M&P Shield Broke today

[v0lcom13sn0w]

was shooting some winchester self defense rounds(standard pressure) out of my shield 9mm today when it locked open...when i was finally able to get it back into battery this is what i found. ive been carrying this weapon as my EDC. it has less than 500 rounds through it.better to have it fail on the range than in a life or death situation

i’ll be emailing S&W about this:

any ideas what could have caused this? maybe it fired not all the way in battery?

 

[Kruel J]

Yikes man, that’s ugly. I’m interested what Smith says. I know what I would recommend.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

Yikes man, that’s ugly. I’m interested what Smith says. I know what I would recommend.

the glocks already in the holster

 

[Kruel J]

i would t think an out of battery incident would cause the front of the lug to fail BTW.

 

[MechaNik]

Add one more point to the "not gonna buy this" column for a shield. What do you expect out of a sub $300 gun?

Joking aside, I've not heard much bad about them and I'm very surprised to see what looks like what I'd expect the hammer end of punch to look like, not a gun barrel. Did it just not get out on the right track to get hardened? I'm very curious what Smith has to say, and I'm glad this happened in a controlled environment and you're still with us

 

[HA556]

Wow! I love my Shield and have had no issues. I use mine as an EDC also. I'm not an expert on metals but, that looks to me like a soft metal issue maybe? Following along to see what info is forth coming.

 

[Kruel J]

Wow! I love my Shield and have had no issues. I use mine as an EDC also. I'm not an expert on metals but, that looks to me like a soft metal issue maybe? Following along to see what info is forth coming.

They are popular and I haven’t heard anything on failures, so it should be interesting!

 

[HA556]

I agree. The most I've heard issue wise was some recoil spring/guide rod issue on some of the earlier models. Mine is a Gen1 and has performed flawlessly with several brands and weights of 9mm.

 

[Jim Horn]

I could be completely wrong on this, but it looks to me like the slide pushed into the top of the barrel which would happen with a hot load and a barrel that didn't pivot down from the ejection port well enough to allow the slide to travel freely. Galling on the barrel, slide, or frame combined with dry (non-lubricated) contact points could worsen this. Any gunsmiths out there want to chime in?

As mentioned, S&W's response will be very interesting!

I really enjoy my Gen1 Shield 9, as seen in my avatar, and am eager to learn more about this (typical engineer!).

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

the email with pictures has been sent to S&W. if anything, im gonna buy a threaded barrel for it if it is not a warrantable repair.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

In for the results, this is quite an odd one.

 

[Flymph]

I've never seen a pistol do that before...
I'm glad the shield doesn't fit my hand well anyway...

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

I've never seen a pistol do that before...
I'm glad the shield doesn't fit my hand well anyway...

ive never seen it either. im currently looking at my glock(since im carrying it now). when i barely pull the slide back and the barrel comes off the locking block the slide comes so close to catching the top lug on the barrel. ive never heard of timing being off on a semi but im not a gunsmith so idk but maybe something is worn on the shield causing that barrel not to tilt out of the way enough??? just a guess. i have no idea

 

[Velzey]

I’ve seen this a few times the last couple years. Three times to be exact and all from top manufacturers. Each one of them replaced the pistol no problem.

 

[Kruel J]

I’ve seen this a few times the last couple years. Three times to be exact and all from top manufacturers. Each one of them replaced the pistol no problem.

What's the root cause? And what manufacturers had this issue?

 

[uberguy]

Smith & Wesson are pretty good about replacing defect guns/parts. Never had a Shield but own several M&Ps and none ever failed so far, in about 10 years for the oldest.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

What's the root cause? And what manufacturers had this issue?

x2

 

[Kruel J]

Smith & Wesson are pretty good about replacing defect guns/parts. Never had a Shield but own several M&Ps and none ever failed so far, in about 10 years for the oldest.

M&P's are good firearms. I actually like them quite a bit.

 

[Velzey]

Smith & Wesson
Sig
And Glock
All were faulty heat treating.

Most showed signs of peening after 100 rounds. Pretty easy to spot

Customer service was great with all three, had replacement pistols in hand within a week.

 

[Pandaz3]

I have two, a 45 and a 40, both Mod 1's. I wonder if the OP's was a Mod 1 or 2.