S&W Shield ez 9mm opinions
- Thread starter Imaduckin
- Start date
gwmac
Well-Known Fanatic
Compared to the regular Shield,I think they look odd.
rotarymike
Well-Known Fanatic
I have a regular Shield and it isn't any more difficult to rack than any full-size gun. I've had many interns shoot it too and they've never had a problem with the slide spring tension, even very slightly built women.
I'm not a fan of palm safeties in general because I have small hands so tend to grip wrong... 1911s without extended palm safeties are useless to me. I'd be afraid that in a kinetic encounter I'd have my ass kicked by a safety because I wasn't able to use perfect form while in a defensive situation. And, let's face it, no one buys a Shield-sized gun for competition or target practice.
YMMV - if you've never had an issue with palm safeties and have trained with them in stress situations, I think it would be fine.
I'm not a fan of palm safeties in general because I have small hands so tend to grip wrong... 1911s without extended palm safeties are useless to me. I'd be afraid that in a kinetic encounter I'd have my ass kicked by a safety because I wasn't able to use perfect form while in a defensive situation. And, let's face it, no one buys a Shield-sized gun for competition or target practice.
YMMV - if you've never had an issue with palm safeties and have trained with them in stress situations, I think it would be fine.
gwmac
Well-Known Fanatic
You all are aware S&W have issued a recall on the E-Z
rotarymike
Well-Known Fanatic
I was not. What was the recall issue?
gwmac
Well-Known Fanatic
Safety
rotarymike
Well-Known Fanatic
Well, there you go.
last year from march to oct 2020 https://www.mpshieldezrecall.com/
rotarymike
Well-Known Fanatic
If you are interested in selling (to fund a post-Oct 2020 ShieldEZ), I might know someone interested. They're in Charleston.
Oh yea I did TONS of research for 6 months on this pistol man. We got her the .380 but the 9 is the same features and feel. I handled them both.
My wife and I are originally from NJ, so she grew up being scared of guns (everything we hear growing up is how they are bad...they are criminalized). She is still is nervous, most women are from the North East so you can imagine they aren't very good (or confident) at reloading a modern striker fired polymer pistol such as a Glock 19 or P320 with no safety and the weight of a loaded mag.
For a chick who hates guns and can barely pickup a loaded "duty pistol" and especially barely rack the slide, the EZ is like a toy she handles it with confidence like a Nerf gun. Suddenly there is a smile and you can just feel the confidence in the air. You should see how great this thing is, slides like butter/ball bearings..super user friendly.
I recommended to her because of reviews and she settled on the S&W EZ Performance Center Gold (because it's pretty). While there are some handi-caps for those beared delta sniper tact-i-cool wanna be operators and dress up in kevlar and giant velcro flags. In my opinion, it's perfect for a new shooter or someone who is on the weaker side.
The grip safety looks cumbersome but it functons well and the manual safety is well executed. The #1 thing I love about the pistol is how easy it is to rack the slide, it's rediculous!
I was on the Army pistol team and have a massive collection, I have shot just about everything and have trained to shoot fast (I'm no one special but wanted to point out I have more experience than some). You can reload in a split second. The S&W EZ is amazing, I can run that little guy so fast it's really amazing.
Also, when your on a 2 way range and rounds are cracking overhead and you see the dirt around you come to life, having something that is so easy to manipulate is a god send.
My wife and I are originally from NJ, so she grew up being scared of guns (everything we hear growing up is how they are bad...they are criminalized). She is still is nervous, most women are from the North East so you can imagine they aren't very good (or confident) at reloading a modern striker fired polymer pistol such as a Glock 19 or P320 with no safety and the weight of a loaded mag.
For a chick who hates guns and can barely pickup a loaded "duty pistol" and especially barely rack the slide, the EZ is like a toy she handles it with confidence like a Nerf gun. Suddenly there is a smile and you can just feel the confidence in the air. You should see how great this thing is, slides like butter/ball bearings..super user friendly.
I recommended to her because of reviews and she settled on the S&W EZ Performance Center Gold (because it's pretty). While there are some handi-caps for those beared delta sniper tact-i-cool wanna be operators and dress up in kevlar and giant velcro flags. In my opinion, it's perfect for a new shooter or someone who is on the weaker side.
The grip safety looks cumbersome but it functons well and the manual safety is well executed. The #1 thing I love about the pistol is how easy it is to rack the slide, it's rediculous!
I was on the Army pistol team and have a massive collection, I have shot just about everything and have trained to shoot fast (I'm no one special but wanted to point out I have more experience than some). You can reload in a split second. The S&W EZ is amazing, I can run that little guy so fast it's really amazing.
Also, when your on a 2 way range and rounds are cracking overhead and you see the dirt around you come to life, having something that is so easy to manipulate is a god send.
rotarymike
Well-Known Fanatic
While I doubt the tacticool folks would be interested in a shield sized gun to start with... what are the handicaps here? Serious question; I have a 1st gen Shield 9 and it does everything a full size gun does but ammo capacity.
Hell, when I first got my M&P9 longslide for steel challenge and I couldn't hit squat beyond the 7 yard plates, I ran the same course with the Shield to make sure it wasn't me. It wasn't - other than not having 10 on board the Shield ran steel challenge stages just fine. The longslide needed a trip back to S&W and an Apex barrel to get there.
#1 Reputation. It will never be as desirable or popular as some other brands that are in or very close to the same price range. If you are the kinda guy who keeps every gun you ever bought, no biggy, but if you like to trade and sell every few yrs the S&W Shield/M&P line has never held value like some others. Hell, I've always bought low and sold high, made $1000's. But that's not for everyone.
#2 Capacity. Some love a 1911 thin grip and are great with accepting 7-8 rounds in trade off. In a modern gun, I wouldn't take this to a gun fight but if it's for someone who typically wouldn't be able to hand a 12-15-22 round modern poly gun, this does it. (Personally if this was intended for me and I wanted a S&W, I would get the new Shield Plus that has that new fat magazine or wait to see if they make an even better EZ version).
#3 Quality/reliability. They don't get torture tested and win govt/LE contracts so we don't know how reliable they really are. I read great things about these (enough to get my wife one) but it's always made me happy when I get the same thing some agency uses and can rest assured it's been vetted. The1x I took it out, we had 1 FTF maybe 2 but definitely 1.
#4 The grip safety is ugly (larger on the performance models) and also sticks into some people's hands. Not mine but some wrote about it complaining and file them down.
#5 Training, if you draw and push out you'll definitely forget to the knock the safety down if your getting shot at. Unless you're a 1911 guy (this fits the 1911 fine motor skill set perfectly), you'll need to invest in a case of ammo and re-train your brain if it's your CCW.
#6 This is very personal, accuracy. My sights were way off. I shot tiny groups w/P365, G43 and any Sig P series. Tiny! But I shot like **** with this Shield EZ. Note, I only shot it 1x.
rotarymike
Well-Known Fanatic
Good points agreed. My Shield benefited enormously from Tru-glo TXF sights (tritium and fiber optic) that were actually boresighted. I've had a few FTF/FTEs but they were all my own (weak end) handloads - never with factory ammo, including white box FMJ. I've never shot steel/aluminum cases through it though. I'm maybe at 3k rounds? I usually run 100 through it every range trip, mostly commercial or reload FMJ. I cycle my defensive ammo ever few years so I know it feeds OK.
I don't do thumb safeties on defensive firearms - too many bad experiences with my M9.
The Shield Plus is certainly interesting. But... my 14 rounds on my body (in gun and spare) are to get me the hell out of Dodge, not decisively win a gun fight with multiple folks. For that... I'll just go be somewhere else. I'm pretty happy with my current setup.
I don't do thumb safeties on defensive firearms - too many bad experiences with my M9.
The Shield Plus is certainly interesting. But... my 14 rounds on my body (in gun and spare) are to get me the hell out of Dodge, not decisively win a gun fight with multiple folks. For that... I'll just go be somewhere else. I'm pretty happy with my current setup.
rotarymike
Well-Known Fanatic
Just as a data point - Classic Firearms (In NC) has ShieldEZ 9s with and without thumb safeties for $450, in stock at the moment. Not trying to push them or anything, though I have used them for C&R in the past.
