Disappointed with my New Shield 9mm

[samlee1890]

I bought the shield three days ago.. was super excited after reading so many good reviews saying its reliable.

All these posts about how 1000 rounds and no issues whatsoever..

Well mine is inconsistent and I'm pretty disappointed. Hoping I can find some advice on this forum..

Day 1 - Picked it up from Turners and shot 150 rounds out of the box. Had 8 light primer strikes. Click but no boom. Checked the ammo, see little dents.. Was told I should clean my gun before I go to the range.. So I did that. Using remington UMC

Day 2 - Shot another 150 rounds. Had 1 light primer strike. Same ammunition. Cleaned it again and oiled the slide.

Day 3 - Shot 300 of BBM ammunition. Had 1 light primer strike. and 1 fail to eject.

Is this normal or did I get a faulty lemon of a gun..

I dont want to be over sensitive but comparing my experience to other users.. I feel like I got a subpar shield.. Maybe thats why it was on sale.. It says its from the warehouse.. maybe theres a stock of them thats faulty that S&W puts on sale to get rid of them..

Any thoughts? Thanks guys.. feeling pretty upset. Dont really want to send it back.

 

[Horn]

Call Customer Service

I bought the shield three days ago.. was super excited after reading so many good reviews saying its reliable.

All these posts about how 1000 rounds and no issues whatsoever..

Well mine is inconsistent and I'm pretty disappointed. Hoping I can find some advice on this forum..

Day 1 - Picked it up from Turners and shot 150 rounds out of the box. Had 8 light primer strikes. Click but no boom. Checked the ammo, see little dents.. Was told I should clean my gun before I go to the range.. So I did that. Using remington UMC

Day 2 - Shot another 150 rounds. Had 1 light primer strike. Same ammunition. Cleaned it again and oiled the slide.

Day 3 - Shot 300 of BBM ammunition. Had 1 light primer strike. and 1 fail to eject.

Is this normal or did I get a faulty lemon of a gun..

I dont want to be over sensitive but comparing my experience to other users.. I feel like I got a subpar shield.. Maybe thats why it was on sale.. It says its from the warehouse.. maybe theres a stock of them thats faulty that S&W puts on sale to get rid of them..

Any thoughts? Thanks guys.. feeling pretty upset. Dont really want to send it back.

Call Smith & Wesson Customer Service and explain the issues to them. You'll likely get an email return label to print and get your gun back within 10 days, fixed.
Likely just a striker problem. Someone on the assembly line maybe
goofed. Whatever, the problem doesn't appear serious.
G'luck
Poli Vejo

 

[rwsmith]

SEND IT BACK

It's obviously defective and S&W should fix it for free. Call them and they'll send you a return label. Warranty work gets priority and it takes less than two weeks.

 

[hoc9sw]

Junk in the striker channel. Easy to clean, but that area is not considered user-serviceable, so call S&W CS, and send it back.

Been there.

 

[Bkreutz]

I shoot at least 1000 rounds before I make a judgement about a pistol's serviceability. This is a mass produced gun, and the tolerances can vary, you might have tolerance stack on the tight side. Everything about the pistol operation gets more consistent as rounds are put through the gun. Or you can send it back to Smith, personally, I'd rather put the rounds through it to get used to that particular gun. Smith will definitely take care of it. The choice is yours.

 

[royal barnes]

I shoot at least 1000 rounds before I make a judgement about a pistol's serviceability. This is a mass produced gun, and the tolerances can vary, you might have tolerance stack on the tight side. Everything about the pistol operation gets more consistent as rounds are put through the gun. Or you can send it back to Smith, personally, I'd rather put the rounds through it to get used to that particular gun. Smith will definitely take care of it. The choice is yours.

I don't understand the recommendation to continue putting rounds through the gun. Send it to Smith and let them fix it then put all the rounds you want through it.

If you shoot 1000 rounds through your pistol to guarantee reliability and it balks on round 999 do you start all over?

 

[Bkreutz]

I don't understand the recommendation to continue putting rounds through the gun. Send it to Smith and let them fix it then put all the rounds you want through it.

If you shoot 1000 rounds through your pistol to guarantee reliability and it balks on round 999 do you start all over?

This is just my testing standard. A person could send the gun back to Smith every time it has a light strike or some other kind of malfunction, but I think the pistol would spend more time in transit than it would in the shooters hand. I'm judging a lot from competition shooting where I don't like any failures, on a self defense gun, it's still a machine that can fail which is why I practice failure drills. I guess 1000 rounds is a lot for many shooters, but being a competition shooter, that's less than 2 weeks for me. If I get a failure (to do anything correctly) I fix the problem so sending to Smith is rarely an option. Although right now I'm waiting for them to send me a new gun because the slide cracked at around 70K rounds and they're sending me a new pistol. I guess it depends on perspective.

 

[petepeterson]

This happened with my ladyfriend's Shield, just how you describe it, but more frequently.

Can you tell (when there is a light strike on the primer), if the slide has gone fully back into battery? When hers would "click," the slide was just a hair back on the frame. I believe it had a lot to do with her grip on the pistol, because I couldn't replicate it when I shot it.

It went back to Smith, but they said the pistol was "in spec." She got it back, same thing happened. It made her downpayment on a Glock 19.

 

[Pointblank2U]

Ours were not completely reliable until we replaced the recoil spring assemblies. We got stainless steel RSAs from an independent vendor since S&W didn't seem to have them in stock and wouldn't take a backorder.

 

[Magload]

Try some different ammo. I am not sure the rounds you are shooting have hard primers or not but it is worth a try before you send it in. Light primer strikes are not caused by the the shooter it is either the gun or ammo. If you cleaned the the gun according to the manual then the channel for the firing pin didn't get cleaned and it it has gunk in it that can cause light strikes. Some spray cleaner and dry firing following all safety procedures could loosen it up. if not then it is time for the gun to go back to S&W. The failure to eject can be a lot of things from not locking your wrist on that shot or the ammo. This does happen with pistols and that is why you need to learn to clear the problem and keep on shooting. You can't live with a malfunction now and then buy a revolver. It is important to find the brand and load that your gun feeds the best. What my Shield likes doen't mean what yours will like but could be a good starting point.

 

[DEM]

It is easy to clean the striker channel. Check youtube for videos. I would do that before sending it back. I had this happen to me with a brand new pistol, not a Smith, and it solved the problem; the striker channel was full of gunk. Good luck and please post your resolution.

 

[Bonephish]

Junk in the striker channel. Easy to clean, but that area is not considered user-serviceable, so call S&W CS, and send it back.

Been there.

Just clean it properly and use different ammo. If everyone who had an issue sent their guns back to the factory, turnaround times would be in years, not days.

 

[Targets Guy]

Sorry to hear about your problems. My 2015 Shield has had one issue in 481 rounds. One time it caught the expended case between the slide and the bolt and held it suspended. That's been it.

I clean after every session. When I carry a semi-auto it is the Shield I carry.

 

[Arik]

I bought the shield three days ago.. was super excited after reading so many good reviews saying its reliable.

All these posts about how 1000 rounds and no issues whatsoever..

Well mine is inconsistent and I'm pretty disappointed. Hoping I can find some advice on this forum..

Day 1 - Picked it up from Turners and shot 150 rounds out of the box. Had 8 light primer strikes. Click but no boom. Checked the ammo, see little dents.. Was told I should clean my gun before I go to the range.. So I did that. Using remington UMC

Day 2 - Shot another 150 rounds. Had 1 light primer strike. Same ammunition. Cleaned it again and oiled the slide.

Day 3 - Shot 300 of BBM ammunition. Had 1 light primer strike. and 1 fail to eject.

Is this normal or did I get a faulty lemon of a gun..

I dont want to be over sensitive but comparing my experience to other users.. I feel like I got a subpar shield.. Maybe thats why it was on sale.. It says its from the warehouse.. maybe theres a stock of them thats faulty that S&W puts on sale to get rid of them..

Any thoughts? Thanks guys.. feeling pretty upset. Dont really want to send it back.

There is no sales on faulty guns because they would be sent right back under warranty. There's no point in it. Only thing that does is tie up the warranty department. You simply got one with something bad. It happens. If you search ANY COMPANY you'll find new guns with problems. It's impossible to crank out a product and never have a problem. No company in the history of the world has been 100% throughout its production life.

Call S&W and have them fix it

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Lickureye]

I am on my second Shield, a Performance Center 9. Both have worked flawlessly right out of the box. Just the normal cleaning before the first range day. Both feed any ammo I feed it.

 

[rwsmith]

There are some problems that.......

There are some problems that can be fixed by a lot of breaking in. Light strikes are less likely to be fixed by a lot of firing. Send it back and get it over with.

 

[thomast]

You did enough testing assuming you read the manual and lubricated it. Send it back to s&w.

 

[Rpg]

Hard to trust a pistol that has a history of failure to fire.

I'd be reluctant to use such a pistol for anything excep range trips.

Your pistol isn't built as a target gun.

No mulligans in sd situations.

I'd get rid of it and buy something that works.

After S&W fixes it.

 

[saylurman]

Just remember that you don't lube the striker channel! Oiling the striker may cause light strikes.

 

[Drm50]

I have owned 3 Shields in last 2 years, taken on trade, I new in
case, the other 2 probaly had less than 2 boxes through them. I
Fooled around shooting them some, just to make sure they worked properly. I use Egyption military to test function of guns.
I never had a failure to fire. All were sold to locals for CCW, all
were happy, and I've recieved no complaints on function and
accuracy. Having said that, biggest complaint I have herd is from
older people and females, hard for them to rack slide. Once it
is learned to grip slide and rack pistol, it is easier for them.