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I bought one of these from the S&W performance shop in 9mm. Right out of the box it fed and fired everything regardless of bullet shape, steel case, aluminum case surplus etc. Very easy to hit with..my wife has taken it over..
So I ordered anther one in .40 also from the performance shop.
This one by contrast must be a Friday after noon gun. Slide was so stiff and gritty I could not pull it back far enough to engage the slide lock. Pulled it apart and cleaned a bunch of reddish grit out of it and lubed it. About every third round was a failure to feed. Looked as though the extractor was digging into the case just before the extractor groove. The seven round magazine would not feed at all. Managed to get three boxes through it, took a break and cleaned/lubed it again. Ran out and got some white box and Rem ammo. Same thing. Ran another magazine through it and noticed I no longer had a rear sight! Supposedly staked in and not adjustable.
Called S&W and they emailed me a label to send it in for repair . 2-6 weeks. Supposedly the performance center test fires every one before they leave the shop. I have full confidence in S&W but this is a bit frustrating.
Lefty C
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Considering it's from the performance center, that's pretty surprising.
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I have shot other Shields in .40&.45. Triggers are good and they are pretty nice considering thier size. I like it for backpacking, fits right in a jean pocket.
Lefty
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I had an issue with mine as well. The back plate on rear of slide would slip down enough when fired that it would not return to battery; the bottom of the back plate would catch the frame as is slid forward. Sent it back to S&W last spring, came back and worked fine. Last week I took it out to shoot a couple mags after not firing it for a while, first shot same thing happened. Pushed it back into place, fired a few more rounds with no other issues. Kinda makes you think, if you needed it for something serious and it screwed up like that it might be the difference in winning or losing.
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I don't doubt your interesting experience but think its not particularly reflective of a widespread design or manufacturing problem.
My experience has been different with a 9mm, a 40, & 2 45 Shields. All have worked out of the box without problems or particular preference for ammo. Also have experience with my son's 9 & 45 Shields. All have worked as advertised. These were rock stock out of the box, though now several they've had a few basic mods, mainly sights and in some cases Apex triggers and carry/duty kits. These mods were my preferences, not needs to fix any particular problem.
Quite a bit of gun for the money.
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty of give me death! P. Henry
Deus vult!
Rhodesians all now
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I bought one of these from the S&W performance shop in 9mm. Right out of the box it fed and fired everything regardless of bullet shape, steel case, aluminum case surplus etc. Very easy to hit with..my wife has taken it over..
So I ordered anther one in .40 also from the performance shop.
This one by contrast must be a Friday after noon gun. Slide was so stiff and gritty I could not pull it back far enough to engage the slide lock. Pulled it apart and cleaned a bunch of reddish grit out of it and lubed it. About every third round was a failure to feed. Looked as though the extractor was digging into the case just before the extractor groove. The seven round magazine would not feed at all. Managed to get three boxes through it, took a break and cleaned/lubed it again. Ran out and got some white box and Rem ammo. Same thing. Ran another magazine through it and noticed I no longer had a rear sight! Supposedly staked in and not adjustable.
Called S&W and they emailed me a label to send it in for repair . 2-6 weeks. Supposedly the performance center test fires every one before they leave the shop. I have full confidence in S&W but this is a bit frustrating.
Lefty C Let us know if they correct the issue. Dave
Trump being classless,tasteless and clueless as usual. Sorry, trump is a no tax payin pile of shiit. My young wife decided to play the field and had moved several dudes into my house
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Let us know if they correct the issue.
Dave
Sure will....I am so impressed with the 9mm, pretty confident that S&W will sort it out. Somewhat surprised that it got out of the performance shop with issues...
Lefty
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one reason I buy Smith and Wesson, Leupold, Ruger etc. is that if you have a problem they will fix it, usually at no charge. I have a 45 Shield that shoots as good as I do and I enjoy owning it. I just bought a 9mm Shield which I am going to try out today and maybe get rid of my Glock 43. I like both guns regards size however the Shield just gives you a bit more to hold onto, hope it works today or I will be posting along with you!!!
I had given the Walther PPS a thought and it is supposed to be more accurate, it just looks top heavy to me and "combat accuracy" from a small gun seems to be "ok" on a B-27 at 7 yards. I am not sure I am a good enough shot to use the accuracy that some guns offer!
Hoping they will fix it to your satisfaction. Keep us informed.
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one reason I buy Smith and Wesson, Leupold, Ruger etc. is that if you have a problem they will fix it, usually at no charge. I would add Springfield Armory to that list. Frankly, that was also my experience also with Kahr. Kel-Tech, too, in fact. Lots of gun companies are good with standing behind their products.
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And Glock, the one Kel-tec 9mm I tried Was unpleasant to shoot and had to be repaired twice.
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And Glock, the one Kel-tec 9mm I tried Was unpleasant to shoot and had to be repaired twice. I'm not impressed with Glock on this dimension. I sent in a 30S that was frequently locking back while the mag still contained ammo. They sent it back to me essentially telling me to grip the gun better when I shot it ... no repair work done on the gun. I dumped it at a substantial loss at a gun show.
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And Glock, the one Kel-tec 9mm I tried Was unpleasant to shoot and had to be repaired twice. PF-9? Single stack? That is one unpleasant pistol; poorly designed in many ways and not a surprise it had issues.
America needs to understand that our troops are not 'disposable'. Each represents a family; Fathers, Mothers, Sons, Daughters, Cousins, Uncles, Aunts... Our Citizens are our most valuable treasure; we waste far too many.
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Jimmyp
Before I bought my S&W shield 9mm I tried a Walther. It functioned fine but I just didn't like the way it pointed. Even though it was heavier than the shield it had more muzzle flip and was actually more difficult, if not unpleasant to shoot. Complicated to field strip also.
I love my 9mm if we can just get the 40 working it will be great.
Lefty C
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I bought a S&W SD9 VE Last month. 16 shot and a very nice trigger. So last week I ordered a S&W SD40 from Grab-a-Gun and I picked it up yesterday. My first .40 cal. pistol. Can't wait to try it out.
Better to be over the hill than under it.
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I guess I was in in denial considering how well my 9 worked, so I went out and bought 2 more boxes of ammo. Fed HP and Win FMJ. I also had a friend with a .40 shield loan me his 7 shot mag.
With great anticipation I racked the first round in..2 bangs and then the same old jam. Cleared it fired one and jam again. got to the end of the magazine and his would not hold my slide open. He has fired his about 1000 rnds and thinks he may have cleaned it once or twice. Never had a jam or misfire.
Off to FEDX
LC
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I guess I was in in denial considering how well my 9 worked, so I went out and bought 2 more boxes of ammo. Fed HP and Win FMJ. I also had a friend with a .40 shield loan me his 7 shot mag.
With great anticipation I racked the first round in..2 bangs and then the same old jam. Cleared it fired one and jam again. got to the end of the magazine and his would not hold my slide open. He has fired his about 1000 rnds and thinks he may have cleaned it once or twice. Never had a jam or misfire.
Off to FEDX
LC Back in the 1990s I bought a Springfield Armory Loaded Model of 1911 A1 that was pretty much the same. Serious issues. They fixed it up good, and sent it back to me with a nicely tuned action. I also bought, about the same time period, an S&W Titanium framed J-Framed PD model that jammed up a lot right out of the box. Strange for a revolver, but there you have it. People think revolvers are a lot more reliable out of the box, but they can come with reliability issues from the factory, too. S&W fixed that right up. Quality control at factories isn't what it was in the 1950s. They've substituted good return and repair policies for it, just permitting occasional lemons to slip through and be dealt with later.
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I guess I was in in denial considering how well my 9 worked, so I went out and bought 2 more boxes of ammo. Fed HP and Win FMJ. I also had a friend with a .40 shield loan me his 7 shot mag.
With great anticipation I racked the first round in..2 bangs and then the same old jam. Cleared it fired one and jam again. got to the end of the magazine and his would not hold my slide open. He has fired his about 1000 rnds and thinks he may have cleaned it once or twice. Never had a jam or misfire.
Off to FEDX
LC Back in the 1990s I bought a Springfield Armory Loaded Model of 1911 A1 that was pretty much the same. Serious issues. They fixed it up good, and sent it back to me with a nicely tuned action. I also bought, about the same time period, an S&W Titanium framed J-Framed PD model that jammed up a lot right out of the box. Strange for a revolver, but there you have it. People think revolvers are a lot more reliable out of the box, but they can come with reliability issues from the factory, too. S&W fixed that right up. Quality control at factories isn't what it was in the 1950s. They've substituted good return and repair policies for it, just permitting occasional lemons to slip through and be dealt with later. It would be interesting to compare actual return/repair rates between now and the 1950s, especially with the changes in volume of production and of number of different models and styles of pistols produced.
America needs to understand that our troops are not 'disposable'. Each represents a family; Fathers, Mothers, Sons, Daughters, Cousins, Uncles, Aunts... Our Citizens are our most valuable treasure; we waste far too many.
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Back in the '50's, Quality Control was more or less 100% Inspection. Then there was a transition to Statistical Quality Control and subsequently ISO Standards which relied on numerical control and a new attitude on what was acceptable. There are Tables published by the Government Called Mil-Std 105, etc that allowed for some defects in manufacturing. The Japs started a new era with the inception of a different approach. That's when the Japs started to take over the Auto industry and also the Electronics market. With the current explosion in small arms, it is becoming more difficult for companies to adequately control quality in their products due to competition. Those that succeed in producing quality firearms today will be the old-timers, that have quality as their focus, and not aesthetics or price. You always will have a lemon out there in any product whether it be Auto's, Electronics, or Firearms. The secret is...luck. If you get lucky, you might get a fine product. If not you are screwed.
Better to be over the hill than under it.
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Lefty, you tried the PPS and found it had more muzzle flip than shield 9? So compared side by side with WW white box 115 grain 9mm, today after 150 rounds the shield has more muzzle flip than the smaller G43! The accuracy is about the same. So I wanted something that would fill in between the G43 and a G19. To me the Shield is not that product. That the PPS has more flip than the shield is not good.
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UPDATE
I got a notification from FEDX that S&W had shipped the handgun and be delivered in 2 days.
BIG PROBLEM! I gave S&W specific instructions in writing as well as a phone call that I was travelling a lot and call before shipping. It requires a adult signature and no one would be there to receive it......well according to tracking it was delivered. To who? Also very rural where I live.
After several phone calls S&W is looking into it with FEDEX.
Will be back home in 2 weeks hopefully this will get straightened out. Not very happy having a handgun registered to me floating around out there.
Lefty C
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UPDATE ON .40 SHIELD
Well I finally got my Shield back. FEDEX lost if for a few weeks, finally ended up back at S&W and eventually here.
A note with it indicated the guide rod and slide were replaced along with the rear sight. The guide rod looks to be a different design than the original.
I put about 100 rnds through it this am...HP, FMJ, and some steel case stuff. Perfect not a bobble. The performance center got it right.
Lefty C
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Thanks for the update, the 40 shield would be a nice backpacking pistol in black bear country.
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I received excellent service from S&W for my PC revolver.
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Sent a .380 to S&W three weeks ago. They notified me a week ago that the repair was done and it was on the way to their mail room. They said they would notify me when it was shipped. So according to them as of now it still is in the mail room. Looks like they need to fix their mail room problem.
Better to be over the hill than under it.
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I just called them, the technician was concerned that I was thinking of shooting 200 grain HC from underwood in a shield. Not saami specs so not recommended. Glad I checked before I went down that road.
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Rond,
The mail room is the problem. I wrote in huge letters DO NOT SHIP UNLESS YOU CALL GOING OUT OF TOWN. They shipped any way and started a whole mess for three weeks till it got back to S&W and then it was hung up in the mail room for another 3 weeks and that's with me calling and them saying it's going out in a day. The repair itself was excellent and the gun eats anything w/o issues.
LC
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I got an e-mail yesterday that it's on the way. About time. Now we shall see if the safety works. How they can sell a brand new gun that the safety is frozen on it. Could not budge it. Now I have to make sure someone is around to sign for it. FedEx won't leave it without a signature from an adult. I suppose that's a good policy except for people who work all day.
Better to be over the hill than under it.
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Thanks for the update, the 40 shield would be a nice backpacking pistol in black bear country. I think another platform would be more suitable for that use. I love the compactness of my 40 sheild , I had a Apex trigger put in and it is a huge improvement but I still like the trigger on my Glock 23 much better. I carry a GP 100 with a 4" barrel in my daypack .
Last edited by Oldelkhunter; 05/18/17.
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OK,
Both of my Shields came from the performance shop, "enhanced" Both triggers are very good and I wouldn't want them any lighter on a gun that might be used for SD.
Lefty
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OK,
Both of my Shields came from the performance shop, "enhanced" Both triggers are very good and I wouldn't want them any lighter on a gun that might be used for SD.
Lefty It is not the lightness that bothers me it is the feel of the trigger more then anything. I have not picked up a performance shop Sheild to compare
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I've had nothing but good experiences with S&W Performance Center guns. I have five of them. One, a .41 magnum 657 "Hunter" I bought used. It didn't shoot like I thought it should, muzzle looked a little buggered up from, maybe, some wild and crazy cleaning rod action. Sent it to S&W, told them I bought it used, would pay to have it corrected. Got it back within 2 weeks, receipt in the box said new barrel, new trigger, tested, no charge.
Mathew 22: 37-39
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My 9mm Shield is not a Performance Center model, but it has run flawlessly since the day I bought it. I've tried aftermarket magazines, and they all seem to work. I've yet to find ammo it won't feed, from the cheap Tula stuff, all the way up to a variety of premium defense loads. I'm somewhat surprised to hear these reports. I have been thinking about getting one in .40. I hope to do this in time for roaming the woods this fall.
molɔ̀ːn labé skýla
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