New M&P Shield Performance Center 9mm

[Theohazard]

I haven't shot the new Performance Center Shield yet, but I have handled a couple. I noticed that while the trigger is an improvement over the regular one, it's still not as good as the $85 Apex kit. My regular Shield with the Apex internals has a smoother take-up, a smoother break, and a shorter, more pronounced reset. I don't understand how S&W couldn't make this trigger as good as Apex makes theirs. After all, the Apex kit is just a new sear, a new plunger and spring, and a new trigger return spring. How hard would it have been for S&W to copy Apex?

Also, I'd worry about a ported gun and lint accumulation. I carry IWB with my Shield and I carry everywhere I go. At night my gun gets put away and it stays in the holster. And I notice a rather large amount of lint accumulates on my gun. I'd worry about that lint getting into the bore through the ports. But as I've never carried a ported gun, I just don't know how big a deal it is.

 

[JWH321]

I can't quite wrap my mind around a short barrel that has been ported. Are there other short barreled semi-automatic pistols that anyone can think of?

 

[Girodin]

. To be honest, I noticed very little difference between this gun and my regular Shield. The muzzle flash appears in a "V" pattern, leaving the front sight unobstructed by flash. The indoor range I go to is a low-light environment, and I have to say that increased muzzle flash is simply not an issue with this gun.

Did you fire it anywhere that was truly low light. IMHE there is a difference between a dimly lit, but lit, range and a true low light environment. I have a gun that on a dim range you see muzzle flash, in true low light it produces blinding fireballs (same ammo).

The regular Shield doesn't have much muzzle flip to begin with, and this Performance Center version has even less, making follow-up shots even easier.

Was this measured with a shot timer? Can you quantify the difference or is this a perceived difference?

Another poster gave feed back on the trigger compared to an APEX, OP have you shot an APEX trigger? Can you make any comparison?

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[shlike]

Did you fire it anywhere that was truly low light. IMHE there is a difference between a dimly lit, but lit, range and a true low light environment. I have a gun that on a dim range you see muzzle flash, in true low light it produces blinding fireballs (same ammo).



Was this measured with a shot timer? Can you quantify the difference or is this a perceived difference?

Another poster gave feed back on the trigger compared to an APEX, OP have you shot an APEX trigger? Can you make any comparison?

Thanks for the feedback.

The dimly-lit range I go to was the darkest environment that I have fired the gun. My assessment is purely qualitative based on my observations. I own both a regular Shield and the Performance Center Shield. As I said, after firing both back-to-back, I noticed very little difference in the amount of muzzle flash, so I guess I would conclude that that would also hold true in a darker environment as well.

Regarding muzzle flip and follow-up shots, again this is simply my qualitative observation and perception after shooting both guns back-to-back.

With respect to the trigger, I was comparing the improvement in the Performance Center trigger to the trigger in my regular Shield. In my opinion, it is a huge improvement. The upgraded trigger makes it a joy to shoot, much like a Sig with the SRT or my Kahrs ( purely in terms of smoothness- the Kahr has a much longer single-stage trigger much like a finely tuned DA revolver, so it can't be directly compared).

I have not as yet shot a gun that has been upgraded with an Apex trigger kit, so I can't directly compare the Performance Center Shield trigger to one that has been upgraded with Apex, although I will soon be ugrading a M&P40 FS police trade-in I recently purchased with an Apex Duty/Carry trigger kit. The police trade-in has the very stiff "Cop" trigger and is NOT a joy to shoot as-is.

Again, the observations I made in my range report were strictly subjective based on my experience with both the standard Shield and the Performance Center Shield both of which I own and shot back-to-back. Both are excellent guns; the Performance Center is just more "refined", and more "rewarding" to shoot. Plus, it looks really cool with that ported slide....

Sorry I can't give a more quantitative analysis, but I was a Liberal Arts major....

 

[UpperAtmosphere]

I haven't shot the new Performance Center Shield yet, but I have handled a couple. I noticed that while the trigger is an improvement over the regular one, it's still not as good as the $85 Apex kit.

I'd settle for "improvement" straight from the factory rather than install the full-on Apex kit on another Shield.

I like the Apex kit fine, but getting the sights off a Shield is bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Did it once, swore I'd never do it again.