I don't understand the popularity of the M&P Shield guns.

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

My original Shield has been ok---no failures and accurate enough----my new Shield Plus is on another level with a way better trigger and almost double capacity. Along with my M&P compacts my Glocks have been basically retired but I'm still keeping them.

Here's my breakdown on getting the Shield Plus:
Remembering the HS2000 at $300 when they slapped the XD name on it and almost doubled the price---nope you lost me for good there.

I've just never have good experiences with Sig---so they're out

That brought it down to Glock and S&W-----I did like the 43X but not going to depend on the aftermarket to get the capacity that it should have anyway----so Shield it is.

Did look at the Taurus and Ruger offerings--the Taurus was ok but the bad rep and similar price to the S&W---I'll go Smith.
The Rugers are just weird and ugly---and I'm a Ruger fan.

I didn't like S&W products for the longest time going back to the eighties but they have slowly wormed their way into my graces.

 

[Propforce]

The Shield 45 is surprisingly soft shooting, easy to carry IWB, and it's my carry gun.

 

[dogtown tom]

I'm a little surprised that anyone but the tiniest of humans manage to squeeze their fingers into the trigger guard of a Shield Plus without firing a shot immediately.

Huh.
All these years, literally thousands on tens of thousands of S&W Shields sold, and someone thinks the trigger guard is abnormally small.
I have 400lb customers with kielbasa fingers that haven't complained about that.

 

[KevininPa]

I have the Shield EZ PC model in 9mm. Personally, I found the grip area almost too aggressive. But the Talon Grip skin fixed that. Actually went looking at them with a friend who has hand issues. Liked it so much, bought one for myself. And between the sale price and the rebate, I got a PC pistol for around $380 or so!

 

[jar]

I'm a little surprised that anyone but the tiniest of humans manage to squeeze their fingers into the trigger guard of a Shield Plus without firing a shot immediately.

That's truly amazing since the trigger guard and placement has been consistent ever since the Wonder Nines first appeared. Here is my Shield 2.0 9mm sitting on top of my S&W 469 that I bought in the mid 1980s.



The top of the slides and the back of the grips are aligned. Notice how the distance to the triggers, the curve of the triggers, the size and clearance in the trigger guard, the front straps, barrel height and even grip lengths are almost identical. The 469 is a double stack and the slide is slightly wider yet still snaps in place in a modern kydex holster for my Shield 2.0 45.

That's almost 40 years of consistent ergonomics and I bet S&W has sold quite a few pistols with exactly the same ergonomics to quite a few various sized hands over the last half century.

 

[JDGray]

I seen a test where all the guns were frozen on dry ice, and the M&P was one of the only guns that functioned! It did well in the mud test too Not that we subject our carry guns to extreme conditions, but it's nice to know...

 

[zaitcev]

Here is my Shield 2.0 9mm . . .

Big difference from the Plus, which disposes with the (un)folding trigger.

 

[someguy2800]

I bought a 4" shield plus performance center last fall. I was really excited about it thought I was going to love it just from handling and dry firing. After shooting it I was left really underwhelmed. It just didn't do it for me and was nearly the same size as a glock 19. It was up for sale within a week. I also never got the single stack shields. The 40 and 45 is kind of interesting just because they are pretty unique in the market, but compared to my LC9s the 9mm single stack shield are huge and blocky and I do not like the trigger as much as the LC9s.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

My first Gen Shield has around 13k shot through it. I had to change the recoil spring just last year. I went right back to shooting just fine.
My loads are all 4.0 gr of Tightgroup at 1.10 which is techniquely over standard load. It handled it just fine.
A couple years ago I bought the Shield Plus PC model with the ported barrel and it shoots great.
The only thing I don't like is the mess the porting makes inside the slide.
But I've gotten used to cleaning it out so I guess I don't care anymore.
Reliability is the reason that the Shields have such a popularity. I won't carry anything else. I can hit the 6" spinner plates at 25 yds with mine without to much trouble. I can hit them easier with it than I can my SR9 full size due to the ergonomics of the Shield.
You buy what you want, I could care less.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

The 40 and 45 is kind of interesting just because they are pretty unique in the market, but compared to my LC9s the 9mm single stack shield are huge and blocky and I do not like the trigger as much as the LC9s.

I hear what your saying and we all have different sized hands. I'm glad we have the variety we have to chose from.
I tried the LC9 once, I couldn't pull the trigger far enough to set it off. I guess my hands didn't fit it or I pulled on to many pipe wrenches over the years. So I never got to try the Ruger.
Supposed to be a really good gun but I'll never know.

 

[Mike J]

I have owned 2 Shields, one was the ported Performance Center model, the other was a standard Shield. Both are wonderful for carry. I didn't really care for the porting, so I sold the Performance Center version and kept the regular version.

Shields are good guns, and on par with any other micro compact 9mm. I think any S&W bashing in this thread boils down to either personal preference, or someone who just happened to get a lemon, which seems to happen with almost any manufacturer, except maybe for Glock.

I don't disparage the Shield but we had a Shield 380 EZ that had issues. It would feed the last round in the magazine all the way through the gun & out the ejection port without chambering it. It would do it about every 5 magazines consistently. After having problems I did a search on the S&W forum & learned this was a known issue. Some of the 380 EZ's seemed to be okay, some had this issue. I sent the pistol in to S&W. they polished the barrel, etc. It came back with the same issue. Long story short I replaced the magazine springs with stronger springs & it worked. The magazines just aren't EZ to load anymore. If someone is considering buying a Shield 380 EZ I might mention my experience & suggest they research this issue first. If they have already bought one & have the issue, I will share with them what I did to resolve it.
I think all the other models of the Shield are fine but S&W really. disappointed me. I was not upset that I had an issue. I was upset the S&W did not resolve the issue. Interestingly enough I may buy another S&W product sometime as I really like my M&P 2.0 Compact. If so, I will make it a point to do more research & make sure my due diligence is done before purchasing.

 

[bannockburn]

Old Dog

I find it interesting that the OP sees the Shield as feeling cheaper, more clunky, worse quality and a bad trigger compared to the SA XD-S -- because I feel the exact opposite. Especially with the ergonomics, the trigger, the grip texture, the fit and finish and the "clunkiness" factor. Shield, to me, is hands down a superior pistol.

I felt the same way when I was shopping for a more compact size 9mm. a while back

I just like the SIG P-365 series a bit better. (I also like my Glock 43X.)

Now you're talking! Love my SIG P365X, Glock 43X, and Glock 48! Great ergonomics (fit me like they were made for my size hand), and with decent sights and triggers on all three!

 

[Capybara]

It really does come down to preference. I have owned multiple SIGs, you couldn't pay me to carry a SIG, mine have consistently broken,
had to go in for warranty service, I wouldn't trust my life to a SIG, ever. I sold all three of them and the brand is dead to me, I would never
own another. But they sell millions of P365 and variants so there are obviously more SIG owners who haven't had my terrible luck with their
lack of reliability and long term operating. I have two friends who bought P365s and both broke under warranty and had to go back to SIG,
one of them had rust on the barrel right out of the box. Pass. SIG needs to work on their QC.

I have a Glock G17, really like it although it's ugly and the trigger feels like it's being dragged through mashed potatoes. But it's reliable
and I shoot it well. Glocks taught me that a gun "feeling good" in your hand doesn't necessarily mean you will shoot it well. My G17 feels
like a piece of 2x4 in my hand but I shoot it better than the my compact pistols, I think largely due to the thickness and width of the grip. So a G19 or 48
may be just the ticket to add to my CCW. I carry my 17 but it's large so it gouges me in the side while driving or sitting at my desk. I will likely add
a G19, Shadow Systems MR920 or a G48 to my CCW when it comes up for renewal in a 18 months.

 

[Alllen Bundy]

I have owned multiple SIGs, you couldn't pay me to carry a SIG, mine have consistently broken, had to go in for warranty service, I wouldn't trust my life to a SIG, ever......... But they sell millions of P365 and variants so there are obviously more SIG owners who haven't had my terrible luck with their lack of reliability and long term operating. I have two friends who bought P365s and both broke under warranty and had to go back to SIG, one of them had rust on the barrel right out of the box.

I would like to hear about the problems that those P365's had.

I have long since given up on manufacturers producing perfect products, even when the products are highly regarded. I'm pragmatic and I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bath water over small issues that are easily fixable myself. But some problems are unsurmountable. Glocks don't come with manual trigger safeties and their inertial trigger safety (trigger dongle) can cause it's own problems. I consider that an unsurmountable design problem and I would never carry any pistol with a multi-piece trigger.

SIG needs to work on their QC.

I agree. But so do most companies. It's rare if I can't find design and/or quality issues with ANY product. There are 7 places inside a P365 series pistol that should be polished for improved reliability and/or performance improvement. I don't trust the P365 dual round wire recoil springs as the outer spring has been known to coil over itself and jam after as little as 200 rounds fired. So I replaced those springs with a higher quality flat coil spring made by ISMI, which by the spring geometry itself makes the spring coil over nearly impossible.

Then there are ergonomic issues, one of which can cause an operator issue. The beavertail on a P36XL magazine has some moderately sharp corners on which the web of your hand can catch upon during a draw. A few minutes or sanding the corners to round them and the problem is solved.

Nearly EVERY gun related product that I have ever purchased has needed some kind of attention and/or modification to make it perform to my expectations.