A S&W Squeeze Cock?

M

marine6680

New member
This was in my FB feed.

Basically seems to be a 380 chambered shield.

The dingus on the back of the grip... It's called a grip safety... But the pistol is also said to be easier to rack...

So it makes me wonder if they reduce the effort by having the pistol cock when gripped, reducing the tension needed when you rack the slide. Or maybe it's just simply that it's chambered in 380...

Not 100% on all that... As putting a grip safety on an M&P seems pointless. They already offer a version with a manual safety, no need for more safteys thrown in...

So it makes me think the grip "safety" is more than just that alone.

I guess we will find out sooner or later.
 
The M&P is cocked on the forward return stroke, not on the initial backwards stroke of the slide. Hence, I presume that the easier slide force is the result of a less stiff recoil spring tailored to the .380 round, and not because of anything having to do with the cocking action.

I suspect that the pistol cocks just like a standard M&P and the grip safety works by tripping the sear deactivation lever built into the M&P sear assembly. Clever design concept IMHO. :)

[EDIT: Further information indicates that the pistol actually uses an internal hammer and not a striker.]
 
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Looks like S&W is trying to take advantage of the popularity of the Shield by offering it in .380 caliber and also making it more friendly for new shooters or those that are recoil sensitive when shooting a 9 mm. The grip safety might comfort those users that think the single action trigger isn't safe enough. Just my observations for what it's worth. :)
 
HighValleyRanch said:
overall length is 6.7"??
Isn't that bigger than the shield?
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Yes. It has a 3.675" barrel rather than a 3.1" barrel.

[EDIT TO ADD] I also just noticed that the gun is only offered with an 8rd flush-fit magazine rather than 7rd flush-fit and 8rd extended mags like the 9mm Shield, so the grip is also taller.
HighValleyRanch said:
Why go lower caliber and bigger gun?
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Dunno. Perhaps to increase slide and barrel mass and allow a softer recoil spring?

FWIW S&W is apparently also offering a thumb safety version for those belt-and-suspenders folks.
 
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If it is bigger than a shield... Or longer anyway... That may mean a spring that is even softer.

I just can't wrap my head around a grip safety though. A manual safety is enough to make most people more comfortable with a firearm.

That is why I am wondering if there is something more to that grip safety than simply being a safety.


Either way... It's either a neat concept, or a needless complication.
 
marine6680 said:
I just can't wrap my head around a grip safety though. A manual safety is enough to make most people more comfortable with a firearm.
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I'll give them credit for exploiting a new market niche. :)

Also note that the thumb safety version doesn't use the low-profile tab of the standard Shield; it uses the big lever from on the Compact, FS, and long-slide. I surmise that this was done so that the safety lever stands out more in the display case, and because the pistol's buyers are likely to actually use it. :)
 
I don't know anything about the gun, but I'd be willing to wager that the grip safety functions strictly as a grip safety and does nothing else. I highly doubt the grip safety has anything to do with the spring tension of the recoil spring. Typically a recoil spring rides underneath the barrel and a grip safety spring seats on the rear part of the frame. It would be needlessly complex to tie the functions together.

I like the theory behind a grip safety, but i'm not sure how useful they actually are. Unlike the more common John Moses Browning designs the grip safety on this gun looks needlessly large and out of place.

I'm guessing the gun will be relatively easy to shoot given the size and the fact that it's chambered for .380. Gun designers have been chasing the smallest gun possible for the better part of the last decade. These tiny guns are easy to conceal, but much harder to learn on. I was at the range last weekend and the guy next to me was trying to teach a lady to shoot for the first time and he had a J frame 38 special, a tiny 9mm and a 1911. The training did not go well.
 
I wish they had left off the tacticool rail, and put the squeezer on the front.
That way it would have resembled a HK P7 and I would want it!:D
 
reddog81 said:
I don't know anything about the gun, but I'd be willing to wager that the grip safety functions strictly as a grip safety and does nothing else. I highly doubt the grip safety has anything to do with the spring tension of the recoil spring. Typically a recoil spring rides underneath the barrel and a grip safety spring seats on the rear part of the frame. It would be needlessly complex to tie the functions together.
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Indeed, hence my guess that the grip safety simply trips the sear deactivation lever already built into the M&P sear housing block.

I'm familiar with the basic M&P design, and it would be far easier (and cheaper) for S&W to design the pistol this way than to somehow link the grip safety to the recoil spring or mainspring, and/or to change how the sear functions; any of these options would create more parts exclusive to the Shield EZ, thus increasing mf'g costs.

[EDIT: Further information indicates that the pistol actually uses an internal hammer and not a striker.]
reddog81 said:
I'm guessing the gun will be relatively easy to shoot given the size and the fact that it's chambered for .380.
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Yes. They're aiming at a market niche currently occupied only by the Walther PK380.

The Shield EZ promises the benefits of the PK380—small enough to conceal but large enough to be easy to hold, comfy grip, generous sight radius, big easy-to-see sights, a reasonably good trigger, easy slide operation force, negligible felt recoil—without the drawbacks of DA/SA complexity, non-standard safety operation and decocking, no external slide stop, and the need for a proprietary takedown tool (not to mention the Walther's lousy Umarex assembly quality and its tendency to jam :rolleyes:).
 
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Don P said:
Springfield Armory beat them to the punch when they introduced the XD series pistols some 10-12 years ago
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Not a .380. ;):eek::D

There's also the Remington R51, but it's also not a .380, and the S&W is more likely to work properly. :p;)
 
New to guns, wants something to have "in the house" just in case, and needs to be able to rack the slide. Can also sell the .380 as more recoil friendly. I bet they sell more of these than you would think.

A lot of first time buyers are intimidated by racking the slide and making it easier helps. Putting in another automatic but visual safety for them to see and feel while fondling the gun in the store does not hurt. The elderly gentleman who no longer feels he can rack the old trusted .45 might find that grip safety welcoming.

I think they know exactly what they are doing with this. The members of this board, for the most part, are not likely the target market.
 
A grip safety isn't the same thing squeeze cocking. That'd be a good thing since it didn't work worth beans on the HK P7. Mind you, it's lever was on the front strap. Weak hands had trouble squeezing the thing.
 
Yeah... I doubt it's a cocker...

That early in the AM, and my brain was trying to justify it's existence... If it provides no additional functionality... They why?

Still think a grip safety is dumb on this pistol.

Having an easier to use pistol for those with weaker hands, that's a good niche to fill though.
 
Folks, think back to the popularity of the Colt 1903 "Hammerless" (covered hammer), with its grip safety feature. Borrowing a page from history for folks who like the added safety feature of a grip safety.

Also, there's probably a huge market of folks who might really appreciate a mild-shooting centerfire pistol, chambered in a caliber less "powerful" than a 9mm, which they can more easily manipulate and operate.

Face it, women shooters are seemingly the fastest growing market group, and .380ACP has been the fastest growing caliber. This is what we were told in the first Glock recert class I attended after the release of the G42. Glock had decided to go after part of the fast-growing market of women shooters who wanted a lighter recoiling .380ACP. (We were told that Glock had observed that the hottest selling caliber to commercial buyers - not LE - in the 3 years leading up to their decision to design the G42 had been .380, and that women were the largest demographic of that market.)

A decently sized single stack .380, ala the Walther, Bersa, Browning/Beretta, and the growing number of new models by SIG, Colt, Ruger (LC380), would seem to indicate S&W has probably wisely interpreted the market to bring a new product to it.

There's plenty of increasingly diminutive .380's for the folks looking for really pocketable pistols, secondary/backup pistols and for the dedicated "shooters" (LE & private citizens, alike) who don't mind the recoil of the increasingly smaller and lighter .380's.

It wouldn't surprise me if this new medium-sized .380 pistol strikes chord with a lot of buyers who aren't interested in shooting "duty/service" calibers, but still want something chambered in a defensive caliber above that of .22LR, .25 or .32 ACP.

As has already been mentioned by someone else, it might also find a ready market internationally, in the countries where ownership of "military" calibers is either prohibited or heavily restricted. (Think of Glock's G25 & G28, and why they were created and marketed internationally.)

Also, the simple observation that it's marked "EZ", referencing the ease of loading magazines and retracting the slide, is no doiubt going to be a favorable marketing feature that appeals to a lot of folks who aren't able to easily do either manipulation with a number of other popular pistols.
 
They're aiming at a market niche currently occupied only by the Walther PK380.
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As just pointed out by fastbolt, the Ruger LC380 is also a 9mm-sized pistol chambered in .380. That size of locked-breach gun in that caliber will prove rather popular, I predict, and S&W is smart for getting into that market.

I'm just disappointed they did not call it the: Safety Hammerless Even Newer Departure 6th Model :D

Bart Noir
Who thinks the Lemon Squeezer nickname would just not be understood.
 
What?
I still haven't forgiven them for the Plastic M&P.

I like the way it shoots but a Military & Police is a blue .38 revolver.
 
Seems like 380 is gaining in popularity. It would be nice if the prices of 380 ammo would come down a little, but I'm not sure that's gonna happen.
 
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