I'm having a slight problem when putting the magazine in, I have to tap it several times before it sets right. Using the 7 round with 1 in the chamber. If I remove 1 from the magazine leaving only 6 rounds, it snaps in fine, but as soon as I put the 7 round in, it's hard to snap in. I just bought a new magazine thinking the older one was just having problems, but the new one does the same thing. Any suggestions?

They all do that ,give it a smack with palm of hand

Lock the slide open before inserting the magazine. What you have isn’t unusual.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok thanks guys. I was worried thinking that it might cause something bad when I went to shoot it.

Yep. If you're trying to insert a fully loaded magazine with a round in the chamber, it will take extra force to seat the magazine. Smack it smartly with your palm. It may take a couple of tries.

__________________
What, me worry?

swsig has it right. In combat or under stress in a self defense situation don’t baby that mag when inserting into pistol. You won’t hurt anything by putting it in hard.
When at the range or anytime you shoot you should get in the habit of doing it that way. Also, I rotate my mags every 6 months. JOMO after 50+ years of shooting.

P.S. You DON’T want to EVER have a partially seated mag when you NEED to use the gun in self defense!!!

Stay SAFE and shoot often!

if it's a new gun or "newish" then yes, that's normal. What it is, is when the magazine is fully loaded the mag spring is compressed pretty much all the way and there's not much wiggle room left to compress it any further so when you insert a fully loaded mag with one in the chamber that xtra resistance you feel is the mag spring with maybe a hair of wiggle room left. lol

it'll get easier as you shoot the thing and the springs loosen up. give it time...

Great, thanks guys. I was worried that there was something wrong with the mags. Then it happened to the new one, I thought I better ask a question on it. Now I feel better.

I just bought my 9mm Shield last week. It does the same thing. I took it to the range Saturday. I just gave the full mag a little extra umph and it snapped in easily. It's something you'll get a feel for in time. With everything in place, the gun shoots real nice. I'm very happy with the purchase

As you have probably noticed, the mag spring is tough. That's for positive feeding and timing that matches the slide spring. What is happening is that the top cartridge is pressing against the rib inside the slide that rakes the next round into the chamber as it slams forward. The fewer the rounds in the mag, the easier it is to push the mag home. It's just the mag spring tension and all advice above is good.

One question: Are you breech-loading that first round by dropping it singly into the chamber, and then letting the slide slam into battery? If so, it may not be the best idea in the world, as it may/will damage or break the extractor on some semi-autos, 1911s, Browning HPs, Glocks, and others. I'm assuming that the same thing could happen with a Shield.

The best procedure is to chamber a round from the magazine then remove the mag for top-off, and, as everyone has advised, smack the mag back in making sure it locks into place.

Just a tip from that old uncle the family wouldn't tell you about.

Give it a solid smack. I've taken to doing this all the time, but especially for defense guns. If you try to 'push' the mag into place until it locks, that ain't got it. Give it a smack. You'll be amazed how trouble will go away.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

This. I lost many seconds in an IDPA match this past weekend when I did not smack the magazine into the gun hard. I had pushed it in (what I thought was) hard, but in fact it hadn't gone fully into locked position. The mag catch spring tension held the mag so that it looked like it was seated, but it actually wasn't in far enough for the slide to pick up a round.

Lesson learned (I hope.)

Stiff springs in new M&P and M&P Shield magazines is a common issue. One of my 10 round M&P 45 mags was so stiff that it was impossible to load the 10th round when it was new. The solution is to load as many rounds as the mag will take - push the mag into the gun - put one palm on the bottom of the mag put the other palm on top of the slide and work the mag about 1/4 inch back and forth against the slide a few times before you push it all the way in in to lock. Then let it sit for a few days. That should break in the mag spring so that it loads more easily.

Make sure your pinky is clear before smacking , you'll get an big owwwiee !

I'd like to say one more thing about this spring tension issue that so many have commented on here and other places. When I first joined the forum, it was to get advice and share thoughts on my recent purchase of the Shield-9. It was my first poly pistol and subsequently I have purchased a 2.0 Compact as well. My initial query was all about the spring tension of the slide and the mag, as many others have also experienced the same issues. By much study of the design, and reading lots of reviews and opinions from people here and elsewhere, I've concluded that these guns are as good as it gets for reliability and modern design and manufacturing.

That said, I don't believe that the springs "break in" to any noticeable extent. Certainly not to the the point that it becomes comfortable to load the mag on a Shield or 2.0C repeatedly at the range without a mag loader.

I'll bet a week's pay that if that ever happened, there would be serious feeding problems to accompany. Very, very old springs can become fatigued, especially the leaf type such as the one in my 1927 Colt Hammerless. Mine is not, but many others have broken. If anyone has a Shield or other newer poly pistol that has springs that are as supple as those in a classic Browning HP or CZ-75, and that pistol functions perfectly, it would be a real rarity. Poly pistols have super light frames and standard heavy duty slides. That requires tough, very fast springs for the timing to be right due to recoil. The mag spring and the slide spring must match or the negative effect would be something like limp-wristing.

Dealing with the stiff actions and mag springs is just a matter of training and learning the use of leverage - and just getting used to it.

Seating the magazine with the slide in battery is another function of the stiff mag spring under tension. Slapping the magazine home is the best and surest way to seat it if the slide is closed. The space taken up by the lug (I don't know the technical term for it) that is milled into the frame is about 1/3 the diameter of a single cartridge, and is the distance the mag spring needs to be compressed in order to seat fully. The spring resistance that is encountered with the mag still 3/16 from seating is the remaining movement that needs to be taken up. Just pop it in.

Thread needs the RASTOFF video

And thanks to Rastoff, I can post pictures...

Here's what I've been rambling on about. If the OP doesn't understand my convoluted efforts to opine, maybe a picture is worth a thousand words.

Attached Images

	IMG_0715.JPG (105.6 KB, 79 views)
	IMG_0719.JPG (139.8 KB, 73 views)
	IMG_0720.JPG (141.8 KB, 71 views)

7+1 or 8+1 works fine, just not in a stressful situation which won't happen anyway because you would only reload a magazine when you are empty and the slide is locked back. If you want to load a new mag with one still in the chamber, you'd better not be in a fighting situation which would be foolish.

If you are nearly empty and realize that you are going to need more, there's nothing wrong with dropping a mag and shoving another one in. I'd expect this more in a combat situation rather than a defensive one.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Doubled up

Guess what I finally found

Can't do that with one in the spout as he indicates.

__________________
S&W Accumulator

For those that have never been exposed to advanced training, ejecting a partially loaded mag ( let’s say you fired 6 rounds of 8) and inserting a fully loaded mag (with one in the pipe) if you feel there is still a treat is called a TACTICAL RELOAD.
You put the ejected mag in a pocket,stick it in your belt or anywhere you can get it quickly in case you run out of ammo. The 2 rounds left in the first mag could save your life.
I am sure there is YouTube video that covers this subject.
AWAYS carry a extra mag if you can!!!!

Be SAFE and shoot often!

<Hat tip to Rastoff>

That vid should be in the forum library (if there is one). I was looking for info about this because it loads harder than my Taurus .380 or Ruger SR9e.

I'm so new that I still need to work on my low left problem.

Dont feel bad. Definitely the learning curve on this one.

Finger PAD placement is critical. (youtube vids)

I found a new grip that helped me. Pretty standard finger placement except your weak hand pinky reaches down and around and locks around the other side of the grip instead of laying quietly alongside the other fingers.

When you extend your left elbow the pinky forces the gun right and up naturally. Also allows it to "cant" slightly to avoid that "downleft" push that you tend to put on it.