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.