Shield Plus 4 inch Performance Center and Light Strikes

[NCBeagle]

I picked up a MP Shield Plus 4 inch Performance Center) this week. Initially, it was fantastic. Feels great. Shoots like a laser beam. I put 50 rounds of 115 gr Blazer 9mm downrange in tight groups. Switched to ZSR 9mm and experienced 10% light strikes.

This is super frustrating. I want to carry the Shield Plus 4" but it is not reliable "as is." I'll inspect and clean the striker channer. Maybe it is the ZSR ammo. I hear that it has hard primers. Still, this is a "Performance Center" pistol. I expect it to work with nearly every ammo type.

Anyone else experience problems with Shield Plus and light strikes? What about ZSR ammo specifically? The ZSR is just for punching paper on the range.

EDIT: Striker channel was clear. No debris or oil.

 

[armorer951]

Sorry about this reliability issue.

I'm certainly not an expert on Turkish made ammunition, but I'm wondering about the length of the shell casings, and OAL of the rounds.
This is supposedly NATO certified ammunition, but if the case length is a bit short compared to domestic ammo it may have an affect on reliability.


Hard primers are a possibility too, since I'm assuming ZSR is made to be compatible with full auto firearms.

*** I did notice some precautionary info and warnings on Youtube about this particular ammo. Use caution. ***


Carter

 

[NCBeagle]

Sorry about this reliability issue.

I'm certainly not an expert on Turkish made ammunition, but I'm wondering about the length of the shell casings, and OAL of the rounds.
This is supposedly NATO certified ammunition, but if the case length is a bit short compared to domestic ammo it may have an affect on reliability.


Hard primers are a possibility too, since I'm assuming ZSR is made to be compatible with full auto firearms.

*** I did notice some precautionary info and warnings on Youtube about this particular ammo. Use caution. ***


Carter

I am glad that we have about 1500 rounds of the ZSR. Aaaaagh

 

[armorer951]

I'm actually glad you posted this.....and also pleased you weren't injured.

Perhaps we can get the word out about this stuff.

I think there's a recall, so maybe you can get some or all of your money back??

Carter

 

[cdb1097]

My 9mm Shield Plus Performance Center has never failed to fire with any ammo, I shoot 99% reloads with cast bullets. It is very accurate with the red dot sight on it. I get fist sized groups at 50 feet firing 1 round a second with my 128 grain cast bullets.


cdb

 

[NCBeagle]

I found something about ZSR 308 Blackout recall, but not 9mm. I'll keep looking. Did you see sometiing about the 9mm?

 

[Beju]

Reading reviews of ZSR ammunition and primers, there are definitely complaints about light strikes with striker fire handguns.

This is not that unusual with ammunition/primers that come off of foreign military production lines in certain parts of the world. I've had a couple of light strikes in an M&P 2.0 using ATS X-Force ammo (North Macedonian) and Servicios y Aventuras primers (Argentina). The latter sometimes gives DA hammer fired guns issues.

 

[Saudade]

Part of the details on the ad for the this ammo on AEAMMO.COM:

"ZSR
Ammo 9mm Luger 115gr FMJ 1148 FPS 50/box

This is Turkish 9mm and is known to have harder primers than domestic ammo such as CCI. Please understand this when purchasing and know that we cannot refund ammunition purchases should you have light primer strike issues with your firearm."

 

[NCBeagle]

UPDATE:

Last night, I inspected and cleaned the striker channel. Today, I went back to the range and fired 300+ rounds of 9mm Blazer, Winchester, etc...no problems. Tried to fire one 50 round box of ZSR and experienced 6 light strikes. At this point, I think that the pistol is reliable. The ZSR ammo is garbage. That said, I would like to see the Shield ignite everything.

This 4" PC Shield is, very quickly, among my favorite shooters. It is just so EASY to drop round after round into the right spot.

 

[lacerda023]

Go to Wolff gun springs and purchase an increased power striker spring it might slightly increase the trigger pull but it will ignite and primer i've ever used it on..

 

[Doug M.]

I get wanting to save money on range ammo because serious ammo costs serious $$, but there can be costs to going cheap. Look at the bright side - you get lots of malfunction clearing practice.

At least it is not bad ammo that might blow up your pistol.

 

[IAM Rand]

Got a M&P plus for my wife. We have probably about 500-600 rounds through it with no ammo related issues. Biggest thing is how stiff the recoil spring is. Not sure what everyone is paying for ammo but I can get 1k for about $224. Turkey can keep their ammo.

 

[star1]

a couple of years ago I bought a few boxes of that ZSR 9mm and had a number of light strikes with it. I contacted them and they sent 2 boxes of replacement ammo, it did the same thing. I stopped buying ZSR ammo.

 

[shawn mccarver]

S&W has had issues for years with light primer strikes or excessive head space, which means the cartridge may simply be too far away from the firing pin to allow the FP to make a proper strike. Remember how S&W was disqualified from the original XM9 pistol trials because the firing pin energy was very slightly under the specs required (and that was with brand new springs - it only gets worse as springs wear-in). I had issues with light strikes and excessive headspace when the M&P was first introduced, and we see light strike complaints all over this board. It is unfortunate that S&W seemingly cannot make reliable guns these days.

 

[Doug M.]

Got a M&P plus for my wife. We have probably about 500-600 rounds through it with no ammo related issues. Biggest thing is how stiff the recoil spring is.

*
My recollection is that 9mm pistols tend to run better with spicier loads, and the other side of that is that in order tolerate them, a real short 9mm like the Shield is going to have a stiffer spring. My 4" Shield PC is not that stiffly sprung. One of my Glock 17s with an RDS needed a stiffer spring due to the additional weight. A little harder to reassemble, but better functioning.

 

[Hiwood]

I have the exact same pistol that you have. I experienced light primer strikes when it was brand new. This would occur two or three times per shooting session(100-200 rounds). I disassembled the pistol and thoroughly cleaned the firing pin channel which I found to be full of crud directly from the factory. I also replaced the complete striker assembly with a new factory one. Have not had any issues since. FYI