Greetings! I am toying with the idea of picking up a second Shield Plus. Currently, I have a Shield Plus Performance Center 4", that has spoiled me with it's trigger.

I am torn between two models, the 3.1" ported Performance Center model and the standard 3.1" Shield Plus OR. Below are what I perceive to be the advantages and disadvantages for each model.

Standard Shield Plus:
a) comes with 2 standard 10 round magazines (advantage)
b) slide is optic ready (potential advantage)
c) standard trigger (potential disadvantage)
d) available for about $450 (major advantage)

Performance Center:
a) comes with 10 & 13 round magazines (disadvantage - 13 round must be neutered)
b) slide is ported (not certain if advantage or disadvantage)
c) fiber optic front sight (potential disadvantage - susceptible to heat damage)
d) Performance Center trigger (advantage)
e) comes with carry accessories (advantage)
f) available for about $650 (disadvantage)

Being a lifelong target shooter, I'm drawn to an impressive trigger pull. In my opinion, the Shield Plus OR is the more desirable model, except for the stock trigger. The fact that it is OR is irrelevant, since irons are more instinctive for me. I don't know if this would be an exclusive range gun or a carry gun. While money can be an issue, I'm looking to purchase only one pistol, and the carry accessories can justify the extra cost when combined with the Performance Center trigger.

My question is, which way would you lean? Especially curious if you have either handled or own both.

As always, thanks in advance for your help!

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Judge control not gun control!

You will not find an impressive trigger in ether one . Both will get better with use and most times the PC model should be better But not a target trigger .

A NJ handgun will not come with a mag that holds no more than 10 rounds so Neutering will be done for you by s&w !! Ha . NJ is one mucked up state with there no HP rule too .

Apex Tactical is where most folks buy from to improve the trigger pull specially if you want a 3.5lb short-er take up and crisp break . Not well tuned 1911 trigger but close .

Never going to be a range gun with that factory 3.1" barrel .

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

I currently own a 3.1 inch OR Plus and recently handled 4 inch PC Plus at a gun store. Based on a sample of one each I found the trigger on the PC model to only be slightly better than the regular trigger. Maybe I got a particularly good trigger on the regular Plus I own or the gun store had a particularly bad PC model. Based on what I saw I would not pay the extra money to get the PC version.

The original Shields had a pretty bad trigger. It got better in the 2.0 version and improved further when the hinged trigger was replaced by one with a Glock style center blade in the Plus version. If you are comparing the trigger in your PC 4" to one of the old Shields it isn't a fair comparison.

The standard Shield Plus has a good trigger relative to other striker fired, polymer frame pistols. It's not in the same league as the trigger in something like a S&W 41, tuned 1911 or the crisp SA trigger on an old S&W revolver. But it's more than good enough for informal target shooting at the range straight from the factory.

"... A NJ handgun will not come with a mag that holds no more than 10 rounds so Neutering will be done for you by s&w !! Ha . NJ is one mucked up state with there no HP rule too. ..."

Actually, FFL's in NJ do offer non-compliant models, then they block the magazines to legal capacity.

Additionally, hollow point ammunition is legal for one's home, business, and range ... you just can't carry it in a loaded pistol outside of the mentioned venues. The law that you referenced provides add-on charges for offenders.

__________________
Judge control not gun control!

If you have one you like and you buy a second; you are set. If the trigger on your new one is bad or not as good as your first one; you are out of luck.

I own several M&P40’s, when I needed a target gun for punching holes in paper I choose a 9mm Performance Center CORE. It had a terrible trigger, I mean really bad. Far worse than the standard LE M&P’s I had.

I’ve been shooting Smith & Wesson handguns for over 50 years and have owned over 100. I have never had to replace a trigger. But I had to replace this one with an Apex.

I had sent the gun in once to S&W and they returned it saying it met spec. I wrote a letter to the President of S&W and got a phone call from S&W customer service saying they had just left the firearms directors office and was told to fix the problem. I sent it back a second time and again, they returned it doing nothing and saying it was in spec.

I think Smith & Wesson makes the best handguns in the world. But if you get one that has problems; you are out of luck. Their customer service was once the best in the industry, now it’s as bad as everyone else.

I will never pay the extra money for a so-called Performance Center gun again. It appears to me they are playing fast and loose with that name.

At least you get to have a Shield Plus, They have decided us .40 shooters don’t need one.

EDIT: Oh…. And I wouldn’t want anything ported.

I had and still have since it hasn't sold, a Shield 1.0 that I did the works on. It has custom night sights, an Apex Duty/Carry kit, and other stuff done to it. I have handled and shot most of the later iterations and they are an improvement of a stock 1.0 but the Apex is better IMHO than all of the upgraded factory triggers. I also put an Apex forward set, flat faced trigger in my M&P 2.0 Compact which was also a huge improvement over stock. I sold my M&P 2.0 Compact and my Shield 1.0 and replaced them with guns that work better for me being a lefty. I also went to red dots and neither of them were set up for Dots.

I have never been a trigger snob so in my mind the standard shield plus flat-faced trigger is plenty fine for a carry gun... I personally do not like light and short trigger pulls on a carry gun that may end up in a pocket sometimes.

Ported is a no-go for me. In my opinion 9mm doesn't need the porting and it only servers to make the front sight unusable whether it's a F.O. , white dot or tritium. I fixed my performance center 9L core ported by replacing the barrel. The porting looks cool but it just wasn't practical for me. Replacing the barrel not only fixed the obscuring the sight issue but also the inaccuracy problem I had with this particular copy.

Owned a Performance Center Shield with for several years. I never had an issue with the front sight becoming unusable nor is that a complaint I ever heard anyone else bring up. Matter of fact, I haven't had any negative outcomes using a ported Shield vs a nonported one.


The ports are at an angle on the barrel and the frame as to direct gas and flash away from the site picture and to NOT get residue on the front sight. Again, I've NEVER had a single issue in all my years of shooting and owning a PC Shield with and without an optic cut. There are literally dozens of shooting videos on YouTube right at this moment of people shooting their ported Performance Center Shields, and you can CLEARLY see that the fiber optic sight is just fine afterwards!

I agree. Shields are NOT target handguns. They are meant to be self defense handguns. They have a more than adequate trigger for competent shooters to be able to get accurate shots on target. IMHO, trigger snobs who complain about triggers on duty weapons and require a target or competition trigger to be happy are using the trigger to mask skill and training issues with trigger control. There should not be any reason why one couldn't otherwise get accurate shots at self-defense distance with the stock trigger. It's not like we're taking 100 yard shots with a small and light EDC gun.

It's like some have this need to find solutions for problems that don't exist, and they make things that aren't complicated, complicated.

I've owned 6 Shields over the years starting from the 1.0 - 2.0 - Shield Plus with and without being a PC model, and the triggers have been just fine on all of them. Those who are whining about the M&P triggers should start shooting and trying to become accurate and efficient shooting DA with revolvers with long 10lb +/- triggers rapidly, and then transition back to striker fired semiautos. When I hear trigger snobs complain about duty triggers, it let's me know that the issue is more with them than the trigger 99% of the time.

Perfectly stated. 😁

QUOTE=Well Armed;141846399]I agree. Shields are NOT target handguns. They are meant to be self defense handguns. [/QUOTE]

I agree 100% and I what I'm looking for in a CCW trigger is reliability.

Overall S&W has a great internal design for the M&P Shield handguns that's proven itself many times over.

With that said, there are two issues.

First: The trigger shoe is still not designed correctly. I have a Shield 2.0 PC with the old curved trigger and a new Shield PC with the flat trigger. With both, if finger placement on the trigger is too high, the blade of the inertial trigger saftey won't deactivate and the gun will not fire. Just think of a defensive situation where stress is high and things are happening fast that result in a less than perfect grip angle on the gun. With me, my trigger finger has been broken multiple times over the years and has never been reset, and the result is a high purchase on the trigger. Glock, Springfield, etc do not give me this problem. S&W could remedy this issue by placing the pivot point of the inertial saftey higher in the trigger shoe. With a proper trigger shoe design, placing your finger on the trigger and pulling should deactivate the inertial saftey without conscious thought being put into the process.

Second: Due to quality control issues, some Shield Plus models have an issue where the trigger bar doesn't fully engage the sear. Only the corner of the trigger bar touches the corner of the sear, and once it wears in a little, it will fail to release the sear, and the gun will not fire. This happened to me and S&W replaced the trigger bar and sear, but the replacement parts had the same problem, and now my Shield Plus PC is back at S&W again.

Smith & Wesson customer service is not easy to deal with.

Second: Due to quality control issues, some Shield Plus models have an issue where the trigger bar doesn't fully engage the sear. Only the corner of the trigger bar touches the corner of the sear, and once it wears in a little, it will fail to release the sear, and the gun will not fire. This happened to me and S&W replaced the trigger bar and sear, but the replacement parts had the same problem, and now my Shield Plus PC is back at S&W again.

Smith & Wesson customer service is not easy to deal with.[/QUOTE]


I believe the candy cane loop is bent that way to allow it to disconnect when the slide goes back. I've straightened my candy cane loop by bending it slightly away from the trigger bar itself. However I could see how if you bent it too much, it may not disconnect from the sear enough. S&W does need to improve this QC aspect but its more of a tolerance stackup issue.

Glock has the same issue if you worked on enough of them with enough OE replacement parts. I have tried like 5 different OE replacement trigger bars and like a few of them won't allow the striker to release or have wonky feel just on a single pistol.