Yea, try loading 1 less and see how it works.
But, at least it shot well for you
But, at least it shot well for you
Equalizer first outing
I voted today in the local elections. It's becoming a tradition with me to go to the range and exercise my 2A rights on voting day.
And I had a virgin gun to break in, so.....
I have to start with the 13 and 15 round magazine loading. It was impossible. But someone here had a fix and I did finally get 15 rounds into the mags after 'adjusting' the followers. The 13 round did take 13 without 'adjusting' the follower, but I'm going to give that one the treatment after today. It needs it. But there's more to this magazine story......
I get to the range, lay out my piles of magazines on the table including for a Sig P320 (no safety) full size. I'm ready to fire off the first 15rd mag ever so I slip it in the gun and it doesn't lock in. I'm thinking "Oh it just needs breaking in" as I slap the mag all the way in. "Pound" it in might be a more apt description.....
I go to rack it and it's a bit stiff. Again I chalk it up to not being broken in, or maybe it sat too long since I cleaned and oiled it, maybe... I empty a couple of mags, each mag not wanting to seat in the gun. But I slap them hard and they stay.
Now it's Wifey's turn. Her hands are half the size of mine with 1/3 of the strength. Now it's a real problem. She cannot get the mag to lock in at all. So I slap it in for her and leave it for her. Time to rack the EZ slide to chamber her first round, but she's struggling with it. I mentioned the Sig P320 earlier.... She's better able to rack that than the Equalizer. She did rack the Equalizer a few times on her own but I had to rack it for her several times. This is not good.
Taking all this into consideration, I think the real problem IS the magazines. I don't know if Shield owners have these problems using the same mags, but I had them with this gun.
I did get 15 rounds in the mags, but it was still very tight on that 15th round - like it's jammed in there. The same for the one 13 round mag I have. There's no play in the magazine spring and the top/first round is jammed against the inner workings of the gun. That's why it resists being inserted, and why it's difficult to rack the slide. It's dragging across that first round.
Stupid.
I'm going to reload all my mags in a few minutes, but with 14 rounds instead of 15. We'll go back to the range and see if that 'fixes' the issue. I probably should have flipped a round out of the mags, but I really wanted to see if they all had the problem They all did, some worse than others.
Now the good part!
This is a very reliable gun so far. I'd expect any big issues to show up on the first outing. We shot a dozen mags of 115gr CCI Blazer Brass and 3 mags of Sig Sauer V-Crown hollow points through it with only one minor issue. One time the slide didn't lock after the last round. THAT I can chalk up to it needing a good break-in, or maybe Wifey's weaker hands (it happened to her). We had no stovepipes or any other type of stoppage through all 15 magazines. We shot a total of 218 rounds through it today.
It's WAY easier to shoot for both of us than our 380EZ because of the double stack grip.
I'd say it's also very accurate for a 3.675" barrel pistol.
The trigger was fine. I'm not a competition shooter and pay little attention to reset and such on triggers.
But I am confident that if the mag is in I'll put the bad guy down with it. Our groups were good with this gun, considering how long it's been since we hit the range, and that this was a brand-new gun.
-------------------------------
Time to reload a couple of piles of mags........................
And I had a virgin gun to break in, so.....
I have to start with the 13 and 15 round magazine loading. It was impossible. But someone here had a fix and I did finally get 15 rounds into the mags after 'adjusting' the followers. The 13 round did take 13 without 'adjusting' the follower, but I'm going to give that one the treatment after today. It needs it. But there's more to this magazine story......
I get to the range, lay out my piles of magazines on the table including for a Sig P320 (no safety) full size. I'm ready to fire off the first 15rd mag ever so I slip it in the gun and it doesn't lock in. I'm thinking "Oh it just needs breaking in" as I slap the mag all the way in. "Pound" it in might be a more apt description.....
I go to rack it and it's a bit stiff. Again I chalk it up to not being broken in, or maybe it sat too long since I cleaned and oiled it, maybe... I empty a couple of mags, each mag not wanting to seat in the gun. But I slap them hard and they stay.
Now it's Wifey's turn. Her hands are half the size of mine with 1/3 of the strength. Now it's a real problem. She cannot get the mag to lock in at all. So I slap it in for her and leave it for her. Time to rack the EZ slide to chamber her first round, but she's struggling with it. I mentioned the Sig P320 earlier.... She's better able to rack that than the Equalizer. She did rack the Equalizer a few times on her own but I had to rack it for her several times. This is not good.
Taking all this into consideration, I think the real problem IS the magazines. I don't know if Shield owners have these problems using the same mags, but I had them with this gun.
I did get 15 rounds in the mags, but it was still very tight on that 15th round - like it's jammed in there. The same for the one 13 round mag I have. There's no play in the magazine spring and the top/first round is jammed against the inner workings of the gun. That's why it resists being inserted, and why it's difficult to rack the slide. It's dragging across that first round.
Stupid.
I'm going to reload all my mags in a few minutes, but with 14 rounds instead of 15. We'll go back to the range and see if that 'fixes' the issue. I probably should have flipped a round out of the mags, but I really wanted to see if they all had the problem They all did, some worse than others.
Now the good part!
This is a very reliable gun so far. I'd expect any big issues to show up on the first outing. We shot a dozen mags of 115gr CCI Blazer Brass and 3 mags of Sig Sauer V-Crown hollow points through it with only one minor issue. One time the slide didn't lock after the last round. THAT I can chalk up to it needing a good break-in, or maybe Wifey's weaker hands (it happened to her). We had no stovepipes or any other type of stoppage through all 15 magazines. We shot a total of 218 rounds through it today.
It's WAY easier to shoot for both of us than our 380EZ because of the double stack grip.
I'd say it's also very accurate for a 3.675" barrel pistol.
The trigger was fine. I'm not a competition shooter and pay little attention to reset and such on triggers.
But I am confident that if the mag is in I'll put the bad guy down with it. Our groups were good with this gun, considering how long it's been since we hit the range, and that this was a brand-new gun.
-------------------------------
Time to reload a couple of piles of mags........................
1 - 20 of 22 Posts
Wifey is very upset about that. "If you say it holds 15 it should hold 15!!"Yea, try loading 1 less and see how it works.
I'm just short of shocked that S&W just lets this slide. I have 3 other S&W products and respect the quality of each. My full size 2.0 is my go-to gun. It fits me like a glove.
As an aside, my Sig P320 is an amazingly accurate gun. It really was a treat to shoot today, on only its second outing. Gotta give them credit for this since it's an absolute bare-bones gun. Doesn't even have a safety.
I have the same problem with my Shield Plus 15 round magazines. Shoots flawlessly after the full magazine is in. No failures in approximately 500 rounds.
The 13 and 15 mags are all very tight as you described. Some people have also had trouble with the 15 rd mags not locking back the slide on empty. I sent back 2 of them because the follower did not rise high enough to fully engage the slide lock lever. One did not lock at all. The other would just barely catch but a slight bump and the slide would close unexpectedly. Not good.
Many people report magazines of different brands being stiff and hard to load when new. Try a UpLula magazine loader if you haven't already. Get the magazines fully loaded and let them sit for several days and see if the springs don't work better after that. It's worth a try. Either way the UpLula loader is a worthwhile investment.
I've got the same problem with my AR mags. Loaded fully, they are difficult to seat in the magwell.
A large amount of people load their AR mags to 28, to solve that issue. You see it mentioned on forums all the time.I've got the same problem with my AR mags. Loaded fully, they are difficult to seat in the magwell.
same hereA large amount of people load their AR mags to 28, to solve that issue. You see it mentioned on forums all the time.
I need to remember that so I can flag mags where this happens.The 13 and 15 mags are all very tight as you described. Some people have also had trouble with the 15 rd mags not locking back the slide on empty. I sent back 2 of them because the follower did not rise high enough to fully engage the slide lock lever. One did not lock at all. The other would just barely catch but a slight bump and the slide would close unexpectedly. Not good.
I routinely use UpLula, and this gun came with one. Now I have 2.Many people report magazines of different brands being stiff and hard to load when new. Try a UpLula magazine loader if you haven't already. Get the magazines fully loaded and let them sit for several days and see if the springs don't work better after that. It's worth a try. Either way the UpLula loader is a worthwhile investment.
The mags sat fully loaded for a couple months I think.
I've got the same problem with my AR mags. Loaded fully, they are difficult to seat in the magwell.
That's a problem I've never had. I've also not had this problem with any other pistol and that includes other S&Ws.A large amount of people load their AR mags to 28, to solve that issue. You see it mentioned on forums all the time.
The number of pistols being reported with mags that are hard to seat seemed to take off when more pistols started being made with mags of different capacities.
I noticed the OP didn't say anything about the 10-round mag that came with the Equalizer being hard to load or seat. My suspicion is that manufacturers design the pistol's grip to its smallest magazine, resulting in the smallest reportable height. Once the grip dimension is determined, the engineers cram as many rounds as possible in higher-capacity mags. While the smallest magazine has some flex space for loading and seating, higher-capacity mags may barely have enough room to load to stated capacity, much less to flex down a bit to accommodate seating the mags.
I noticed the OP didn't say anything about the 10-round mag that came with the Equalizer being hard to load or seat. My suspicion is that manufacturers design the pistol's grip to its smallest magazine, resulting in the smallest reportable height. Once the grip dimension is determined, the engineers cram as many rounds as possible in higher-capacity mags. While the smallest magazine has some flex space for loading and seating, higher-capacity mags may barely have enough room to load to stated capacity, much less to flex down a bit to accommodate seating the mags.
CZs can be hard to lock a full magazine in with the slide forward.
FNS pistols can be hard to lock a full magazine in with the slide forward.
My M&P 2.0 (10 round mags) is really hard to lock a full magazine in with the slide forward.
Just the way it is. Many people shoot till the slide locks back on an empty magazine and then seating the next one is always easy. It's the tactical reload that can be a problem.
FNS pistols can be hard to lock a full magazine in with the slide forward.
My M&P 2.0 (10 round mags) is really hard to lock a full magazine in with the slide forward.
Just the way it is. Many people shoot till the slide locks back on an empty magazine and then seating the next one is always easy. It's the tactical reload that can be a problem.
Not if you slam the mag in hard enough…. 😁CZs can be hard to lock a full magazine in with the slide forward.
FNS pistols can be hard to lock a full magazine in with the slide forward.
My M&P 2.0 (10 round mags) is really hard to lock a full magazine in with the slide forward.
Just the way it is. Many people shoot till the slide locks back on an empty magazine and then seating the next one is always easy. It's the tactical reload that can be a problem.
I had one hell of a mid-palm callous back when I was using the first gen 10 round 9mm Wilson ETM mags in my 9mm 1911s.
The second gen ones have a little wiggle room; and will feed anything. I have one 9mm 1911 that’d never feed hollow point ammo; until I tried the new ETMs in it. Damn thing runs flawlessly with HP ammo of any brand now.
Because it wasn't.I noticed the OP didn't say anything about the 10-round mag that came with the Equalizer being hard to load or seat.
The advertising max. may be 30 (28 ends up being recommended used by many organizations/owners), or 15 (14 ends up working better for a lot of people), etc., etc., etc.
The CZ Compact 9MM pistols CZ75 Compact, P01, etc.) came with 14 round factory magazines for hears. I hear there "new" 15 rounds magazines available now.
Like trucks. How many people need the torque/hp of the big new turbo diesels advertised pulling huge trailers/loads? But you see tons of them running up and down the road in cities hauling the kids to school, dad to work, the family out to eat dinner go shopping. The makers are catering to what experiences shows them will sell. More velocity, more rounds in the magazine, optics cuts, night sights, etc.. Different products for different buyers with different felt needs.
If you want it, buy it, learn to shoot well with it, maintain it properly and hopefully, when you need it, the you can use it to defend yourself and your family successfully - and then it's worth it.
The CZ Compact 9MM pistols CZ75 Compact, P01, etc.) came with 14 round factory magazines for hears. I hear there "new" 15 rounds magazines available now.
Like trucks. How many people need the torque/hp of the big new turbo diesels advertised pulling huge trailers/loads? But you see tons of them running up and down the road in cities hauling the kids to school, dad to work, the family out to eat dinner go shopping. The makers are catering to what experiences shows them will sell. More velocity, more rounds in the magazine, optics cuts, night sights, etc.. Different products for different buyers with different felt needs.
If you want it, buy it, learn to shoot well with it, maintain it properly and hopefully, when you need it, the you can use it to defend yourself and your family successfully - and then it's worth it.
I'm going to reload all my mags in a few minutes, but with 14 rounds instead of 15. We'll go back to the range and see if that 'fixes' the issue. I probably should have flipped a round out of the mags, but I really wanted to see if they all had the problem They all did, some worse than others.
Wrong thread? What are you talking about?
Repeating my words verbatim - one post member - from China? Methinks some moderation is called for.
1 - 20 of 22 Posts
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