First of all,I am using my husband's account, since he already has one. I am looking to start carrying myself.  I am comfortable shooting, enjoy my husband's M&P 2.0 4" compact in 9m, but it is just too big for me to conceal carry.  He suggested a few guns and I am interested in the following:

M&P Shield EZ .380 - What I don't like about it is the grip safety
M&P Shield 9mm -
Glock 43 9mm - Seems to be a bit snappy

Unfortunately with all of the stuff going on, we have been unable to find any local gun stores that carry these. I may just have to buy online without shooting it first.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? TIA

I have been shooting a 9 ez. If there is any way you can be comfortable with any 9 I would stay away from the 380, just so lame compared to the 9mm

Bought it for my pistol classes as many older woman have trouble racking the slide.


Kind of a odd misshapen little gun . S&W claims they messed with the grip angle to reduce felt recoil and for whatever reason I agree it is easy to shoot.

Best bet is to get to a rental range or some other place where you can get some shooting in before you buy a gun. Every person likes different things and grips.


This is one of the reasons I enjoy being a member of a active gun club where it is easy to borrow most any gun (we like to show off our stuff)

This. You may save yourself a lot of buyer's remorse. I think the biggest factor is how the firearm feels in the hand because they're all pretty snappy including the Shield. I have not shot a G43. I do own a G43X and it's something of a handful even with that "full size" grip.

If considering an "EZ" go with the nine since they're designed to be soft shooters and easy to rack so take advantage of the 9's better terminal ballistics. None of my carry guns have external safeties.

One pistol I've warmed up to after an initial "why the hell did I buy this?" is the Walther PPS M2. Is it snappy? Yeah, kind of. But after 500-600 rounds I started getting in the groove and when I changed out the factory sights to Truglo "Tritium Pro" I really started to like it. It's extremely accurate. I like the 7-round magazine. PSA had them for $270. Unfortunately the newest crop of staggered double stack minis (Hellcat, P365) relegated the PPS M2 to "clearance" status. I might add a Talon grip kit to it.

ETA: Of the subcompact firearms you're considering you may wish to revisit the G43 or even the G43X for these reasons.

Reliability;they just work.

Ease of disassembly. What other firearm can you detail strip with just a punch?

Availability of OEM parts. Glock factory parts are available everywhere.

Aftermarket accessories support. The availability of night sights, holsters, etc. is second to none.

Thanks for sharing.  Yeah my husband loves his guns for sure.  We went looking yesterday at a few gun stores and all were crazy busy with super long lines and none had what we were looking for.  I will see if he has any contacts on his IG page or Clone Shoot guys that may have these guns.  I agree with you, you definitely need to try before you buy.  Thanks for your thoughts.

There are a LOT of Shield Fanatics.

It is a great carry gun and it just works!

Bonus is S&W Lifetime Warranty and there is a lot of support from vendors for Magazines Extensions (MagGuts, Hyve, ect...), holsters, sights, grip texture, etc.

I've like it so much I bought a 2nd and a 3rd...

I don't know.  I've been handling guns since I was 10 YOA.  I just can't warm up to the Shield 9mm, mostly because the slide is just a bear.  Ours were some of the first models released.  My wife handles it ok, but shoots her Ruger SP101 better - in DA believe it or not.   I only grabbed a Shield, so I could shoot my own if my wife had questions (she was very possessive of her Shield, which is fine by me), but I've never taken mine out of the safe.  Honestly, if you were my neighbor I would give it to you and I'm not kidding,  It might break in to be a fine weapon, but I'm not sure you or I have the time to do that and I'm guessing you don't have a range to make it happen anytime soon.

No experience with the S&W 380, but my brother seemed to like his Bodyguard.

You/I agree on the G43.  Snappy.

More expensive, but the Sig 938 handled well for me for its size.

EDIT: So, a long while back (2 years?), my P938 had the guide rod issue, where the two piece rod came loose.  Not a huge deal, but when I called Sig they wanted me to return the pistol.  I was agitated and just tossed it in the safe.  Today, I was cleaning it and put some Lok Tite on the rod.  Reassemble, now I have another known issue with this model, where the hammer drops 100%, when you disengage the safety.  I'll send it back to Sig, but just wanted to advise that if you're getting a P938, wake sure it's new, or at least made recently.