M&P Shield: how to load new magazine

[SonnyBr]

I'm a revolver guy and not experienced with semiauto pistols. Today I fired my new M&P 9 Shield for the first time. I am very satisfied (will post on that later), but have a question.

I have two magazines. After I fire the last round in the first magazine, the slide stays open. I eject the first magazine (now empty) and push in the second magazine (fully loaded). Then I close the slide. There's a live round in the chamber, but when I pull the trigger the piece won't fire, even though the thumb safety is in the "fire" (down) position. I have to cycle the slide again by hand, which ejects an unfired round and feeds a new one into the chamber. Then I can fire.

I must be doing something wrong. It doesn't make sense to eject an unfired round just to reload and continue firing. What is the correct procedure? My Shield has the thumb safety, and a magazine safety as well.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Jessie]

Call S&W and they'll probably send you a label for return and repair/replace.
It should not do that.
Magazine safety? I did not know they had that on some models, but then, I live in the USA

 

[OKFC05]

Be sure to "slingshot" the slide, letting it slam shut. Riding it down, or carefully closing it, can make it not close completely.
If you slam it completely closed and it still won't fire, call S&W.

 

[coachray]

Be sure to "slingshot" the slide, letting it slam shut. Riding it down, or carefully closing it, can make it not close completely.
If you slam it completely closed and it still won't fire, call S&W.

That means pull the slide all the way back and just let go.

 

[dben002]

That means pull the slide all the way back and just let go.

This is all toooooooooooooo confusing for my small brain....What he is saying is that after the last round fired from a mag and the slide locks back there is a spent cartridge in the chamber that gets ejected after he loads a second mag closes the slide and tries to fire again and has to rack the slide to load the new cartridge .... My pee brain can't follow any of this....

Someone, anyone.....please explain.........

 

[SonnyBr]

Explanation

This is all toooooooooooooo confusing for my small brain....please explain.........

dben002: After the last round is fired from a mag, the slide locks back and the chamber is empty. Then I load a second mag and close the slide. That feeds a new cartridge into the chamber. Then I pull the trigger and nothing happens. Then I rack the slide. That ejects the unfired cartridge and feeds a new one into the chamber. Then it will fire.

 

[Saudade]

When you say it doesn't fire, do you hear the "click" of the striker release but no bang?

Have you looked at the primer on the ejected round to see if there's a light strike?

Are you sure the slide is all the way forward?

 

[GKC]

dben002: After the last round is fired from a mag, the slide locks back and the chamber is empty. Then I load a second mag and close the slide. That feeds a new cartridge into the chamber. Then I pull the trigger and nothing happens. Then I rack the slide. That ejects the unfired cartridge and feeds a new one into the chamber. Then it will fire.

When you say you close the slide, how do you do that? Do you use the slide lock lever to release the slide, or do you pull back slightly on the slide and then release it to go forward (commonly called sling shot method.) Or do you pull back on the slide and then ride it closed?

In any case, using any of these methods, once the slide is closed on a new round, it should fire. (You shouldn't ride the slide home...either use the slide release, if you can, or sling shot it, as most do.) I can't see how the striker isn't being reset by this action, but it sounds like that it isn't. That isn't normal, but it seems like something is going wrong, causing the striker not to be reset. You shouldn't have to rack the slide to load another round and then be able to fire it.

Try using the slide release first (which may be very difficult), and then try to sling shot it, and see if either one of those methods take care of the problem. You may also want someone at the range to try it as well, to see if they can duplicate the problem...if they can't, as in it works correctly for them, then it's not a problem with the gun. If the problem persists, though, then you'll need to contact S&W to send it in.

 

[Inusuit]

This is all toooooooooooooo confusing for my small brain....What he is saying is that after the last round fired from a mag and the slide locks back there is a spent cartridge in the chamber that gets ejected after he loads a second mag closes the slide and tries to fire again and has to rack the slide to load the new cartridge .... My pee brain can't follow any of this....

Someone, anyone.....please explain.........

You just need to read the initial post carefully. It's not all that confusing and you have the details wrong.

 

[Tradewind36]

This happened to me when I first got my Shield, my first semi auto. I was riding the slide to load the first round of the new magazine. The slide needs to slam forward or slingshot forward to load the first round. Try that.

 

[FloridaS&W]

This is pretty common for people who are just starting with semi-autos. Stop riding the slide; your action needs to be sharp and deliberate, just pull it back and let it go. You'll get the hang of it.

 

[Dad_Roman]

This ^^^^^^^

 

[ccssid]

This may not address the issue, but the first time my wife fired my shield, she had a similar experience. Her problem was that she put her finger at the very top of the trigger, thus not disengaging the trigger safety. I did not realize this at first. But what had happened is she handed the pistol over to me and I naturally racked it and handed it back to her. By "regripping" the pistol , her finger naturally hit the trigger at the proper position and she never had this problem again.

 

[its_Dale]

its good practice to aggressively rack (pull) the slide back and tap your shoulder/chest area like youre slapping yourself- all in one motion

 

[SonnyBr]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. I went back to the range today and I think the advice all of you gave me has resolved the problem. I was probably being too tentative with the slide on my first outing. But now, when I load my second mag I pull the slide back with more force, and let it run forward without interference from me. Cleaning and lubrication may have also helped. The gun doesn't feel as tight as it did on my first outing. The magazine springs are starting to loosen up a bit.

Here are my impressions of the M&P Shield 9 (now that I know how to operate it!): I'm very pleased. I particularly like the sights, which is one of the most important factors for me. The three white dots make aiming very easy -- much more so than my Beretta 92, which is two red dots and a white one in front. The M&P Shield feels natural in my medium-size hand. Recoil was much easier to manage than I expected from a small piece. Shooting 70+ rounds was not unpleasant at all, and I had no problems firing accurately at short distance (5-10 yards). The safety was easy to reach and operate with the thumb one-handed. Links to Flickr photos:
Flickr

 

[Jeppo]

Thanks for the update Sonny. Sounds like you've got things well under control. Think about the force with which the recoil spring slams the slide forward after a shot. Don't baby that baby.

;-)

 

[dben002]

Same here...Glad you got it resolved and the handgun is fine....
Good shooting and keep em in the black......

 

[FloridaS&W]

Nice, good to hear!

 

[KELSW]

Uplula mag loader is my friend when loading shield mags especially , but I use it for loading every thing saves my thumbs and fingers . I always gently hit the back of the mag to seat the rounds back too .