Shield 2.0 9mm

R

rburch

New member
So my wonderful wife told me to buy myself something for Christmas, and I found out that S&W offers their discount to private security officers.

So I picked up a new Shield 2.0 9mm.
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I put 100 rounds of FMJ, and 20 rounds of Federal HSTs through it this afternoon when I got off work, mostly just function testing it and getting to know it.

I can say I really liked it, it's been a couple years since I've had a small gun like this, but it was nice.

My only real criticism is the extended mag, during my dry testing I noticed that the 8 round mag tended to hang up on my hand and not drop free when I tried to reload. In addition the sleeve can ride up up the mag making it harder to properly seat the mag, or to pinch your hand when trying.
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I experienced both issues just doing dry reloads with snap caps. Making me realize I could not use the stock 8 rounder for defensive use.

Luckily Paul Carlsonfrom Safety Solutions Academy has a solution. It's called MAGFIX, and it is a new baseplate with a captured sleeve.
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The new baseplate was extremely easy to install, and made such a difference. Today on the range, the mag dropped free every time.

The only other change I've made is my standard for 3 Dot sights, taking a sharpie to the rear dots.
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Amazon had the Blackhawk ARC holster on sale for $9 so I have a starter holster, I still need a Magholder, and eventually night sights.
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And after spending the day with just 2 mags (I have a minimum of 8 for every other pistol I own) my thumbs say I need a lot more mags for this gun.
 
UPLULA will save the fingers....ask me how I know.

I now have three of them.

And I agree on many multiples of mags.

I have the pre 2.0 Shield 40 (also a 9mm barrel and mags). Initially thought it to be the worst pistol purchase ever. The trigger was horrible and it was almost impossible to rack the slide.

Fast forward to an Apex Duty/Carry trigger kit and a different Recoil Spring Assembly and it is a much trusted weapon and is very accurate.

However the Shield 45 2.0 came out of the box plugging the center of the target and is now my daily carry.
 
Oh I love my Uplula.

Seriously if you own a shield, check out the Mag Fix, I already know I’m putting one on all of the 8 rounders I buy.
 
My Shield arrived today, and if I experience the mag release problem, I'll get this.

I don't understand the point of the 7 round magfix though. To get the little lip?
 
rburch said:
So my wonderful wife told me to buy myself something for Christmas, and I found out that S&W offers their discount to private security officers.

So I picked up a new Shield 2.0 9mm. . . . .

And after spending the day with just 2 mags (I have a minimum of 8 for every other pistol I own) my thumbs say I need a lot more mags for this gun.
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That's a fantastic Christmas gift! I've had a Shield 1.0 in 9mm since about August 2017 (if memory serves, no guarantees). It's a fantastic little pistol for carry, IMHO.
 
Congratulations on the new gun. Tell me more about the S&W discount, this is the first I've heard of it.

I've recently been evaluating subcompact 9mm to purchase one as a carry gun and the Shield was on my short list. I have experience with Kahr but none with the Shield or SIG P365. I had the opportunity to test fire both a a local range that has rental guns. For me the P365 was more precise in slow fire. The Shield felt better in the hand and gave more precision and faster shot-to-shot recovery when shooting double taps. I've decided that the Shield will be the one I purchase. The only issue I had was the grip sleeve sliding on the 8 round mag but the Safety Solutions baseplate appears to resolve that. Thanks for that information.
 
Shield 2.0 is a great gun! IMO having shot a lot, there's hardly a bad apple in the bunch for single stack 9s -- Glock doesn't fit my hand as well but it's still good. Shield, PPS, XD-S, P356 are all great. There are plenty more too.

Of them all, I find the P365 hardest to shoot because it's just a bit too small, but the capacity is a hard argument to beat. Found the Walther and the S&W to be easiest for me to shoot. Got the PPS 2 years ago because it was running a great rebate and the Shield 2.0 wasn't released yet. If I did it over again, I just may have gone with the Shield.

Either way, Merry Christmas and enjoy that new present :)
 
OhioGuy said:
Shield 2.0 is a great gun! IMO having shot a lot, there's hardly a bad apple in the bunch for single stack 9s -- Glock doesn't fit my hand as well but it's still good. Shield, PPS, XD-S, P356 are all great. There are plenty more too.

Of them all, I find the P365 hardest to shoot because it's just a bit too small, but the capacity is a hard argument to beat. Found the Walther and the S&W to be easiest for me to shoot. Got the PPS 2 years ago because it was running a great rebate and the Shield 2.0 wasn't released yet. If I did it over again, I just may have gone with the Shield.

Either way, Merry Christmas and enjoy that new present :)
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I agree with that sentiment. Having shot the P365, and owning the PPS M2 and now the Shield as of yesterday, the SIG is nice, but I can grip the other two well and with the SIG I feel like I'm partially gripping the gun, partially gripping my grip. As to which I like best between the Walther and the Shield, I can not say. To me the Walther just feels like a higher quality gun, though the Shield feels high quality. The butter creamy slide on the Walther is a joy. But the Walther just does not have the clean break of the Shield. Anyway, today I will take both to the range, first time for the Shield, and see which I prefer shooting.

Though they are the same size, the Shield feels smaller than the Walther. The SIG really feels small, but the grip length is significantly no different than the Shield with flush mag or with the Magguts +2, which makes it a 9+1, plenty close to P365's 10+1.

I had a Ruger EC9s but sold it because the trigger cants so forward it's pointy end bugged my finger. If it had the Shield trigger and break it would be my top choice. The body of the Ruger is just a much better pocket gun. Equal quality to the Shield.
 
Tried the 9mm with the Apex trigger, it belonged to my buddy. Bought myself the .45ACP model. Great with standard trigger.
 
It’s a great little pistol, I really like my original version. It’s so easy to carry and conceal, but still shoots pretty well even with hotter ammo.
 
I carry my 9mm Shield 1.0 with the 7 round mag, fitted with a Pearce pinky base and a Mag-guts +1 spring. Far as I'm concerned it's as close as I'll likely get to the perfect EDC.
 
river251 said:
I agree with that sentiment. Having shot the P365, and owning the PPS M2 and now the Shield as of yesterday, the SIG is nice, but I can grip the other two well and with the SIG I feel like I'm partially gripping the gun, partially gripping my grip. As to which I like best between the Walther and the Shield, I can not say. To me the Walther just feels like a higher quality gun, though the Shield feels high quality. The butter creamy slide on the Walther is a joy. But the Walther just does not have the clean break of the Shield. Anyway, today I will take both to the range, first time for the Shield, and see which I prefer shooting.

Though they are the same size, the Shield feels smaller than the Walther. The SIG really feels small, but the grip length is significantly no different than the Shield with flush mag or with the Magguts +2, which makes it a 9+1, plenty close to P365's 10+1.

I had a Ruger EC9s but sold it because the trigger cants so forward it's pointy end bugged my finger. If it had the Shield trigger and break it would be my top choice. The body of the Ruger is just a much better pocket gun. Equal quality to the Shield.
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I've noticed on P365 forums that a good number of people put Hogue rubber on the grip to improve handling. I've never shot a P365 with that grip, but I have shot similar sized guns with similar grips. They help a good deal, but also widen the grip to be close to double-stack width. In that case, your P365 has kinda become a G26 grip with a G43 slide on it. Still slimmer overall, but not terribly so.

That's not to knock the Sig, I think it's a really neat gun. I do hope they've kicked off an arms race and we'll eventually start seeing all the other brands running similar capacities as the new normal.

Totally different tangent -- can't speak for Magguts on Shield -- but on my PPS the Magguts kits DO work perfectly on the flush 6 round magazine but DO NOT work reliably on the 7 or 8 round. This is because the metal body of the magazine is the same length as the flush mag and only the plastic grip extender adds height. The metal follower of Magguts can and does get snagged down inside the hollow extender, under the metal body of the magazine, resulting in a jammed magazine spring. Multiple people on the Walther forum have had this same problem. And not to their credit, Magguts has responded by saying "we can't replicate the problem" and "it should work perfectly."
 
Thanks for that info, Ohioguy. That's info I needed to know, because I have the PPS M2 and probably will keep it, and was wondering about that. So you can turn the 6 round into a 7 round, but can't turn the 7 and 8 rounders into 8 and 9 rounders. Very good to know this.

I don't know of any mag extensions for the PPS M2 either. For that matter I can't think of a single aftermarket product for the M2 except the magguts and a few sights (not the ones I want). But it's a magnificent pistol as is.

I sure wonder why S&W M&P took off and captured the aftermarket like Glock, though smaller, and Walther, Ruger, H&K, and the rest have not.
 
Well, I spent the morning cleaning my PPS M2, and new Shield M2.0, and am about to go out to the range and compare them.
 
Marketing. The original PPS was out before the Shield. Granted it had the paddle release and the weird feature of the pistol being disabled without the backstrap, but it was still a solid pistol. Walther doesn't have the market presence of S&W. They're very popular with enthusiasts, but they pale in sales numbers next to Glock and S&W. Of course back when Walther was being imported by S&W there wasn't exactly a ton of motivation for S&W to push Walther products through their dealers. Walther has had a stateside operation for some time now and is better than where they were, but not at the larger levels of awareness yet. The Shield is also a very good pistol in its own right.

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I don't understand the point of the 7 round magfix though. To get the little lip?
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Yeah, it's set up to help malfunction clearing. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll get that one or not.

Tell me more about the S&W discount, this is the first I've heard of it.
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It's similar to the First Responder discounts from other manufacturers. In S&W's case they don't sell directly but have certain shops that are law enforcement dealers.

If you have the proper credentials (in my case they asked for my Armed Security License and Employee ID) you can buy at a discounted price.

Check this link, it's a list of them by state.

S&W LEO Distributors
 
It's similar to the First Responder discounts from other manufacturers. In S&W's case they don't sell directly but have certain shops that are law enforcement dealers.

If you have the proper credentials (in my case they asked for my Armed Security License and Employee ID) you can buy at a discounted price.

Check this link, it's a list of them by state.
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Thanks, Looks like RSR covers my state. I'll contact them tomorrow.
 
I can say "yes" from personal experience to what you said about the 6 and 8 rounders -- haven't tried the 7 but imagine it could suffer from the same problem.

The bad part of it is Magguts' response to me. I made a video illustrating the problem and everything. The only response was "we can't replicate the problem, we'll send you a refund." There's a clear-cut explanation for why it happens, too. Seems like something a company should fix immediately before people buy more of a product that may lead to their rounds getting jammed down inside a magazine.
 
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