S&W Shield Problem

No problem with the 9 mm Shield approx 700 rounds.
Just one thing, I am finding that racking the slide is getting harder...(as I get older and weaker)
I really enjoy shooting it, its my most accurate....
 
I called S&W today to find out the status of my return and I was told it would be 3 weeks before the gunsmith gets to look at the gun. I do not think the Shield has any more problems than Glock, Springfield, HK or any other high quality pistol I do believe S&W's customer service is worse than the afore mentioned companies. I am VERY unhappy about the 3 week wait to have the gun looked at much less repaired.
 
As an FYI, the industry standard is usually a month long turnaround. I'm not sure when you sent it in but if it's within that it's pretty normal.
 
I just bought PERFORMANCE CENTER 9mm,
There was is a rebate and Bass Pro Shops was giving a 10% discount...
Depending on how I like it, maybe the "old" one will go ....
 
I registered just to reply to this. ( I looked when this happened to me and didn't see much out there)

I bought a Shield 9mm about a 2 months ago. It was between that and a Glock. I chose the shield.

My first time to the range, at about 170 rounds I had the exact same thing happen. The slide was pinned back, all the way back, after ejecting the shell, it really freaked me out. I dropped the mag, and got it to where I could remove the slide and checked the spring. After visual inspection, everything looked ok, so I put it back, and sent another 20 or so rounds through it before the same thing happened again. This time I slammed it forward on the wood paneling of box I was in. I continued to fire it, and after about another 200 rounds I decided to leave ( no more problems after that last time). Also, one thing I can say is that it racks much smoother than when I first shot it.

I have since sent another close to 800 rounds through. Only one issue since, just a round that didn't fire on first strike. Second run through was fine.

Later on, I checked the S&W forums, and this is apparently not unheard of, a lot of folks seem to send it in and have the spring replaced, and some It could be operator error. I personally have always owned Sig handguns, but this was to be my daily carry and I wanted to try something different. So having this happen not only had me shocked, but a little angry that I didn't go with my first instinct which was the Glock.

I'm not trying to start any religious debates (gun is better than that), this is just one person's opinion. I haven't had an issue with it since. But unfortunately it may have ruined trust for me.

But yeh, if you are getting here from a google search, just check that the spring is seated correctly or you may have to send it in to the MFR. Reliability is paramount, so I would definitely make sure that your specific weapon is trustworthy before carrying.
 
The pistol FINALLY came back 7 weeks from when I sent it in. The work order said "deburr slide". Whatever was done remedied the issue I have fired 200 rounds without incident. The pistol is accurate and has little recoil, I guess due to the porting. Am I happy? No not really. This gun should have never left the performance center realizing that problems due occur with any manufactured product I can excuse the lack of quality control. What cannot be excused is a 7 week turnaround for a factory defective product. Either S&W needs to hire more gunsmiths or tighten up their quality control. Would I buy another S&W product? No there are too many other manufactures with better and quicker repair services: Walther, Glock, Springfield,Steyr and others.
 
The pistol FINALLY came back 7 weeks from when I sent it in. The work order said "deburr slide". Whatever was done remedied the issue I have fired 200 rounds without incident. The pistol is accurate and has little recoil, I guess due to the porting. Am I happy? No not really. This gun should have never left the performance center realizing that problems due occur with any manufactured product I can excuse the lack of quality control. What cannot be excused is a 7 week turnaround for a factory defective product. Either S&W needs to hire more gunsmiths or tighten up their quality control. Would I buy another S&W product? No there are too many other manufactures with better and quicker repair services: Walther, Glock, Springfield,Steyr and others.
Click to expand...

7 weeks doesn't sound that bad to me. I have experience with sending two firearms back and both took much longer. One was a Rossi that took about 6 months when you include the time that was wasted by their customer service trying to claim a missing part wasn't covered by warranty since it was a BLEM gun. The other was an Hk USP. It was my buddy's gun and I don't know if maybe he ticked them off in some way but I do know that it took them 9 months to get the pistol back to him. According to him they told him that all LEO and military work comes first and that it just took them that long to get to it. I didn't hear any of his conversations with them but I do know for a fact that he didn't get the pistol back for 9 months. This was also years ago back when Hk was fairly well-known for being against civilians owning their guns (or at least thats what the rumors were).

On the topic of the S&W Shield, my Shield 9mm had a similar issue with the slide sometimes locking back. This issue also came with a very hard to rack slide. Its problem turned out to be that the recoil spring was actually built incorrectly. I called S&W and they shipped me a new recoil spring for free that was at my house in less than a week and I haven't had an issue with it since.
 
"7 weeks doesn't sound that bad to me"

I bought the gun NIB. Suppose I was in a state that restricts carry to the gun on a license or a state with a 1 gun per month. How about taking your car in for warrenty work and not getting it back for almost 2 months?
 
S&W Shield Problem

Even at the standard 1 month turnaround you would have been without a gun for... a month. The old adage, "two is one, one is none", really comes into play. As for the car analogy, that would definitely stink but if the dealer was backed up it's not like I can force him or her to magically fix it. That's why I have insurance coverage that covers rental cars (kind of like that second gun).

It sucks it took that long, but I've also sent guns back to companies that I had to fight to get to pay for shipping and came back with the same problems they left with. If that turnaround becomes the new standard for S&W that's not a good thing, but you may just be the unfortunate anomaly. It's absolutely your right to choose not to buy any more S&W products, I would just caution you that not all other companies are perfect roses.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Pretty sure I've read somewhere that Smith is just tremendously over loaded with repair volume at this time and that normally it doesn't take over a month to get your gun back. I think your timing just sucked at having an issue that had to be dealt with.
 
Shield RSA

Absolutely love my Shield 9mm as my EDC and it's great accuracy on the range also. Extremely light n thin to carry in pocket Desantis nemesis holster.
It can be a little finicky at first time disassembly or reassembly if you are not very careful to seat the captured recoil spring absolutely centered n fully in.
I had it lock up initially the day I purchased it after cleaning .. took it to my LGS,
The gun reset the slide in 10 seconds, he juggled it some and pulled back hard n it snapped back into battery...
in any case as you shoot and clean the Shield a few times the gun will just perform flawlessly n the finicky RSA will become a first time thing of the past
 
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