Problems with Shield 40

[zunami]

Hello,

I own a Shield 40, and I've had it for about a year now.

The pistol never had any issues, except for being extremely rigid when I first got it - just needed breaking in, I figured.

I haven't had any opportunities to fire the pistol in quite some time, but I carry it daily and as it is also my home-defense gun (as I currently don't have another one due to moving around too darn much), I rarely unload it.

At the end of the day, I just put in my drawer with the safety on, and call it a day.

On occasion, I take the pistol out, take the magazine out, unload it and dry-fire it with snap-caps to exercise all the parts and make sure it still functions - pretty standard.

About a week ago, I did this, and the pistol felt really weird when I did it. The slide felt like it was "crunching" and I couldn't feel when the pistol was cocked, like I usually can.

I racked and dry-fired a few times, and the sensation passed, but the gun hasn't felt exactly the same since.

I didn't have time to break out my tools that day, but I did today and did a closer examination of the gun.

Mind you, the gun has been fired only a handful of times and hasn't even built up enough residue to warrant a cleaning - all the factory-oil is even still in the parts, but I've noticed rust around some of the smaller parts - almost unnoticeable. The gun has never gotten wet! I'm very surprised.

I noticed today, that the thumb-safety was unusually rigid, where as it used to be very easy-going and smooth (at least compared to when I first unboxed the gun).

I decided to open the gun up and take a look at the parts to see their condition and the entire slide came off without me even having a chance to lower the sear guard lever, which was IMPOSSIBLE the first time I opened the gun up!
The slide just came off as I was actually handing the slide trying to get access to lower the lever.

Closer examination of the spring revealed it to be in fair condition, but not particularly homogeneous.

After treating the very small bouts of rust and examining the gun closer, I've managed to get the safety working like it used to again, without finding any reason WHY it was behaving weird - but I'm very weirded out by the sear lever not needing to be moved.

I'm going to pick up some target-ammo as soon as possible and try to get a few rounds out and see how performance has been affected.

I'm mainly looking for input from other M&P owners who can tell me if they've experienced something similar.

 

[Arik]

Do you carry iwb? Lint build up can cause some parts to move harder

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[Texas40]

First problem I see from reading is all the factory oil still in it. 1st thing with every new firearm is field strip and clean lubricate it. Also get yourself a can of compressed air cleaner for computers and such. Blow the lint out once a week or so. Then every fee weeks strip and lube the weapon.

I have a 40 shield that is 3 plus yrs in my possession was daily carry til 45 came along.
I did above and still do it to my carry shield 45.
Never an issue with either.
Have close to 2k down the 40 pipe and 1k or so with 45.

Both were stripped and cleaned prior to first use and are cleaned after range time or as above.





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[Arik]

That may be a bit much but yeah you do gotta occasionally clean out the lint. I clean my guns sometimes and oil them whenever and in 10 years my edc has yet to know the difference. I do use a compressor at work to blow out lint once a month or so

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[swsig]

I own a Shield 9, a Shield .45, and an M&P 40c with over 16,000 rounds between them. Here's my advice:

The oil that came in your Shield was a preservative, not a lubricant. The fact that you have rust tells me that it is breaking down due to environmental contaminants, primarily moisture. It might be significantly gummed up at this point. Should you ever need to use your Shield in its present condition, (heaven forbid), you might be very disappointed with its performance.

Get out your owner's manual and thoroughly clean and lube your Shield according to the instructions. Buy some name brand cleaner and lubricant specifically designed for firearms. Hoppes products are good, and they're available everywhere. Be sure to clean your bore while you're at it. You want your bullets to emerge successfully!

Next buy some name brand, high quality target and self-defense ammunition. I like American Eagle 180 grain for target ammo in my .40, but any major brand will do. For self-defense ammo, I've found Speer Gold Dots to work well in all of my guns. Online ammo prices are generally cheaper than in-store prices.

Now go to the range and shoot the heck out of your Shield, at least 150-200 rounds. This will accelerate the break-in process, and will allow you to identify any quirks your Shield may have. I recommend that 100 of those rounds be self-defense ammo. My standard is that I won't use any self-defense rounds unless they fire 100 times consecutively without a jam. I know that this is expensive, but what is your life worth? You don't want to pull your Shield in a self-defense situation and find that your ammunition jams!

Finally, after your range session, thoroughly clean and lube your Shield again, and do it regularly thereafter.

Enjoy your new Shield. Shields are fine guns, but they work best when you shoot them and maintain them.

 

[zunami]

Thanks for the advice - for several years, I've always used service pistols and carried in a belt-holster - gun maintenance has been something we did clockwork at specified times and word of mouth was always that we cleaned them WAY too much, so I haven't worried much about servicing my carry-gun because I shoot it extremely rarely.

As a result, I've little to no experience with any guns actually ever reaching the point where they genuinely needed maintenance, unless they outright broke.

@Arik: I do carry IWB, so your theory seems sound in regards to lint - that is probably the problem.

The rust is only external, around the sights and such, so I don't think it is an issue with the lubrication.

I would have taken time to do a proper maintenance run on my gun, but unfortunately I have been moving around so much that I haven't had time to sit down with some proper tools until I returned home recently.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go get some better lubricants and some new supplies - just opened by good old gun-kit and found half of my tools had gone missing after last time I loaned it out - typical!

I guess I'll see if my air-compressor still works too! Been a while since I've had cause to use it.

I'll pick up some rounds (currently only have expensive self-defense rounds I'm not willing to waste on target/test shooting) and see about getting it to perform.

After servicing it today, the gun seems to work a lot better.
I'm still very worried about how the slide came off without lowering the sear-guard lever.

 

[OKFC05]

"I'm still very worried about how the slide came off without lowering the sear-guard lever. "


Pulling the trigger does the same thing. Some people never use the sear lever

 

[Slingn]

I'll pick up some rounds (currently only have expensive self-defense rounds I'm not willing to waste on target/test shooting) and see about getting it to perform.

You should always shoot some of your preferred SD ammo. I would shoot at least a box. Shop online and get 50 round boxes of good ad ammo for about the same price as a box of 20 from the local stores.
And for range ammo, you should always try to use something balisticlly close to your SD ammo. There are a couple of brands that have balisticlly matching SD and range ammo. Speer lawman and their gold dots are one example. I personally like the 180gr gold dots for the shield. The 165s do not expand as well out of short barrels ( at least according the the lucky gunnnrr test)

Regardless of choice, make sure you shoot enough of your SD ammo to confirm reliability. Don't take any chances with something that can save, or cost you your life.

 

[pjames32]

Don't use your compressor unless you have a good filter! That's a good way to add moisture to your gun. Canned air is dry and cheap. I shoot 300-500 rounds thru a new gun before I will carry it, including at least 50 defense loads. I also clean all new guns before they go to the range. I've found bad "stuff" in new guns. Good luck.

 

[Texas40]

Best to discover your weapon does or doesnt reliable function with your selected carry ammo on the range than when your life is on the line.




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[dustinb43]

all the factory-oil is even still in the parts

This is most likely your main problem. Read The Owners Manual! every smith pistol is packed away in factory with dirty, DIRTY grease to protect the gun from corrosion while in storage. That being said it states in every smith owners manual to ALWAYS CLEAN your firearm before you even think about firing it. failure to properly clean and lube the firearm previous to firing WILL result in a failure of some sort. I see this problem all the time with newbie smith owners who neglect reading the manual and shoot their S&W out of the box.