Took mine back to cabelas for a full refund. great gun. poor quality. the magazine(s) both were dropping all the time. I bought it on 07/08 and it went back on 07/16. Really liked the pistol also. If anyone wants to see the videos, let me know. I made a half dozen showing the problem. With seven and six at various rounds of loading.
Shield mag release changed ?
- Thread starter OldLawman
- Start date
I called smith on a tuesday and a thursday and they told me if it was a chronic problem all 27 of their help desk people would have heard about it already. First he said never heard of it then as I was talking to him longer and more about it he said he might have heard about a few of them having magazines dropping. He said of the thousands and thousands made just a small percent had the problem. He did ask me what I wanted him to do as on tuesday they were sending me a magazine release spring change out. I had mine originally on 07/08 and sent 40 rounds down with five at a time in each magazine. No problems at all that day. The next day it began. I had also started filling 7 and 6 just to see how it was going to work. On each outing except day one, they dropped. Sometimes full, and others at less counts. Both magazines. Did not occur each and every magazine fill and shoot though. Left and right handed did not matter. I think I read they make 70 of these a day. I wonder how many have been made and how many have the problem as I have read not each and every one does. I think many buy these, and load them up for readiness without much break in time. The one week I had mine with about 300 rounds I can say that more then half of the time they failed. I made a Yt video if anyone wants to see the problem in case yours does not have it. What I am more wondering are the owners that it is not occuring to when it will begin. I would rather get a problem fixed earlier than later, as if you really needed it, and it fails. Your sol
MacDanny
Member
Agree completely. When I called S&W, my cust serv rep asked for me to ship it back. He indicated that he had only heard of it one other time. We'll see. Sent it off today. Here's hoping.
Mine started at about 100 rounds, loading full mags and +1. One-handed, or two. Always on the first 3 shots and even later. Caused some stove-pipes and one mis-fire, along with a few times when the gun slide did not fully close/lock back in place (not sure what that is called). Mostly with the extended mag for me so only sent that one. Now I am wishing I had sent both. Oops.
Ok here is the shield .40 magazine drop yt video link. I hope this works right
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOECUv6Orso&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOECUv6Orso&feature=youtube_gdata_player
RichardCranium
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Hmmmm.......when I called S&W, the fella I talked to was well aware of this issue. They didn't have any more of the updated mag releases at the customer service department, so my only choice was to send my gun back to the factory. I shipped it out yesterday.....hopefully it will be back quick.
konertjm
Member
Well I went to the range, and my future son in law and I ran 100 Win white box fmj's through my 40 shield. Not a single mag drop.
I spent time part of the time pulling on both inserted mags, no round in chamber, and one round chambered from full mag.
I did this with both mags. The 6 round mag felt loose and wiggled quite a bit, but did not come out.
The 7 round mag seemed tighter, and did not wiggle as much. It remained in the gun.
I also pushed down on the loaded mag from above, with the slide locked open.
Again, with both mags, the 6 round wiggled and was a little loose, the 7 round was tighter, and had little movement. Neither one could be forced out.
I do, however, have 2 problems with my Shield:
1. I don't get to shoot it often enough!
2. I seem to have an accuracy problem caused by sub standard mechanics located on the back side of the grip.
OP
Since I started this thread...
Finally picked up my 9mm Shield from my dealer (we have a 7-day waiting period and then he was out of town). Can't test it until next week, due to a business trip out of state. Compared the mag release spring tension to my two Kahr polymer guns, and they all (subjectively) feel similar. I wouldn't mind a bit more spring tension on all of them, since they are carried concealed.
It would be nice if S&W would be a bit more transparent about this issue in general. Other than the possibility of shooter-induced bumping of the mag button while firing (possible, but the majority of reports seem to remove that as a possibility), the potential causes seem to be:
1) out-of-spec mags or mag button cutouts in mag;
2) out-of-spec mag release itself;
3) soft/too light mag release spring.
Any other possibilities ?
Don't know if this is more of a problem due to any change from 9mm to .40, or if there are just more owners of .40s reporting in.
In response to some other poster's observations about inserting a full mag with the slide closed, I note that many Glocks, with new, stiff mag springs will often "bounce" out the mag even when the operator thinks they are locked in place; and that many/most Kahrs will not feed from a fully loaded mag with the slide closed. The protocol is to lock the slide open, insert the mag, drop the slide. As the Kahrs break in, this problem eases.
BTW - this is not Shield bashing from me. Even though I can't shoot mine until next week, based on my handling and dry-firing, I am committed to it as a CCW gun (in 9mm, at least), and will probably get a spare. Already have my new Apex Carry kit for the Shield, but that too will have to wait until I test-fire it. Looking forward to it !
Finally picked up my 9mm Shield from my dealer (we have a 7-day waiting period and then he was out of town). Can't test it until next week, due to a business trip out of state. Compared the mag release spring tension to my two Kahr polymer guns, and they all (subjectively) feel similar. I wouldn't mind a bit more spring tension on all of them, since they are carried concealed.
It would be nice if S&W would be a bit more transparent about this issue in general. Other than the possibility of shooter-induced bumping of the mag button while firing (possible, but the majority of reports seem to remove that as a possibility), the potential causes seem to be:
1) out-of-spec mags or mag button cutouts in mag;
2) out-of-spec mag release itself;
3) soft/too light mag release spring.
Any other possibilities ?
Don't know if this is more of a problem due to any change from 9mm to .40, or if there are just more owners of .40s reporting in.
In response to some other poster's observations about inserting a full mag with the slide closed, I note that many Glocks, with new, stiff mag springs will often "bounce" out the mag even when the operator thinks they are locked in place; and that many/most Kahrs will not feed from a fully loaded mag with the slide closed. The protocol is to lock the slide open, insert the mag, drop the slide. As the Kahrs break in, this problem eases.
BTW - this is not Shield bashing from me. Even though I can't shoot mine until next week, based on my handling and dry-firing, I am committed to it as a CCW gun (in 9mm, at least), and will probably get a spare. Already have my new Apex Carry kit for the Shield, but that too will have to wait until I test-fire it. Looking forward to it !
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I really really liked mine. Since I am a low count firearm owner the sending back and waiting just will not work for me. That was my first .40 and first compact pistol. My other .40 s are a twenty two single action and an already broken after only having it ten days keltec pmr30
I have owned my 40 Shield for 33 days. So far it has been in for service at S&W for 24 days. Mags kept dropping, extended mag on almost every shot and the six round less often. Lots of stove pipes and jams. Sent in for repair the first time and they replaced the magazine catch. Got it back and the problem is the same or worse. Back in for service again. Been there a week and now it is at engineering. No ETA on getting it back.
High_ground
Member
I ordered my Shield 40 in May and received it mid June. I shot a box of Speer Lawman ammo through it and experienced 2 mag drops. Thought it to be an ammo or grip problem so I taped an foam ear plug just above the release as a land mark and switched to regular duty ammo. Shot another 15 rounds with no issues.
I took the Shield to my semi-annual LEO quals so that I could carry it off duty. I had 2 feed malfuntions due to the mag dropping approx a quater inch out of lock and 45 rounds into the course of fire I had an out of battery detonation. It blew the mag completely out of gun and form fitted the case to the feed ramp and the rear half of the chamber. The case head hit my ballistic glasses just above my right eye , creasing the lens and gouging the frame. My trigger finger is still sore. I sent the gun back to S&W.
Two weeks later I recieved a call stating they were replacing the lower but sending me back my original slide. Wouldn't give me an explanation as to why. Lawyer BS I imagine. Received the gun a week later. Second shot out of the box, mag dropped 1/4", round stove piped and I went to cussing. If they can't repair a gun that I'm trusting the public's and my life to then that gun shouldn't have been returned to service. Needless to say this is my last S&W and I'll be returning my Shield and my new 1911 for a refund.
I took the Shield to my semi-annual LEO quals so that I could carry it off duty. I had 2 feed malfuntions due to the mag dropping approx a quater inch out of lock and 45 rounds into the course of fire I had an out of battery detonation. It blew the mag completely out of gun and form fitted the case to the feed ramp and the rear half of the chamber. The case head hit my ballistic glasses just above my right eye , creasing the lens and gouging the frame. My trigger finger is still sore. I sent the gun back to S&W.
Two weeks later I recieved a call stating they were replacing the lower but sending me back my original slide. Wouldn't give me an explanation as to why. Lawyer BS I imagine. Received the gun a week later. Second shot out of the box, mag dropped 1/4", round stove piped and I went to cussing. If they can't repair a gun that I'm trusting the public's and my life to then that gun shouldn't have been returned to service. Needless to say this is my last S&W and I'll be returning my Shield and my new 1911 for a refund.
RichardCranium
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I called S&W last week to check the status of my Shield. Customer service isn't at the plant, so they can only read the status as the plant reports it. Mine was "in line for repair". Nice fella I talked to on the phone, and he was straight up with me. Starting this coming Monday, the plant is shut down for 2 weeks.....for yearly maintenance. So unless your guns are already repaired and prepping for shipping......everyone can add a 2 week delay to their warranty repair.....
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