe that polishing out those "scallops" had any noticeable affect on the felt recoil. Thanks for your replies!
Because of the tight fit of the .45 cartridges in the Shield's magazine well, they have a tendency to hang up below the feed ramp and thus create a failure to feed if they are not fully seated all of the way back in the magazine. The purpose of the scalloped ridges is to grab the top cartridge and pull it back to its rearmost position to prevent it from hanging up. Apparently it is doing that too well with your reloads. If you're not having failures to feed after grinding off the scallops, then there's no problem. Just make sure your cartridges are as far to the back of the magazine as you can get them.
Now That makes much better logic than what I was told at a LGS about the ridges........Thank you for that bit of information.
OP
I agree, makes much more sense. Thanks.
BigDog48
US Veteran
Would you mind explaining why you would take a file to a new firearm before asking either us or S&W if it's normal? It was designed that way for a reason. Just sayin'....
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