An oddity with my newest M&P Shield

[RedPointGS]

Hey ya'll~

I have a weird thing going on with my new S&W M&P Shield. I shoot 3 different pistols; a Ruger P-85 that I've had since 1987, an S&W M&P Bodyguard that I really love and then the newest in my collection an S&W M&P Shield (without a safety).
The thing is that the most accurate pistol I have is the Ruger P-85. Now having owned the gun since 1987 you'd imagine that it is the most accurate pistol I own with so much trigger time on it. The 380 Bodyguard has an awful lot of trigger time too, but I expected the Shield to be a lot more accurate than the Bodyguard 380, but that's not the case at all. When shooting at steel from 10 to 40 meters, I never miss with my Ruger P-85. When shooting the Bodyguard I may miss one shot out of three magazines over the same distances, but the Shield is barely 75% of that for accuracy and I just don't understand that at all. I like the gun, it never fails to go bang when I pull the trigger, I've never had a jam of any kind but, it's just not as accurate. I follow all of the rules and I have been shooting it for about 4 months now at my home shooting range, so I've put a lot of rounds through it, yet I still have not gotten to where it is super accurate like the other two pistols. Does anyone have any ideas about what might be wrong? Thanks in advance for any advice you give me.

 

[Hunter8282]

Have you shot paper to see where the bullets are really going?

 

[GKC]

Are you shooting from a rest? If not, try that...and see if your grip may need to be adjusted. The other thing that comes to mind is the sights may be off.

 

[bearfoot]

posted this before. suggestion. 2" half circle, flat line on the bottom of the arch. draw a 3/8" stem bottom of middle of flat, makeing it look like a mushroom. 3 or 5 yd. distance, support shooting stick or rest. aim at stem/ middle of flat. your going to be surprised to see decent shot groups, and it will show you if your sights need adjusted. my 2 cts.

 

[ken158]

Trigger pull an maybe have someone else shoot it - preferably a Shield owner. When I got my first Shield it shot left... found out it was the way I was working the trigger.

 

[FloridaS&W]

Happens to a lot of people, each gun is a little different, some more, some less. Figure out where your shots are going, make adjustments to your grip or the sights. These semi-autos been around since the 1800's but they still haven't figured out how to make every gun shoot exactly the same way yet.

 

[ScaryWoody]

I thought I was the only one left with a Ruger P85. It is an accurate gun with very low recoil.

What do you mean by accuracy, exactly? Does it group at all or all over the place?

I have a K98 Mauser with a shot out barrel. Acts like a smoothbore. Aim at the target and hit the hill.

 

[RobzGuns]

Remember, the Shield has a Striker Fire trigger.
The Bodyguard is a true (revolver style) DAO. I'm not familiar with the P85. It the P85 is also a revolver style DAO, what you MAY be simply be looking at, is getting used to the difference between DAO and Striker Fire trigger systems.

Are your shots 'all over the place', or are they grouping left, right, high, or low?
If they are 'all over the place', it's usually the shooter (trigger control, getting used to the pistol's trigger system).
If they're grouping nicely, but just not on the bulls-eye, it's USUALLY trigger control, but COULD be the sights.

 

[swsig]

Have you shot paper to see where the bullets are really going?

I completely agree. RedPointGS can then refer to the attached charts and make the appropriate corrections. He doesn't say what caliber his Shield is, but my 9mm isn't very accurate past 20 yards. However, my Shield .45 is good to at least 25 yards.

 

[SmithNWesson]

Trigger pull an maybe have someone else shoot it - preferably a Shield owner. When I got my first Shield it shot left... found out it was the way I was working the trigger.

Same exact thing happened with me. Maybe you are also used to the other 2 guns more.

when i first got my shield i was not great with it because of my trigger finger and also i feel i was used to the hammer on the bg380. The striker fire action took some getting used to.

I cant wait till i get this 10 lbs trigger (Massachusetts) out of my shield

 

[photoman]

I shoot a lot of DAO guns with really smooth triggers and, when I switch over to the Shield (I recently bought a 2.0), I have problems. You just can't "slow roll" the Shield trigger like you can a good double action. When I speed up the trigger pull on the Shield, I get better results.

 

[TENWOLVES]

These little Shields seem to like the heavier bullet weights, start with 124gr. and move up, even to 150 gr. you might be surprised at how this can change things...

 

[Jacksinthe]

I don't shoot every gun I own the same, regardless of trigger time. For example my worst shooter is my PPQ M2. Love the thing to pieces but I'm always about 1" dead left with it with perfect vertical alignment at 10 yards. My wife? Dead center with it. My Shield, my PPS, my 2.0c - all dead center every time.

Don't get me wrong the Q is a great piece but it doesn't like my hand, my index finger or something. Not everyone shoots the every pistol the same. The 2.0c threads the needle every time. My Shield and PPS get a little larger of a group but I'm happy with them both hitting 8" targets at 25 yards.

Bottom line I would think that you can make any gun run for you but there will be some that just don't work with your geometry for various reasons.

That's just been my experience over the years. Win some, lose some. But that's why some buy and shoot and collect multiple pistols