Shield .45 Question

[Vershady]

I just picked up a new Shield .45. I have one question that could pose a problem down the line. When loaded with either the 6 or 7 round mag to full capacity, when chambering a round, the slide is extremely difficult to rack. The slide drags across the top of the round. It'll chamber, but it take quite a bit of pull to do it. When the mags are load with one less round, it isn't an issue, but kind of defeats the purpose of having a fully loaded mag. Upon examining the round, there is a good sized scrape mark across the top where the slide dragged. I wonder if anyone else has had this issue. How much of an issue this is? Is there a fix?

 

[PSC617]

Mine does the same.


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[dben002]

My Shield 45 shows no signs of cartridge scraping at all with a fully loaded mag and one in the chamber. Could we get a pic of the scraping you are experiencing?

 

[msjdgman]

My Shield 45 does the same...scraping of the top round in the 7 round mag. Not an issue as far as I'm concerned. It will likely cease when the mag spring takes a set. Leave the mags loaded to full capacity for awhile and chances are, the scraping will cease.

 

[buckshotshorty]

I never load a full mag first and then rack a round....I always load one round in a mag then rack the round home so I know that it is nestled in the chamber; then I load the mag full. That should solve your problem.

I do not have a Shield 45 yet but I have other guns that did what you described and so I got in the habit of loading as I described.

 

[Moonman]

Load 1 round in Mag, LOAD IT, then load a full mag and insert,

 

[Maxshield]

The mag springs are strong, brand new, stronger than others I've experienced but they loosen up after a few uses

 

[JosephR]

The mag springs are strong, brand new, stronger than others I've experienced but they loosen up after a few uses

I hope so. These are the strongest springs I've ever encountered - broke down and bought a Maglula UpLULA loader just for it, though it will work with my 9mm as well.

No sign of cartridge scraping though.

 

[N4KVE]

No matter what gun I own, I always load the mag 1 round less than full capacity. This way the OP's problem never happens. GARY

 

[Mister X]

I would simply download it by a round. I do with all of my semi-auto's, but I only own high capacity Glocks and losing a round isn't that big of a deal. With these small single stacks, losing a round would be more significant, but I would still do it.

Massad Ayoob: Reliability VS. Round Count | The Daily Caller

...

 

[Vershady]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try posting a pic later. The shield is the only gun I own that does this. The springs are very tight indeed. I loaded the mags fully for three weeks and it helped, but still has the mag scraping. I carry it concealed now, but to have full capacity you have to rack the slide back, inset a mag and then chamber a round. Seems to solve the issue.

 

[Rastoff]

Some of this is just technique. Yes, the slide will drag across the top round, but with the right technique it shouldn't be too hard.

Here is a good article on the technique:
You Can Rack A Slide. It's Technique, not Strength.

 

[Don~Z~]

I bought the Uplula loader for it to help with the strong spring, I have a few hundred rounds through the 45 so far and no problems have occurred. Scraping or not, as long as it fires flawlessly, why worry?

 

[Arc Angel]

Today is the first time in almost 15 years of (nearly) daily visits to various internet gun forums that I have ever seen so many EDC pistol carriers answer this question so very sensibly! More than 50 years ago my recently returned from war Marine Corps uncles taught me to download all of my semiautomatic magazines by one round. ('Clips' to us old-timers; but that's a whole other discussion!)

So, what do I think after more than 50 years of downloading my EDC magazines? I don't think - I know - that this habit has kept me out of a lot of trouble. Guns are only machines; (even Glocks!) they ain't perfect, and tend to perform better when they're not stressed to the max!

 

[Bonephish]

Polish the slide ramp.

 

[gwgw60]

I had a similar problem and I'm now convinced it's a magazine issue. The spring is so tight the first round was not being stripped out of the magazine (and not loaded to max capacity). Once in awhile the 4th round would not strip and load.

The problem seems to be going away now that I have 100 rounds split through 3 magazines. I'm going to be watching as I get more rounds down range as well as polish the feed ramp.

 

[Bonephish]

I'm going to be watching as I get more rounds down range as well as polish the feed ramp.

Polish the ramp in the middle of the slide that pushes the cartridge out of the magazine. The swirled machining rubs against the rim of the cartridge and you feel/hear a grinding as you rack the slide.

 

[CherryRiver]

It goes away fairly quickly.
Just the very strong mag spring.
It's hard work shoving a 230gr bullet and a big fat (if short) case up towards a feed ramp in a few milliseconds. The spring HAS to be strong.
It is, it works, the gun is fine.

 

[webley green]

I shot one at our gunstore/range S&W days event; I noticed the same thing re: magazine topped off. I chalked it up to a superstrong spring. Glad to know it's a mag issue and not a gun issue.

Needless to say I really liked it and shot it well at the 7 yard and 10 yard lines. It recoiled quite a bit less than my gun buddy's .40 Shield (which he has since converted to a 9mm).

I felt the .45 trigger had been improved over the 9/40 model he has. Like I said, I really liked the .45 Shield.