Talk me out of this Shield

[Fiv3r]

I would say a 30S is in the top 5 guns I would impulse purchase right now. Unlike the current trend, I am moving away from 9mm back toward. 45. I have an 21 magazine that I no longer have a gun that fits. Sounds like a perfectly valid reason to buy a 30

The thing keeping me from buying a 30 is that my Shield just does so much right. At the expense of firepower, I have a slim and robust package that fits my needs and fits IWB.

 

[Spats McGee]

I only have one pistol in 45acp .. Its a Glock 30S .... Just a great pistol

But if the S&W Sheild in 45acp is anything like my Sheild 9 . ...
Im sure its a great pistol...

....I would say a 30S is in the top 5 guns I would impulse purchase right now..... The thing keeping me from buying a 30 is that my Shield just does so much right.....

I had a 30S for a little while. It seemed like a good pistol, just a smidge too fat for my hands. As good as my Shield has been, I had to give the Shield 45s a look when I started thinking about switching back to 45 for carry.

What I have realized is that there's one hiccup I didn't see, even though I should have. A spare recoil spring. It's not a pressing concern, but sometimes in the next few thousand rounds, I'm going to want to get a backup recoil spring, like I do for most of my semi-autos. And because this is a non-standard pistol, that may be trickier than usual. I'll email S&W and report back.

 

[Spats McGee]

..... spare recoil spring.....

Chalk up a win for S&W in the customer service category! I emailed them early this morning. I explained that I like to keep an extra recoil spring assembly on hand for my semi-automatics and offered to purchase one, if they'd just tell me how. In just under 12 hours, I got a response. They're sending me one, gratis, and it should be here in 7-10 days. You just can't beat that.

 

[Spats McGee]

First range trip was disappointing. This was mostly due to how poorly I shot, but also some pistol problems.

As to pistol problems:
The night I got the pistol, I detail stripped, checked for obvious flaws, cleaned & lubed. Took it to the range on Friday and fired 177 rounds. 152 rounds of 230 grain ball and 25 Winchester JHPs of indeterminate pedigree. (Quite likely the cheapest JHPs I could find at Wal-Mart about 10 years ago.) I got 2 failures to feed out of the ball ammo. I'm not sure if these were out of the same magazine, but I'll be looking into that. I'm also hoping that a couple of hundred rounds will break the pistol in. The JHPs had one dud primer, but otherwise fed and ran perfectly.

Also, 'one drop' of oil from a Weapon Shield bottle is apparently a much bigger drop than contemplated by S&W. I lubed according to the owner's manual, putting only 'one drop' where it said to. It was still obvious that I was it was running it too wet. Oil was coming out of places it should not have been. Time to invest in a needle dropper.

 

[94045]

First range trip was disappointing. This was mostly due to how poorly I shot, but also some pistol problems.

As to pistol problems:
The night I got the pistol, I detail stripped, checked for obvious flaws, cleaned & lubed. Took it to the range on Friday and fired 177 rounds. 152 rounds of 230 grain ball and 25 Winchester JHPs of indeterminate pedigree. (Quite likely the cheapest JHPs I could find at Wal-Mart about 10 years ago.) I got 2 failures to feed out of the ball ammo. I'm not sure if these were out of the same magazine, but I'll be looking into that. I'm also hoping that a couple of hundred rounds will break the pistol in. The JHPs had one dud primer, but otherwise fed and ran perfectly.

Also, 'one drop' of oil from a Weapon Shield bottle is apparently a much bigger drop than contemplated by S&W. I lubed according to the owner's manual, putting only 'one drop' where it said to. It was still obvious that I was it was running it too wet. Oil was coming out of places it should not have been. Time to invest in a needle dropper.

Plastic guns are just different.
A drop on the barrel at the front top.
A drop on the barrel lugs.
A drop barrel hood/slide interface.
A drop on the metal rail insets on the poly frame.
Put it together and rack the slide a few times.
Pull the slide back off and wipe anything really visible off with a piece of patch material.
Repeat every 250-500 rounds.
...and those are the smallest drops I can get out of a needle dropper.

I am sorry to hear about the issues. Mine has gobbled everything I tried but I like warm ammo and broke it in with S&B FMJ which easily exceeds 800 fps (3.3" barrel). My carry ammo is also Federal LE45T1 (230+P) that clocks about 830 fps (3.3"). I think the weakest thing I've ran are Federal AE and Armscor.


PS You will find a little brass in the gun when you disassemble. This is by design as it rubs the rim to control slide speed. After a several hundred rounds it will almost stop as the surface polishes off some of the edges.

 

[JR24]

Well that's too bad, but a new gun and small gun with tight (presumably) springs hopefully will work in for ya.

 

[Spats McGee]

Plastic guns are just different.
A drop on the barrel at the front top.
A drop on the barrel lugs.
A drop barrel hood/slide interface.
A drop on the metal rail insets on the poly frame.
Put it together and rack the slide a few times.
Pull the slide back off and wipe anything really visible off with a piece of patch material.
Repeat every 250-500 rounds.
...and those are the smallest drops I can get out of a needle dropper.

I get that. And with the exception of the "repeat" part, that's what I did. I put lube where the owner's manual said to, and only where the manual said to. I guess I just didn't wipe everything well enough.

In any event, I'm headed out today for some honest-to-goodness training to (try to) cure some of the shooter problems. I'll disassemble, wipe down, blast of compressed air before I go.

I am sorry to hear about the issues. Mine has gobbled everything I tried but I like warm ammo and broke it in with S&B FMJ which easily exceeds 800 fps (3.3" barrel). My carry ammo is also Federal LE45T1 (230+P) that clocks about 830 fps (3.3"). I think the weakest thing I've ran are Federal AE and Armscor.

My 9mm Shield has run like a champ, eaten everything without hesitation. I'm hoping a little break-in fixes some of this.

....PS You will find a little brass in the gun when you disassemble. This is by design as it rubs the rim to control slide speed. After a several hundred rounds it will almost stop as the surface polishes off some of the edges.

As those surfaces polish off, won't that (controlling slide speed) quit working, then? What am I missing? And I have never found brass inside my Shield 1.0.

 

[Fiv3r]

Man that's too bad. Mine was aces out of the box. I'm not a good shot by any stretch, but I shoot my Shield better than any Officer size 1911 I have owned. It really made it a no-brainer for a carry .45 for me.

That's a real bummer that yours was having some issues.

 

[Spats McGee]

.... I'll disassemble, wipe down, blast of compressed air before I go [to the range today]....

This part's done. No brass in pistol.

Man that's too bad. Mine was aces out of the box. I'm not a good shot by any stretch, but I shoot my Shield better than any Officer size 1911 I have owned. It really made it a no-brainer for a carry .45 for me.

That's a real bummer that yours was having some issues.

Yeah, it was a bummer, but I haven't given up hope yet. I'm not a "has to function 100% right out of the box or I'll never trust it" kind of guy.

 

[Jim Rau]

I've been carrying a Shield 9mm for a few years now, and I've been very happy with it. Over the past few months, though, I've been considering going back to .45 acp for carry. I've got nothing against the 9mm, and I've carried it for years. No plans to get rid of my 9s. Still, we've had several caliber wars lately, as well as .45 acp discussions, and that fired up my old brain to go to thinking about it again.

I do tend to believe that all other things being equal (which they never are), bigger holes in bad guys are better holes in bad guys. I've always shot my .45s better than my 9mms, and actually preferred the recoil impulse of the .45, but those may be a function of the pistols as much as of the calibers (5" 1911 vs G19 or 9mm Shield).

In any event, one of the things that I've said for a long time was that if someone would build a single-stack, polymer, .45 acp pistol, roughly the size of a G19, I'd be all over it. And then.... I discovered the Smith and Wesson Performance Center M&P 45 Shield 2.0, 4" barrel. Being the massive overthinker that I am, I sat down and ran the numbers on the PC Shield with the G19 and the G36. It's awfully close to that "single-stack, polymer, .45 acp pistol, roughly the size of a G19" that I mentioned above.

I can rent a Shield 45, and intend to, but I can't locally rent a Shield 45 with the 4" barrel. So, does anyone have one of these? Do you like it? How's the recoil? Can you tell me how these stack up against other pistols in your safe? I assume that it takes standard Shield 45 magazines?

My wanter is in high gear, but I can't really afford it. But maybe if I sold a couple of shotguns and hustled a side job, I could scrape the $$$ together... It just had to be a Performance Center pistol, didn't it?

The problem here is the 45 REQUIRES a barrel length of AT LEAST 4 inches to maintain enough velocity to be effective at stopping the fight. . It's life, your decision.

 

[Spats McGee]

The problem here is the 45 REQUIRES a barrel length of AT LEAST 4 inches to maintain enough velocity to be effective at stopping the fight. . It's life, your decision.

Good thing I bought one with a 4" barrel, then...

 

[Jim Rau]

Good thing I bought one with a 4" barrel, then...

Roger that, but since the 45, 40, and 9 are ALL basically the same when it comes to 'stopping the fight' with modern SD ammo why would you choose a gun with more recoil, less capacity, and heavier???????

 

[Spats McGee]

Roger that, but since the 45, 40, and 9 are ALL basically the same when it comes to 'stopping the fight' with modern SD ammo why would you choose a gun with more recoil, less capacity, and heavier???????

I think I answered all that in Post #1.

 

[94045]

I get that. And with the exception of the "repeat" part, that's what I did. I put lube where the owner's manual said to, and only where the manual said to. I guess I just didn't wipe everything well enough.

In any event, I'm headed out today for some honest-to-goodness training to (try to) cure some of the shooter problems. I'll disassemble, wipe down, blast of compressed air before I go.

My 9mm Shield has run like a champ, eaten everything without hesitation. I'm hoping a little break-in fixes some of this.

As those surfaces polish off, won't that (controlling slide speed) quit working, then? What am I missing? And I have never found brass inside my Shield 1.0.

Sorry it's dirty. I just got back from the Members Only Pre-Church Shoot.

See the milled curved slots on the underside of the slide? The edges face rearward. Only the .45 ACP Shield has them. After intro several journalist were asking about all the brass they saw in the pistols. S&W said those slots were machined to help control slide speed. In the first 200 rounds I got lots of brass particles. In the next 300 a lot less. Now I don't get any noticable amount but I can still feel the tiny nicks on cartridge rims if I run my finger along the empty casings.(They were much more substantial abrasions when the gun was new).

 

[94045]

The problem here is the 45 REQUIRES a barrel length of AT LEAST 4 inches to maintain enough velocity to be effective at stopping the fight. . It's life, your decision.

...and what leads you to this conclusion?

The 0.8" expansion and 16" penetration including bounce back in (admittedly inferior clear ballistics) gel through 4LD, the even larger diameter without denim or in water jugs, or the similar diameter and penetration in wild pigs?

Pistol - Shield .45 ACP 3.3"
Ammo - Federal LE45T1
Velocity - 830 to 850 fps depending on lot.

Plenty of modern .45 ACP Ammo that does just fine out of a 3.3" barrel. Considering it's a bonded bullet I suspect it would do just fine out of his 4" to although it might get a little larger and penetrate a little less.

 

[Jim Rau]

...and what leads you to this conclusion?

The 0.8" expansion and 16" penetration including bounce back in (admittedly inferior clear ballistics) gel through 4LD, the even larger diameter without denim or in water jugs, or the similar diameter and penetration in wild pigs?

Pistol - Shield .45 ACP 3.3"
Ammo - Federal LE45T1
Velocity - 830 to 850 fps depending on lot.

Plenty of modern .45 ACP Ammo that does just fine out of a 3.3" barrel. Considering it's a bonded bullet I suspect it would do just fine out of his 4" to although it might get a little larger and penetrate a little less.

FACTS!!! MANY tests of sub compact 45's have shown that most of them will loose 100 to 300 fps velocity when the bbl is less than 4 inches, which means you just set back terminal ballistics 100+ years by firing a non expanding bullet. Do you have a chronograph? Are you going to use this specific gun and test all the available ammo in this this gun??

 

[Jim Rau]

I think I answered all that in Post #1.

My response is the same as it was in post #135.

 

[TomJ]

My response is the same as it was in post #135.

Why are we talking about a 3.3 inch barrel when the OP bought a gun with a 4 inch barrel?

 

[Garandimal]

The problem here is the 45 REQUIRES a barrel length of AT LEAST 4 inches to maintain enough velocity to be effective at stopping the fight. . It's life, your decision.

The GLOCK G36(30/30s) 3.8" polygonal rifled Bbl., with +P ammo, produces std. pressure Service Pistol performance.

~ 860 fps w/ 230 gr.

Roger that, but since the 45, 40, and 9 are ALL basically the same when it comes to 'stopping the fight' with modern SD ammo why would you choose a gun with more recoil, less capacity, and heavier???????

Probably because he doesn't drink your brand of Kool-Aid.






GR.

 

[IdaD]

My 9mm original Shield had a couple of FTE's real early on. Not sure if ammo related or me limp wristing. This was literally years ago when it was brand new and it's never had so much as any other hiccups since, even with el cheapo ammo. I've never heard of any widespread issues with 45 Shields so OP's gun may just need some break-in rounds through it.

 

[94045]

The GLOCK G36(30/30s) 3.8" polygonal rifled Bbl., with +P ammo, produces std. pressure Service Pistol performance.

~ 860 fps w/ 230 gr.

View attachment 890903



​

Probably because he doesn't drink your brand of Kool-Aid.






GR.

Sorry, quoted wrong post.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Do you have a chronograph? Are you going to use this specific gun and test all the available ammo in this this gun??

I do. I got 850 FPS at the muzzle from my 3.3” XDs45 with 230 gr HST +p. That’s from a shorter barrel than the OP has. Pick the right ammo and you’re fine.

The problem here is the 45 REQUIRES a barrel length of AT LEAST 4 inches to maintain enough velocity to be effective at stopping the fight. . It's life, your decision.

Horse hockey.

 

[JR24]

I do. I got 850 FPS at the muzzle from my 3.3” XDs45 with 230 gr HST +p. That’s from a shorter barrel than the OP has. Pick the

Yeah, I used to get at least 850 out of my Ultra Carry with +p 230 HST as well, which is only 3" IIRC.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

 

[Garandimal]

In return, I will ask you a question:

Why would I shoot a pistol I'm slower and less accurate with?

Assuming we are talking standard models:
The 9mm Shield and .45 Shield are not the same platform. The .45 Grip is thicker, deeper, taller, gives longer trigger reach, has a longer barrel, longer sight radius and when I bought it a much better trigger.

Why would you shoot a 9mm instead of a .380? (I have seen no studies of actual shootings that say the .380 is less effective and that's despite the fact .380 uses a lot higher percentage of FMJ in shootings).

This is kind of an incoherent ramble.

Can you clean it up some?

TIA




GR