Disappointed with quality control on new Shield Plus

I decided I wanted a Shield Plus with a bright orange or green front sight and blacked out rears. That combination is consistent with my other guns, works well for me and as a bonus the sights have tritium inserts which is a nice plus. The first LGS I went to had one with the night sights but wanted $550 for gun and two magazines. The second one I stopped by had one with 5 magazines (1 - 10 round and 4 - 13 round) for $539 which seemed like a fair price so I bought it, ran a patch through the barrel and went to the gun club to try it out. I looked the gun over at the shop but missed 3 issues.

The gun went 97 rounds with no malfunctions but:

1 - The gun shot about 3 inches to the left at 12 yards. It was my first time shooting the gun and I was shooting off hand so some of that may be me. But I did notice the front sight was a little off center which could account for some of that.

When I got home I started get out my sight pusher but noticed the second issue.

2 - The front tritium insert was dead or missing. Don't know why it didn't occur to me to check at the store but I didn't. But no point in pushing a sight to center when it needs to be replaced so the gun is going back to Smith. No way to tell if the sight was dead at the factory and should have be caught there or died later so this may not have been something Smith could have prevented. This got me wondering how common dead night sights are which lead me to this thread.

3 - Where the poster said his Shield plus had a dead sight and 2 of the 3 extra magazines would not drop free. I had not tried the 3 extra magazines that came in the "Bug out bag", only the 10 and 13 round magazines that came in the box with the gun. Sure enough, none of the extra magazines would drop free. Looking at them there appears to be something wrong with the followers. They have a lot of slop and the slide stop misses the ledge it is supposed to rest on and digs into the side which prevents the magazine from dropping.

Next time I buy a gun I am going to take more time checking it out. I am really kicking myself for not doing a better job checking the gun out before I bought it. I could have saved myself the trouble of shipping the gun back to the factory to get fixed. Its not like the LGS I bought it at had any trouble with my handling and dry firing the gun. They gave me every opportunity to look it over and if I had been more careful I would have noticed the dead front sight.

Going to wait until next week when the holidays are over before I send it back, hope it doesn't take too long.

Few pictures below to show why the magazines will not drop free.

Good 13 round magazine:



Magazine that will not drop free:

I bought my Shield Plus used from my LGS shortly after they first came out. It looked like it had barely been fired. I took it to the range and found it was shooting to the left. I then saw that the front sight was noticeably off center. I drifted the sight back to center and everything is good now. This may have been the reason the original owner traded it off.

Be happy if you get a new S&W gun that's right when it's new. I have not had much luck with them lately. Always has something wrong with it. Always.

I just got a new Shield Plus with factory night sights.

The 13 round mag that came with mine is just like that.

However, I have like 18-20 Shield Plus mags total. Only this one is like that.

I called S&W last week, but they were closed for the holidays. I plan to call them this week and get the mag switched out.

I just got off the phone with S&W - they finally opened up after the holidays. They sent me a Fed Ex label to send in that magazine. Then, they will ship me a new one.

So, you should call them.

I would Assume that the magazine's metal shell was the culprit @Shipwreck, BUT could just be the follower
Unsure if I wouldn't have just asked for a NEW magazine spring & follower???
I need to empty my Shield Plus magazines & run each one through my two plusses & see IF any of them have this trouble
That's the great thing about these forums = other's problems become cures for others & S&W gets lots of phone calls
Should call them today myself with 4-5 serial numbers & a list of parts, mostly recoil spring assemblies & magazine springs for the 380EZ + recoil spring assembly for my 40 S&W Shield PC + another green spring for the Plusses

Smith & Wesson · Customer service

Phone 1 (800) 331-0852

Sorry for your issues.
We need to hold S&Ws feet to the fire.

HEADKNOCKER said:

I would Assume that the magazine's metal shell was the culprit @Shipwreck, BUT could just be the follower
Unsure if I wouldn't have just asked for a NEW magazine spring & follower???
I need to empty my Shield Plus magazines & run each one through my two plusses & see IF any of them have this trouble
That's the great thing about these forums = other's problems become cures for others & S&W gets lots of phone calls
Should call them today myself with 4-5 serial numbers & a list of parts, mostly recoil spring assemblies & magazine springs for the 380EZ + recoil spring assembly for my 40 S&W Shield PC + another green spring for the Plusses

Smith & Wesson · Customer service

Phone 1 (800) 331-0852

Click to expand...

I don't want to have to worry about it in the future, and I have a ton of mags already (I won't miss that 1 mag for a couple of weeks). So, for me, the easiest thing is just to have it replaced. They are even paying for shipping.

I've had bad mags in the past for other guns - and having them just send me the internals did not fix the issue. I'd rather not worry about the reliability of the mag later...

I am also a Walther owner for years I own the Ppks 380 and last year bought the Ppks 22lr. This pistol went back to Walther three times before it was fixed. I can honestly say Walther is awesome to deal with and turn around time is less than a week.

I just purchased the equalizer which I really like I just hope I got a good one. Fires over 800 rounds in the last few weeks with zero issues.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

I called S&W this morning. They are going to send me a new front sight and emailed me a FedEx label to return the magazines.

In the past I would have complained about having to install the sight myself. But when I returned a P365 to Sig a couple of years ago the only FedEx location that would take a gun from a non-FFL was a distribution center only open M-F from 8:00 to 5:00. I had to take an hour off work to take the gun there.

I have sight pusher so replacing the sight myself sounds like much less of a hassle. And I can shoot the gun as is until I get the new sight. If they hadn't suggested mailing me a new sight I was going to ask if I could just send the slide to avoid FedEx making things more difficult than they need to be.

Great Photos showing what is going on with these magazines
I have four & all are good early & late made ones
Note the finish changed, the first ones were shinny

Dave Lively said:

I called S&W this morning. They are going to send me a new front sight and emailed me a FedEx label to return the magazines.

In the past I would have complained about having to install the sight myself. But when I returned a P365 to Sig a couple of years ago the only FedEx location that would take a gun from a non-FFL was a distribution center only open M-F from 8:00 to 5:00. I had to take an hour off work to take the gun there.

Click to expand...

Not to hijack the thread:
I'm sure that this is nothing new here on the forum.
January 29, 2022

Shipping Guns via FedEx Now Limited to FFLs & Gov’t Agencies << Daily Bulletin

And

January 3, 2022

Can You Ship Firearms with UPS? | Learn How to Properly Send Firearms with UPS - Shipping School

Individuals can ship to FFL's at specific locations.
For me that is 45 minutes away and much time.
I found FFL to FFL to be cheaper and more convenient.

Yesterday one of our members brought in a brand new Shield Plus with a dead front sight. Now wondering how common this issue is...

When you spend good money for anything the manufacturer needs to be held responsible we need a lemon law for the consumer period.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

"Going to wait until next week when the holidays are over before I send it back, hope it doesn't take too long." OP
Good luck with getting it back before spring, or summer. I've only been waiting for 3 months since my brand spankin' new gun was sent in. Sounds like they could use some warranty repair help. And better quality control.
An employee at the store I bought my revolver from pulled a new gun out of a case to show me. From about 4 feet away I could see the oval shaped rear end of the barrel when he opened it to let me check it out. He saw the imperfection right away, swore a little under his breath, and called a guy over who apparently put the gun in the case. Whatever, I let them deal with the issue of case-stocking and gun checking. Two S&W revolvers of different model numbers bad in the same spot, same dealer. Something's rotten in Springfield! There are quite a few gunsmiths in this country. I kinda wonder why S&W can't certify or offer to certify some people to do warranty work on some guns they sell. Maybe they do? The reasons are a little above my pay grade. You don't see car dealers sending cars back to Bavaria or Korea for warranty repairs. They're factory certified. Of course cars may be a bad comparison, but yinz get the idea. My favorite gun shop in PGH has some very good smiths, but they don't do warranty work except for the pre-owned ones they sell you a warranty on. They're a big Beretta dealer so maybe they do that work. S&W may want to look into this.

It seems to me that I am reading more and more threads like this one.
Is S&W quality control getting this bad on all their products?
One should not have to send a new gun back to the factory for a fix unless something on it breaks, not because of quality control.


I am now rethinking on keeping my M&P9 1.0 and not upgrading to a shield plus.

If I was in marketing for a gun company I would take a model in production and tell the engineers to find a way to add 2 more rounds every year.
people think they need more rounds so they can spray and pray. I will keep my 1.0 shield and train to hit what I aim at, thank you.

Ron In MD said:

I am now rethinking on keeping my M&P9 1.0 and not upgrading to a shield plus.

Click to expand...

I do think S&W's QC has been slipping and would hesitate to buy one unless I had a chance to look it over first.

It's not just S&W. The Sig P365 I bought in 2020, supposedly after all the bugs had been worked out, had to go back to the factory after it started having failures to eject. When it was brand new it had some failures to return to battery that stopped after a few hundred rounds. A carry gun should work right out of the box, we are not talking about finely fitted match pistols. The 365 XL I bought a year later has a gritty trigger that feels so different than the other Sig I wonder how they were both made at the same factory.

The only brand I don't hear many complaints about these days is Glock. Too bad I don't like the way the blocky grips feel.

If you can buy one at a LGS I would not let my post or others stop you from buying a Shield Plus. While I see a lot of post like mine complaining about dead front sights and magazines that will not drop I see very few complaints about the 9mm version jamming.

Just be sure to check the actual gun you are buying, not one on display. I did that but didn't check the front sight or if the magazines would drop.

It's not more rounds that I am looking for. I have a full size pistol for that. After having the chance to shoot a Plus I liked the trigger and the slightly wider grip made it a little more manageable than the 1.0. I'm not a gun smith so upgrading the trigger with an Apex would be a challenge for me.

My 1.0 has worked flawlessly with the 200 or so rounds that I have shot, and the 1K + the previous owner shot, with no FTF / FTE problems at all. I really do like it. I guess more than anything I was just looking to upgrade. Don't know why though I don't shoot as much as I used to mainly due to arthritic hands. And I don't carry.

I sent in my Glock 19 Gen 2 last year for an overhaul since it was a 30’year old PD gun. Sent it on 12/20. They called me on 12/22 and asked what I wanted done. I told them new night sights and just a once over. I had it back in my hands on 12/24, and they replaced everything but the barrel, slide, and frame. All internal parts changed to new parts. Only charged me for the night sights and sent it back in a factory hard plastic case. Four days from leaving my hands I had it back. Now that is service.