Cracked slide on my 9mm Shield

[gr8smiles]

Dropped by a LGS this pm to browse. They had some TruGlo sights for my Shield in stock and I have been wanting some since the front dot blew off mine. I have had the gun about a year. Probably put 3-400 rounds of factory loads through her.
The shop offered to put them on. A few minutes later, the owner and one of the guys walked out and showed me my shield. The said it must have had a hairline crack in the frame. They had just put it on the sight pusher and they found the crack.

They are going to handle it for me and send the gun back to SW. That saves me the hassle. I bought the gun last January. Test cartridge is from 12/13. The gun is not one of the recall guns.
Has anyone seen this before? I am confident that SW will handle this. Just wonder if they 'cranked' on the slide pusher, even though they said they did not, or if this is a common weak area.

 

[ronnie gore]

crack

looks like the gunshop cracked it or you would have noticed that crack before, maybe s&w will make it good.

 

[Fomoco98]

Like to see the pusher they used.

 

[RobzGuns]

That crack (and the breaking of the slide plate) looks to be from Lateral force against the slide. It would not be caused from normal (longitudinal) force from shooting.

 

[TheMystro]

That was cracked by a vise. I have never seen that before even with a vise but I am sure if it had a weak spot and you cranked down on it in a padded vise, it would look just like that.

 

[blujax01]

Google "Sight pusher S&W Shield" and you will learn two things: (1) The Shield sights are notoriously difficult to move and (2) the S&W M&P sight pusher will not properly fit. You can also see what sight pushers look like and how using the wrong one can very well cause the damage your photo shows.

 

[DocSunShine]

looks like the gunshop cracked it or you would have noticed that crack before, maybe s&w will make it good.

Obviously cracked by LGS but the fact it cracked so weak tells me there was definitely a weak spot (flaw in the metal).. Love my M&Ps, great gun for the money but cracks are not unheard of with them. Hickok45 had a crack in the M&P40c he initially reviewed and didn't even notice it till after the video was up on YouTube. As long as S&W makes it right, no harm no foul.

 

[SpringGunTunes]

Your gunsmith broke it.

 

[davemercer]

Maryland Gun Works had to resign their sight pusher to prevent damage to Shield slide. Link

MGW Sight Pusher - S&W Shield

 

[AR-Getsome]

I have to clear the air on this. There was never a recall on the shields. There was a Safety Alert.
https://secure05.lwcdirect.com/fron...inType=skipWelcome&clientID=742&campaignID=63

 

[epj]

I also would like to know what kind of pusher they used. I don't think the one I manufacture will do that, but it would be interesting to know what design they used. The Shield sights are not really any tighter than most Gen 3 Smiths, Kimbers, or XD's. Like anything else, you have to have the proper equipment to work on them.

 

[agksimon]

This is why I prefer to use a vise with magnetic rubber vise pads in it and punches to replace the sights. The whole slide is held in place that way. Others will disagree with me, but I've replaced sights on a couple of dozen M&P's, Glocks and other guns and never had one problem.

Rubber Vise Jaws | eBay

 

[Rastoff]

The MGW sight pusher uses the slide rails to clamp the slide in place. This crack most certainly could have been caused by that tool if not properly clamped down.

I'm curious to see if S&W will replace it.

 

[tblt44]

S&W has the sights too tight.
It required way too much force to move them or replace them.
I say your gun shop cracked it but its because they are too tight from S&W.
S&W quality sucks.
I had a very hard time moving mine,They were so tight they were off center from S&W, but I was able to move them without sending it back.
There is no way I could move them any more, they are really wedged in there.

 

[Hillbilly77]

S&W has the sights too tight.


S&W quality sucks.

And if the sights happened to move a single micron you'd probably say, "My sights moved as I was shooting my gun.

S&W quality sucks."

 

[tblt44]

And if the sights happened to move a single micron you'd probably say, "My sights moved as I was shooting my gun.

S&W quality sucks."

Do you have a shield with almost unmovable sights.
Than you shouldnt comment.
I have moved a few sights none even close to this tight.
Mine came way off center. Yes quality should have caught this.
S&w quality has gone down hill.
Yes it sucks now

 

[automan21]

I think they broke it.
If the sights are that hard to remove has anyone used a bit of heat like a lighter or something just to loosen things up?

 

[Hillbilly77]

Do you have a shield with almost unmovable sights.
Than you shouldnt comment.
I have moved a few sights none even close to this tight.
Mine came way off center. Yes quality should have caught this.
S&w quality has gone down hill.
Yes it sucks now

I do have a Shield.

The sights were dead-on right out of the box.
I removed the rear sight to install an Apex USB.
The rear sight moved just as easily (just the right amount of difficulty) as any other M&P sight I've ever removed.

I admit that I haven't tried to move the front sight yet.




It's just that in two seperate threads you posted the same "S&W quality sucks" statement, so you sounded like a naysayer that's never happy.

 

[tblt44]

I have had more problems with this shield than any of my other 7 handguns.well besides my lcp that went back for recall but i didnt have a problem yet.

 

[turbo38gn]

I'm with the Hillbilly!! 8 M&P's, 2 Shields, and I've replaced internals, USB's on all of them... was it hard, yep... but then it's supposed to be. If someone has that much trouble moving a site, then....
1. they don't have the right tool or knowhow
2. they don't know what they are doing and ....
3. don't blame S&W for your shortcomings.. and one more thought...
4. I'll bet your wife or girlfriend secretly complains..