Shield Field Strip Question...

[shawn mccarver]

The problem with that is I can't take it apart, that's what I'm posting about! I'm beginning to think that for some reason the slide is not coming back far enough. I believe that the slide is supposed to come back far enough for the small half moon indention(on the left side)to align with the pivot point of the take down lever. As hard as I try, I think its coming back about an 1/8 of an inch short. Does that make any sense at all?

Hmm. And all this time I thought you just couldn't get the slide to lock back.

 

[Maddmax]

Hmm. And all this time I thought you just couldn't get the slide to lock back.

Interesting. I feel like I'm chasing my tail. You too ?

 

[Englishsteel]

I experienced this with a new .40 Shieldat the LGS... Instead of grabbing the rear of the slide... The guy behind the counter grabbed the front of the slide and pushed back (had more leverage from the front). Sounds like a stiff spring you need to work in. At least that my uninformed opinion

 

[WalterN]

The recoil spring is so strong that I can hardly wrack the pistol. My wife can't even nearly wrack it. I find that the last 1/4" of the slide is almost impossible to get - it is like the springs are "bottoming out". I have to jerk real hard to get it to catch the slide lock and then have to jerk real hard to get it to release and chamber a round. I have been in touch with the S&W man in Texas and he says send it to him and he will see if a lighter spring will work. It will never be as easy as my P-99to wrack, but I wish my wife could operate it and I wish that I could wrack it easier when I am carrying it concealed. The way it is I must carry it with a round in the chamber and the safety on.

 

[Maddmax]

The recoil spring is so strong that I can hardly wrack the pistol. My wife can't even nearly wrack it. I find that the last 1/4" of the slide is almost impossible to get - it is like the springs are "bottoming out". I have to jerk real hard to get it to catch the slide lock and then have to jerk real hard to get it to release and chamber a round. I have been in touch with the S&W man in Texas and he says send it to him and he will see if a lighter spring will work. It will never be as easy as my P-99to wrack, but I wish my wife could operate it and I wish that I could wrack it easier when I am carrying it concealed. The way it is I must carry it with a round in the chamber and the safety on.

You need to send that back to the mothership if it is that hard to function for both of you. I an do mine pushing or pulling fairly easy.

 

[timn8er]

Update to original post:

A friend came by the house today, & before we went to lunch I asked him to try & rack the Shield & lock it back. After several tries he was able to get it locked in the open position. He did comment several times on how stiff the recoil spring was. I wasn't sure if it was the pistol or because of my neuropathy that it is so hard to rack. I'm going to leave it in the open position for a few days to see if it might take a little tension out of the recoil spring, unless anyone has a better idea? Then I will field strip it & check the alignment of the recoil spring assembly as mentioned in an earlier post.

 

[MackIII]

Ok here is what I had to do for the same issue. When I got mine yesterday and tried to lock the slide back with the slide stop I noticed it would not lock it back no mater how hard or far I pulled the slide back or push the slide stop up. So I got to thinking that maybe it's just because it's NEW and I just racked the slide back and let it go 3-4 time and IT WORKED FINE after that. Give it a try before sending it back to Momma Wesson

 

[Nickinil]

...I just racked the slide back and let it go 3-4 time and IT WORKED FINE after that.

Had the same problem. Couldn't get the slide to lock. Racked it several times and it finally "caught". Now it seems to be okay. Go figure?

 

[okav8tor]

You have to continue to finesse it to get the slide back off, inspect the spring, rotate it, and try again. Mine did the same thing and thats what I had to do. Make sure the sear arm is down.

If you take the slid off and remove the spring and barrel and then put the slide back on you'll see it will go all the way to the back, no obstructions. Are springs are bad?......bad design........or just a bad batch of springs!!!!!![/QUOTE]

That is my question as well ... I wonder if S&W has admitted to anything ?

 

[Michael from Wynnewood]

Just got my new Shield after almost a one year wait. When I went to field strip it for cleaning, I could not get the slide stop up. Had to use an empty mag to hold back the slide so that I could rotate the take-down lever. As suggested, I tried rotating the spring, and also left it overnight with the slide locked back on an empty mag. I've dry-fired it about 100-150 times. No help. Should I give it to a good GS for slide lock fix and a trigger job, or should I just send it back to Momma Wesson? Or should I just put a few hundred rounds through it and see if it fixes itself?

 

[Maddmax]

Just got my new Shield after almost a one year wait. When I went to field strip it for cleaning, I could not get the slide stop up. Had to use an empty mag to hold back the slide so that I could rotate the take-down lever. As suggested, I tried rotating the spring, and also left it overnight with the slide locked back on an empty mag. I've dry-fired it about 100-150 times. No help. Should I give it to a good GS for slide lock fix and a trigger job, or should I just send it back to Momma Wesson? Or should I just put a few hundred rounds through it and see if it fixes itself?

Shoot it. You need to break it in.

 

[Michael from Wynnewood]

Shoot it. You need to break it in.

Thanks, Maddmax. I am a little leery of live fire with a pistol that has a fundamental mechanical problem, but in this case I guess a non-functioning slide stop probably can't cause a firing malfunction. Thanks for the encouragement. I'll post next week to let you know if live fire fixes the problem. I will still want a Burwell trigger job before I carry the pistol.

Update 4/22/2013. Working the action more, plus 50 rounds live fire - problem cured. I still hate the trigger though. Having some trouble getting a response for Dan Burwell, but I'll keep trying. His trigger work on my M&P 9s was fantastic.

 

[MajorHal]

cut a piece of non-slip shelf liner, place it over the slide, now you can grip it with no problem!

 

[keakar]

Update to original post:

A friend came by the house today, & before we went to lunch I asked him to try & rack the Shield & lock it back. After several tries he was able to get it locked in the open position. He did comment several times on how stiff the recoil spring was. I wasn't sure if it was the pistol or because of my neuropathy that it is so hard to rack. I'm going to leave it in the open position for a few days to see if it might take a little tension out of the recoil spring, unless anyone has a better idea? Then I will field strip it & check the alignment of the recoil spring assembly as mentioned in an earlier post.

new guns can be a bear to get initial actions working, on my regular M&P9 the takedown lever was hard as hell the first time but now after its first cleaning its very loose.

if you ever have things like that just start with the basics and try it with an empty slide then put in the barrel and spring so you know if its slide related or if the problem is with the core