.45 Shield at the range

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jrvariel48

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Today was my 2nd trip to the range with my Shield .45. I fired 200 rounds of Remington 185 gr. round nose with absolutely no problems at all! Sorry no pics of the targets, but I'm not good enough to show them or comment on accuracy. All I can say is that the ammo and the gun worked perfectly together. I also noticed I was able to release the slide lock with my thumb, unlike last time. I guess it's loosening up a bit! Sorry about the picture, I don't know how to straighten it out!
Thank you,
Joe
 

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OP, i wouldn't be worried about target pix not good enough to show. I'm an avg shooter who at times can do pretty decent, and i post them all the time. After all, i figure i'll get one of 3 responses.
"Nice shooting."
Or
"Looks good, but i notice this and maybe try that to correct."
Or, i wont hear anything at all which doesn't bother me one bit.

After all, i'd have to say the high majority I've encountered on this forum have been more than friendly and helpful when needed.
Give it a shot (sorry bad pun lol)
 
Ranger17 said:
OP, i wouldn't be worried about target pix not good enough to show. I'm an avg shooter who at times can do pretty decent, and i post them all the time. After all, i figure i'll get one of 3 responses.
"Nice shooting."
Or
"Looks good, but i notice this and maybe try that to correct."
Or, i wont hear anything at all which doesn't bother me one bit.

After all, i'd have to say the high majority I've encountered on this forum have been more than friendly and helpful when needed.
Give it a shot (sorry bad pun lol)
Click to expand...

Haha!! Ok Ranger17, next time I'll put them up!! Thanks for the honest opinion and encouragement!
 
A buddy of mine bought one of the new .45 ACP Shields and he showed me how rough (swirled machine marks) the bottom of the slide is. Looks like S&W is leaving out steps. All that being said, my buddy said the pistol functioned without any issues. He ended up polishing out the tool marks himself.
 
BE Mike said:
A buddy of mine bought one of the new .45 ACP Shields and he showed me how rough (swirled machine marks) the bottom of the slide is. Looks like S&W is leaving out steps. All that being said, my buddy said the pistol functioned without any issues. He ended up polishing out the tool marks himself.
Click to expand...

Every 45 Shield is like that. Perhaps it's an extra step that would require a change in tooling setup, extra cost, ?...... I don't know. Personally, considering where the marks are, it hasn't bothered me. I am terribly picky about machine work, wood work, and the final fit & finish of a product. Yet, for some unknown reason, those particular marks, considering they're not rough edges due to lack of quality control, just doesn't seem to matter.
 
Happy to hear the .45 ran well. I just picked mine up And am waiting to try it out.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
From what I have read, those machine marks under the slide are put there for a functional reason.... not a QC issue at all.

Just sayin...

JMHO
 
Don't feel discouraged and keep at it. All it takes is practice and reinforcing solid fundamentals like trigger control. You'll find the .45 Shield is capable of remarkable accuracy.

This group was fired at 25 feet as quickly as I could get a flash sight picture. No, I was not trying to make the smiley face. :D

attachment.php
 
CoMF said:
Don't feel discouraged and keep at it. All it takes is practice and reinforcing solid fundamentals like trigger control. You'll find the .45 Shield is capable of remarkable accuracy.

This group was fired at 25 feet as quickly as I could get a flash sight picture. No, I was not trying to make the smiley face. :D

attachment.php
Click to expand...

Thanks CoMF! That's some nice shootin'! The trigger definitely takes some getting used to. I've have a Springfield Armory Trophy Match that I've owned for about 22 years. The trigger is completely different! Since we can't carry here in New Jersey, (YET!!), I have plenty of time to get proficient.
 
Well, let's straighten up your photo for you.
 

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I borrowed a .45 Shield from one of my co-workers and got in two range sessions with it. Had no problems keeping twenty four rounds in the black of a B8 target at twenty one feet with a variety of factory and hand loaded 230 grain ball ammo. The chronograph was used on the second trip and the velocity was right at 700 fps with factory ball and some handloads with WST.
Handloads with 6.3 grains of BE-86 with a 230 grain plated bullet gave an average of 765 fps.
A handful of Georgia Arms 185 grain Speer +p hollow points averaged 965 fps.
I enjoyed the gun a lot but it needs at least a 4" barrel to reduce the velocity loss from the 5" barrel the .45 round was designed to work from.
 
Just a guess here, but I think the swirls may possibly be a part of the equation to control slide speed to allow the gun to function well. The Shield is a pretty small .45ACP, and it doesn't weigh a lot so getting the timing and slide speed under control for reliability would be a critical design chore. I personally would be afraid to remove them completely. I'd be interested in hearing the results of doing so from someone who has done it. Or better yet, if anyone is able to get a statement from S&W about this would be good to hear. My gun has exhibited no failures to function, and since every copy I know of has the swirls, I believe they were put there for a reason!
 
kthom said:
Just a guess here, but I think the swirls may possibly be a part of the equation to control slide speed to allow the gun to function well. The Shield is a pretty small .45ACP, and it doesn't weigh a lot so getting the timing and slide speed under control for reliability would be a critical design chore. I personally would be afraid to remove them completely. I'd be interested in hearing the results of doing so from someone who has done it. Or better yet, if anyone is able to get a statement from S&W about this would be good to hear. My gun has exhibited no failures to function, and since every copy I know of has the swirls, I believe they were put there for a reason!
Click to expand...
My buddy, a very experienced pistolero, removed the machining marks from inside the slide. The gun functioned properly, both before and after removing the swirls. I still think that this is a skipped step in production that saves the company money and time. I think it has nothing to do with engineering.
 
Those swirls at the front of the slide are meant to be used as cocking serrations for front of slide press checks. I think they got the idea from some gun customizers who offer the same type of thing on the M&P, such as these: Page not found | ATEi | Page 68

I find them to be ugly and useless unless you have the grip strength of a gorilla.
 
PCnotPC said:
Those swirls at the front of the slide are meant to be used as cocking serrations for front of slide press checks. I think they got the idea from some gun customizers who offer the same type of thing on the M&P, such as these: Page not found | ATEi | Page 68

I find them to be ugly and useless unless you have the grip strength of a gorilla.
Click to expand...
I think the concern is the swirls under the slide on the firing pin channel. One has to remove the slide from the frame to see them.
 
BE Mike said:
I think the concern is the swirls under the slide on the firing pin channel. One has to remove the slide from the frame to see them.
Click to expand...

Yes, there are very distinct machine cutter swirls the entire length of the rib under the firing pin channel of the slide. They are rough enough to feel and make a slight noise as they ride over the top round in a new magazine. The swirls have not caused any issues with my Shield, though I think I'm going to polish them a bit just to smooth slide travel.

I found the .45 Shield to be very quick on target and easy to keep there in rapid shooting. Much easier than I expected.
 
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