Not entirely on impulse but without my usual amount of research, last weekend I bought a S&W Shield in .40 S&W.

It's a great complement to my full size M&P in .40 S&W.  Same ammunition.  Same controls (I got a Shield without the thumb safety and magazine disconnect).

I was expecting my Shield to be perhaps difficult to shoot accurately, and to have tender hands afterwards.  Nope, at least not yet.  I find the stock trigger just about perfect, especially for a CCW gun.  This is of course very subjective, but I found the Shield easier to shoot than my Glock 30.

I haven't shot two whole boxes of ammo yet.  Getting there.  No failures so far.  It's tough to load those magazines, but until I know the gun's reliable for sure, I don't care to shell out for a magazine loading tool.  Or spare magazines.  I suspect it won't be long before I get both, though.

From what I've been reading, it seems that the UpLULA Universal Pistol Magazine Loader will work.  I'm just a bit skeptical of anything marked "universal," but Shield owners seem to be saying the UpLULA will work.  

Are there alternatives?  I've read that there's nothing from HKS that will work for the Shield, either 9mm or .40 S&W version.  I use their model 451 to load the fullsize M&P .40 S&W magazines, but I understand their single-stack mag loader won't accommodate the slightly fat single-stack mags of the Shield.

My Shield 9 shoots a little low to the right.
Where is yours hitting ?

I got the UPLULA as part of a kit with a FS M&P 40.  Works perfectly for my Shield in .40 as well as my 45 ACP. It's worked with every Auto I've tried it with.

BTW Love my Shield as  CCW.

LOVE my 40 shield

bought one when they first came out.

I feed mine with a DILLON XL650

It's been very reliable and accurate

I have one also, got it in 2013 I think.

It's a bit snappy, but not too bad. Has been 100% reliable and very accurate.

Was wanting one in 40 S&W but after reading numerous reports of kabooms and there 9mm having issues, am passing and going for another SA for a carry weapon.

oh, bullshit

there are no "kaboom"  issues with the 40 shield.

Like I said, I feed mine by the 1000's with a DILLON XL650

.

Seems to be dead bang on.  So far so good!

My Shield 40 has been awesome. It is a great ccw pistol. Congrats on your new purchase.

Shot it more today. I have now put about 130 rounds through it without a single failure. I'm happy to say that includes two magazines of hollowpoints. This thing is a keeper.

I need to put some more JHPs through to be sure, but if that goes well I'll order some spare magazines and the UpLULA loader.

It's surprisingly easy to shoot. My hands don't even hurt after shooting it a lot. I was expecting the recoil to be worse and to have sore hands.

Really glad I went for it! Great gun so far.

Got a three pack deal on seven-round magazines with pinky rest pieces, and the UpLULA, from Quantico Tactical.

Sure is easier to load magazines now.

I'm going to the range this weekend to try them out. Once I have a holster, I'm taking it to action pistol (sort of our local IDPA-lite). Shooting a Texas Star with the Shield should be interesting.

The UPLULA is a fantastic device and loads pretty much any double-stack pistol magazine. I have been using one for about six years with EVERYTHING (Glock, Sig, S&W, SA, BHP, Walther, etc.). It makes loading fast and easy on the thumbs from the first round to the last. It also protects the feed lips from damage while trying to pry those last couple rounds under them.

Well worth the $30 or so IMHO. I now have several for AK,AR and UZI.

That's cool, I didn't buy it for loading double-stack magazines but I'll give it a try.

It works great for loading the Shield magazines.  Sooooo much easier than loading them by hand.

Speaking of which, broke in 3 new Shield 7-round magazines today.  Of course they all worked perfectly.  

I'm ready to order a holster.  Thinking I might go with another Crossbreed Supertuck Deluxe (already have one for my full size S&W M&P) but considering other options as well.  Maybe a Comp-Tac MTAC.

Ordered right handed holster. Received left handed holster. Sheesh.

Finally received correct right-handed holster.

As is noted in some reviews of the MTAC, the belt clips are quite long.  Depending on which hole you use to attach the holster to the clips, the bottom ends of the cilps can poke out under one's pants.  

Possible solution: I might simply trim the extra clip length, once I have the holster sitting exactly where I want it. If I want to put the holster in a different position later, replacement clips are pretty cheap.

Overall, I like the construction.  The leather is thicker and stiffer vs. the Crossbreed.  The MTAC should last longer.

Re-holstering was not as easy as with my Crossbreed, but I think that is just a matter of practice. Also, I can adjust retention force with a few turns of the hex head screws.

I'm happy with the purchase.  I might even want to get an MTAC for my full-size S&W M&P.

Another bit of good news: My wife really likes shooting my Shield.

She hadn't shot it before, for a couple of reasons.  

One, we didn't have properly fitting hearing protection, so she was getting exposed to so much noise that shooting anything more powerful than .22 LR was just not fun.  That's fixed now.  

Two, smaller guns are generally harder to shoot.  Since she is still fairly new to shooting, I've been trying to give her as much .22 time as possible, as a confidence-builder.

But today, she asked to shoot my Shield.  I was hardly going to turn her down, was I?

Eventually, she shot four magazines worth of Speer Gold Dot JHP.  She started off two-handed, but wanted to try one-handed, so I gave her some tips and there she went.  She's a wonderful student, and is getting better and better.  In fact, she'll probably out-shoot me before long - no joke!

She shot better one-handed than two-handed, and remarked that she found the S&W Shield easier to shoot than the full-size S&W M&P.  I can see why.  She has smallish hands, so the Shield is a better fit.  Even with the "small" grip panel, the full size M&P is too large for her hands.

I have a .40 Shield also.  It is easier to shoot well and more accurate than my FS .40.
Both have APEX DCAKs, although the Shield trigger was pretty good from the factory.

I've shot a FS 9mm & FS .40 side by side and in my humble opinion, recoil was practically identical.
I typically shoot 165 gr, not 180 gr.

I am sort of wanting the Performance Center Shield with the ported barrel and enhanced trigger.

Been contemplating setting it up for low light since I now consider the Shield a reliable carry gun.

I thought about a green blinky laser.  Probably Crimson Trace grip type, since then I wouldn't need a new holster. Green lasers awesome, but so so expensive.

So I'll probably get a set of Meprolights with a green front dot and yellow rear.  Or red rear dots.  Haven't decided, but I do think I want the front sight to be brightest, and a different color than the rear dots.  Then it should be super easy to pick out the front sight under stress and not so great lighting.

It is a decent substitute for a 4040PD.


As a compact .40 S&W I have to say it is fun.

Better photo of my .40 S&W Shield.