After much debate my wife decided she wanted a 9mm shield.

We got it home and discovered three issues.

1. The slide is so stiff that even I have a difficult time racking it. For my wife, baring some terror induced adrenaline dump, it is essentially impossible for her to operate. This is something we have not experienced with any of the gunstore shields we have molested, or the range shield she rented to test. Those slides were stiff but fine. Is this a known issue, and if so how do we resolve it?

2. The slide release is stiff as well. From other threads here this seems to be normal, but I will mention it anyway.

3. The trigger. Forget careful squeezing or even "pulling" it, you need to crush this trigger like you are strangling a possum. It's not quite silly, but close.

That said, I racked it for my wife and she merrily shot it. 150 rounds at 20 feet, all in nice little 3" to 4" groups, no fliers, no failures to feed. She likes it, but I at least need to fix the slide. A weapon she cannot operate is just a liability.

Thanks in advance!

*********************************

UPDATE:  

After approximately 500 rounds things seem to have shaken out. The slide is still heavy, but perhaps acceptable. The same can be said for the trigger. To date it has suffered zero failures of any kind.

UPDATE 2:

Still working at this. At this point I have to assume that the slide and trigger are as light as they are ever going to be. My wife still cannot rack the slide, and even I find it somewhat difficult to do. Difficult, as in it is not something to be undertaken casually. You have to seriously want to rack the thing. Since the weapon is my wife's, and she cannot operate it, it was time to look for something else for her. So we went to a couple fun stores so she could molest the weapons on display. My expectation? If she could not work the shield she would have a difficult time working any of them.

This turns out not to be the case. We tried the CZ P-07, G19, G43, G26, HK something or other, the Sig P320, P250, and P938, the Walther PPS, and others I am forgetting. She had little or no trouble with any of them. None were anywhere close to being as stiff. So now I am left wondering of it isn't just something wrong with the Shield. and perhaps a new recoil spring will resolve the issue.

Took my daughter out today same issue . Afterward stopped and looked at the Ruger lcp .... same issue.
The the Glock g43 she could rack that . I think we will rent a g43 and 19 and go from there .

I am not going to make any decisions on it until I get at least 400 rounds through it. Today we ran 200 (between my wife and I) so another session should do it. Hopefully it will have broken in enough to sort itself out.

Issues 1 & 2 are common with new Shields. That's why the rental ones weren't as tight. Lock the slide open for a week then shoot it. It'll be fine.

It sounds like the trigger isn't a factor in your wife's ability to shoot well. More rounds will smooth that up too. If not, there are easy fixes for that

Racking with thumb and index finger or your whole hand reaching over the top of the slide?  I have a shield and love it, but the full size is a lot easier to manipulate.

Sounds normal to me. Smaller guns require stiffer recoil springs. I would just shoot it and it'll break in. The slide catch isn't designed to release the slide, better to pull back on the slide to release, slingshot method. Trigger, get an APEX trigger kit, so much better. But putting a few hundred rounds will greatly help all these issues trust me. All the new Shields are like this. Just gotta shoot them and break them in.

Good deal. Thanks for the quick replies.

Mine was the same way.  Shoot it a lot and manipulate while watching tv. It gets easy.

The Shield/M&P have more of a "slide stop" than a slide release... the button is small and very stiff and I've never had much luck using it as a slide release like you can with a Glock.  

For the trigger, make sure that you're engaging the trigger safety correctly when pulling the trigger.  Also make sure that the trigger safety recesses itself correctly in to the trigger when you're pulling.  My Shield is JUST on the edge of the trigger safety barely being able to clear the the frame when pulled, but it works fine.

I put 500 rnds through mine until I got it where I needed it.

Needless to say, I was concerned as well when I got it out of the box...

tagged

Update in OP

Going through the same thing.  Slide release is useless and the trigger is heavy.  But, most of my carry pistols have been the same until I put enough rounds trough them to trust them.  I saw your update.  Just keep shooting it until it breaks in.

Just picked mine up today from the FFL. I bought it from PSA ON Black Friday. Initial impressions.... Similar experience to OP. My wife struggles manipulating the slide, it is very tight. When I got it home, I dropped the mag, and racked the slide so that I could dry fire a couple times to get a feel for the trigger/reset. When I racked the slide, it got completely stuck to the rear without engaging the slide lock. I tugged on it a few times and was able to get it back into battery. I then disassembled the Shield, cleaned it and lubed it with some EWL. That helped a little, however, I've noticed the gun doesn't always go completely into battery. It sometimes stops about 1/2" from going into battery when you rack the slide. I allowed the slide to ride forward a few times to feel for any noticeable burs/imperfections. I noticed when you pull the slide to the rear, something feels like it's catching near the slide endcap assembly. If you let the slide ride forward, it catches on something again prior to going into battery. Obviously, this is a non issue if you slingshot the slide, but I've never seen these issues with my Glocks. These are some initial concerns considering I bought the Shield for off duty carry. I'm going to the range tomorrow to put it through its paces, hopefully that helps smooth things out.

Mine was doing the same thing.  When I got it to the range, it never had a single malfunction.  After putting some rounds down range, it stopped doing it when I manually manipulate the slide.  Mine is nice and smooth now. 

New gun stiffness cure:  Shoot several hundred rounds and dry fire the same number:  Or

1)  Clean, lube, and operate the slide by hand left handed and right handed 25 compete full strokes per side alternating till you get 250.  Evens wear.
2)  Dry fire it another 100, 25 each side alternating left and right hands.  Lube again especially the sear-striker-hammer-trigger interfaces.
3)  You just broke it in as good as shooting $100 worth of ammo or more.
4)  Anything that will smooth is smoother now.
5)  Works well with Shields and especially Glocks like the little stiff shiest 43s.  (Shield far superior gun in all respects.)