Picked up a Shield9 today, paid $430, haven't fired it yet (hopefully tomorrow). Looks to be typical high quality S&W gun. I'm not the biggest fan of plastic guns (S&W or otherwise) but do have an M&P45 that I like a lot in terms of performance and reliability. Aesthetics of any plastic gun is something else entirely IMO. Guess i might be too much of a traditionalist in that regard, metal just looks and feels better to me. Anyway, the CS9 is what I usually carry and I find it to be an easily concealable/compact design but admit to being intrigued the last year or so by some of the newer compact 9mm's. Won't trade or sell any of my CS's but wanted to share some comparison pics of the CS9 with BigDog grips and the Shield. The pics aren't the greatest quality (shot in my kitchen with my pocket Nikon) but if nothing else show the Shield to be noticeably slimmer than the CS. One other point I will share is that I can get some pinky on the bottom of the Shield flat bottom 7 rnd magazine whereas on the CS9 flat bottom mag cannot. Distance from bottom of trigger guard to bottom of mag well is between 1/4" and 3/8" greater on the Shield than the CS. Never cared greatly for the CS9 mag pinky extension but needed it to have a place to rest even part of my pinky. Shield comes with both flat bottom 7 rnd mag and extended 8 rnd mag. Will post range notes after a test drive.

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Thanks for the comparison. Good job. Look forward to your thoughts after you've had it on the range.

fjd any chance you have a Glock 26 to compare it to?
Or anyone else for that matter?

First Impression of the Shield 9mm

MLK18---man you're good! Ask and ye shall receive. Very informative, though I no longer own any Glocks. Sure to help USMC 586. That's what's great about this forum, always somebody willing to share something useful to help another member.

thanks for the comparison pics.

Thank you so much for those pictures, jfd.

Ever since the debut of the Shield I was wondering how it would compare in size to my CS9 - now I know.

Makes me really want a Shield, now. Not available in Mass. yet, though .

Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures.

I've been thinking the Shield 9 might have some similarity, and perhaps even a slight advantage, to my CS9 when it comes to overall size. It's about time S&W addressed the glaring hole in their lineup left by the discontinuation of the Chiefs Special models.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

My closest LGS has a Shield, display gun only they wouldn't sell it to me. I handled it and was impressed. First point, there is plenty of grip area for my small to medium sized hands. In fact, the extended magazine they had in the gun was longer than necessary for me. I would carry it with the flush magazines and my pinky would be on the gun, not dangling.

Second point, S&W did ok on the trigger. Very close to the advertised 6.5 lbs, not super clean but more than good enough (and safe enough) for a carry gun. The reset is not as good as a Glock, longer and less distinct. The manual safety clicks up or down with a positive feel.

Overall it seems well executed. I'm sure it will shoot fine in 9mm, .40 would be a a bit rough I bet. I will buy one when Bud's Police gets LE guns in.

JFD and MLK18 you folks rock, thanks!
I love this place!

The Shield is the first single stack to even interest me since the 3913. I think there's a slot for one of these in my household. I've heard several times that the trigger is much better than the regular M&P's. We'll see.
Thanks for the comparison photos.

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Blessed be the Lord,my Rock

Does anyone have pictures of the frame internals? I'm particularly interested in the feed ramp and Steel chasis. I'm comparing to a Walther PPS....Thanks

Excellent comparison pics to the CS9. Although, the differences don't look like enough to make me put my 3913TSW (prerail, short grip) in the safe. Still am intrigued to check one out in person though.

+1 .................

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Sure you did

Thank you for sharing those pictures.

Can you please comment on how the Shield shoots compared to the CS9?


Andrew

Sure...the Shield is a nice shooting pistol but I'm not as accurate with it as the CS9. As weird as it may sound, because I've always heard others comment that polymer pistols exhibit less recoil than aluminum or steel, the Shield seems to me to have slightly more felt recoil than the CS9. Granted, I've only had 3 range sessions in a 5 day period with the Shield shooting about 350 rnds so maybe I just need more range time. My last outing I made some modifications with grip and stance and found improved accuracy as a result. But still, at the end of the day, I can attain better accuracy at all distances with the CS9. Must add that I'm trying my best not to be biased but I've always gravitated more toward metal guns than polymer. Just like the way they look and feel better. But I do think S&W has come up with a nice gun in the Shield. The thinner profile and lighter weight of the Shield compared to the CS9 is noticeable when carrying concealed and that for me may be its greatest advantage. The jury is still out for me as to whether the Shield will replace the CS9 as my everyday concealed carry gun.