My first S&W Pistol

[filgun11]

Just bought my first S&W Pistol. It's an M&P9 Shield.
I have not fired it yet. I hope I have time this coming weekend. Quality, fit, finish are very good.

One thing I'm a little disappointed are the magazines. It looks like galvanized steel. I would have loved to see Stainless Steel there.
Anyways, this will be a good compliment to my SR9c and LCP for CCing.

I heard it's hard to find. The shop where I bought it, only had one..

[mrnyman]

Usually Smith's mags are Stainless or Nickel, in any case Mags are not or never were a Smith shortcoming, they are reliable .

Let us know how she shoots.

[scruff]

I really like the concept and will probably get one of my own, but too bad it's got a thumb safety.

[Deleted]

Just bought my first S&W Pistol. It's an M&P9 Shield.
I have not fired it yet. I hope I have time this coming weekend. Quality, fit, finish are very good.

One thing I'm a little disappointed are the magazines. It looks like galvanized steel. I would have loved to see Stainless Steel there.
Anyways, this will be a good compliment to my SR9c and LCP for CCing.

I heard it's hard to find. The shop where I bought it, only had one..

If you are not happy with the finish on the mags, you could always send them to Robar for a nice NP3 finish! I did this with all my steel magazines.. protected them, made them look nicer, and they FLEW out when you ejected them.

[filgun11]

Usually Smith's mags are Stainless or Nickel, in any case Mags are not or never were a Smith shortcoming, they are reliable .

Let us know how she shoots.

If you are not happy with the finish on the mags, you could always send them to Robar for a nice NP3 finish! I did this with all my steel magazines.. protected them, made them look nicer, and they FLEW out when you ejected them.

The mags as it is, slides in and out easily... even when empty. The mags will drop even when the gun is tilted a bit to its side. I like the mag-release thumb button.

mrnyman, I'm sure this will shoot way better than I can.

Steelcity, thanks for the tip. I will look into that, if the OCD in me can't get over the mag finish.

Oh! Forgot to mention.. Man, this thing is tight! It's hard to rack. I would say harder than my SR9c when it was new. Those who have SR9c knows how tight that was.

[BucksCountyBob]

I picked up an M&P Shield last Saturday. I've had mine out to the range twice now and run about 100 rounds through it. I had a bit of trouble at first with shooting low and left due to my inexperience with the long double action trigger pull. I'm finding that the more I shoot it the better I get with it (big surprise there, huh?). I usually shoot at about 10 yards and the groupings have been nice and tight (about 2 inches). The only problem I've had with mine is I managed to get my palm (by my pinky) slammed by the magazine when reloading.

My range doesn't allow rapid fire but with a one second pause between shots, it's easy to get back on target and surprisingly accurate for such a short barrel. The recoil is very controllable for such a small pistol.

The field strip is relatively easy. You have to pull down a sear disconnect switch in the grip, which is easier with a small screwdriver but can be done carefully with your finger if they are slender (as mine are).

The safety doesn't bother me much...all my guns have them in the same spot and it's easy enough to turn off with your thumb. Although it's not as hard to turn on as my SR9 safety (which I don't believe you could ever turn on by mistake) it's flush enough to the frame and stiff enough that I don't believe you could engage it by accident.

[medsteele]

Congrats on the purchase. They may be a little hard to find at the moment given they've only been out for a week and are garnering high praise.

For me, the magazine is a slight inconvenience, but everything I've read indicates that it isn't very easily engaged by accident.

Do give us a range report once you've managed to consumate your purchase.

One quick question, though: Why so many tiny guns? Seems your CC needs are met. Go buy a grown-up gun.

[41800216]

The field strip is relatively easy. You have to pull down a sear disconnect switch in the grip, which is easier with a small screwdriver but can be done carefully with your finger if they are slender (as mine are).

This is consistent with the rest of the M&P pistol lineup, and isn't actually necessary to remove the slide. Lock the slide back, pull the take-down lever, let the slide back forward, pull the trigger, and it'll come right off. Makes things a lot faster, unless you're averse to dry-firing.

I really want to call around to shops in my area to see who has one so I can handle it a bit. I've had my sights set (no pun intended...okay, maybe pun intended!) on an M&P40C, but the Shield is just so much more concealable.

[filgun11]

Congrats on the purchase. They may be a little hard to find at the moment given they've only been out for a week and are garnering high praise.

For me, the magazine is a slight inconvenience, but everything I've read indicates that it isn't very easily engaged by accident.

Do give us a range report once you've managed to consumate your purchase.

One quick question, though: Why so many tiny guns? Seems your CC needs are met. Go buy a grown-up gun.

Haha. I do have Springfield XD and XDm. I'm have consolidated my ammo to just mainly 9mm, just because it's affordable. The LCP will go to wife once she gets her LTCF. Right now, she doesn't want to carry. I might sell the SR9c (still thinking) when I'm comfortable with M&P9 shield is reliable enough.

Occasionally, I have the itch shoot bigger gun.. That's time I bring out the AR to the range.. and send down 100-200 rounds. ;-)

[BucksCountyBob]

This is consistent with the rest of the M&P pistol lineup, and isn't actually necessary to remove the slide. Lock the slide back, pull the take-down lever, let the slide back forward, pull the trigger, and it'll come right off. Makes things a lot faster, unless you're averse to dry-firing.

Thanks for that tip! Just tried it and it worked great. Not averse to dry-firing at all...i've probably done that a couple hundred times to get used to the trigger, as I didn't read anything in the manual that indicated that it was bad for the gun and it doesn't have a magazine disconnect. Rep coming your way once I figure out how to do it.