My Shield 9 2.0 is my favorite pistol to shoot. I like it so well I bought a second one for my family to have.

I recently bought the new higher capacity Shield Plus but haven't shot it yet. It's about the same size and (unloaded) weight but comes with 10- and 13-rd magazines in the box.

The Shields have been huge sellers for S&W and have an excellent reputation. You'll just have to try yours and see what you think.

I also have a Glock 19 and had a G26 but gave it to my son. Fine pistols but I didn't like the grips/grip angle as much as the M&Ps. I've never had a 43X, though.

 

My Shield 9 2.0 is my favorite pistol to shoot. I like it so well I bought a second one for my family to have.

I recently bought the new higher capacity Shield Plus but haven't shot it yet. It's about the same size and (unloaded) weight but comes with 10- and 13-rd magazines in the box.

The Shields have been huge sellers for S&W and have an excellent reputation. You'll just have to try yours and see what you think.

I also have a Glock 19 and had a G26 but gave it to my son. Fine pistols but I didn't like the grips/grip angle as much as the M&Ps. I've never had a 43X, though.

I didn’t touch my shield for a month, just took it in the car to another town yesterday. I remembered how good it feels.

Also, 2 out of 3 handgun courses I took were using my shield, including my concealed carry course. I also usually shoot it at least once a month. So, I feel pretty competent with it.

 

My orig Gen1 Shield 9mm is one of my most carried, when I must not print.

 

Mine too. And I’ve never ever been able to make it not shoot, even with my reloads. Even my Glocks, Sigs and HKs have choked on my reloads. Not the Shield. Smith and Wesson did this one up right, right from the get-go. I liked the Gen 1 so much, I bought two of them.

There are also some +2 mag extensions for the 7 round mags. 9+1 in a gun this thin ain’t bad at all


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

go look at a Shield Plus, you'll like it...

 

Honestly. I have a shield 9. Still love the way it feels, it’s concealable and even able to be pocket carried if needed. I’ve had zero failures in about 700 odd rounds.

A great gun.

I shot a Shield Plus at the range on Monday. I may upgrade to that in a year. But, because my old school shield is so reliable, I’ll probably keep at as a safe back up gun.

 

I bought my S&W shield in March/April 2012. Been carrying it ever since. I love the firearm.
Very dependable and accurate! Have not found a 9mm cartridge that it didn't like.

FWIW - I've found after numerous trials of different ammunition that my Shield likes Hornady Critical Defense the best (at least in my hands).

I would not hesitate in purchasing the Shield 9mm. As @mj9mm stated - take a look at the Shield plus (probably my next purchase).

Kind regards

Full disclosure - I sometimes carry my G19 gen2 mostly for nostalgic reasons.

 

My two serious self defense guns are my shield , and Glock 19! I use my Glock 19 as my bedside home defense gun.

 

The Shields are nice and I've shot both the 9mm and the 40 Shields. And I've shot the 9mm Shield and the Glock 43 side by side and I actually liked the Shield better but the 43 is more concealable and I like how the Glock field strips better than the Shield.

But now there's a 43X and a Shield Plus and for the larger size of the two guns I'd still prefer the Glock but I'd be tempted to get the Shield plus if they made it in 40 caliber which they could do because other than the grip, it's the same as the regular Shield which is available in both 9mm and 40.. One advantage to the Shield Plus is that with a flush fit 10 round magazine has a shorter grip and is more concealable that the 43x.

And the advantage of the regular Shield over both the Shield Plus and the 43x is that with the flush fit magazine it has a shorter grip and is more concealable that either one, although you give up some ammo capacity. But my feeling is that if you don't have the ability to solve the problem with 8 rounds of carefully aimed ammo, the problem might not be solvable and more ammo does not make you a better shot while less ammo just might make you more determined to make every shot count

But then again, one advantage of the regular shield over the regular G43 is that S&W provides you with factory OEM extended mags that can be carried as spares, and Glock does not, and I don't trust any aftermarket magazines including the 15 round mags that are so popular these days for the G48 and 43x.

 

The Shields are nice and I've shot both the 9mm and the 40 Shields. And I've shot the 9mm Shield and the Glock 43 side by side and I actually liked the Shield better but the 43 is more concealable and I like how the Glock field strips better than the Shield.

But now there's a 43X and a Shield Plus and for the larger size of the two guns I'd still prefer the Glock but I'd be tempted to get the Shield plus if they made it in 40 caliber which they could do because other than the grip, it's the same as the regular Shield which is available in both 9mm and 40.. One advantage to the Shield Plus is that with a flush fit 10 round magazine has a shorter grip and is more concealable that the 43x.

And the advantage of the regular Shield over both the Shield Plus and the 43x is that with the flush fit magazine it has a shorter grip and is more concealable that either one, although you give up some ammo capacity. But my feeling is that if you don't have the ability to solve the problem with 8 rounds of carefully aimed ammo, the problem might not be solvable and more ammo does not make you a better shot while less ammo just might make you more determined to make every shot count

But then again, one advantage of the regular shield over the regular G43 is that S&W provides you with factory OEM extended mags that can be carried as spares, and Glock does not, and I don't trust any aftermarket magazines including the 15 round mags that are so popular these days for the G48 and 43x.

I find that some of the "after market" magazines for Glock are much better quality than the factory Glock mags. I've made personal comparisons, and seen online comparisons between Glock mags and Magpul Mags, since I use Magpuls on my G17. They fit better, feed better, eject better, and are just "sturdier" than the Glock Mags. As far as the 8+1 setup with the factory extended mag for the Shield, we just never know, but the likelihood of needing more than 9 rounds in EDC situations just doesn't seem to be a reality. Now, I realize ANY situation could unfold. And I believe in that philosophy, better to have too many than not enough, applies to anything in life. Man, I've been looking like crazy for a 43X and would use one of the new 15 round mags if I could just find it! Meanwhile, lots of situations are resolved with ONE SHOT!!!

 

I had a first generation shield. Was a great gun. Threw on Talon rubber grips and it was great. I was switching over the M&P for everything, but things changed for me and decided to stick with Glock.

if you’ve already got the Shield, can’t think of many reasons why you would have to replace it

 

Exactly. You already have the Shield, I’d just put night sights on, some Talon grips, get a good holster for it and don’t give that G43 another thought


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

I picked up a G43X a couple of weeks ago for $499 which is pretty much the going rate in these parts. I picked up a dozen S15 mags and the slide is off to Battle Werx for a RMRcc cut and black nitride. I'm running it with my G43 for the next couple of weeks.

The Shield isn't my thing, but I know they are good pistols. I have a couple of P365X's with Shield RMSc 4MOA glass on them which don't seem to be growing on me. Every time I try something else I end up going back to Glock. I wish Glock would offer the MOS with the RMRcc footprint. The Sigs will likely get sold. Lots of good options out there, but I'll be sticking with my G19's, 42's, 43's and new 43X.

 

Another very happy Shield owner here. 2.0 version. Love shooting it as it came, but carrying that rough grip was hard on the skin so I put Talons on it. Love 'em.

 

I have a 43x and I also have a Shield Plus. I like the Shield Plus better. They have both been reliable with ball ammo and defensive hollow point ammo, but I prefer the Shield Plus over the 43x. To me it has a better trigger, is softer shooting, has better factory grip texture, I can shoot it more accurately, and is a little more concealable when carried with its10rd mag in the gun. I usually carry it with it’s 13 rd mag on the off side. I like my 43x also with a few Johnny Glock trigger tweaks, and IMHO the grip needs better texturing. As for my Shield Arms Gen 1 and Gen 2 mags using their steel mag release, reliability has been perfect, but in my 43x the mags can be released far to easily and I have had on two different occasions they inadvertently popped out while I was carrying the pistol. It takes very little pressure and very little travel to release these mags in my pistol. The Gen 2’s seem a little worse. I hear they are working on a 3 rd Gen to try and increase the pressure of releasing the mags.
I will be selling my 43x at the upcoming gun show.

 

Another Shield fan.

My favorite carry pistol is a .45 Shield, but my oldest, most carried pistol is a 9mm Shield.

I also have a P365 and G26 that don't get much love.

 

I’d buy a .45 shield but they are much harder to find now except on Gunbroker, and are inflated in price.

 

I really love the Shield. It's my favorite of mine to shoot and I shoot it as well as a full size Glock.

 

I really love the Shield. It's my favorite of mine to shoot and I shoot it as well as a full size Glock.

View attachment 967880

Nice shooting! This motivates me to get my ass to the range with my Shield and see what I can do at 10 yards.

 

I have a Gen 1 Shield in 9mm and a 43x. I have a lot of rounds through both. With the 8 round mag in the Shield, they are both have the same grip length. The Shield is thinner and barrel/slide is shorter. The Shield feels smaller and carries tighter to the body for me. The Shield, with the 8 round mag, is about one once heavier that the 43x. I shoot both well and carry the Shield more these days. I carry the Shield with the 8 round mag. When I first got the 43x, I found the factory serrated trigger shoe would tear my trigger finger up after about 100 rounds. I put a regular Gen 3 smooth trigger shoe on it and no trigger finger problems after that. To me, the Shield is more towards the sub compact size to where the 43x is a little toward the compact size. The 43x seems like a smaller version of a Glock 19. I really like the 43x as it fits my hand really well. I do like to carry the 43x as I do not feel under gunned at all with the factory 10 round mags. So, it's a toss up to me. I really like both. Humm, maybe I should just carry both of them.

 

I agree with most of this. The Glocks do ride lower in the hand, and the slide doesn’t feel as top heavy as the Shield does. My preference on that department is the Glocks.

But again, if I had the Shield already, I wouldn’t feel any need to sell it to replace it with the 43/43X

 

+1 for the Shield Plus and not the regular Shield

 

This is the answer you seek.

 

The Shield will have noticeably less recoil than the 43X. The Shield shoots like a much bigger gun. And, I only have the original version.

 

My Shield Plus is the cat meow, it's in my rotation now but I am a fan of the M&P Shield those I have the old original first Shield 9mm, the 40 S&W, and the .45 Shield, so yeah this new Shield is better to me and I shoot it better.

 

Those Shields are great pistols but the handle is just to narrow for me. Five years ago I would have never thought I would be complaining about to narrow of a handle on a carry pistol that holds 10-13rds of 9mm but the evolution of the carry pistol is just awesome right now, to bad everything else is crap.

 

I had the same issue.. This is my solution.

Hogue grip sleeve. It has a gentle palm swell and gives a little more girth to the grip but not too much. Obviously this is a single stack but I understand that they will fit a Shield Plus just fine.

 

I love both and id take either. I had always wanted to own a Glock when i was younger...owning a full size grip one made me a non glock owner..now that they make a model that fits the human hand well the 43X/48 was my ticket back in and thats what I did.

 

I've carried some form of Shield for about 5 years now. I started with a 1.0 and I have moved on to the Shield Plus, which may well be the last carry gun I buy in this lifetime. They're comfortable to carry & shoot, thoroughly reliable, and put holes where I want 'em. I'm a big fan.

 

I don't think you can go wrong with the shield of any generation, I own a full size 2.0 and absolutely love it! from all the reviews and speaking to people that own them, they love it too, I think you'll find the Ergo's are the best in the business

 

My shield plus and my 43x mos are my 2 favorite carry pistols

Had to edit to say favorite SMALL carry pistols

 

I have an older Shield, and like it. I choose to carry the 365 over it, but I would be well served by the Shield. The Glock (G43/43x/G48) options are great guns, but aren't terribly differentiated in terms of size, capacity, or capability to justify adding them in addition to the Shield.

If you prefer the Glock, I'd keep trying to buy what you want (even if it means waiting for some of the gun frenzy to die down). If you are fine with the Shield, I'd just keep it. Both would serve you quite well. Selling your Shield won't get the same return as you would on a Glock. There are far more out there, and S&W had the fire sale on them where they were selling new for well under $300 with promo's, and people tend to remember the low water mark when deciding what to pay for a used gun. The G43 series never lowered prices to that level (S&W was launching the newer, higher-priced versions of the Shield, and taking revenue from a lower price-point market by shedding an obsolete model, so their strategy made good sense... sell low while protecting margin on updated product lines).

Good luck!

 

I agree, if one isn’t wanting or willing to carry with s15 mags then I too would have a hard time justifying the purchase. Unless like you said, they simply prefer Glock. Then by all means wait and get what you want.

 

I have a G48 and Shield 2.0, love both of them. Laying the Shield on top of the G48 it doesn't look like much of a difference but as others have said the Shield just seems to carry "smaller" and tighter to the body so it's my primary EDC, the G48 has nightstand duty and occasional carry.

The new Shield plus is very tempting to me. I've handled it but not shot it but the slightly increased grip feels great in the hand. I'm not going to rush it but one may eventually find its way into my core group.

 

I had a Shield 1.0 and wish I'd not gotten rid of it. I picked up a P365 and with the XL grip on it I've warmed up to it but I still think I may trade it for a Shield plus.

 

The shield plus is better

 

The original Shield is a dandy little pistol. Reliable, accurate, and easy to carry.

 

I have one, shot it yesterday. Love that thing. Been 100% reliable.