Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Recommend a SW Shield caliber

Since a shield is 275 with the rebate, my good friend suggested we should buy one. I would use it for concealed carry, probably IWB. So I was leaning to 9mm. Seems to be lighter than the 45, and probably easier to carry.
I have 40's and 45acp, so ammo or cost is not a problem.
I watched so YouTube vids, and articles, and I saw the 45 locked the slide back with rounds in the magazine. Did SW solve that isssue?It seemed that the locking issue was only on the 45, but I did not have time to watch a ton of reports.
Any help on a good comfortable holster would also be appreciated. Thanks.

My only experience is with the .45 Shield, but I really like this firearm. Accurate, dependable, and I have had no slide locking issues whatsoever. Mine rides in a N8 2 tactical IWB holster for CC, and is very comfortable. This gun is nearly the same size as my Kimber UC II .45, which also rides in a N8 2 holster, and which I carry interchangeably with the Shield.
With the new Shields, the difference in size, weight, length, etc.between a 9mm and .45 is so small as to be negligible. If you saw one or the other lying by itself, you would be hard pressed to guess which one it was.If you already have .45acp, I would lean in that direction, which I also did.

9mm for me is the best balance. Makes an awesome trailgun as well. Concealment Express IWB

I have two, a .40 and a 9mm. like them both, but would give the edge to the 9. Both or mine are from the performance shop.

Lefty C

Have shot the .40. Don't care for it. No experience with the others.

I went with the 45 and have no regrets or issues with it - very mild shooting, easy to control and plenty accurate. As mentioned, the 45 is slightly larger than the 9/40 but you'd have to lay them side by side to notice. I can get 3 fingers around the grip with the standard magazine and have room to spare with the extended mag. With the 9/40, the extended mag fits my hand ok and the standard mag makes the grip a bit shorter than I care for. If I went 9/40, it would be the 9 and I'd probably only use the extended mag. With the 45 only sacrificing 1 round in capacity and since I'd rather load for the 45 than the others, the choice for me was easy to make...

2 a 45 and a 9 both good to excellent for their intended purpose. If I had to choose one for ccw it would be the 9. If I had to choose one for woods carry 45 ACP.

I have one in 40 s&w and it is a little snappy but still a lot of fun to shoot!

I've got one in 40, I like it. When I carry it in the woods I feel better gunned than with a 9. I would like to try a 9, the extra round would be nice around town.

I have had the opportunity to shoot all three, the 45 just recently. I was able to shoot several hundred rounds through each in some standard drills. out of them all the 40 is my least favorite which is a shame as I get free 40 ammo. I just don't like the recoil impulse, it seems sharp/snappy to me. the 45 was more of a longer push and the 9mm was minimal. the shield is the same practical size as the old 3913 just lighter being made of plastic. in the end I bought the 9mm for summer time carry.

You have a better choice of ammo in a 9MM. A little less pricey also. I have a Shield .40 coming on Monday. Couldn't pass up the $75 rebate. I have several other 40's and some 9MM also. Never owned a .45. My favorite's are the S&W SD40 and the 9mm Taurus Millenium G2. From what I have heard the Shield will be a nice addition. Hope I'm not disappointed.

I have both the 9mm and .45 acp Shield. I agree with "smallfry", the 9mm is well balanced in that size pistol. It shoots very accurate and is very controllable. My .45 would jam every time from either the first or second round stripped from the magazine, weird. It appeared to me to be a feed ramp issue. Since it was brand new I contacted S&W and they sent me a UPS label to send it in. They acknowledged by email that they received it, but I have not heard anything since. It's been about 6 weeks.

I have the Shield in 9mm, 40 and 45. If I carry one of them it's most frequently the 45 in an Archangel AIWB or a strong side MS Nexus IWB. I prefer 1911s so don't carry the Shields often. However, I haven't had problems with any of them. I've installed the Apex Duty/Carry kit in the 40 - an early one - and noticed significant improvement in the trigger. The 45 trigger is sufficiently good for my purposes that I've decided to leave it as it came out of the box.

They're accurate, light, concealable, controllable and inexpensive. They do what they were designed for well.

I went out this morning and my friend and I both bought the 9mm as a town carry gun. We both carry bigger pistols for the woods.
The MP Shield 9mm was a bit lighter than the 45, and a smidge smaller. I read that the Apex trigger is not available for the 45, the 45 is a bit bigger, and I saw a few reports of failures with the 45. Again the negatives for the 45 were very small, but in a tie between the 9 and 45, I took the 9 with the lighter weight and extra round. I read that the 9mm Shield out sells the other calibers 4:1, so I'm going with the crowd. I am also a trigger whore, so I'll be ordering a Apex after I break in the MP9 Shield.
I am pretty amazed that the Shield is so popular, robust, and inexpensive. Mine was 275 with the rebate. Lifetime warranty is amazing at that price point.
They also had new Remington 1911A1s for 499 and a 100 rebate. Crazy to see 400 dollar quality 1911s. Likewise the used pistols we very inexpensive. Rebates and excess used guns will be driving prices further down in my opinion. The rebate is over on the Shield at the end of the month, but I bet SW with have a similar promotion.

Check Palmetto State Armory website for the Shields. Mine was $225.00 after the Rebate for the 9mm.

My 45 has not bobbled once I have fired it 3-400 rds.

Yep that mirrors my experience as well, should have bought the 9 . I put the apex trigger in it as well, then I tried a shield at Field and Stream and thought the trigger was very similiar.

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the .40 S&W cartridge. However, I don't find the 9mm lacking either (personally), and 9mm holds more boo-lits, is cheaper to shoot, lighter recoil. So that's why I've only ever owned ONE .40 S&W ever. Now that I've learned that several .40's will work perfectly with 9mm with only a barrel swap (but recoil spring and magazine change seem rather prudent for self defense), I think I'll be changing my tune and buying .40's much more, and then pick up a 9mm conversion.

Good call on the Shield though, those are great little compact pistols.

When I wrote the review on the Kahr .45 for American Handgunner, I bought that Kahr; it was a slick pistol in many ways. I carried it IWB like I carry all my other guns. But one day it dawned on me. It takes exactly the same effort to conceal the Kahr .45 (which is .45 Shield size) as it takes to conceal my LW Commander (again, in an IWB). My Commander was far more proven at the time, I shot it better than the Kahr, and it held two more rounds. So doing the math, I really didn't need the Kahr since I preferred to carry the Commander.

What's funny, I carry mine in a HBE ComIII which is VERY similar to the Sparks Nexus...it seems we like the same holster design.

Now if I carried OWB, I think I would have preferred the Kahr perhaps.

Just wondering if that's the same conclusion you came to?

Pretty much the same conclusion. I carry the 1911 LWTs and LWT CCO preferentially when I carry IWB, which is almost always.

I've settled on the Shield when I choose an alternate mode of carry, like AIWB, fanny pack, etc. The 9mm or 40 also fit well in a good ankle holster in place of the usual J frame. This latter circumstance is rare for me, so the Shields are less carried, although good pistols.

I just ordered a 9 from PSA. With the low price plus the rebate you can hardly afford not to. Will be nice to compare it to the 40 in the same platform.

I got my Shield 40 yesterday. Must admit, I am impressed with the quality. I'll probably take it out ant fire it today. I am a little disappointed in the Slide, though. Very very stiff. From what I hear it takes a couple of hundred rounds to free it up. Don't know how S&W can make a gun for so little with so many features and quality. I only paid $245 with the rebate. I should pick up a 9 also, but I have three 9's that I am happy with. An SD9VE, a SCCY CPX-1, and a Taurus Millenium G2. I can see why the Shield is a hot seller. Even without the rebate, it would be fairly priced.

Yep. And I don't understand the complaints about the trigger.

I never thought of a Shield in an ankle holster; that's good to know. I'm a fan of an ankle holster in certain circumstances, or as a BUG. I have a Renegade ankle holster for my J & D frame revolvers...Maybe I should re-visit that.

Then you'd be surprised to learn that the M&P line of Tupperware pistols are their highest margin guns.

They can thank Glock for that, in fact, everyone can. But those pistols, no matter how great they are, don’t cost much to manufacture at all. The slide is milled from barstock, which isn’t cheap and does take some time. But one guy can run multiple CNC machines which is the equivalent of only paying one machinist when 5 or more are working. Barrels are made on the CNC machine, but the rifling is done by wire EDM which is a very slick way to rifle a barrel. Not only is it cheap & fast, but you end up with barrels that tend to be very consistent right out of the EDM machine. Normal barrels will leave you with some grooves a little deeper than others, high spots, low spots in the bore, and rough spots that have to be lapped smooth. S&W’s process is still a barrel made from barstock, but after external machining is done, the rifling process takes a fraction of the hand labor that other traditional processes did. The frame is injection molded and cost next to nothing to make; yet specs are held very tight and frames are very high quality. Several internal parts are stamped which is a very cost effective method of manufacture. Others are MIM which, while not necessarily cheap, nets a part that is strong and dimensionally perfect, so it drops in every time. All of the striker fired polymer pistols are designed in such a way that mass production is fast, cheap, and very precise. AND, these processes which don’t require the human Mk-1 eyeball for precision are all so precise, that the gun goes together with pretty much no hand fitting, and once together, the failure/return rate is extremely low, which is another factor that markedly reduces their costs.

Glocks invention was brilliant on so many levels. When he brought his pistol to the US, he intended to sell it for a fraction of what semi-auto pistols sold for. He thought he would just radically under-cut every other maker out there and own the market. What he didn’t get was perceived value, and pricing to meet what the market would bear. When he hired a sales director for the US market (can’t remember his name off the top of my head), he VERY WISELY advised Gaston to NOT price his pistol at 1/3 the price of the competition because it would be immediately perceived as “cheap junk”. He was right, and the rest is history. Those are the most profitable pistols probably ever made. So that $245 Shield probably still netted them as much cash in their pocket as an $800 686.

It's a win/win. You’re delighted to get a fantastic pocket pistol on the cheap, and S&W moves another pistol and makes a decent sum.

GG, I actually modified a DeSantis Shield holster I found on sale so I can also use it for a J-frame, by adding a second snap. However, the Shield 40 gets the call now if I ever think I need a BUG in a very discreet ankle carry. It still happens from time to time when the waistband might create social anxiety in a crowded venue. Not my favorite style, but it beats going bare.

I would love to try one in 40SW but think the G27 may be less snappy.

I shot the 9 and the 40. Bought the 9. An extra round and the recoil is less snappy. My only issue is mine hits pretty low. I've ordered a taller front sight to resolve that.

Taller front sight will make you shoot lower still. You want a shorter front sight, not taller.

The Shield in 40 S&W is the best carry option offered in this pistol

or taller rear sights.

#1 Son has the Shield in .40 S&W. He likes the gun, for sure. However- after owning and shooting it for a year or so, and having shot mine in .45ACP, his is now for sale. Both of us agree that the recoil and noise of the .40 over the .45 is noticeable, and the availability of ammo for the .45 is not an issue, anywhere.

I wonder if the cartridge case is supported better in the 40 shield than in the glock 27? It might be worth the extra recoil if the case was better supported.

Update, received my .45 Shield back from S&W with laundry list of what they said they fixed on it. Took it to the range with 4 different types of ammo and mix them in each magazine. Could not get it to jam, shot flawless, very accurate.

After my experience with the Springfield XDS 45, I would likely choose the Shield in 9mm. My split-times are noticeably faster with 9mm than with 45--the muzzle rise and recoil of the heavier round are not unmanageable with practice, but they do cut down on speed and sight-recovery.

Just got the 45, haven't shot it yet. Had an XDS, nothing wrong with that one but the S&W feels better in the hand.

If you go .40SW the good thing about the gun is the chamber is fully supported and it has traditional rifling in the barrel which enhances the versatility, again my 45 is a cream puff the 9 shield is a tad snappier in my perception to a G43 but its still an outstanding gun for the money.

I don't know what I was thinking when I typed that. The pistol hit 6" higher than POA. Installed a Dawson Precision .190" front sight. That brought the POI down. Just need to drift the front sight a little now to correct windage.

I love the .40 in full-sized pistols. In abbreviated ones, not so much. I just recently shot an M&P .40 Shield and decided that I'll get a compact M&P instead since I'm required to carry .40 S&W. If I get a Shield, it will be in 9mm.

By the time your at the MP Compact 40SW you may as well buy the G27, honesty carrying one or the other IWB might be uncomfortable for me.

I have a 9 and 45. I prefer the 45.

I have not shot the 40, as I don't own any 40's I doubt I will.

I'm actually switching over to S&W from Glock.

I like the MP compact 40, but it is as thick as a M29 glock.

I just ordered the shield 9 from Palmetto State too. Great Deal!!

I bought the 9mm Shield and the 45 shield .....I gave the 9 to my Brother and Kept the 45!!!!! The 45 is a Sweet Shooter and Very Accurate for me...I could not shoot the 9 very good for some reason.....The 45 Trigger seams much better than the 9 to me..

Get the .45

It's slightly larger than the 9mm or the S&W .40, and with 3" barrels I try to maximize bullet size, or in other words, I've had a few compacts over the years and if they were available in .45 that's what I shot in them. Soon, I'm probably going to get a .45 Shield from the S&W custom shop. It will come the trigger already tuned and night sights.

yes, I shoot the 45 better than the 9 for some reason as well, not going to get rid of the 9 because it serves its purpose as well. If the custom shop gun has a compensated barrel I don't know about that, not sure I am fond of ported guns.

40 S&W is my first choice in the Shield

I bought a .40 and I like it so much I just ordered a 9. The sights were dead on and it shoots nice groups. The slide is a little tight, but I expect that to get looser. The trigger is acceptable, but I think I'll put an Apex Kit on them.

I looked at the video to install an Apex kit, and it looked a bit tricky. I can see parts flying, but naturally the first time is intimidating. Having the video is super helpful.

I carried the 9mm on vacation in Gettysburg over the holiday. It was really comfortable and easy to conceal OWB under a polo shirt.

They have a compensated barrel on the .45, so I guess they could compensate the 9 & .40. I don't want a ported 3" barrel...it needs ALL the gas in that 3" acting on it for the entire length of the rifling to get a modest velocity out of the bullet.

Yep, and I looked hard at both the ported and the non ported 40SW shield before buying a G27 recently, I spent more money on a used G27 and did not get the nice rebate! Plus its not as easy to IWB carry for me. I am not recoil shy at all, but the 40 in the same size gun as the 9, I don't know, the glock looked like it might be a better platform in the 40sw.

9mm

^^^^THIS^^^^

Never mind, I see he made his choice 14 posts in.
Half the guys on here can't buy anything unless it's approved by committee, and they sure like beating a dead horse.

LOL.....Agreed^^^

I got the 9 with an alien IWB. Really wanted the 40 but wanted something my wife might enjoy shooting and I figured the 40 might be a little too snappy. She likes to shoot it but still has trouble with the slide after several hundred rounds through it. I think for the money it is a nice carry gun, has operated flawlessly and might pick up a 40 just for me.

I don't agree.

Let's put it to a vote.




Dave