I'm starting this thread because information on the S&W M&P Shield is scattered all over this forum.
I was fortunate to buy a Shield 9MM this past May from 2A Shooting Center, and it has been a phenomenal pistol. Right out of the box, it had a very good trigger, excellent sights, and was utterly reliable. Its thinness though took some getting used to, because it changed my grip from how my SIG 229 felt in my hand. After about 200 rounds, I can shoot accurately and it feels natural.
I did install an Apex sear kit, which made an already good trigger an exceptional one. It took out a lot of the scratchiness when the trigger bar engaged the firing pin block. I would recommend all Shield owners to install their Apex tactical Shield Duty kit!
One major issue is inserting the 7 round mag into the gun. When fully loaded, it is a bear to insert the mag into the gun. It takes a ton of force to insert it, and you can feel it binding on the mag release. Not good. So I disassembled the 8 round and the 7 round mags and learned they have the same spring! Same length!! I figured the 7 round mag was getting fully compressed when I had 7 rounds in it and had no more room to compress when inserting into the gun. Cutting off one coil of the mag spring solved the issue. Now it inserts normally and has the same tension and feel of the 8 round mag; this did not affect feeding or reliability in the least.
The biggest issue is the gun's availability. You can't find one locally, and they're running MSRP + 10+% on Gunbroker.
What's your take or issue on the M&P Shield?
I was fortunate to buy a Shield 9MM this past May from 2A Shooting Center, and it has been a phenomenal pistol. Right out of the box, it had a very good trigger, excellent sights, and was utterly reliable. Its thinness though took some getting used to, because it changed my grip from how my SIG 229 felt in my hand. After about 200 rounds, I can shoot accurately and it feels natural.
I did install an Apex sear kit, which made an already good trigger an exceptional one. It took out a lot of the scratchiness when the trigger bar engaged the firing pin block. I would recommend all Shield owners to install their Apex tactical Shield Duty kit!
One major issue is inserting the 7 round mag into the gun. When fully loaded, it is a bear to insert the mag into the gun. It takes a ton of force to insert it, and you can feel it binding on the mag release. Not good. So I disassembled the 8 round and the 7 round mags and learned they have the same spring! Same length!! I figured the 7 round mag was getting fully compressed when I had 7 rounds in it and had no more room to compress when inserting into the gun. Cutting off one coil of the mag spring solved the issue. Now it inserts normally and has the same tension and feel of the 8 round mag; this did not affect feeding or reliability in the least.
The biggest issue is the gun's availability. You can't find one locally, and they're running MSRP + 10+% on Gunbroker.
What's your take or issue on the M&P Shield?
