Shield 9 slide jammed back

[bckaroo]

Hello, I'm brand new to the forum and this is my first thread. I purchased 9mm Shield and experienced a failure on the 76th round fired. The slide jammed all the way back past the slide stop, at the full extent of the cycle. I removed the magazine without any problems, no casings were stuck or jammed and after a two taps to the back of the slide it went back into battery. I now have a total of 200 rounds through it without the problem happening again. My question is that I was wondering if anybody else has experienced this type of malfunction? It seems like an odd malfunction to me. I contacted S&W and the tech I talked to had not heard of this problem but was going to check with another guy next week. Is this something I should have them check out or am I worrying to much? If it were your ccw what would you do? TIA.

 

[bmb96mus]

I've been lucky soo far. I've only owned a few guns, and carried only 2 of them and have never had a failure whatsoever. I personally would be slightly nervous to carry a gun with a mysterious problem. But that's me. I'm sure others wouldn't think twice about it. Id send it in and have them take a "quick" look at it

 

[Rastoff]

When it was locked back, was the barrel rigid or could you move it a little?

 

[turbo38gn]

What were you using for ammo?

 

[RobzGuns]

First... Welcome to the forum!
I've heard of this with other brand pistols before, but not the Shield. In those instances, it was one of two things (with regular pressure ammo)...
1) there were signs of a slight burr either on the frame rails, or on the slide itself. Once the burr was smoothed, no more problems... Or
2) The Ejector (not to be confused with the Extractor) got bent behind the breech face. THIS though,would not have been freed up with only a couple taps to the rear of the slide.

Since you were able to run another 124 rounds down range after this incident, there's the possibility that there may have been a slight burr that hung yours up that got knocked off when you smacked the rear of the slide. Field strip it and check (feel) the slide and rails for any irregularities. If you can find signs of a burr (or that there WAS a burr that got knocked off), you at least have something to mention in a follow-up call to CS.

If it's your ONLY carry pistol, I wouldn't carry it until it's been tested some more (or sent back for a check), but I wouldn't be so quick to send it in. I'd run it through a mini 'torture test' of sorts.
I'd run at least another few Hundred rounds of FMJ through it to see if it happens again... Quick doubles, triples and 5-7 bursts of rapid fire (if your range allows it)... don't be easy on it. If it's Jam Free after another 200-300 round 'torture test', it could have simply been a fluke that might never happen again. THEN I'd start experimenting with various brands of JHP carry ammo to see which your pistol (and you) like.

 

[turbo38gn]

Excellent reply Rob thanks

 

[robkarrob]

Strange but anything is possible. Since it was jammed past the slide lock, we can rule that out. I doubt this is the issue, but pull the slide and check the front of the stopping block for damage and the bottom inside front of the slide. My guess is a piece of brass, off the shell casing, got lodged in the rails, and held the slide open. The extractor claw might have ripped off a small section of a weak area on the rim. Not likely but what other reasons could have caused this condition. A possible binding recoil spring, but that would not likely have held the slide at the fully back position. Upon forcing the slide forward, whatever was lodged in the rails was dislodged and the gun went back to function as per normal.

Bob

 

[davemercer]

My guess and it is simply a guess, is a tight fitting slide and a bit of whatever jammed in wrong place. My shield 9mm had an extremely tight slide fit and would jam even after smith replaced extractor. Jam not like your jam however, but rather expended brass left in ejection port.

I simply hand cycled slide fully to rear and eased forward many hundred time. Also periodically put on more lube. There was visible wearing in and so far for about 500 rounds no problem.

Now with a glock I had a more similar problem to yours. Slide jammed tight on new gun, I broke loose, cleaned and lubed and several thousands of round later no problem.

 

[mustangman]

No words of wisdom, just a welcome from Texas.

 

[MSG Glenn]

Welcome from Wisconsin! I'm sorry you had trouble with your Shield but many times problems have a way of working themselves out. It might be as simple as your pistol just needs breaking in. Many don't but some do with tight tolerances causing a problem. Be on the safe side. Shoot a couple hundred more rounds through it & if it doesn't reoccur then there really is no problem. Try different ammo types including self defense rounds that you want to use. Hopefully S&W will call back with possible solutions & a way of correcting the problem. If it takes a trip back to the factory for your pistol then so be it. You have to trust your carry SD weapon otherwise you might just as well carry a short club.

 

[bckaroo]

Wow! you guys are awesome. What a wealth of knowledge
bmb96mus. I was thinking a factory check wouldn't hurt anything but 3-4 weeks is a long time if its not a big deal.
Rastoff. To tell you the truth i did not notice either way. I didn't even think to check that.
turbo38gn. I was using Federal 115 gr FMJs when it happened.
RobzGuns. Wow thanks for the extensive reply. Since my ejector seems to be in good order I'm thinking your first scenario is my problem. While not being my only carry pistol it is my smallest and most COMFORTABLE. Looks like its time to put this small pistol through some hard firing. Ive fired 25 rounds of Hornady Critical Duty 135gr FlexLock without any problems. How many HPs before you are satisfied with their reliability?
robkarrob. Slide's stopping block seems to be fine. I can't see any obvious deformations. I wish I had another shield to compare to though. A piece of brass was what I thought of first but i wasn't sure if it was possible.
davemercer. I have tried to find information on this type of jam and not had any success. Its relieving to hear you had one with a glock and it ended up being fine.
mustangman. Thank you and greetings from NV.
MSG Glenn. I had researched and heard of shields firing multi-thousands of rounds without problems and was surprised with a jam. I completely agree with having trust in a SD weapon. I hope to hear from S&W CS soon.

 

[Rastoff]

Rastoff. To tell you the truth i did not notice either way. I didn't even think to check that.

First of all, thank you for answering the question (all of them). You will continue to find this site very helpful.

I asked about the barrel because it is one potential cause of what you had. Allow me to explain...

As the slide moves backward, the barrel moves toward the rear a little, then drops/tilts down. If for some reason, the barrel doesn't move back far enough, it will be pinched between the slide and the frame. The result is a slide that won't move either way. Depending on how stuck it is, will determine what is necessary to free it. Yours wasn't stuck bad.

Try this; lock the slide back on an empty chamber. Now, wiggle the barrel a little. It should seem quite sloppy. The barrel should feel loose. This is normal. That movement actually helps the feeding process.

I have seen your situation a couple of times and each time it was due to the barrel getting wedged in there. The fix was to bump the barrel on the muzzle to dislodge it. In each case the malfunction has not returned that I know of.

 

[bckaroo]

I have never heard of this type of problem before. I wonder if this was the same type of issue davemercer had with the glock that he mentioned. It would be fantastic if it was some sort of freak malfunction that never arose again. Thanx for the information.

 

[Chadtank]

Excellent reply Rob thanks

I have recently bought 9mm shield and had the same problem with the slides sticking back my wife's did it four times in three clips and mine did it once and for clips! Brand new guns first time shooting them! I could by hand pull it back and get the slide to stick back! We have shot since then with no problems. Hard to trust the gun! Should we send back to get the slides redone??? Confused and worried!

 

[kmanick]

this also started to happen with mine. I've shot about 1,000 rounds through mine and just recently (occasionally) my slide sticks open. I have to sling shot it really hard to get it to close. I'm wondering if I have a burr on one of the rails somewhere. It almost seems like the slide release gets hung up

 

[Bkreutz]

I have recently bought 9mm shield and had the same problem with the slides sticking back my wife's did it four times in three clips and mine did it once and for clips! Brand new guns first time shooting them! I could by hand pull it back and get the slide to stick back! We have shot since then with no problems. Hard to trust the gun! Should we send back to get the slides redone??? Confused and worried!

I'd recommend getting someone who is an experienced shooter to try it. I get the impression from your post that you are very new to shooting. From your description, I don't get any sense of what might be happening, you could send it back, but it would be a shame to do that, wait for it to come back, and have S&W say, "operates normally".

Another suggestion, if you want help on a problem, start a new thread instead of tacking a question on the end of a 2 year old discussion.

 

[kmanick]

So I had bought one of the SS guide rod replacements when I
Initially bought my shield (a lot of people were having problems with theirs)
and it's been sitting in these.
Until today, today I went to the range shot 50 rounds of Federa
l Aluminum 115gr (my shield eats this stuff up, for $20.00 a 100 rounds? I'll take it).
The Lockup occurred twice. Again I just sling shot with some
"oomph" and good to go.
My shield used to slam shut with a round chambered if I shoved
in a mag hard enough almost all the time.
I also noticed that this was happening less frequently now along with the slide locking open.
So... I popped out the stock guide rod assembly and dropped in the SS one. No lock ups and my slide closed and racked a round on almost every hard mag insertion. I really didn't feel any difference in recoil management between the 2 assemblies, but I did notice racking the slide to be a little smoother and a bit easier. So I'm wondering if it's an issue with the spring getting caught (bunch up somehow) or if there is dirt inside of the stock guide rod assembly causing it to hang up.
I'm going to clean it as thoroughly as possible tonight and head back out to the range tomorrow with some 115, 124 and 147 gr ammo and do some more "field recon". I'm off this week so I have the opportunity. I'd like to stick with the stock parts if possible, if I can get my hands on a new Stock guide rod assembly I'd love to do a comparison.

 

[kmanick]

Ok problem with mine was not the spring. Take a look at the top of my barrel.

the barrel does not drop low enough when the slide goes back. My gunsmith just smoothed this out and rounded the top inside of the slide where this was getting caught up. he said he had never seen this before. I sent this picture to Smith and Wesson and they said it looked like normal wear...................hardly.
I have about 1,000 rounds through this gun.
Now it is functioning fine, but I will keep an eye on this to see if it
starts to dig in again.
Take a look at the top of your barrel and see if there is a "ledge" being dug into the top of it.
If it's new and it's sticking tap the end of the barrel with a rubber mallet when the slide is locked back.
If it pops shut (like mine did) you may be looking at a similar issue as I have here.

 

[kannonvaggon]

That sharp wear line is NOT " normal " for a Shield. It IS typical to get some wear in that area on top of the barrel just over the ramp... but NOT a sharp line like that. JMHO
I'm not a gunsmith, but that ain't right.

 

[kmanick]

That sharp wear line is NOT " normal " for a Shield. It IS typical to get some wear in that area on top of the barrel just over the ramp... but NOT a sharp line like that. JMHO
I'm not a gunsmith, but that ain't right.

No it's not my gunsmith agreed. I'm keeping an eye on it (I shoot this gun a lot)to see if it starts to develop again (he smoothed everything out today)
I wonder if I can gt a Shield 9mm Barrel?