Got my Shield 2.0 4" 9MM slides from CDNN today (sights, too)

Funny thing was, my parts order with S&W was incomplete the first pass, then I had to place a second order, and the RMR cover they sent was for the newer series (longer and rectangular) P/N 421570000, I called back and they sent me a bag P/N 3012907, which included 7 plates + screws for the newer & longer cutout. Now that you told me the Freestone fits, I ordered one. It would have been much cheaper from S&W had they shipped the correct one!

Don't have optics yet so I was looking for a cover, S&W couldn't get the right part so I bit and got the ebay polymer take-off first, then I got this from NDZ, good fit, just a hair high at the back, cheaper than the recycled one for sure and is aluminum. No screws included, just used 6-32x1/4.

Little surprised by the TR barrel experience, this is the first time I bought from them simply because I cannot source a factory 4", I waited for a while for the standard 4" but they were out of stock, so I asked them to ship me the extended 4.25" ported instead, think it is the same as M1A's. I finally got it today and noticed the Melonite coating is all over, including the ramp (it may be well polished underneath). Fitted into the 4" slide (with 2.0 extractor, spring, linear spring and keeper) over my 1.0 CA Shield frame, the lock-up is very good - so far so good. I also cycled couple 8-round clips of dummy rounds and they didn't seem to hang up in any sort of way. Maybe live fire is a different story. I probably won't have time for the range until I am done with a current annoying project.

From what I have read, people seem to like their bare stainless 1911 & Hi-power barrels, so I hope yours is simply not-to-spec? These guys at TR are hard to reach by email, I was told the other day they had email issues. While I have never been able to reach a live person when calling, they are pretty good in returning calls if you left a message. Since their stuff have life-time warranty, I think you should at least try to give them a chance to make things right.

One thing of note, most of you knew the 1.0 Shield recoil spring is a bear, OTOH, the 4" recoil assembly is a bit lighter and I had no trouble racking in new condition.

Really wanted to test out the 4” slide + TR barrel combo and decided to sneak in some range time on game day, well, all lanes were open except for 2, so I was able to at least function test the 4” setup. Brought 2 boxes circa Y2K – 1x Geco 124 Gr Ball & 1xAmerican Eagle 147Gr FMJFP, kid at the counter said “these are old”, my response – “as long as they go boom when I pull".

I was shooting with S&W night sights from CDNN (TG green on green), I eyeballed the rear when it was pushed in, about dead center, bought a laser bore sighter from Amazon afterward and it said I was lined up in windage but low on elevation, not much I could do save for tweaking the front.

The bullets landed about where the sights indicated, a hair low @ 25’ – 30’ but windage is good. I went back to my habit of using the slide stop as a release, with the proper S&W recoil spring, I had no trouble, I didn’t have to pull the slide back to feed. OTOH, with the 1.0 Shield setup, it was tough to do the same.

1st 50 rounds were the Geco, not a single feed issue, OTOH, the Federals gave me 4-5 FTF’s, which has to do with the factory 8-round mags, when these are filled with 7 rounds, not a single hiccup.

I did have to clean the new TR (Remsport) barrel a bit before range, but it wasn’t terrible by any stretch to get it ready. I am happy with the 4” combo, shoots smoothly, and I now have options. You see, the bar is so low here on the left coast, I am easy to please... LOL.

Nothing to do and went to the store, these days there's not much to buy in CA, literally nothing new from the last decade can be had. I was still looking for a CZ P-01 but those are always OOS, though they had some SP-01's so I said what the heck, got one finally even though CZ now switched out the NS's and put a FO front, and in CA, we get those funky plastic extended baseplate/block. Then there's this 10-day wait, no joy, besides, local ranges are packed.

Went home, finished up the second 4" slide, then I stared at the first one with the 407k atop DPP plate, took out the dremel press and spent some time to remove the rear posts and trim the front. Came out good enough (read "I didn't F-up the finish"). Now I don't need to get taller sights. Idle hands are simply dangerous.

I was surprised that people were getting excited with ordering those FA320 in single shot config, true that one can drop the FCU into other configurations, but it is a grey area I am not comfortable in testing. For $920, that's within striking distance of private party off-roster sale on 320's, so why bother with the single shot.