Sin-ster
GM of 4 Letter Outbursts
Long, but with Pictures!!! Well, thumbnails... But the big ones are pretty!
As promised...
First Impressions
Well-- it's an M&P. From the cocking serrations to the grip surface, the factory sights to the grip angle, there's a lot of similarities between this little thing and its bigger cousins.
Those familiar with the M&P internals will be pleasantly surprised when they crack the Shield open. The trigger bar, connector ring, slide stop, magazine catch and sear are all cut down versions of the same parts found on the bigger M&Ps, though a few actually seem to be beefed up-- perhaps in response to the recoil this little puppy absorbs. The striker, striker block, extractor and trigger spring might even be the same-- I won't crack this pistol open until after 2k rounds, as part of my "out of the box reliability" test.
Notably different is the locking block and the subsequent lugs on the barrel. The former is obviously more narrow, seems to have a bit more surface area for its size, and has a graceful curve downward into the grip, as opposed to the sharp and short shelf found on the bigger guns. The locking lugs are incredibly long in comparison to the other M&Ps, and the gun itself seems to stay locked under manual cycling a bit longer than its larger counterparts, and certainly seals up tighter. I'm no engineer, so this might be a necessity of design for the little 9mm, but... it's present nonetheless.
Ergonomics and Trigger
Much like the larger M&Ps, the Shield seems to fit the hand quite well. With the extended magazine in place, one finds the length of the grip to be more than enough to close both the weapon and support hand comfortably around. The grip texture is the exact same as you'd find on any polymer M&P. (More on this a bit later.)
The dreaded manual safety is actually rather impressive. Not that I agree with it being on the gun in the first place, but the execution is... amazing. Tiny and unobtrusive, it is situated in such a way that one can deactivate it easily from a normal firing grip with the flick of a thumb. At the same time, it is physically impossible (for me at least) to activate the safety without breaking my firing grip dramatically. Now, manual safety purists will scream, "That's a big problem!" However, I'd have to remind them that this is a striker-fired pocket pistol with a relatively heavy and long trigger-- not a 1911 with a short traveling sub-5 pounder. I'm still on the fence about disabling this safety-- right now, that process seems like more trouble than it's worth. Literally-- no way this thing is getting knocked on by accident, unless something breaks.
Speaking of the trigger. I knew what to expect from some of the earlier reports, and I wasn't let down. The initial slack/take up has been DRASTICALLY reduced over previous M&Ps, and you're getting into the "meat" of the trigger much sooner in the pull. The break is smooth and rolling, as one would expect out of a striker fired gun; mine had no notable "grit" right out of the box, and is already buttery smooth after just 250 rounds and probably half that much dry fire. The weight is more than I expected, but that could be my "game gun" bias. However, comparing it to a stock G26, it seems just a tad heavier; my tuned M&P 45 FS trigger (pulling right around 4.5#) is notably lighter.
But weight isn't everything-- and the travel characteristics of this puppy are pretty sweet. There's no mush towards the end of the break, as with stock M&P triggers. The length of trigger travel is shorter than a Glock, with no perceptible stacking; it is still sufficiently long for proper trigger prep however, although I'll admit it took me some time to get used to the feel. Everyone raves about the reset, and I'm inclined to agree-- it's not quite as positive as a Glock, but there is a tactile and audible "click" when it pops back into place. It is also a tad bit shorter than the Glock, and best of all (IMHO) there's no "extra play" past the reset that then needs to be taken back up again. Once it's reset, the trigger stops exactly in that spot and stays there comfortably. Even my full Burwell custom job on the 9 Pro can't claim that.
Sights and Controls
The sights are essentially just like the bigger M&P Novaks-- 3 dots, hooded in the rear. There is ample light on both sides of the front post, although my personal preference is for a very narrow blade. From the looks of things, the front dovetail cut is the exact same as any other M&P-- perhaps it can take all of the same blades? The rears are hard to tell, as the sight body itself is HUGGING the edge of the slide. If the sights are proprietary for this gun, it's not by much at all... (Obviously, respective sight heights may be an issue-- but that's why we have files!)
I absolutely love the magazine release button. It seems like a standard M&P unit that has been cut down, although I'm sure there's proprietary parts at work here. Instead of the "tumor" nub that serves as the button on the full-sized guns, this one is flat, generously wide, and actually angles towards the trigger a little bit. Even after tens of THOUSANDS of reps on the 9 Pro and 45, I still miss the button every now and again when trying to rush or while under stress; I've yet to miss it on the Shield.
The slide stop is a bit stiff on my gun, which actually isn't much of a surprise as I've heard reports of super-stiff units on larger 9mm and .40 M&Ps. It's situated in such a fashion that my initial grip was preventing it from locking the slide back on an empty mag every time. However, as I adjusted my hands, this issue went away; just like my 9 Pro, it began to lock back without fail after the first 50-75 rounds were sent downrange. The up side? If I were the type to ever use the lever to put the gun into battery, it'd be easy to reach!
Shooting
Ah, the fun stuff!
I figured that I was going to like this pistol, but I was shocked. I absolutely LOVE it. The gun handles more like a FS than even the Compact M&Ps, in terms of perceived recoil and the ability to manage it effectively.
Because of the familiar grip angle, I found that the front post was always in the rear notch when I indexed the gun, without fail. While it was always vertically aligned properly, I did have some side-to-side play as a result of the thinner grip. After adjustments, I was about 90% on perfect alignment every time I presented the gun-- and with as much time as I have on the 9 Pro and 45 to achieve similar results, that's downright AMAZING to claim.
The thin grip threw me for a loop early on in other ways as well. The fingers of my weapon hand, despite having recently trimmed my nails, started to cut furrows into my support palm. I was also pushing shots off to the left fairly consistently within the first 50 rounds, and realized that very little of it had to do with trigger control. I tweaked my grip a little bit and found more room for the support palm and a firmer hold with the weapon hand. Long story short-- this thing does better if you squeeze it pretty good, and while I run all of my polymer guns that way, I was having trouble exerting the pressure I'm used to in a comfortable fashion. A little bit of adjusting and we were gravy-- the sights were tracking perfectly up-and-down, my shots stopped drifting, and I totally forgot that my fingernails had ever been giving me fits. Sweet.
I spent about 100 rounds getting used to the gun, and then decided I was comfortable enough to group it.
You read that correctly-- 25 yards, Freestyle, with factory Fiocci 115 grain FMJ.
Frankly, I'm not a group shooter; I can't match this one consistently with my 9 Pro and handloads. These 4 rounds were the last of my second box of 50, and in the time it took me to run back into the shop and fetch another one, I decided to not spoil the beauty.
I tried to improve upon this group, and while I got 3 of 5 to hold closer a couple of times, shooter error (called fliers and sight alignment issues) wrecked my efforts. This was the very first of four attempts at clean paper, so screw it-- here ya go.
That done, I decided to go with some more "speed shooting" drills, as the handling and easy shooting of this thing already had me hooked. Pairs at 10, 15 and 25 yards on a metric IPSC target were a breeze, as were the Failure to Stop and Nonstandard Response drills I ran at 5, 7 and 10. This gun flat out shoots-- I can't describe it well enough in words, so we'll go with images and numbers...
This photo illustrates 42 of my last 50 rounds. I shot 7 individual Bill Drills @ 8 yards, aiming (and calling) every shot so as to get a real basis for comparison against the 9 Pro. I was running my timer to pick up the splits.
For those unfamiliar with the exercise, a Bill Drill is typically comprised of a drawstroke and 6 shots as fast as you can get the hits. I don't have a holster yet, so I went from Stage 2 of the draw, where my support hand meets the gun as it's angling towards the target. (I didn't care about the total time, but I wanted consistency for the splits.)
With my 9 Pro, at this same distance, I can't get away with just throwing rounds if I still want to claim all A's. Hence, seeing the sights and calling every shot. With that gun, my average splits are about .18; with the Shield, they were .21, after just 200 rounds of familiarity. That is MIRACULOUS when you consider the vast differences between the two pistols-- and I wasn't even shooting my hand loads or tuned springs with the Shield.
The shots you see in the C-zone all came with the short (7 round) magazine in the gun. Apparently, that extra little bit of grip with the extended pad makes a difference-- although admittedly, my mechanics were breaking down some as I was dog tired. (Did a double-set of CoC reps today-- my hands and forearms were already jello.) A lot of them resulted from poor visual patience on my part, as the sights didn't track as well as with the extended mag and I broke the shots with the front blade off to the side. IOW, the longer grip makes the gun easier to control.
This cluster was my last 8 rounds of the day, taken from the same Stage 2 of the draw under the timer, and performed two at a time for a total of 4 strings.
Here's where the extra muzzle flip became more apparent. With my 9 Pro at this distance, my splits for the same level of accuracy (high flier excluded) are in the realm of .30 on average. With the Shield, they were .40-- the tighter shots just required more visual patience, and more time to let the sights settle. I ran out of time and ammo, but I suspect at ranges past 10 yards, there would have been a notable disparity in my splits on the larger, lower A-zone with the same quality hits. Still, keep in mind... this gun is LITTLE, and completely new to me...
Reliability
Well, I can't say much here just yet. After stripping the factory grease and what little gunk was left after the factory test firing, I tossed on my staple TW-25 grease and went to town. 250 rounds down range and not an issue to report. There was notable grittiness in the slide travel when the gun came right out of the box, I believe mostly due to the recoil spring (which is a dual-captured unit like you'd find in the Compact guns-- only smaller). This completely disappeared after my range session; the thing is smooth as silk now.
I was actually shocked to find that the loads I run in my 9 Pro were too long for this pistol. Barrel checking them before firing, I discovered they were VISIBLY far from chambering, with the projectile hitting the rifling. These same projectiles were fine in my G17 at 1.180 length-- I had to shorten them from there just to get them to fit the mags. In the 9 Pro, they are fine to 1.150, but I run them at 1.140 for a little bit of security, because they are very safe in the magazines at that length, and because I found that this was actually the most accurate OAL for my gun and my load.
That the chamber was notably shorter on the Shield surprised the heck out of me-- but perhaps it accounts for the accuracy. Sadly, I only had the Fiocci on hand, and obviously, it fed and fired just fine. I'm sure the chamber is cut to SAAMI specs and any ammo off of the shelf will run in it, but... I wonder if we'll hear odd reports about the consequences of the tight chamber in the future? Mostly, I'm just miffed that I have to develop loads specifically for this thing-- but that's where a Redding Competition Seating Die comes in handy!
Negatives
That's right, time for the bad and the ugly. I ain't getting paid by some Gun Rag, and S&W didn't give me this thing for free.
Mag changes with this gun are problematic. I know I said that the button is easy to hit, and it's true-- but the extended magazine is an issue both coming out and going into the gun. Your pinky is prone to catching it on the way out and keeping it from dropping free, while your pinky and the "karate chop" flat of your palm is prone to BEING caught by the mag on its way into the well. I only ran about 5 speed reloads (off of the table) and wound up with a nice red line in my flesh and a LOT of pain as a result. Similarly, feeding the little mag is a problem as you have to keep your pinky out of the way, and it makes rolling the support hand back into place and getting the gun back up and on target notably slower. I can honestly see myself dislocating a pinky if I rushed the reload without a lot of practice before hand...
Relatively speaking, the gun is big-- especially with the extended mag in place that makes it so shootable. Fortunately, there was an M&P 9c, a G26, a Taurus PT 709 Slim and an LCP in the case for me to compare to the Shield. (I left those pictures out because they were on my iPhone, and I'm sure you'll see that humdrum crap in the near future anyway. Look to Bearco's fabulous camera work in this thread, for a not-so-humdrum visual comparison: http://www.bayoushooter.com/forums/showthread.php?79702-S-amp-W-M-amp-P-9-Shield-Picture-Comparitive) For me, used to a FS 45 with X300 carried OWB, it's plenty small-- and I'll trade shootability for a little concealability any day of the week!
There's a lot of over travel in the trigger, as is the case with all M&Ps. Odd, since the reset is so short-- but it's still there nonetheless.
The mags, as you can tell in the pictures, have that cheap sheet metal look to them. I WANT to believe that this will mean that they're relatively inexpensive when compared to their well-finished bigger cousins, but... I'm not holding my breath. Hopefully, they're sturdy and not prone to breakage or warping, although with what I've seen in my double-stacked 45 and 9mm mags... I'm a bit cautious.
The grip surface of ALL M&Ps is slick as snot by default. No doubt, the Gen 4 Glocks take the cake in this category with their roughed up panels. My hands are naturally oily, and I can't handle a firearm for more than 5 minutes before it starts slip-sliding around on me. Even dry, this gun was jumping around a bit in my hands-- and my working CoC gripper is a 2 right now. (That ain't weak, IOW.) I used ProGrip, as I would in competition, for all of my shooting. However, the same "slickness" was true of my 45 FS-- until our local stippling artist got his hands on it. Needless to say, he will be working on this Shield in the near future as well-- and I'm FULLY confident it will make all of the difference in the world!
The rear sights sit visibly off of the slide at the back. I noticed while handling the 9C that the same was true, but it's much more pronounced on the Shield. I know from talking with folks who have CZ SP-01s (that share this same characteristics) that cracking and losing rear sights is a distinct possibility-- or even a likelihood. Obviously, different guns, different sights... maybe even different materials and manufacturing processes... But it makes me nervous nonetheless.
The dual-captured recoil spring came pretty gritty out of the box, and the rear most stop where it locks into place is thin and appears kinda flimsy. There's also no notch/groove cut into the front of the barrel lug to catch and hold the spring-- assembling it at one point, I actually had to take it back down and adjust the spring so that the gun would go all the way back together. A bit premature to pass judgement, but again-- something that concerns me.
Summary
I love this thing. It's not only easy to shoot, it's FUN! Picture the look on the faces of the folks sharing the range with me when I pulled in that 4 shot group with my little Shield, while they were having issues at 7 yards with their big boy steel and polymer pistols. No fewer than 4 people came over to ask me about it, seeing how easily I was shooting pairs and Bill Drills with such a tiny little gun. It feels enough like my other M&Ps to make it instantly easy to work with, but the size will allow it to fill a couple of niches for me that were left previously empty. First and foremost, this thing is going to turn into my BUG; once I get SSW to fold me a holster, it's going right behind the 45 FS on my right hip. Next, and perhaps more conveniently, it will serve as the "pick up and go" pistol when I just need to run outside to take out the trash, grab the mail, whatever. MUCH handier than strapping on the full rig, and frankly, I don't feel undergunned with the Shield at all. Finally, it will serve as my "deep concealment" pistol-- or more specifically, what I'll carry in the rare instances where a dress code keeps me away from the 45.
I plan to feed this thing another 1750 rounds before it gets cleaned and I take a closer look at the internals-- the last 50-150 of which will be the 124 grain HSTs I plan to carry in it. I will not at all be surprised by a completely clean track record throughout that period of time, and I'm genuinely excited to see what happens as the trigger smooths out more and the recoil spring gets even more worn in. I anticipate good things!
Practically speaking, the shortcomings I listed (unless the breakage concerns become real) are almost non-issues. Serving most of its life as a BUG, the inability to reload it at full speed really doesn't concern me-- and I guarantee that with just a little practice, I can still rip 1.5 second shot-to-shots quite easily with the thing. I'll swap the sights and get the thing stippled before it ever sees official use, so gone are those problems as well. Most importantly, no matter how it stacks up to a 9c, G26, PM9 or even LCP... The Shield is TINY compared to my fullsized 45, and that's darn sure good enough for me!
As promised...
First Impressions
Well-- it's an M&P. From the cocking serrations to the grip surface, the factory sights to the grip angle, there's a lot of similarities between this little thing and its bigger cousins.
Those familiar with the M&P internals will be pleasantly surprised when they crack the Shield open. The trigger bar, connector ring, slide stop, magazine catch and sear are all cut down versions of the same parts found on the bigger M&Ps, though a few actually seem to be beefed up-- perhaps in response to the recoil this little puppy absorbs. The striker, striker block, extractor and trigger spring might even be the same-- I won't crack this pistol open until after 2k rounds, as part of my "out of the box reliability" test.
Notably different is the locking block and the subsequent lugs on the barrel. The former is obviously more narrow, seems to have a bit more surface area for its size, and has a graceful curve downward into the grip, as opposed to the sharp and short shelf found on the bigger guns. The locking lugs are incredibly long in comparison to the other M&Ps, and the gun itself seems to stay locked under manual cycling a bit longer than its larger counterparts, and certainly seals up tighter. I'm no engineer, so this might be a necessity of design for the little 9mm, but... it's present nonetheless.
Ergonomics and Trigger
Much like the larger M&Ps, the Shield seems to fit the hand quite well. With the extended magazine in place, one finds the length of the grip to be more than enough to close both the weapon and support hand comfortably around. The grip texture is the exact same as you'd find on any polymer M&P. (More on this a bit later.)
The dreaded manual safety is actually rather impressive. Not that I agree with it being on the gun in the first place, but the execution is... amazing. Tiny and unobtrusive, it is situated in such a way that one can deactivate it easily from a normal firing grip with the flick of a thumb. At the same time, it is physically impossible (for me at least) to activate the safety without breaking my firing grip dramatically. Now, manual safety purists will scream, "That's a big problem!" However, I'd have to remind them that this is a striker-fired pocket pistol with a relatively heavy and long trigger-- not a 1911 with a short traveling sub-5 pounder. I'm still on the fence about disabling this safety-- right now, that process seems like more trouble than it's worth. Literally-- no way this thing is getting knocked on by accident, unless something breaks.
Speaking of the trigger. I knew what to expect from some of the earlier reports, and I wasn't let down. The initial slack/take up has been DRASTICALLY reduced over previous M&Ps, and you're getting into the "meat" of the trigger much sooner in the pull. The break is smooth and rolling, as one would expect out of a striker fired gun; mine had no notable "grit" right out of the box, and is already buttery smooth after just 250 rounds and probably half that much dry fire. The weight is more than I expected, but that could be my "game gun" bias. However, comparing it to a stock G26, it seems just a tad heavier; my tuned M&P 45 FS trigger (pulling right around 4.5#) is notably lighter.
But weight isn't everything-- and the travel characteristics of this puppy are pretty sweet. There's no mush towards the end of the break, as with stock M&P triggers. The length of trigger travel is shorter than a Glock, with no perceptible stacking; it is still sufficiently long for proper trigger prep however, although I'll admit it took me some time to get used to the feel. Everyone raves about the reset, and I'm inclined to agree-- it's not quite as positive as a Glock, but there is a tactile and audible "click" when it pops back into place. It is also a tad bit shorter than the Glock, and best of all (IMHO) there's no "extra play" past the reset that then needs to be taken back up again. Once it's reset, the trigger stops exactly in that spot and stays there comfortably. Even my full Burwell custom job on the 9 Pro can't claim that.
Sights and Controls
The sights are essentially just like the bigger M&P Novaks-- 3 dots, hooded in the rear. There is ample light on both sides of the front post, although my personal preference is for a very narrow blade. From the looks of things, the front dovetail cut is the exact same as any other M&P-- perhaps it can take all of the same blades? The rears are hard to tell, as the sight body itself is HUGGING the edge of the slide. If the sights are proprietary for this gun, it's not by much at all... (Obviously, respective sight heights may be an issue-- but that's why we have files!)
I absolutely love the magazine release button. It seems like a standard M&P unit that has been cut down, although I'm sure there's proprietary parts at work here. Instead of the "tumor" nub that serves as the button on the full-sized guns, this one is flat, generously wide, and actually angles towards the trigger a little bit. Even after tens of THOUSANDS of reps on the 9 Pro and 45, I still miss the button every now and again when trying to rush or while under stress; I've yet to miss it on the Shield.
The slide stop is a bit stiff on my gun, which actually isn't much of a surprise as I've heard reports of super-stiff units on larger 9mm and .40 M&Ps. It's situated in such a fashion that my initial grip was preventing it from locking the slide back on an empty mag every time. However, as I adjusted my hands, this issue went away; just like my 9 Pro, it began to lock back without fail after the first 50-75 rounds were sent downrange. The up side? If I were the type to ever use the lever to put the gun into battery, it'd be easy to reach!
Shooting
Ah, the fun stuff!
I figured that I was going to like this pistol, but I was shocked. I absolutely LOVE it. The gun handles more like a FS than even the Compact M&Ps, in terms of perceived recoil and the ability to manage it effectively.
Because of the familiar grip angle, I found that the front post was always in the rear notch when I indexed the gun, without fail. While it was always vertically aligned properly, I did have some side-to-side play as a result of the thinner grip. After adjustments, I was about 90% on perfect alignment every time I presented the gun-- and with as much time as I have on the 9 Pro and 45 to achieve similar results, that's downright AMAZING to claim.
The thin grip threw me for a loop early on in other ways as well. The fingers of my weapon hand, despite having recently trimmed my nails, started to cut furrows into my support palm. I was also pushing shots off to the left fairly consistently within the first 50 rounds, and realized that very little of it had to do with trigger control. I tweaked my grip a little bit and found more room for the support palm and a firmer hold with the weapon hand. Long story short-- this thing does better if you squeeze it pretty good, and while I run all of my polymer guns that way, I was having trouble exerting the pressure I'm used to in a comfortable fashion. A little bit of adjusting and we were gravy-- the sights were tracking perfectly up-and-down, my shots stopped drifting, and I totally forgot that my fingernails had ever been giving me fits. Sweet.
I spent about 100 rounds getting used to the gun, and then decided I was comfortable enough to group it.
You read that correctly-- 25 yards, Freestyle, with factory Fiocci 115 grain FMJ.
Frankly, I'm not a group shooter; I can't match this one consistently with my 9 Pro and handloads. These 4 rounds were the last of my second box of 50, and in the time it took me to run back into the shop and fetch another one, I decided to not spoil the beauty.
I tried to improve upon this group, and while I got 3 of 5 to hold closer a couple of times, shooter error (called fliers and sight alignment issues) wrecked my efforts. This was the very first of four attempts at clean paper, so screw it-- here ya go.
That done, I decided to go with some more "speed shooting" drills, as the handling and easy shooting of this thing already had me hooked. Pairs at 10, 15 and 25 yards on a metric IPSC target were a breeze, as were the Failure to Stop and Nonstandard Response drills I ran at 5, 7 and 10. This gun flat out shoots-- I can't describe it well enough in words, so we'll go with images and numbers...
This photo illustrates 42 of my last 50 rounds. I shot 7 individual Bill Drills @ 8 yards, aiming (and calling) every shot so as to get a real basis for comparison against the 9 Pro. I was running my timer to pick up the splits.
For those unfamiliar with the exercise, a Bill Drill is typically comprised of a drawstroke and 6 shots as fast as you can get the hits. I don't have a holster yet, so I went from Stage 2 of the draw, where my support hand meets the gun as it's angling towards the target. (I didn't care about the total time, but I wanted consistency for the splits.)
With my 9 Pro, at this same distance, I can't get away with just throwing rounds if I still want to claim all A's. Hence, seeing the sights and calling every shot. With that gun, my average splits are about .18; with the Shield, they were .21, after just 200 rounds of familiarity. That is MIRACULOUS when you consider the vast differences between the two pistols-- and I wasn't even shooting my hand loads or tuned springs with the Shield.
The shots you see in the C-zone all came with the short (7 round) magazine in the gun. Apparently, that extra little bit of grip with the extended pad makes a difference-- although admittedly, my mechanics were breaking down some as I was dog tired. (Did a double-set of CoC reps today-- my hands and forearms were already jello.) A lot of them resulted from poor visual patience on my part, as the sights didn't track as well as with the extended mag and I broke the shots with the front blade off to the side. IOW, the longer grip makes the gun easier to control.
This cluster was my last 8 rounds of the day, taken from the same Stage 2 of the draw under the timer, and performed two at a time for a total of 4 strings.
Here's where the extra muzzle flip became more apparent. With my 9 Pro at this distance, my splits for the same level of accuracy (high flier excluded) are in the realm of .30 on average. With the Shield, they were .40-- the tighter shots just required more visual patience, and more time to let the sights settle. I ran out of time and ammo, but I suspect at ranges past 10 yards, there would have been a notable disparity in my splits on the larger, lower A-zone with the same quality hits. Still, keep in mind... this gun is LITTLE, and completely new to me...
Reliability
Well, I can't say much here just yet. After stripping the factory grease and what little gunk was left after the factory test firing, I tossed on my staple TW-25 grease and went to town. 250 rounds down range and not an issue to report. There was notable grittiness in the slide travel when the gun came right out of the box, I believe mostly due to the recoil spring (which is a dual-captured unit like you'd find in the Compact guns-- only smaller). This completely disappeared after my range session; the thing is smooth as silk now.
I was actually shocked to find that the loads I run in my 9 Pro were too long for this pistol. Barrel checking them before firing, I discovered they were VISIBLY far from chambering, with the projectile hitting the rifling. These same projectiles were fine in my G17 at 1.180 length-- I had to shorten them from there just to get them to fit the mags. In the 9 Pro, they are fine to 1.150, but I run them at 1.140 for a little bit of security, because they are very safe in the magazines at that length, and because I found that this was actually the most accurate OAL for my gun and my load.
That the chamber was notably shorter on the Shield surprised the heck out of me-- but perhaps it accounts for the accuracy. Sadly, I only had the Fiocci on hand, and obviously, it fed and fired just fine. I'm sure the chamber is cut to SAAMI specs and any ammo off of the shelf will run in it, but... I wonder if we'll hear odd reports about the consequences of the tight chamber in the future? Mostly, I'm just miffed that I have to develop loads specifically for this thing-- but that's where a Redding Competition Seating Die comes in handy!
Negatives
That's right, time for the bad and the ugly. I ain't getting paid by some Gun Rag, and S&W didn't give me this thing for free.
Mag changes with this gun are problematic. I know I said that the button is easy to hit, and it's true-- but the extended magazine is an issue both coming out and going into the gun. Your pinky is prone to catching it on the way out and keeping it from dropping free, while your pinky and the "karate chop" flat of your palm is prone to BEING caught by the mag on its way into the well. I only ran about 5 speed reloads (off of the table) and wound up with a nice red line in my flesh and a LOT of pain as a result. Similarly, feeding the little mag is a problem as you have to keep your pinky out of the way, and it makes rolling the support hand back into place and getting the gun back up and on target notably slower. I can honestly see myself dislocating a pinky if I rushed the reload without a lot of practice before hand...
Relatively speaking, the gun is big-- especially with the extended mag in place that makes it so shootable. Fortunately, there was an M&P 9c, a G26, a Taurus PT 709 Slim and an LCP in the case for me to compare to the Shield. (I left those pictures out because they were on my iPhone, and I'm sure you'll see that humdrum crap in the near future anyway. Look to Bearco's fabulous camera work in this thread, for a not-so-humdrum visual comparison: http://www.bayoushooter.com/forums/showthread.php?79702-S-amp-W-M-amp-P-9-Shield-Picture-Comparitive) For me, used to a FS 45 with X300 carried OWB, it's plenty small-- and I'll trade shootability for a little concealability any day of the week!
There's a lot of over travel in the trigger, as is the case with all M&Ps. Odd, since the reset is so short-- but it's still there nonetheless.
The mags, as you can tell in the pictures, have that cheap sheet metal look to them. I WANT to believe that this will mean that they're relatively inexpensive when compared to their well-finished bigger cousins, but... I'm not holding my breath. Hopefully, they're sturdy and not prone to breakage or warping, although with what I've seen in my double-stacked 45 and 9mm mags... I'm a bit cautious.
The grip surface of ALL M&Ps is slick as snot by default. No doubt, the Gen 4 Glocks take the cake in this category with their roughed up panels. My hands are naturally oily, and I can't handle a firearm for more than 5 minutes before it starts slip-sliding around on me. Even dry, this gun was jumping around a bit in my hands-- and my working CoC gripper is a 2 right now. (That ain't weak, IOW.) I used ProGrip, as I would in competition, for all of my shooting. However, the same "slickness" was true of my 45 FS-- until our local stippling artist got his hands on it. Needless to say, he will be working on this Shield in the near future as well-- and I'm FULLY confident it will make all of the difference in the world!
The rear sights sit visibly off of the slide at the back. I noticed while handling the 9C that the same was true, but it's much more pronounced on the Shield. I know from talking with folks who have CZ SP-01s (that share this same characteristics) that cracking and losing rear sights is a distinct possibility-- or even a likelihood. Obviously, different guns, different sights... maybe even different materials and manufacturing processes... But it makes me nervous nonetheless.
The dual-captured recoil spring came pretty gritty out of the box, and the rear most stop where it locks into place is thin and appears kinda flimsy. There's also no notch/groove cut into the front of the barrel lug to catch and hold the spring-- assembling it at one point, I actually had to take it back down and adjust the spring so that the gun would go all the way back together. A bit premature to pass judgement, but again-- something that concerns me.
Summary
I love this thing. It's not only easy to shoot, it's FUN! Picture the look on the faces of the folks sharing the range with me when I pulled in that 4 shot group with my little Shield, while they were having issues at 7 yards with their big boy steel and polymer pistols. No fewer than 4 people came over to ask me about it, seeing how easily I was shooting pairs and Bill Drills with such a tiny little gun. It feels enough like my other M&Ps to make it instantly easy to work with, but the size will allow it to fill a couple of niches for me that were left previously empty. First and foremost, this thing is going to turn into my BUG; once I get SSW to fold me a holster, it's going right behind the 45 FS on my right hip. Next, and perhaps more conveniently, it will serve as the "pick up and go" pistol when I just need to run outside to take out the trash, grab the mail, whatever. MUCH handier than strapping on the full rig, and frankly, I don't feel undergunned with the Shield at all. Finally, it will serve as my "deep concealment" pistol-- or more specifically, what I'll carry in the rare instances where a dress code keeps me away from the 45.
I plan to feed this thing another 1750 rounds before it gets cleaned and I take a closer look at the internals-- the last 50-150 of which will be the 124 grain HSTs I plan to carry in it. I will not at all be surprised by a completely clean track record throughout that period of time, and I'm genuinely excited to see what happens as the trigger smooths out more and the recoil spring gets even more worn in. I anticipate good things!
Practically speaking, the shortcomings I listed (unless the breakage concerns become real) are almost non-issues. Serving most of its life as a BUG, the inability to reload it at full speed really doesn't concern me-- and I guarantee that with just a little practice, I can still rip 1.5 second shot-to-shots quite easily with the thing. I'll swap the sights and get the thing stippled before it ever sees official use, so gone are those problems as well. Most importantly, no matter how it stacks up to a 9c, G26, PM9 or even LCP... The Shield is TINY compared to my fullsized 45, and that's darn sure good enough for me!
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