Well, after having the Shield for close to a year... well, hell, probably alot more. I don't know when I bought it, I'd have to check with FBT. Probably 18 months or even more, now that I think about it anyways, I finally got to shoot it. So here are the thoughts on some of my new guns, still haven't gotten to shoot them all.
**NOTE - TL;DR at the bottom
1. S&W Shield - nice small, compact package, feels good, if a little undersized in my grip. My G27 has more heft to it, of course. Not too snappy, not hard to handle (in 9mm). The wife liked it, too. As others complained, the magazines are just ridiculously, stupidly hard to load to full capacity. The wife was unable, and I had a good bit of trouble, especially after loading a ton of mags for other guns. I just don't get it. I'm gonna look into maybe modding them to make this a little easier. It's a major detraction for this gun, if you ask me - when a normal person can't load the mags comfortably, it makes it a PITA to take to the range, and they don't get practiced with, and then they don't get carried.
2. Springfield XD9 Mod.2 - absolutely love the grips on this gun, especially as compared to the original version (more on that below). Very comfortable, very nice shooter. I can't really think of a complaint about this gun. The only thing I can really come up with is the sliding sleeve on the extended mags slides a little too easily, making it a little more tricky to load mags, something noted on the TTAG review I read, as well. So it wasn't just me. But as for ergonomics and feel and shooting... this thing is awesome. WELL worth the money. Absolutely love it!
3. XD Full-size 4" .45ACP w/safety - nice heft, nice feel. A bit more snappy, followup shots were not nearly as fast with this, I seemed to shoot a little low, but after getting used to the sights, I did ok, ringing steel pretty consistently at 25 yards. Love the capacity, like the multiple safeties, including the grip safety, although I could do without the slide-mounted thumb safety. However, the aggressive checkering on the grip really bothered me. It seemed like this had a good bit more kick on it than my 1911s or even my subcompact Taurus .45, strangely. And that grip checkering on the back really bit into my hand badly. The webbing between my thumb and forefinger got really very very raw, even when running just about 100 rounds through it. I've got relatively large, thick hands, and have good grip strength. I've never had a real problem with any other gun, although one of my 1911s will start rubbing my hand raw after a good 300-400 rounds. I was really surprised, and it made it quite uncomfortable to shoot. It just wasn't pleasant at ALL. Honestly, I think I'm going to sell this, as it just isn't my cup of tea, although I really love the Mod.2, so I'll probably try to pick up one of those in .45ACP as an alternative. I just don't see myself shooting this pistol much as unpleasant as it was for me, so there's no point in keeping it. Also had a couple of FTFs on this one... not sure how long since it'd been broken down and cleaned and lubed, so I'll probably do that and take it out one more time to make sure it's feeding reliably before I sell it off.
Spent some time zeroing in my "varmint" AR as well, which was more of a PITA than I thought. Finally got it in the proper area, but wasn't shooting anywhere close to MOA at 100 yards shooting XM855 our of my 24" stainless Wilson bull barrel. Probably closer to 2-3MOA. Maybe it was because it was hot after a couple hundred rounds overall... I dunno. Gonna have to work on that some more. Gonna get a bipod to use as well, which might help. Need some shootin' buddies who can learn me a thing or two. I would have expected once I got it zero for this thing to be a pretty nice tack-driver. Probably user error I'm sure, but it would be nice to see someone who's a good marksman get ahold of it and see what it can do.
TL;DR -
1. 9mm Shield - great little gun, liked it alot.
2. 9mm XD Mod.2 - loved it, want more like it
3. .45 XD 4" (Gen 1) - painful to shoot. grip ateup my hand. Some FTFs. Not pleased.
4. Varmint AR - tough to sight in, not super accurate, coulda been hot barrel, more likely bad shooter (me).
**NOTE - TL;DR at the bottom
1. S&W Shield - nice small, compact package, feels good, if a little undersized in my grip. My G27 has more heft to it, of course. Not too snappy, not hard to handle (in 9mm). The wife liked it, too. As others complained, the magazines are just ridiculously, stupidly hard to load to full capacity. The wife was unable, and I had a good bit of trouble, especially after loading a ton of mags for other guns. I just don't get it. I'm gonna look into maybe modding them to make this a little easier. It's a major detraction for this gun, if you ask me - when a normal person can't load the mags comfortably, it makes it a PITA to take to the range, and they don't get practiced with, and then they don't get carried.
2. Springfield XD9 Mod.2 - absolutely love the grips on this gun, especially as compared to the original version (more on that below). Very comfortable, very nice shooter. I can't really think of a complaint about this gun. The only thing I can really come up with is the sliding sleeve on the extended mags slides a little too easily, making it a little more tricky to load mags, something noted on the TTAG review I read, as well. So it wasn't just me. But as for ergonomics and feel and shooting... this thing is awesome. WELL worth the money. Absolutely love it!
3. XD Full-size 4" .45ACP w/safety - nice heft, nice feel. A bit more snappy, followup shots were not nearly as fast with this, I seemed to shoot a little low, but after getting used to the sights, I did ok, ringing steel pretty consistently at 25 yards. Love the capacity, like the multiple safeties, including the grip safety, although I could do without the slide-mounted thumb safety. However, the aggressive checkering on the grip really bothered me. It seemed like this had a good bit more kick on it than my 1911s or even my subcompact Taurus .45, strangely. And that grip checkering on the back really bit into my hand badly. The webbing between my thumb and forefinger got really very very raw, even when running just about 100 rounds through it. I've got relatively large, thick hands, and have good grip strength. I've never had a real problem with any other gun, although one of my 1911s will start rubbing my hand raw after a good 300-400 rounds. I was really surprised, and it made it quite uncomfortable to shoot. It just wasn't pleasant at ALL. Honestly, I think I'm going to sell this, as it just isn't my cup of tea, although I really love the Mod.2, so I'll probably try to pick up one of those in .45ACP as an alternative. I just don't see myself shooting this pistol much as unpleasant as it was for me, so there's no point in keeping it. Also had a couple of FTFs on this one... not sure how long since it'd been broken down and cleaned and lubed, so I'll probably do that and take it out one more time to make sure it's feeding reliably before I sell it off.
Spent some time zeroing in my "varmint" AR as well, which was more of a PITA than I thought. Finally got it in the proper area, but wasn't shooting anywhere close to MOA at 100 yards shooting XM855 our of my 24" stainless Wilson bull barrel. Probably closer to 2-3MOA. Maybe it was because it was hot after a couple hundred rounds overall... I dunno. Gonna have to work on that some more. Gonna get a bipod to use as well, which might help. Need some shootin' buddies who can learn me a thing or two. I would have expected once I got it zero for this thing to be a pretty nice tack-driver. Probably user error I'm sure, but it would be nice to see someone who's a good marksman get ahold of it and see what it can do.
TL;DR -
1. 9mm Shield - great little gun, liked it alot.
2. 9mm XD Mod.2 - loved it, want more like it
3. .45 XD 4" (Gen 1) - painful to shoot. grip ateup my hand. Some FTFs. Not pleased.
4. Varmint AR - tough to sight in, not super accurate, coulda been hot barrel, more likely bad shooter (me).
