9mm Performance Center Shield vs regular Shield

[Darryl Z]

Hey everyone,
A while back I got a Performance Center 9mm Shield. Today I got to shoot it with a regular Shield and here is my impression: The PC has a much lighter and smoother trigger. The porting didn't seem to make much difference in reducing felt recoil. My girlfriend felt the same way and she is very recoil sensitive. The Hi Viz sights make a big difference and were not dirtied up from the port gasses. The porting didn't seem to be louder, although we were at an outdoor range. I paid about $50 more for the PC version and between the cost of upgrading the sights and trigger it was worth it. Just my O2.

 

[jnichols2]

I bought my Shield PC just for the sights. I really can't tell much difference in either the trigger or the recoil.

I am; however, 71 years old. The better sights were important to me. On my Shield 45, it cost $100 to get the sights upgraded. On the Shield 9 PC, it was only $50 more for the PC.

Spent the saved $50 on ammo.

 

[Ranger17]

I’m getting close to 2k rounds thru my PC; bought for the trigger and sights and still love it. My front sights can get dirty but a typical range trip with it is a good couple boxes worth of ammo. So sometimes a quick wipe with a qtip keeps it clean enough to finish the visit.
Only drawbacks i find, and neither bother me any: yes the porting makes for a dirtier gun so it definitely gets cleaned after each range trip. And there are a couple ammo brands (talking practice ammo here) that state not to use in ported barrels (ie Blazer Brass). Some shooters choose not to follow, I just run stuff that is considered ‘ok’ (ie Am Eagle, Rem Umc).

 

[l.i.n.y.138]

I find it hard to see the front green sight on my performance center. has anyone just changed the front sight?

 

[mldavis]

PC M&P 9mm 4" HiVis Not Ported vs NonPC 9mm 3.1

Hi, I just upgraded from a NonPC 9mm 3.1" Shield to the PC 9mm 4" HiVis NonPorted model. I chose this PC model because I'd always seemed to need to aim my sight picture above the target in order to hit it. I thought this was common until I got a Model 10-7 .38 Revolver like the one I carried in the Army for 20 years as a helicopter pilot. As I remembered it hit sight pictured targets dead on and still does. The new 4" barrel PC puts my rounds right on the sight pictured target just like my old 38 cal revolver. Is this me or what?
p.s. I like the new PC 4" very well, the racking is lighter, the HiVis sights are better and the recoil is a bit lighter. I did notice that the longer recoil spring on the PC 4" is a flat coil spring rather than a round wire coil spring on the 3.1" model.

 

[sandog]

You aren't going to get any recoil benefit in the 9mm, with the .40 a little bit.
The PC triggers are nicer. I never noticed any noise difference but it's been decades since I had to use an indoor range.

Cleanup of the PC isn't bad at all if you clean regularly. What junk there is around the ports is soft powder fouling and it wipes away easily.
I suppose if you only clean once a year the fouling could get hard.

I liked my PC well enough, but like my .45 Shield better. the .45's all come with nice triggers, PC or not.
Sights I usually end up changing no matter what.