New Shield….Magazine Qs

[sigbrown1297]

I just picked up a shield.  Im a Glock guy so not that familiar with M&Ps.  Got a couple questions for you Shield owners

 

 

1)  Is it normal that the slide will not to go into battery with no round in the magazine?  I tried to pulling back on the slide and trying pull down on the slide stop and it will not go into battery unless there is a round in the mag or taking the mag out.

 

2)  With the slide forward, the 8 round mag will go into the gun with no problems, but i cannot get the 7 round mag to go into the gun with 7 rounds in the mag.  Anybody else have this problem?  I am trying to do 7 +1 and it just not happening.  Seems like the spring is way too stiff.  I took the springs out from the 7 round and 8 round mags and they look the same.

 

Thanks

 

 

[Patton]

Yes and yes. You will just have to give the mags a good tap to get them seated.

[DaveTN]

Mine goes into battery, mag, no mag, full mag, empty mag it doesn’t matter.
Mine is a .40, so its 6 and 7, but yes, both mags seat and lock.

[Dolomite_supafly]

1 is normal. An empty magazine will hold the slide back. If you want the slide forward on an empty magazine then drop the slide before inserting the magazine.

 

I am pretty sure I carried mine, which is 9mm, with 7+1.

[sigbrown1297]

I could see it being a little resistance and requiring a firm tap on the mag but that's not the case.

 

it takes so much force that I hve to push down on the gun with the mag against a table in order to seat the mag. This cant be normal.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Smack the bottom of the mag. If you can seat it with your hand, even if it does take some force, then it is normal. These are tools and sometimes tools need to have the rough treatment to work.

[peejman]

Don't know about the empty mag thing, never tried that.  The full 7 rd mag takes a modest smack to get seated in my wife's 9mm.  Its really hard if you just push, but a whack with the butt of the hand seats it and it runs fine. 

[sigbrown1297]

I cannot seat it with my hand. I literally have to push down on the gun with the mag on the table. I know why I was a glock person now..

Guessing the reason why the previous owner sold it..

[gjohnsoniv]

Have you contacted Smit and Wesson to see about a magazine replacement?

[GlockSpock]

I cannot seat it with my hand. I literally have to push down on the gun with the mag on the table. I know why I was a glock person now..

Guessing the reason why the previous owner sold it..

It shot nice. I sold it because it didn't feel enough like a Glock to save $100 or so bucks. Guess I decided that to me it was worth selling and "upgrading". The Shield is nice for what it is...a quite small 9mm.

Also, I literally shot probably 5 mags through it. It is basically brand new. Maybe it will loosen up after a while.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited August 28, 2015 by CZ9MM

[GlockSpock]

Never mind. I cannot read. Edited August 28, 2015 by CZ9MM

[TNWNGR]

Yep, slides designed to lock back on empty chamber. Drop empty mag and release the slide just like your GLOCK. This can change with a worn mag follower or mag spring.
As to the loaded mag not seating with the slide fully forward, that's not unusual and will happen with other pistols. It's generally most prevelant in a new pistol with new magazines. It can also occur with an older pistol and new magazines. What's happened is you've become a little complacent. That's more a reflection on having had a good run of luck than a training issue.
The solution to the Shield mag problem is inserting the loaded magazine with the slide retracted and locked. The other solution is don't be gentle putting the problem magazine in, get mad and slam that thing in then slap the baseplate into next week. Or just try additional extra magazines until you find agreeable combinations to mark for that pistol.

[sigbrown1297]

I know that the slide is supposed to lock back after the last round, but on a Glock you can release the slide forward on an empty mag without having to drop the mag first.  I can accept this if this is how the gun was designed to function.  Just want to make sure that mine isn't the exception.

 

As far as the mag issue, if i insert a fully loaded 7 round mag with the slide back, then chamber the round, i have 6+1.  But I'm trying to do 7+1, which means, i have to drop the mag add the 7th round in again and back in the same situation trying to put a fully loaded mag into the gun with the slide forward.

Edited August 28, 2015 by amendment2customcoating

[chances R]

With a full mag and a loaded chamber the Shield can be tough to seat the full mag.  Very normal, just takes a very firm / sudden slam of the mag.  Some full size guns are like this as well and many advocate not topping off the high cap mags just for this reason.  But in a small low cap gun, like the shield, I feel better with a full house.  Just takes a little effort.  As to the issue of the slide release, pull back slighty on the slide and push the slide lock and as you do so let go of the slide.  I think after some usage that issue will go away.  Have no trouble with mine.  I think your real test will be how you shoot it.  IMO, the shield is the best small, good pointing SD gun.  If you shoot it well I think you can adapt to the other small issues.

[DaveTN]

Notify them by email and send it back to the factory. I don’t buy into the “it needs to be broke in”; that’s non-sense. Any quality firearm should be ready for use right out of the box with nothing needed but cleaning. It’s a Smith & Wesson not an import.

My brand new Shield would stovepipe on the second round of both mags. I don’t know why; didn’t care. I notified S&W and they send me a shipping label. I think turnaround time was around 2 weeks. They replaced the extractor and polished the feed ramp. Worked flawlessly when it came back.

Or you could pass it on to some unsuspecting soul and downgrade to a Glock.

[sigbrown1297]

Notify them by email and send it back to the factory. I don’t buy into the “it needs to be broke in”; that’s non-sense. Any quality firearm should be ready for use right out of the box with nothing needed but cleaning. It’s a Smith & Wesson not an import.

My brand new Shield would stovepipe on the second round of both mags. I don’t know why; didn’t care. I notified S&W and they send me a shipping label. I think turnaround time was around 2 weeks. They replaced the extractor and polished the feed ramp. Worked flawlessly when it came back.

Or you could pass it on to some unsuspecting soul and downgrade to a Glock.

I agree.   If I buy a "brand new" gun, it should function right out of the box.  I shouldn't have to use a table to force a mag into a gun.   There is a difference between a good tap or firmly pressing a mag into the frame to engage the mag catch, and not being able to insert a mag without assist.  If this was normal, SW would have written in their manual:

"to insert full mag, put the mag base against a solid surface and press down firmly with two hands until it seats.  After a few hundred rounds, you will be able to insert the mag without using table."

 

This is an issue with the mag spring.  I'm going to try to find some other mags and see if it makes a difference.  I have no problems with my 8 round mag.  

Edited August 28, 2015 by amendment2customcoating

[cjohnson44546]

who the heck pushes a magazine in gently?  you take the heel of your hand and smack it in there... stop being so gentle. Just firing 1 round through it will give it more of a beating than smacking the mag in with your hand.

[sigbrown1297]

who the heck pushes a magazine in gently?  you take the heel of your hand and smack it in there... stop being so gentle. Just firing 1 round through it will give it more of a beating than smacking the mag in with your hand.

who said i was pushing it in there gently? 

[sigbrown1297]

I just tried mine. It IS substantially harder to seat the 7 round magazine than the 8 round magazine. I think you are used to the Glock because the magazines practically jump into the magazine well. You can seat a Glock magazine with a pinky and if that is what you were expecting from the Shield then that isn't going to happen. It is not the sellers fault, nor the guns fault perhaps expecting a Shield to be a Glock 43 was the problem.

 

And honestly, if it is seating, nothing is wrong.

 

Making veiled accusations that the seller is a crook isn't very nice either. He has ZERO obligation to contact you ever again yet he came in here to try to help. I can say without a doubt that if someone implied I was a crook I would not give them the time of day after that.

 

wait what????

 

when did I accuse the seller of being a crook?  I made a statement in my post that I'm guessing that this was the reason why he sold it.  That is not accusing of him bing a crook.  

 

I am selling my brand new Smith and Wesson Shield. Why? I guess I have more Glock in my blood than I thought. I just wasn't as impressed with it as I thought I would be.

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/90198-trades-added-sw-shield-9mm-carry-package-450-for-all/

 

The seller did a good job of coordinating the transaction and the price was fair.  This is an issue with the mag so i am not overly concerned. 

Edited August 28, 2015 by amendment2customcoating

[cjohnson44546]

who said i was pushing it in there gently? 

its sounds that way... just that you were pushing it, or pressing it on a table using weight to get it in instead of just smacking it really hard.

 

My 7 rd magazine is slightly harder to seat with 7+1 where all my 8rd magazines are easy... but it still doesn't take much of a smack to get in there.

[sigbrown1297]

i tried smacking it in there to get it to catch, but it has to be pressed really hard against a wall or table to get it to set.  Trying to do it just by hand just isn't doing it.  Im gonna keep the mag loaded to keep the springs compressed to see if it helps.  Since the 8 round and 7 round mags use the same springs, its not surprising that the 7 round is harder to push in.

[cjohnson44546]

I don't really like the 7rd magazines myself... I only have the 1 that came with it, but have several 8rd mags.  Its a better grip, and 1 more round.  I find it no easier to conceal with the 7rd either.  They are nice guns, but I'll probably end up selling mine soon, I haven't even used it much at all in the last 6 months because I like my 9mm 1911 so much better and virtually the same size.

[sigbrown1297]

yeah, i will probably end up carrying the 8 round.  This was going to by my summer carry setup, so i was trying to get it small as possible.  In the winter G19 it its ;)

[peejman]

Since its that difficult to seat, I'd contact S&W and see what they have to say. When I bought my wife's, I manually dry fired and cycled the slide about 200 times before loading a single round. It's been flawless. Your 7 rd mag seems to have some sort of problem.

[sigbrown1297]

Since its that difficult to seat, I'd contact S&W and see what they have to say. When I bought my wife's, I manually dry fired and cycled the slide about 200 times before loading a single round. It's been flawless. Your 7 rd mag seems to have some sort of problem.

dry firing isn't going to do a thing.  the mag spring is the issue.