Epiphany
Member
I'm new to the forums but wanted to give my rundown of my recent purchase of the M&P 9mm Shield.
I've been reading through the forums and have seen several people having similar issues to mine. I got it for my wife this weekend as she liked the ability to grip it not like the XDS and even the Ruger LC9. At the shop she was having a difficult time racking the slide back. Figured it was new and needed to break in but when I got home tore the gun down for cleaning and put it back together it would just stop close from reaching the locking sear. I would have to rack it a couple of times just to lock it back. Not something I would want my wife to do since shes been having a hard time with it.
We went to the range that same day. We put over 70 rds through the gun that day. At least 5 failure to eject in that time. Frustrating because you have to lock the slide back to get the empty casing out which again was just stopping close to the locking sear. It wasn't even shooting straight too. I took my time with the shots and it was difficult to even hit paper at 5 yrds. I had my XD9 and was able to double tap center mass no problem. Figured it was the trigger because it felt gritty and wanted to hang up when it was about to break possibly causing me and my wife to not shoot well. It seemed to shoot to the left and down for the most part when it was consistent.
Went home disappointed with the gun. Cleaned it out and figured maybe it needed some break in. After cleaning I spent almost 4 hrs on and off just cycling the gun and pulling the trigger. Had to have been over 1k times. Tied locking the slide back sometime and it still lacked the ability to lock the slide back. It was able to lock back with both empty magazines but again it stopped just short of the locking sear. Tried to push more but it acted like it was stuck. After racking a couple of times to it finally locked. I also adjusted the front sight to the left to center it since it came from the factory not centered. We ended up going out the next day to test it out.
This time I shot another 80 rds through it. The first magazine was great but still disappointing. Got a 6 inch group at 5 yds to where with my XD I got a good 1 inch group. I received 3 more failure to eject during the time I was shooting also. The more I shot the gun seemed to me that the worse the accuracy got. The thing I'm disappointed in is that if it was 10 yrds that grouping would have gotten worse. Doesn't give me very great confidence in the ability for my wife to CC. And she always shoots better than me.
Couple things to note from my observations is that all the casings from this gun have a scorched triangle mark on the casing. Just seems weird cause it shouldn't do that right? I've never seen something like that before. When racking and cycling the trigger I also noted that there was a noticeable movement in the slide moving up on the rear of the slide when the trigger broke. As the barrel is pretty much attached to the slide at this point would this explain the reason the gun was shooting low?
After all this, my wife's and I do not really feel comfortable with this gun. She'd rather CC my full size XD since I've never had any issues. We took it back to the shop to get them to possibly warranty it. They look at me a little weird at first but were helpful in trying to help me out. I let them shoot the gun too. They put both clips through and no failure to ejects. They said they saw nothing wrong except that it was a "little dry" when I brought it in. We'll see what ends up happening. Their gunsmith will take a look at it and if nothing is done it'll be sent to S&W for review.
My wife and I have just been looking forward to getting this gun from all the good reviews and that people have been getting pretty good accuracy out of it but since getting it we've changed our mind about it is quite disconcerting and disappointing because it was going to be her CC pistol. Something that you would depend your life on when the time comes. The gun shouldn't have this many issue and when it comes down to failure to eject and accuracy issues it really matters because when you shoot you just want to shoot the baddie and not some innocent bystander.
I've been reading through the forums and have seen several people having similar issues to mine. I got it for my wife this weekend as she liked the ability to grip it not like the XDS and even the Ruger LC9. At the shop she was having a difficult time racking the slide back. Figured it was new and needed to break in but when I got home tore the gun down for cleaning and put it back together it would just stop close from reaching the locking sear. I would have to rack it a couple of times just to lock it back. Not something I would want my wife to do since shes been having a hard time with it.
We went to the range that same day. We put over 70 rds through the gun that day. At least 5 failure to eject in that time. Frustrating because you have to lock the slide back to get the empty casing out which again was just stopping close to the locking sear. It wasn't even shooting straight too. I took my time with the shots and it was difficult to even hit paper at 5 yrds. I had my XD9 and was able to double tap center mass no problem. Figured it was the trigger because it felt gritty and wanted to hang up when it was about to break possibly causing me and my wife to not shoot well. It seemed to shoot to the left and down for the most part when it was consistent.
Went home disappointed with the gun. Cleaned it out and figured maybe it needed some break in. After cleaning I spent almost 4 hrs on and off just cycling the gun and pulling the trigger. Had to have been over 1k times. Tied locking the slide back sometime and it still lacked the ability to lock the slide back. It was able to lock back with both empty magazines but again it stopped just short of the locking sear. Tried to push more but it acted like it was stuck. After racking a couple of times to it finally locked. I also adjusted the front sight to the left to center it since it came from the factory not centered. We ended up going out the next day to test it out.
This time I shot another 80 rds through it. The first magazine was great but still disappointing. Got a 6 inch group at 5 yds to where with my XD I got a good 1 inch group. I received 3 more failure to eject during the time I was shooting also. The more I shot the gun seemed to me that the worse the accuracy got. The thing I'm disappointed in is that if it was 10 yrds that grouping would have gotten worse. Doesn't give me very great confidence in the ability for my wife to CC. And she always shoots better than me.
Couple things to note from my observations is that all the casings from this gun have a scorched triangle mark on the casing. Just seems weird cause it shouldn't do that right? I've never seen something like that before. When racking and cycling the trigger I also noted that there was a noticeable movement in the slide moving up on the rear of the slide when the trigger broke. As the barrel is pretty much attached to the slide at this point would this explain the reason the gun was shooting low?
After all this, my wife's and I do not really feel comfortable with this gun. She'd rather CC my full size XD since I've never had any issues. We took it back to the shop to get them to possibly warranty it. They look at me a little weird at first but were helpful in trying to help me out. I let them shoot the gun too. They put both clips through and no failure to ejects. They said they saw nothing wrong except that it was a "little dry" when I brought it in. We'll see what ends up happening. Their gunsmith will take a look at it and if nothing is done it'll be sent to S&W for review.
My wife and I have just been looking forward to getting this gun from all the good reviews and that people have been getting pretty good accuracy out of it but since getting it we've changed our mind about it is quite disconcerting and disappointing because it was going to be her CC pistol. Something that you would depend your life on when the time comes. The gun shouldn't have this many issue and when it comes down to failure to eject and accuracy issues it really matters because when you shoot you just want to shoot the baddie and not some innocent bystander.
