Disappointed with quality control on new Shield Plus

[HEADKNOCKER]

My BIGGEST QUALITY CONTROL ISSUE with the Shield Plus was the stuck striker safety plunger
Of course, it being stuck inwards could not be detected as it functioned 100%, but me seeing it & then pushing the striker forward & seeing the firing pin tip without pushing the safety I knew there was an issue
I removed the rear night sight & removed the plunger & spring & sure enough there was a few huge burs around the hole the striker rides in
I smoothed the burs out & used crocus cloth to smooth the hole & polished it & the plunger while in there
It now works as it should
Could have sent it to S&W but didn't

For sure the pistols aren't looked at very closely & we don't know the skill of the assembler etc.

Have a look at these photos & you can see the bur at the bottom of the striker safeties hole
Quality control should have caught this & if this pistol would have been dropped with a live round the inertia could have had it fire & possibly hurt or kill someone
Look your pistols over out there

 

[HEADKNOCKER]

Look at the arrow to see the bur around the striker safety plunger where it was hanging up

 

[Ron In MD]

Thanks HEADKNOCKER for the heads up information.
It's things like this that I would never have looked for.

 

[HEADKNOCKER]

I have heard others say the gun shops wouldn't let them remove the slide BUT if you lock slide back with the slide lock lever you can see the plunger & around it very well

 

[Dave Lively]

I got the new front sight 4 days after calling S&W. I didn't send the magazines back until a few days ago so I haven't heard anything about them yet.

I put the new front sight in this afternoon. The factory installed sight defied my best efforts to get it out using my sight pusher. I had to resort to a brass punch and a hammer. And my punch was beat up by the time I got the dead sight out. But it still beats the hassle of sending the gun back.

 

[shipwreck]

I got my replacement magazine in today, and no issues with it.

 

[Dave Lively]

There were 3 new magazines on my porch when I got back from work today. It looked like FedEx drove over the package but it was just a lot of dirt and magazines were fine. They all drop free and hold 13 rounds.

 

[LVSteve]

Look at the arrow to see the bur around the striker safety plunger where it was hanging up

And to think people wonder why the only new guns I've bought lately haven't been S&Ws.

 

[DNH]

Couldn't agree more!

The front sight was damaged out of the box. Like you I never thought to check it on pick up. When I took it to the range I learned that it shoots slightly right but all of my S&W have done that so it was expected. What was not expected is that it tore up the knuckle at the base of my thumb due to the harsh stippling and the square shape of the beaver tail. I don't know why they designed it that way, even my Shield 1.0 has the curved tail and it's significantly thinner than the plus. This gun was not made with with everyone in mind.

S&W sent me a new front sight. The gun has been out a while at this point I had hoped they corrected it's quality issue by now but nope! It glowed when it arrived, but after taking it to the range one time I get home and realize while cleaning it the front sight once again does not glow. This is going to be my last S&W purchase!

 

[Nomadmax]

The only way to get a company to turn poor quality around is to STARVE them until they learn from it.

 

[dben002]

I see post like this a LOT on this forum and my brain has trouble digesting the data due to the fact that I have owned 4 Shield models...the original shield, the shield plus 3.1, the shield plus 4 inch and the shield plus carry comp.

Each and every one was pristine in condition and function with no
malfunctions with any of the 4.

I still own 2 of them the shield plus 3.1 (over 500 down range) and the shield plus carry comp (over 250 down range) both work as expected with no FTF, slide locks back on empty mags (all my mags) sights are in excellent alignment, Trigger's in both are broken in nicely with good reset and no creep.

I know I can't be the only soul in S&W land that gets perfect weapons out of the box but I guess nobody gives credit when they do......

I guess posting about problems is more inductive to conversations and posting about no problems......

 

[grizz700]

I will agree. My shield Plus is a maytag washing machine. After several thousands of rounds, I have yet to have a FTF or have any mag's fail to lock the slide open. I will say that I have 15 round mags in mine.