I just received my new S&W 9mm Shield. I haven't fired any rounds yet, I'm simply practicing racking and locking the slide back and dry firing it with dummy bullets for now. It's hard for me to get to a firing range at this current time and I would have to drive 1 hour away for the nearest range.
I have noticed a few things that I'm puzzled about, can anyone help shed light on this?
1) When I rack the slide back (with or without a dummy bullet in the mag), the slide only sometimes lock back into place. Most of the time, the slide simply slides back and then goes forward if I release it. Shouldn't the slide always lock into place if I pull back the slide? I noticed that if I jiggle the lever (see attached pic circled in red), then the slide might lock into place sometimes when pulled back. Is this normal?
2) When the slide is finally locked into place, I find it takes an extreme amount of thumb pressure to press down on the lever (see pic circled in red) to release the slide to go forward again. I mean seriously, it takes a large amount of force to press down on the lever to release the slide to go forward into place again. I am not a weak male, I'm young and healthy and work out with weights every day. Is this normal behavior for the slide action?
3) When I insert rounds into the supplied magazine, it takes a rather large amount of pressure to insert each round inside. Is this normal?
My only experience with semi-automatic pistols are a Sig Sauer 228 (and Colt Mustang 380) that I purchased 30 years ago, but sold awhile back. That old Sig 228 was silky smooth compared to my new Shield, and I didn't even shoot the gun much. When I racked the Sig slide back, I seem to recall it would lock into place every time reliably, not just sometimes. Plus the Sig release lever was very easy to press down to release the slide to go forward. Inserting rounds into a Sig magazine was also easy.
So based on my limited experience of only comparing my old Sig 228 9mm to my new current Shield 9mm, my Shield feels quite a bit stiff and rough. I'm especially concerned that the slide doesn't reliably lock back into place when I pull the slide back. I'm almost regretting buying the Shield and sort of wish I got another Sig instead. Can anyone shed some light on these questions?
Please see attached picture of the release lever circled in red that I'm referring to for unlocking the slide.
![17345]( "17345")
I have noticed a few things that I'm puzzled about, can anyone help shed light on this?
1) When I rack the slide back (with or without a dummy bullet in the mag), the slide only sometimes lock back into place. Most of the time, the slide simply slides back and then goes forward if I release it. Shouldn't the slide always lock into place if I pull back the slide? I noticed that if I jiggle the lever (see attached pic circled in red), then the slide might lock into place sometimes when pulled back. Is this normal?
2) When the slide is finally locked into place, I find it takes an extreme amount of thumb pressure to press down on the lever (see pic circled in red) to release the slide to go forward again. I mean seriously, it takes a large amount of force to press down on the lever to release the slide to go forward into place again. I am not a weak male, I'm young and healthy and work out with weights every day. Is this normal behavior for the slide action?
3) When I insert rounds into the supplied magazine, it takes a rather large amount of pressure to insert each round inside. Is this normal?
My only experience with semi-automatic pistols are a Sig Sauer 228 (and Colt Mustang 380) that I purchased 30 years ago, but sold awhile back. That old Sig 228 was silky smooth compared to my new Shield, and I didn't even shoot the gun much. When I racked the Sig slide back, I seem to recall it would lock into place every time reliably, not just sometimes. Plus the Sig release lever was very easy to press down to release the slide to go forward. Inserting rounds into a Sig magazine was also easy.
So based on my limited experience of only comparing my old Sig 228 9mm to my new current Shield 9mm, my Shield feels quite a bit stiff and rough. I'm especially concerned that the slide doesn't reliably lock back into place when I pull the slide back. I'm almost regretting buying the Shield and sort of wish I got another Sig instead. Can anyone shed some light on these questions?
Please see attached picture of the release lever circled in red that I'm referring to for unlocking the slide.
