Im in love boys..LOVE! Shes BLACK & BEAUTIFUL!
A couple years ago- my gf got a Shield, and after shooting hers a good bit, I decided Id get one someday. Read & learned all I could about it at the time, but the opportunity never arose until Black Friday. My lgs had Gen 1's for $249.99.
Couldnt pass that up, so I traded in a a recently inherited S&W 3906, which Id never use or carry, and got the Shield on a straight up trade-$0 from me.
So- got it home, stripped it down, cleaned & properly lubed it up, dry fired a hundred plus times, and began getting familiar with my first non-Glock in a long while. Like my gf's..the trigger on this pistol is EXCELLENT. I mean I was/am very shocked by how clean & crisp it is..more on that later.
So, I had a range pass and used it today. Here is the ammo used:
200 rounds of Winchester NATO
100 rounds of Speer 124 +P Gold Dot
100 rounds of Federal 124 +P HST
50 rounds of some kinda remanufactured ammo I bought during Sandy Hook...124 +p jhp's.
Ranges shot were from 5 to 20 yards. The gun ran 100%. Only had the two mags and WOW were my thumbs sore loading them over & over. But, it ran flawlessly, locked back every single time, and no mech errors at all.
Accuracy: The damn gun is a tack driver, period. Shot all loads very very well out to 20 yards tested. Shoots about 2" left, but spot on elevation and groups were ragged holes. To the point the two range guys came over to see what I was shooting. Fast double taps were easy and close. Sights easy to see & pick-up quickly. Ejection very brisk and out of the way. Trigger was a pleasure, no grit at all as Ive heard reports of, got a half inch of takeup, the wall, clean, crisp break Ive now measured 8-10 times on my gauge at deadballs 5lb even. Reset can be felt & heard, but if I could change one thing, Id make it just a tad more robust, but I can sure live with it as is.
I can now pronounce the gun GOOD TO GO for carry & back-up, and is loaded & ready right now for such.
Got to get an OWB holster, many more mags, and decide which night sights to get.
Other than those things and continued practice...Im good. What a pleasure to get a deal on something, and it turn out to be worth every penny and then some!
And additional info welcomed- I need to find a plug so I can remove the safety. I called S&W this morning, was told they do not offer one for the Gen 1 guns. Also- whose running the mag add-ons for extra capacity? Would consider reliable ones for a reload.
In closing, Ive been well aware of the stories of bad triggers, reliability issues, ect. But my sample of two have been 100% reliable and accurate.
Ive seen nothing in a 2.0 that makes me want one over this one.
UPDATE: 4DEC18
Since my first very successful range trip of 425 rnds, I declared to gun GTG & have carried it. Yesterday, went to the range for its second trip. Gun was cleaned and lubed after last outing. A little over 200 rounds into my session, while about halfway thru a mag..NOTHING. No click, no resistance, DEAD TRIGGER. Slide was home. No indention on primer. I dropped the mag, cleared and reloaded. A couple mags later..same thing. Next mag...same thing. Got the two RSO's to come verify the trigger was non-op. Let one fire a couple of mags..no problem. It happened to me a total of about 8-10 times, so I called it quits, cleared the gun, and went into the gunshop where I bought it a few days ago. They took it to the "smith"...about 45 minutes later, he comes out, grabs a box of ammo and heads to the range. He actually asked me.."has this gun been dipped in oil'? I said "dipped in oil?! WHY HELL NO, why do ask something like that"?! "cause it was really dirty and had a lot of petroleum product in it". I said Id just fired over 200 rounds and the gun was clean and LIGHTLY lubed with Tetra when I came in. He asked me if S&W said to use that..I got pisssed and said "How the hell would I know what they do or dont recommend"? He gave me the 50 rnds, I fired then no problem. BTW, he had cleaned the pistol. We go back out on the floor, the main guy comes over, and we proceed to have a civil discussion, mostly about Tetra, how it was probably the problem...blah blah. So he gets a box of ammo, shoots it himself..no problems. He said he could send it back to factory, and I said hell no, they wont do shit to it. Again, we discussed lube, he said "you could run that gun dry & fire 10,000 rounds no problem". I said I disagree, but would now experiment with different options. Came home, cleaned & re-inspected the gun..cant see a damn thing wrong with it. It is now OUT of carry rotation.
So- my questions are many.
1. After researching "dead trigger on S&W Shield"..there were problems with this waaay back in 2011-12. S&W apparently corrected it then.
Have any of yall heard of or experienced this?
2. Thoughts on what the likely problem is or was?
3. Lube. OH Lort...I know...been beat to damn death here, but Id like yalls thoughts on Tetra specifically and lithium grease in general for firearm use.
COULD I have had.."too much" on the gun? I say NO..I had only dabbed a Q-Tip with it and rubbed it on the 7 areas S&W said to lube, it was NOT excessive.
4. Would the +P ammo have had anything to do with it? Gun had fired 650 or more before the malfs occured. The ammo they tested was standard pressure.
5.Should I use standard pressure for practice, and +P for carry only? S&W says gun is good for any SAAMI pressure ammo, except +P+.
I will say this, upon cleaning it for the second time, I removed to striker, which I didnt do initially. After blowing it & rest of the gun out with Ballistol, I ran a Q-Tip into the striker channel and whole mess of silver shavings and junk came out. Could that be a factor?
Sorry for the length here, want to give an accurate account of whats happened. ANY thoughts ,ideas or suggestions welcomed.
Bookmarks