I sent my 9mm Shield to ATEi to have some work done on it. While it was away, I saw Brownell's was having a sale on threaded barrels. The only threaded barrel I am aware of that is available for the 9mm Shield is made by SilencerCo. I looked it up on Brownell's and the price was right. I believe I got it for under $150 delivered. The barrel has been sitting here waiting for my Shield to return. It arrived yesterday.

I am not a big fan of shooting or carrying Sub-Compacts and tiny guns. I much prefer to carry and shoot Full Sized or Compact. My daily cary is an FN Five-seveN. When I need to go a little smaller I carry a Glock 19 with a threaded barrel and RMR, or a CZ P-07 Suppressor Ready. I live in South Florida and it gets fricken hot here in the summer. So sometimes I am forced to go really small, and I have no choice but to carry a Sub-Compact. Not being a big fan of the genre, the Shield is my only Sub-Compact semi auto. (I have 8 S&W J Frames, but I'm not into carrying a revolver these days). I figured I have a threaded barrel for almost every auto I own, so why not my Sub-Compact too!

I had already made some improvements to the Shield myself when I picked it up a few years back. I installed Warren Tactical Fiber optic front sight and a black rear sight. Though the factory trigger was not horrible, I went ahead and installed an Apex Tactical 3.5lb Competition Trigger Kit along with their black aluminum trigger. The Apex trigger is simply amazing. I decided I wanted to send it to ATEi to have a little slide milling, frame work and stippling done. I also wanted Doug to tweak the trigger a little. I also sent them an Apex Tactical Flag Trigger to install while they were in there. Let's just say the trigger is amazing. Possible the best trigger I have on any of my carry guns at this point. It is very impressive. Super short reset, no creep, breaks very cleanly and predictably.

To my surprise, despite its small size, I have always shot the Sheild pretty well, even before I did the trigger. It is a very accurate and mild recoiling little gun.

I shot a couple 7 round groups offhand unsuppressed at 10 yards to kick things off. Here are the results:






After two mags I went and screwed on my TiRant 9. Here is the first suppressed group offhand at 10 yards:



The only real challenge is not having tall sights on the Shield. With a black rear sight and black suppressor it is hard to shoot sighting the gun through the can. But it is totally doable. For such a small gun I have always been amazed at how light the recoil is. To S&Ws credit, the unsuppressed Shield really doesn't recoil harshly at all. In fact, it doesn't recoil more than my Glock 19. With its fairly mild recoil, the Shield is very easy to get right back on target for quick and accurate follow-up shots. With a suppressor on the Shield, it feel like shooting a 22lr pistol. Recoil is cut more than 50% in my estimate. It is an absolute treat to shoot suppressed.

I ran a total of 120 rounds through the Shield today. Sixty Suppressed and sixty unsuppressed. It ran 100% flawlessly. Absolutely zero issues. I did not notice any shift in the point of impact when switching between shooting suppressed and unsuppressed. It shot to the point of aim regardless. I also ran my CZ P-07 suppressed today. I could not tell a difference between my Shield and CZ in terms of sound. The report was very similar. The first shot seemed a little louder on the Shield. All 120 rounds I ran through the Shield today were American Eagle 124 grain Suppressor Ammo.

One more thing I would like to note. Normally a threaded barrel sticks out the front of the slide quite a bit. You will notice in the pictures the SilencerCo barrel doesn't. Which keeps the OAL still quite short and is not a burden to carry concealed.

If you have a Shield 9mm, a suppressor and a $150 burning a hole in your pocket, pickup a SilencerCo threaded barrel and have some fun!

Nice. I have a threaded barrel on order for mine. How did it shoot suppressed? Sound and reliability wise.

I actually updated the post and included that info. I put it up in a hurry as my little baby girl was waking up from her nap :)

Your thread protector looks like Apollo Creed's top hat!

Good write up. Really making me think about taking advantage of the Shield rebate.

One more showing the milling work done by ATEi

That is some great shooting.  How expensive was the milling work?  I've been thinking about it for a G19 that I have.

There is a price list on their website. I had a bunch of stuff done and don't recall the price for each bit of work. Here is the link to the M&P price section.

ATEi Prices

The only reason I'm a decent shot is because I spent the last 5 years shooting a lot of Double Action revolvers. Once you get proficient with a 14lb DA revolver trigger, shooting accurately becomes very easy. Plus the fact that i try usually hit the range 3 to 4 times a month doesn't hurt. My ammo bill is a nightmare though.