Shield Recoil Spring Fell Apart
- Thread starter mbrittb00
- Start date
Has anyone tried a stainless steel guide rod assembly like this?
Smith and Wesson Shield Stainless Steel Guide Rod Assembly - Stainless Steel Guide Rods
Smith and Wesson Shield Stainless Steel Guide Rod Assembly - Stainless Steel Guide Rods
Regardless of what anyone says here there's a problem. Not so much with the RSA failing but the fact that there doesn't seem to be any readily available. I get the fact that things aren't perfect & sometimes there might be a part failure on anything. I bought a new Ford Taurus awhile back & had a tire problem (most likely due to the poor state of Michigan roads). I took my car in & was told they didn't have the correct tire in stock, but they'd have it that afternoon. They didn't tell me that they where to busy making cars & all the tires were going on new cars, but don't worry we'll get you a new tire when we can. I have a problem with any part not being available on a currently produced item-especially a wear part that has had past failures. Glock recommends replacing the RSA's in their pistols at regular intervals depending on round count and guess what you can buy them off Amazon. I bought a Shield last summer. Right now no problem, but I am sorry I didn't purchase another brand & will be selling it. It seems that S&W may be more concerned with making a million pistols. I'd feel differently if that OEM part were readily available. I'll probably get flamed for this, but I don't really care.
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BigDog48
US Veteran
Discussions like this always happen on handgun forums. On this RSA or Guide Rod assembly issue, there was a post from September of 2013, then 2 years and 3 months passed before Gonerydin posted that the same thing happened to him. With complete respect to all who are having problems it just seems to me that the more than 2 years with no one posting about it suggests that the problem is rare. How many of you who have the problem came here after googling "Shield problems"? just wondering.....no disrespect intended, but it's a fine firearm.
southerncomfort
Member
Agree...
You have to read these threads with some sense of context. Hundreds of thousands of Shields have been produced since the original posting, and S&W (like any decent manufacturer) rolls product improvements into the line if they want to stay in business. Occurrences of this problem today are highly unusual.
+1 BigDog.
You have to read these threads with some sense of context. Hundreds of thousands of Shields have been produced since the original posting, and S&W (like any decent manufacturer) rolls product improvements into the line if they want to stay in business. Occurrences of this problem today are highly unusual.
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BigDog48
US Veteran
I have a 9mm NTS Shield I bought Thanksgiving weekend, build date of April 2015. It is now my EDC.
I am 67 and stopped bragging on hand strength long ago, but, I can rack the slide and lock it back normally AND just a few minutes ago loaded the 8th round into the 8 round magazine with bare hands !?!
The pistols has about 600 rounds of mostly cheap, but name brand ammo through it with ZERO problems of any kind. Also ate my EDC ammo which is Hornady Critical Defense 115g.
I'm happy (and honest)....wish everyone was.
By the way, anyone who has trouble racking a Shield should try the Ruger SR9c. They won't be able to move the slide, let alone lock it back.
So... Their have been a couple Dozen RSA problems over several years, but you have a problem with RSAs being back ordered, due to everyone getting spooked over those few RSA posts and buying spares (even though they probably wouldn't need them for thousands of round down the road).
YOURS has been problem free (like the 900K+ others out there), but because a part is back ordered, you're sorry you didn't buy something else and are planning on selling yours?
Would you feel better if several Hundred RSAs, or several Thousand RSAs had failed, but there were plenty of Spare RSAs in stock to be had?
Seems kinda Bass Ackwards, but to each his own, I guess.
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M&P recoil spring failure
After returning from the range and cleaning the gum the cap at the end of the spring was gone completely.
The dealer felt there might something more than just the recoil spring and suggested I send the gun to be checked out.
Will post what they tell me when the gun is returned.
After returning from the range and cleaning the gum the cap at the end of the spring was gone completely.
The dealer felt there might something more than just the recoil spring and suggested I send the gun to be checked out.
Will post what they tell me when the gun is returned.
bigwheelzip
Absent Comrade
Even if it is "just the recoil spring", I would send my entire Shield back, so that the monetary impact to the company hopefully increases to the point that they stop ignoring it, and redesign the RSA.
We Shield owners do ourselves no favors by giving S&W an easy and cheap way to ignore this issue, by simply mailing another example of a flimsy product.
Florida J Frame
US Veteran
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It would be interesting to start a serial number list on RSA failures. I wonder if the problem could be from one lot of RSAs with a QC problem.
bigwheelzip
Absent Comrade
This thread is almost three years old, and still being added to. There are a steady stream of similar threads to this one, and replacement RSA's are identical to failed ones. Call S&W CS and the response is indicative of a company decision to ignore the issue as long as its possible. Probably take lawyers representing dead clients before a fix is made.
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M&P 9 sent back for recoil spring
When i talked to S&W all they wanted was to send me a new spring, I felt the entire gun should be looked at to get a clean bill of health if possible. I fired approx 200 rounds and the spring fails, i am a little " concerned ".
When i talked to S&W all they wanted was to send me a new spring, I felt the entire gun should be looked at to get a clean bill of health if possible. I fired approx 200 rounds and the spring fails, i am a little " concerned ".
bigwheelzip
Absent Comrade
Yeah, that figures. That's why I'd fain ignorance, and say the slide is jambed or something, if either of mine ever fails again.
In the meantime, it's cold enough here in upstate South Carolina that we can wear a jacket, and the single-stack is unnecessary.
You can thank......
You can thank a concept called 'Just in time' delivery for that. The factory gets what it needs, when it needs it. No inventory. They've got to keep that line running. No time for your 'spare parts'.
You can thank a concept called 'Just in time' delivery for that. The factory gets what it needs, when it needs it. No inventory. They've got to keep that line running. No time for your 'spare parts'.
crashdummy
Member
Bought a new 45 Shield this morning.
Upon arriving home I disassembled to clean and lubricate prior to firing......
Guess what ? when I removed the RCA there was no end cap ? or if there was I can't find it. anyway the new gun is useless as the RCA is not complete. I have another shield and 4 M&Ps so know what the assy is supposed to look like. Of course it is Saturday so everyone is closed.
I get to spend the whole weekend looking forward to trying to contact someone at S&W to get a replacement. I would not think that the whole gun has to be sent it. Thanks for letting me blow off some steam.
Upon arriving home I disassembled to clean and lubricate prior to firing......
Guess what ? when I removed the RCA there was no end cap ? or if there was I can't find it. anyway the new gun is useless as the RCA is not complete. I have another shield and 4 M&Ps so know what the assy is supposed to look like. Of course it is Saturday so everyone is closed.
I get to spend the whole weekend looking forward to trying to contact someone at S&W to get a replacement. I would not think that the whole gun has to be sent it. Thanks for letting me blow off some steam.
Not having parts available is a common problem because of JUST IN TIME MANUFACTURING.
Nobody carries inventory anymore because if you do you have thousands of dollars tied up and your books look worse for it due to the way accountants evaluate financial health.
It is a huge problem for companies. Where I work, we can't ship product sometimes because parts are delayed. When everything works your parts are delivered on time and raw material or parts come in and finished goods go out the door.
You don't keep many spares on hand to fix customer problems. We had a repair last week that will have to wait until the new year due to part availability. Parts go to NEW ORDERS first then customers with extended warranties then paid repairs.
I imagine S&W has parts for the production line but NOT for repairs.
Nobody carries inventory anymore because if you do you have thousands of dollars tied up and your books look worse for it due to the way accountants evaluate financial health.
It is a huge problem for companies. Where I work, we can't ship product sometimes because parts are delayed. When everything works your parts are delivered on time and raw material or parts come in and finished goods go out the door.
You don't keep many spares on hand to fix customer problems. We had a repair last week that will have to wait until the new year due to part availability. Parts go to NEW ORDERS first then customers with extended warranties then paid repairs.
I imagine S&W has parts for the production line but NOT for repairs.
bigwheelzip
Absent Comrade
I saw no noticeable change between the original and the replacement. I'd been hoping that the problem was solved because there had been no complaints for an extended period, but the problem has resurfaced again, judging from recent posts in this forum.
I'd think the odds of the replacement assembly having a problem are the same as for the original that was installed.
I just received this.
"Dear Customer,
We will send you a new recoil assembly free of charge. Your order number is xxxxxxx. It is on backorder but will ship as soon as it becomes available."
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
"Dear Customer,
We will send you a new recoil assembly free of charge. Your order number is xxxxxxx. It is on backorder but will ship as soon as it becomes available."
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
