Going to put a sledge hammer to my M&P Shield

So, a couple of thoughts.

Have you shot the gun from a solid rest to confirm that it does or does not shot to POA? If you shot it from the rest and it hits where you aim, then it is not the gun. If it does not, either get someone with the correct tool to drift the sight or send it back to S&W.

You said that you should not have to adjust to the gun, it should just fit, or something to that effect. If you pause for a second, you'll see that's just not reasonable. No two people have the same hands. Guns of different models have different grips. Expecting all guns to alway fit perfectly for all people is again just not reasonable. From what I have read many people shoot the Shield, as well as other sub-compacts, to the left. It seems to be, in the opinion of some, to be the nature of these smaller pistols. I don't recall if my Shield is off to the left because I haven't shot it as much as my FS but the FS was off to the left as well until I adjusted my grip to get more finger on the trigger and firm up slightly with my left hand. That brought it in line just fine for me.

Just because several people shot it and it hit to the left does not necessarily mean the gun is off. Sure, it may appear to support the theory but unless at least one of them has shot a Shield to POA, or other sub-compacts, its also likely all shooters and not gripping the gun correctly to make it hit POA.

Yup, it's been shot off a rest.
 
...find someone with a Ransom Rest...and know for sure...

Copy-2-of-unit-in-action.jpg

I wish but I highly doubt anyone I know owns one.
 
If the sights are fairly well lined up and the gun shoots way off to the left using a rest..... send back to S&W with that info and they should be able to fix it up for you. The Shield is NOT inherently poor as regards accuracy.

YMMV
 
Have you tried another Shield to compare against? Find a range that rents guns and try another out. Might have a lemon and again it might just not be the best fit for you.
 
Apply the sledge hammer to the sights and not the gun. My Shield sights were incredibly tight too.
 
it is not a bad barrel. You said it yourself ALL my shots and other shooters shots are left. So it shoots consistently left. If shots were consistently all over the place with multiple shooters you could blame the barrel i guess. Your gun has never been sighted in with the ammo you use. Lots of guns need a little sight tweaking to shoot to point of aim. Your front sight needs to go a hair to the left. Surprises me you were willing to shoot it for a year like that...theres nothing wrong with your gun. It's telling you what it needs.....
 
I have 250 rounds through my 9mm shield, impressed by the accuracy but during rapid fire it starts hitting low and left from point of aim. I believe in my case it's shifting slightly in my hand, if I concentrate on my grip it seems to help.

Good luck.
 
I'm left handed, when I first got my shield it shot off to the right, no matter what I tried.
I had my gunsmith do the trigger and put on AmeriGlo night sights.
Now at 30 feet I can easily go 2-3" groups dead center.
Tune it up with a gunsmith or send it back.
 
I wish but I highly doubt anyone I know owns one.

I go to the range, sit on a chair at a bench, and rest my gun on a sand bag. That works for me and it should give you a reasonably accurate picture of where your gun is aiming.
 
Shield sights are factory installed by machine....a pusher that"s set at X amount of pressure...so it's possible that the front sight could come out a hair off.If they came out the door hand tweaked and test fired for accuracy they would cost twice as much...and nobody would buy em
 
guess I would have tried it a couple times and if truly off (and not operator error) it would have gone back to SW a long time ago. Either it comes back fixed and all is well or it comes back with no changes done or needed and then time to vent and sell it.

As it has a warranty, assuming it was bought new that is, send it back and see what SW says.
 
Send it back to S&W.

Take it to the local gun show and sell the lemon. Isn't that what the shows are for, at least in my experience. Meaning everything I see at the shows are worn out junk or damaged.
 
Adjust the sights and forget it. If you can't do it without damaging the gun, take it to a gunsmith or buy a pusher. A drop or two of Kroil a few hours before you try to move the sights can't hurt the process. :)
 
Don't do it!!! Sledge Hammers and Shields don't go well together

My Shield shot left with I first bought it a few years ago and I realized my trigger control was not correct for this smaller gun..

Once adjusted grip and trigger control everything was fine.

Sledge Hammer would and should be last resort, cause I can assure you that after the sledge hammer it will not hit the target at any distance..............
 
It's a sight alignment issue. Understand that the sights are attached to the slide, not the barrel; so regardless if the sights appear aligned, it may still be off for POI vs POA. Send it back to SW and they'll take care of it. I was shooting left as well and SW aligned the sight.
 
take the slide off, put in a padded vise, take a punch , grind one side flat and whack away, it will take more force then you will believe. I couldn't believe how tight mine was on my SD9VE
Norm
 
Rubber grip sock and a mag extender. My son has the same pistol and it helped him get on target. I also put a rubber grip sock on my Ruger LC9s for the same reason and now it shoots fine. Point is that a small grip in a mans hand can cause the left and left low shot. Sock is about $10.00. You might want to start there>> Good luck!
 
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