I have been looking for a Shield for about 3 or 4 weeks and I finally found one today. I was at Sportsman's Warehouse yesterday and the guy behind the gun counter told me they had just received 4 9mm Shields. They were not yet logged into the system, and they were going to put them out this morning when they opened at 9:00am. I showed up at about 8:20 this morning, just to make sure I'd be able to get one of the Shields. To my surprise, the parking lot was full and there were about 50 people lined up in front of the building. I almost turned around and went home, but decided to check things out. I got in line and found out that they put out their new ammo shipments on Wednesdays, and everyone around me in line was there for ammo. My hopes were back up.
When I finally got inside I went straight to the gun counter and told the guy I wanted one of the Shields. He told me they didn't have any. I told him what the guy had told me yesterday, and he just said that guy was wrong. I looked around and found the guy I had talked to yesterday, and he said they changed their mind and weren't putting them out until Saturday. I argued a bit, but he wasn't budging.
I was furious and went to find the manager. I told him what the guys had said and told him I had driven 30 miles and stood in the 32 degree cold for 40 minutes for one of those guns.
He told me he'd make it right. He made a call to the gun counter, sent me back there and 30 minutes later I walked out with my new Shield. As I was waiting for the background check to come back, I started thinking that I had never gotten the price of the gun. I started to panic that they would gouge me for it. When the cashier rang me up, it was $419.99. I was shocked. I went and found the manager and thanked him for treating me right and for not gouging when many others are.
A couple of notes on the gun. The test fire date is 4/10/13. The trigger is not very good. It broke early and then had a lot of over-travel. It is gritty and spongy. I tore it apart and the sear looks like the old ones. The part that the trigger bar loop pushes against is rounded, not flat like the one on my FS 9mm with a test fire date of March 2013. I had an extra Apex hard sear so I installed it. That, along with polishing the trigger bar improved the pull a lot.
I tried to remove the rear sight so I could polish up the striker block before I decided whether to install an Apex USB. I loosened the screw and tapped on it, but it wouldn't budge. I tried soaking the slide in break free and heating up the sight, but it still won't move. The sights on my 9mm 5" Pro and my 9mm FS almost fell out when I removed the screw. Does anyone have any suggestions, other than a sight pusher or a gunsmith?
