S&W Shield Coming in 45 ACP!

[awmp]

I enjoy my Shield 45. I have three Shield 9mms. I'm still looking for a good holster for the 45 shield. No issues so far.

[alcante262]

Take a look at the Vedder holsters thats what I use AIWB

[williejc]

Some kydex holsters designed for 9mm and 40 cal Shields will accept the .45 version.

[.45fmjoe]

Bump: How has function been with everyones guns?

Looking to pick up a thin single stack. Barrel length 4" or less. Weight is not an issue. I am wedded to Glock double stack 9s but see no reason I have to get a 43. all the guns are close in size. 9mm only nets 1 extra round so I am on the 45.

I picked one up recently and put a couple hundred through it so far without issue. It's also quite accurate. I have owned Shields in all three calibers, and now just have the 9mm and .45ACP. The Shield in .40S&W is obnoxious and unpleasant to shoot, the muzzle flip is dumb. The .45 Shield is actually quite pleasant, the recoil is more of a push back than a snap up. The 9mm is, of course, smooth and slick as owl shit.

[Ron3]

I got one to try out. Haven't fired it yet.

I never bought a 9mm Shield because if a gun is going to be a belt gun I should be able to get all my fingers on the grip without extended magazines. It was just too short. When I handled the new .45 Shield I really liked the texture, height, and also that it's just a tiny bit thicker. (I think)

Someone else said earlier in the thread people who get this either really like .45 or at least don't mind it. I am the latter. Not a fan of .45, (I like 9mm and down) but I don't mind it, either. This model only loses one round to the 9mm version.

It weighs just over 28 oz loaded with eight rounds of 185 gr ammo and about 29 oz with 230 gr ammo.

I really like the frame, texture, height, (can just get all my fingers on it with the flush fitting mag) mag release (shoots mags out) appearance, machining and finish. The mags seem sturdy. They are a bit tough to load but the Lula double-stack mag loader works perfectly.

The trigger is fair to good. Better feel and a tad lighter than my over 10,000 rnd factory component Glock 19 gen 3.
The trigger has a little take up, then a wall, then an easy (feels like 4-5 lbs) for a little distance through the wall then the break. So it's not crisp, but it's light and predictable IMO. Although the trigger is polymer the face is nice and smooth. Reset is tactile and while not as short as a Glock, just fine. It goes back to the wall. Overall I think the trigger is pretty good---for a polymer gun.

The best thing about the gun is how thin it is. The whole thing is just very, very thin for the caliber. It will be comfy to carry if it proves reliable.

The front sight is okay. White dot, slightly wider than I prefer. (I like sights in the .115-.120 range) I painted the whole face of it white.
The rear sight has that stupid Novak shape I can't stand. (it's shaped like a ramp) Making racking the slide using the rear sight impossible. It also has two big, bright white dots I filled with black paint. The rear sight gap is generous and I like that. If I keep the gun I'll get a blacked out rear sight with a shape that can be used to rack the slide in an emergency. At least the sights are steel and prominent.

Racking the slide (with an empty mag) is easy. My wife could do it as easily as a Glock 19.

Field strip is simple. Not sure how the firing pin, extractor, and disconnector come out.

Slide lock is tough. Not unlike on a Glock. It's clear they want you to grab the slide, not push the slide lock. Perhaps aftermarket ones with a little extension (like the Glock brand extensions) will be available. And maybe those will cause early slide lock. (like they do for some people with them on Glocks)

Overall there is very, very little I'd change. The most major thing I'd change is I wish the barrel was longer. Just for velocity and sights radius. (and other benefits of a longer barrel/slide) Another 2/3 of an inch would get it to 4 inches even. Doesn't make it any harder to conceal, add much weight, or make it less comfortable to carry/sit in IMO.

I'll add shooting impressions after I've fired it. Hopefully it works.

[williejc]

Did you know that S&W has a rebate on these pistols sold beginning April 1?

S&W put the silly sear disengage lever on the M&P's they can be disassembled without first pulling the trigger as required for Glocks. You can ignore their directions, pull the trigger, and disassemble as if it were a Glock. This trick doesn't work with their pistols having the mag disconnect.

The .45 Shield is a nifty size and shoots better than it should. Did you notice drag of the machined marks on slide bottom when retracting slide with loaded mag? Anyway, Smith engineers made a fine pistol when they designed this one.

Pearce now makes a .45 Shield mag base similar to the one for Glocks. It provides extra length for gripping but doesn't change mag capacity.

The little gun jumps upon firing. If the slide release were bigger, its weight would provide enough inertia for it to move up prematurely during recoil and lock the slide.

[Ron3]

Did you know that S&W has a rebate on these pistols sold beginning April 1?

S&W put the silly sear disengage lever on the M&P's they can be disassembled without first pulling the trigger as required for Glocks. You can ignore their directions, pull the trigger, and disassemble as if it were a Glock. This trick doesn't work with their pistols having the mag disconnect.

The .45 Shield is a nifty size and shoots better than it should. Did you notice drag of the machined marks on slide bottom when retracting slide with loaded mag? Anyway, Smith engineers made a fine pistol when they designed this one.

Pearce now makes a .45 Shield mag base similar to the one for Glocks. It provides extra length for gripping but doesn't change mag capacity.

The little gun jumps upon firing. If the slide release were bigger, its weight would provide enough inertia for it to move up prematurely during recoil and lock the slide.

Yea..I missed the rebate by less than a week..crud. Might get a Bodyguard just to take advantage of it. I've fired one and liked it.

I didn't know about pulling the trigger to field strip, thanks!

Yes I noticed the little serrations on the slide. I looked at fired casings. Sometimes I noticed a mark but I see zero reason why it would affect reloading casings if thats a concern for some folks. Not an issue in any way.

When my hands were fresh I was able to use the slide lock as a release. Just like a Glock. It can be tough to get purchase on it, but it's doable.

I fired about 200 rounds through the Shield .45 today.

This biggest surprise was how little recoil it had. Less than a Glock 36. Maybe more flip than a G30/G21 so I guess somewhere between the two. Much less than something like a glock 27 or Glock 23. Nothing really had much push, just varying degrees of Muzzle flip. Everything felt soft except +p ammo. 230 gr had the most flip, 185 gr less.

My shooting was no different with the six or seven round mag. The gun was plenty accurate. If I was outside of a 5 inch circle at 25 yards it was my fault. Not the gun or ammo. Most accurate ammo of the day was Georgia Arms 185 Gold Dot +p. It had more recoil than 230 gr FMJ (Geco, S&B) but the gun ate it and 20 rounds went into *almost* one big ragged hole at 15 yds shooting a steady pace.

My wrist is pretty fatigued at the moment, but I think it was the combination of 200 rnds of .45 and some .357 mag from a Ruger LCR. My hand has some rub marks but no cuts or bleeding or blisters after all that shooting with no gloves. (even with the somewhat aggressive texture on the S&W)

Now for the only trouble I had...Three times the magazine popped out. Once while firing +p ammo and twice while firing very rapidly. Was it the gun or did my hand/finger migrate and press the mag release? I don't know. Being it was hot, and I was sweaty, not wearing gloves and shooting rapidly on the move it's entirely possible I hit the button.

On two occasions I felt it pop loose and a round was not fed into the chamber. (tap-tack) On one occasion the round got caught half way in when the mag started to drop causing the slide to be stuck mid-position. I improvised a rack-tap-rack and that fixed it. These all happened between the 100-160 round marks. I slowed down my shooting to see if the problem continued while taking note of whether I was hitting the mag release. It did not reoccur. So again, me or the gun? I don't know.

I shot it one-handed with both hands and had no problems.

Overall I'm very impressed with the gun. I'll need to research and play with the gun some more to find out what the deal is with the sudden mag releases before I buy a holster, mags, more ammo, etc. But today I found the pistol fun to fire and just took to it right away as if I'd been shooting it for years. It's the first M&P pistol I've owned.

[Tokarev]

My guess is you bumped the mag release a couple times during recoil especially with the + P ammo. I've done the same thing myself a time or two.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[williejc]

I too had the mag drop down/fall out a couple times but traced the problem to not having the mag securely locked. Because spring pressure from a loaded mag requires extra insertion effort, I now make certain that the mag is locked securely. Chambering a round by releasing a locked back slide works very well as a strategy for avoiding failure of mag being properly locked. I'm comfortable also with carrying it with one less round in the mag. One other possible advantage of carrying a 1-less rd-loaded mag is having less upward pressure on the slide, the idea being that this option might prevent a malfunction. My bias is that smaller pistols are more susceptible to malfunction so I help them out this way. I don't fret about not having the lost round.

[Ron3]

Examining mine, I think the problem is simply that the mag catch does not protrude into the magazine far enough.

Maybe it's recoil/flexing, maybe it's a finger/thumb bumping the mag release. Either way the problem would be solved if the mag catch protruded another millimeter into the magazine and/or the mag catch spring was stronger.

It only takes a light push a short distance to pop the magazine. Other guns, Glocks for example, require a deeper push to remove the magazine.

A redesigned mag catch and/or stronger mag catch spring would solve the problem. So would a slight flare on the slot on the magazine.

I'm surprised the aftermarket hasn't done this since S&W doesn't want to.

I'm going to ask S&W to send me a mag catch. It it's no better I'll modify one of them to increase mag catch protrusion into the magazine.