I was holding off buying a Shield until after shooting the G43, and now I’ve decided the Shield is my preference. But I went to my local BX and checked out two brand new Shields and they had terrible triggers. I mean, they were “crunchy”…bad. Even after dry fire and prior to recycling the striker, both had a serious crunchy break half way back.
I’d shot a friends Shield in the past and while the trigger wasn’t great, it was acceptable to me. Basically on par with most stock Glocks. But both of these new 9MM no thumb safety guns had triggers on par to a toy gun. What gives?
I expect to hear “put an Apex in it and call it good”, which was my thought as well, but dang…I figured I’d be able to at least shoot the gun a while prior to having to upgrade it…
Am I expecting too much here? Are all new Shield triggers this bad, or did my store just get a bad batch?
I don’t know if there’s ongoing changes to the design of the Shield, specifically the trigger, but I have fired two so far. My buddies, which was decent enough, and mine. Mine is quite heavy, but consistent with excellent reset, which surprised me as the M&P FS line always known for it’s poor trigger reset. I don’t know if that difference between his and mine is a gen issue (both purchased within months of each other) or a QC related thing, but quite different/ Maybe most recent gen FS M&Ps have improved trigger reset to the past, but that was a major complaint and one of several reasons Apex gets installed in so many M&P.
I have 2 9mm Shields, my first one had a trigger that was so heavy it was unusable, I replaced it with an Apex and all is well. I bought another one for carry purposes (because California, no mod rules), the trigger is ok, it breaks clean enough but the reset is ‘mushy’ or ‘vague’ however you want to think about it.
Thanks for the replies. The triggers on both guns were kinda heavy, and they both had decent resets, but the specific issue was a point in both triggers where they had a spot that the trigger “hung up” and had to be pressed through. Definitely felt like a plastic on plastic/metal situation.
I didn’t buy either gun, and I plan on going back to see if they have any more from a different batch.
I just wanted to make sure any gun I buy is functional from the factory before I upgrade it with NS’s and possibly an Apex. Realize I can’t do this until I shoot it enough but as AAFES has no returns or trade ins, I’m kinda SOL if it’s a lemon and stuck dealing with it.
I just got one for my wife. It, too, was pretty awful. Heavy, and really gritty at the break point. Basically impossible to shoot well.
In went an Apex sear and a stock glock trigger spring in place of the Smith spring. Right around 4.5 pounds and MUCH smoother. The reset got a little mushy, but it’s not bad.
I think I got lucky - mine smoothed out pretty well. It’s a heavy, chunky sort of 5-6lb trigger, but for a stock one it’s pretty decent… but it’s a matter of time before it gets an Apex kit. Still better than every other compact carry weapon I’ve tried, a CAEK will only make that better.
At this point I basically price every M&P out with the appropriate Apex kit and aftermarket sights as the base cost of the pistol - those trigger setups are so good that I won’t go back, and some slightly better sights after that are all that’s needed to have a fantastic pistol.
The Ultimate Striker Block will clear up most of the crunch. The crunch comes from the trigger bar contacting the factory striker block, pushing it up out of the way allowing the striker to go forward after the sear trips and releases the striker. My Shield 9mm is a Sept 2013 production. It was like the old S&W autos, crunch click, crunch click. It still has some, but smooth, with a reset and 4lb 8oz trigger. I kept the factory trigger not opting for the APEX Shield AEK aluminum trigger.
Thanks much for the offer. I’m in the process of moving and won’t be able to make it this time, but maybe sometime down the road.
It’s been a few weeks since I was out there, but I saw in the newsletter Josh was building private bays and some other upgrades. Id be interested in how that’s coming if you see them.
I took a worksharp to mine, polished the trigger bar lobe that engages the striker block, and the face of the striker. With this I didn’t have to disassemble anything but pull the striker out. It made a big difference in the feel of my shield, I no longer feel the apex is necessary, but still want one at some point. Nor do I feel the need to polish the “plunger”, “loop” or sear. Just having the one smooth surface engage the striker block seems to work pretty good.
3500+ rounds so far it’s been a great little handgun.
My Shield’s trigger was quite smooth from the factory, and measured at 6.5-7 pounds. Despite my practicing it was a bit less accurate for me… my local shop just upgraded it with the Apex carry kit, and it was amazingly accurate afterwards and measures 5.5 pounds.
The smoothness is about the same, so probably depends on which one you got from the factory. The reset is mildly improved.
The trigger wouldn’t have altered the accuracy of the gun, but that of the shooter. You simply shoot better with the smoother lighter APEX trigger as most do with the M&P and M&P based gun like the Shield.
No not so far…probably should buy a striker assy, and recoil assy. The first 500 or so were factory fmjs and a few types of HP’s, The rest have been powder coated reloads in the 124-128gr weight. I’ve come up with a load that works for all my 9’s and the shield is by far the “tightest” chamber. If I let one slip by without a crimp or a little too much OAL she’ll choke on it. (maybe 4 or 5 times total)
While it’s a little big compared to some single stack 9s, it’s near perfect for my smallish hands.
Honestly the stock trigger isn’t bad at all. If you think the stock trigger is unacceptable I wonder what kind of trigger you are used to shooting. A custom 1911?
Barb