Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Smith & Wesson 9mm Shield

Gents, a buddy of mine asked me about this pistol for concealed carry for himself the other day - I wasn't even aware of this model (I've got plenty of firearms and don't read much on the new stuff anymore). The conversation also included reloading for it and thus the rifling and case support in the chamber. Tell me what you think, if you own one, and what you know about reloading for the gun - standard rifling and a supported chamber? Thanks for your input.

Great gun, no issues

Several of our deputies are using them and they really like them.

GREAT!!!!

Nice piece for waist carry. My Taurus PT111 G2 is a little too thick and heavy. Wish I had purchased a narrower, lighter 9mm like yours, the Ruger LC9s Pro or even the Taurus 709 Slim instead.

No personal experience with the 9mm, but a friend recently picked up a .40 cal. It is a stout little bugger in a small package!

Thanks for the information. Odessa

I not only carry mine all the time, I also shoot it frequently. Great gun. I also load for it. No issues.

Ernie

Thanks Ernie

I have the Shield but in 40, great carry gun with zero malfunctions

Been carrying mine for a couple of years now. Great pistol. About 750 rounds through it (will have to look at my book to see for sure) and no issues. Mine is, however, the thumb safety model but it doesn't bother me any.

The Shield is a good little pistol. Smith does a good job of pumping them out too.

We had an event this weekend and started Friday morning with 30+ 9mm Shields in inventory. We sold out just after lunch on Saturday. They have a pretty big following down here. We sell more of the thumb safety model (180021) than any other model in their line.

A Moto Tool will fix that problem in under 2 minutes after takedown.

Not everyone thinks it is a problem. That's why they make both.

Ernie

Ok, a question. Why are the majority here seemingly against external safeties on guns like the Shield, M&P9, Glock etc. but seem to be fine with the safety on 1911s? Both must be thumbed off for the gun to fire. In essence, both guns (if a round is chambered and safety on) would be considered "cocked and locked". Just asking.........

If the thumb safety was a bit better designed, I wouldn't have minded it. As it is, I never used it but rather relied on a Kydex holster to cover the trigger and my own self to keep my finger off the trigger until I wanted to shoot it.

I let my cousin shoot it one day and he engaged the safety. I almost didn't catch it and wondered what would've happened if I had needed it. I sold that one and bought one without a safety. Problem solved.

My full size 9MM and 45ACP also are sans safety and have good triggers in them. The ones I've handled with a safety seem to not be quite as smooth to me. May just be a coincidence.

The problem with the Shield safety is that it's nearly unusable. I've seen quite a few go through a course recently and as soon as you introduce a little stress and make people draw and shot quickly people stop using it and leave it off because it's hard to manipulate. The problem with that "solution" is that at some point that safety can be inadvertently flipped on and you won't be expecting that when you need it.

I bought my wife a 9mm Shield a while back and immediately had to send it back for failure to eject problems. It's back from Smith now, but I haven't fired it yet. The .40 Shield I had was problem free except that it was such a handful to shoot.

I've got one with no safety and factory night sights. It's with me at all times.

I think for a couple of reasons, lastround.

first, more than a few of us have been working with the Glock for more than a few years. An external safety on a carry pistol now requires an extra thought process.

Second, with the 1911, carrying cocked and locked, means the piece is at full cock with the safety engaged. A Glock is only half cocked and the trigger manipulation completes the other half of the cocking process, along with the firing motion, so it isn't exactly the same as carrying a 1911 with the safety off.

Worst of all for me, was trying to use or carry the Shield with the manual safety in the Off position. Invariably, I would take it out of my hip pocket at he end of the day, to find the manual safety had engaged itself.

I eventually called that a dealbreaker and sent my Shield down the road.

It was only after that, that Smith introduced a Shield without a manual safety.

By then, however, I had a Glock 43 in my back pocket.

The problem was solved for me.

Good explanations. Thanks guys; I just checked out a Shield with the external thumb safety and I can see where it could be a problem, especially in a high-stress situation. It definitely is not as user friendly as is the safety on a 1911. I have a Glock 17 gen4 on layaway at the shop. Gonna wring it out and see how I like Glocks.