Assembly Problem Shield 9mm

[royal barnes]

I had my Shield apart today cleaning it after firing 100 rounds. I locked the slide back, pushed the lever down and activated the takedown lever. Pistol came apart the way it is supposed to. After cleaning I mounted the slide and pulled back to activate the slide lock. I could not get it back far enough to lock it open. The recoil rod is protruding about 1/2" from the front of the slide. I cannot move the slide. I tapped the rear of the slide gently with a nylon hammer to no avail. My gunsmith is out of town. Any ideas?

 

[TechJunkie]

I had this happen once on one of my shields, which caught me off guard. I had taken my Shields down and reassembled many times with no problems.

Others may have a "proper" technique but I seem to remember that I pushed down on the top of the RSA and it snapped up into the barrel and all was well. Is hasn't happened again. I do check "every time" that the RSA is properly seated and centered.

I hope you get it sorted.

 

[Zoner]

locking back slide

I have experienced this....trouble locking slide back during reassembly. I stop,take the slide off, take a look, then try it again and it goes. I am beginning to wonder if this is what is causing the bent plates on the rsa's, trying to force it back when the rsa is not quite seated properly......Mike

 

[royal barnes]

RSA popped back into place suddenly and I was able to assemble the pistol. I took it apart again and was not able to see anything amiss. I reassembled and fired it with one round then a couple of full mags. Disassembly to clean and reassembly was fine. Maybe the ghost has gone away. If it happens again I will contact Smith. I know there are pages of issues with the RSA in the past.

 

[Ballistic147]

The main thing with the Shield when putting it back together is to make absolutely sure the RSA is perfectly centered in the slide assembly. If it's off even a little it may give problems during reassembly.

 

[Hhenry]

Same problem here. Last time, I placed an empty mag in and then put the slide on and pulled it back. It locked of course, I rotated the lever back up and was ready to go.