Smith M&P Shield vs. Sig P365

General Firearms Handguns - Semi Auto
1

I’m a new convert to the M & P Shield, but watching several videos on YouTube about the Sig P365 I’m becoming drawn to it too.

After having sold off a bunch of guns to pay for a big tax bill this year I actually have a surplus so I’d appreciate a “Pros and Cons” assessment of the Shield and P365 head to head.

I’m kind of starting with the premise that both pistols are great EDC weapons, but is one slightly better than the other in your mind?

What I know so far:

  1. Shield beats the Sig on price unless I missed an offering somewhere.
  2. Sig holds slightly more rounds
  3. Sig had some teething problems (?) that may be in the past
  4. Shield’s mags are a pain to load (my personal experience)

So, those of you who own both handguns, which one do you prefer and WHY?

How many rounds have you put through each?

Any reliability or durability issues?

Do you find one more accurate or points better?

Any concealment issues?

I’ve not looked into the availability of mags for the Sig, but I’m assuming on this point both are equal.

(I searched for a pre-existing thread on this but didn’t find one).

2

I own both. Actually multiple Shields.

I have over 1,000 rounds down both platforms.

I’d rather shoot the Shield and I’d rather carry the Sig.

The Shield is more accurate, recoil is more controllable, and contrary to the mass opinion, has a much more manageable trigger.

At least with my examples, the Shield has about 50 FPS more velocity. Perhaps this is an advantage in terminal performance, but I cannot provide any evidence to support that conclusion.

The Sig does hold more rounds. It also comes with more pleasant to use sights as well as better grip texturing.

Sig magazines are even harder to load than the Shield magazines.

The price of the Sig is about $100 too high in my opinion.

The trigger on the Sig is terrible. While it’s a relatively flat, light trigger, it has some kind of plastic bushing to act as a hard stop in the striker that fixes the trigger a very artificial break and stop. It just doesn’t feel like a real gun; that’s the only way I can describe it.

So far, my Sig is still kicking without issue. I plan to take it to 2,000 rounds before I clean and lube it and call it carry worthy.

I believe a set up Ameriglo sights and some stippling turns the Shield into a phenomenal carry gun. The capacity doesn’t concern me as I’m more confident with shot placement and the platform overall.

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3

Yes, I’ve noticed the slickness of the grip. With wet or sweaty hands the Shield might be kind of drop-prone. That was one thing I hated about early Glocks, too.

4

About 15 minutes with a soldering iron and you’re good to go. Or the 2.0 version is great out of the box.

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5

I can’t speak for the P365, but I love my Shield. I have an original 1.0 Shield, and have put close to 1,800 rounds through it. I have no issues carrying the gun, and have never had a reliability issue with it. I opted for the Taran Tactical +2 extensions for my spare mags taking them from 8 to 10 rounds. I also upgraded my sights to the Trijicon HD’s. Ran it completely stock for until I put about 1,200 rounds through it.

The one downside to the Shield is the slide stop/release is very stiff when you first get it, and takes awhile to loosen up. I know people will probably jump in here and say how it wasn’t designed to be a slide release, but I feel that in this day in age the slide stop needs to also act as a release or your design is sub-par. Like I said, that’s the only downside but it does break in and now I can use it as a slide release without any issues.

6

I have taken the Shield through a class or two and dropping it with wet hands was never a concern.

Things I don’t like about the 365 compared to the Shield.
1.) It’s borderline too small. I have big hands.
2.) Price
3.) Trigger

In my opinion, magazine capacity relative to size is the 365s only party trick. It’s also a difficult gun to master due to the light weight, size and recoil. Not undoable but you definitely have to put your work in.

The Shield is more controllable, much cheaper, proven and reliable. Yes, you’re sacrificing 2-3 rounds. But if I had to choose which one I would actually fight with, it would be the Shield. The Shield has a bit of heft to which I appreciate and helps control the recoil. I also share the same sentiment with Ohio Shooter regarding the slide stop/release.

Mags are cheaper and more easily found with the shield.

If you cant conceal one you can’t conceal the other.

Both are probably the same accuracy wise but the shield is definitely easier to shoot.

I have over 1,000rds through the Shield. Not sure about the 365. Enough time behind it to know I don’t really care about the magazine capacity because of the other drawbacks.
If it were me, I would spend whatever you were going to spend on the 365 on training instead.

7

Good advice. BTW we all were talking about the difficulty of loading mags. Is there a specific LULA one would recommend?

8

I’ve just handled the 365, but I gave up on Sig a long time ago. Prior to retirement, I procured over 40 Shields for our narcotics detectives. Before selection, we got a sample in to evaluate. Over 8000 rounds were fired through that gun without cleaning, and minimal lube. No issues. It soon became the unofficial OD carry gun for personal purchase. Since adaptation six or more years ago, there have been zero issues with the guns and no parts breakage I’m aware of. My personal gun has over 5000 rounds on it. Additionally, a local private security entity I train uses them with no issues. I’ll take this gun over the Sig all day long. That company has a long way to go to re earn my trust.
As for leaders, get a standard maglula. It will work but is a little wobbly. To fix that, buy this:

https://www.amazon.com/Maglula-1911AI-Aligner-Insert-22UpLULA/dp/B00G4APX84/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?gclid=Cj0KCQjww47nBRDlARIsAEJ34bnnfcahOPBT0y9hoAuVDC7y_2hKLA36zL-rtPz-aku92RUyIPk9lHEaArUAEALw_wcB&hvadid=178108948251&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=9009566&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=15373193227613308081&hvtargid=kwd-123694262947&hydadcr=9414_9900340&keywords=maglula+1911ai+aligner+insert&qid=1558446964&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmrnull

And spend about fifteen minutes with a nail file or small sanding block to make it fit. I have four so equipped to speed things along when running classes. My opinion, worth what you paid for it.

9

I always love to read high round counts with no issues. I have owned a Glock 26 and a Glock 42, and I definitely prefer the Shield to either one of those.

10

I have a 1.0 version Shield. The grip was way too slick. I put a Talon grip sticker on it. Works great even after a couple years. Highly recommended

https://talongungrips.com

The other complaint I have with my Shield is the annoying texture Smith & Wesson put in front of the trigger guard. This is a knuckle buster. Easily fixed with some sand paper wrapped around a sharpie marker.

I put a set of ameriglo cap sights, an Apex trigger kit and a talon sticker on my shield. I have over 3,000 rounds through the gun. It’s one of the most useful firearms I’ve purchased. I’m a big fan.

11

I have owned two Shields. For the price, they are the best, most reliable single stack 9’s on the market imo. The reasons I never kept them were imo hinged triggers are retarded, the stock trigger is decent for Smith, I never really wanted to invest in an apex upgrade that was almost half the price I paid for the gun. At the time I owned them, quality holsters were hard to come by. The grip is too slick, I took it through a light concealed carry class and needed more texture.

I have way more trigger time on the Shield. I have rented the P365 twice, and it is personally my favorite “single stack” 9mm that I have shot so far. Good factory trigger, excellent sights, handles recoil surprisingly well (124gr, nothing +P or heavier from me), and has great factory texturing. I haven’t bought one yet only because I have not had any free money so far this year, but I will own one some day. I might even skip over the P365 and get the P365XL for the slightly added velocity. YMMV.

The Shield is more vetted, priced better, has more aftermarket support (Now) has had less overall glaring issues as well. I’ve just never really been in love with it.

12

I own 3 of the gen1 Shields. Triggers vary from gun to gun. I put Apex sears in all three guns and talon grip tape on them.

If going with 2.0 Shields, I wouldn’t have to do the above. I bought my first Shield the week they were first announced in 2012? I have no clue how many rounds I put through my 9mm Shields over the years. But enough through each gun to vet them and to trust them.

I own one Sig 365. Mine was made and bought last October. It has about 500 rounds through it. Zero issues.

I can shoot the 365 better than I can shoot my Shields. My Shields have a tendency to have brass to face/head every so often. Not an issue with my 365.

I have large hands with long fingers. The thinness of the Shield grip combined with the roundness of the front strap causes the gun to pivot or roll in my hand ever so slightly. The front strap of the 365 is just square enough that I can lock my hand down and the gun stays put.

When dry firing the 365, it’s “ok”. But I like the trigger much better as I’m actually shooting the gun. One really has to shoot the gun to appreciate the trigger. When shooting my Shield side by side with my 365, I like everything about the 365 better than the Shield.

Neither gun is a primary carry gun for me.

The only drawback to the 365 to me is Sig did such a poor job releasing this gun. Mine has been GTG so far. But I constantly wait for something to happen. It helps some when I learned that State Patrol in my state and in the neighboring state both are purchasing 365’s to be issued to their Troopers as a BUG.

I won’t sell off my Shields as they are functional and dependable pistols. And also, with the current pricing on the 1.0 Shields NIB, I’d have to basically give them away. Resale on the 1.0’s is so low that I’ll just keep them.

But for a BUG at work as a LEO, a NPE gun, cutting the grass and puttering around the house gun, a I’m on vacation in a low threat environment but my my faith in humanity is still so low that I’m still going to carry a gun, gun, the Sig 365 has replaced my Shields. And my Shields are what retired my J-Frame revolvers.

13

I was waiting for this. A little better capacity and a much better trigger in a comparably-sized pistol. No contest.

14

I have both m&p and sig . I have two m&p shields. One in 40 and the other is the 9 both are gen 1. I first got the 9mm then I got a good deal on the 40 so I bought it. I carried the 9mm first then the 40 for a couple years. Both were great carry guns. Both have apex triggers and the triggers improved. But I wanted more capacity so I looked at mag guts to add two more round in the 9mm. Which worked for a while. But still want more of a full size capacity. When the sig p365 came out I was really interested and I got one. Loved it the first time in my hands. For me is “feels” more concealable with more capacity. I carry +p in it because I want more stopping power. I would probably pick a 40 in the sig if they would make one similar to the p365. I switch to p365 I have become more of a sig guy and is looking at their p320. I really like modular ability. I have shot 800 rounds through the m&p and probably 300 through the sig. no reliability issue on either.

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15

have had my shield for a couple years now. Probably 1k through it, and its my wife’s carry. Been absolutely reliable. The trigger is good out of the box.

16

Bought the Shield when S&W was having their rebate program. Aside from being a little too thin in the grips the trigger was complete garbage. It would bind on something all the time. Pull the trigger till I hit the wall then had to really put some umph into it to fire. Traded it off

17

I own the Shield 9mm and Shield 2.0 in 45acp. The 9mm, I use the Talon grip tape. Rubber version. I carry in rain conditions all winter with no grip issues. The 9mm is my EDC
I use this mag loader, makes loading super easy and fast.
http://www.maglula.com/product/uplula-9mm-to-45acp/

Sorry can’t compare the two different brands since I haven’t shot the Sig

18

I had an M&P9c that had a catch in the trigger. 10# trigger pull, APEX duty carry didn’t reduce weight much. got rid of it.

19

Shinning object guy here, something new comes out I go after it. The 365 was a beacon, I shot it and tried and tried, I just could not warm up to it.
I have three Gen 1 shields all in 9mm, hundreds and hundreds of rounds fired, rubber talon grips and “mag guts” in my 8 rd mags, brings them to 10.
I still would love a 365 but for me I shoot the shield better, it feels better and carries better. Heck I carry one as my lawn mower gun and never had any issues.

20

This is an historic moment. I think literally you are the first person I have run across in over nineteen years of internet forum participation that actually has a “lawnmower gun.”

You have got to post pics of this.

:jester: