Initial review of the Shield 9mm with threaded barrel.

I picked up the Smith and Wesson shield used. At the time the gun craze was going on and these guns were flying out the door. Therefore, the only one I could find came with a threaded barrel. I have no interest in threaded barrels, as I live in a rural area and can make as much noise as I want when I shoot, but this was my only opportunity so I jumped on it.

My first in hand impressions are inline with nearly everyone elses. Good fit, good feel, crisp trigger, etc etc. I liked it. The gun didn't bite too hard, it shot fairly well, the safeties were sensible and workable... it felt good as a concealed carry piece. The gun also came with a very nice IWB holster. I carried like that for a while and thoroughly enjoyed how quick I was able to draw the gun (while practicing mind you) and the comfort I was able to acheive. A great setup overall for comfort while travleing in rural areas frequented by bears, and unfortunately criminals due to the forest service focusing on innane details instead of major issues. I suppose I'd chase down unpaid weekend campers over gun toting car theives myself, so I can't blame hold too much of a grudge I suppose.

Shooting the gun however, let me down.

I have good sized mits. I'm far from the largest dude out there, but I'm a good size. With a thumbs forward position, this gun felt ungodly cramped. I switched to a few different techniques and was able to find better comfort, but overall it left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. Still, I'm shooting a hand gun so this isn't beyond all that reasonable.

I'm a decent shot with my full sized handguns. I like to go out in the woods on our property and setup multiple clay pigeons in a winding course in a gully by your property. I am of course careful of my backdrop and always aware of where I am shooting. It's fun to practice shooting on the move, and shoot at various clay pigeons in varying distances. For the most part, I can hit them all while keeping a decent pace.

I found shooting the Shield 9 to not be an intuitive transfer from my double stack firearms, even when compared my smaller Glock 27 in the firey 40 caliber. I took the firearm out in the woods, and went about a standard path I'd taken early with a full sized .40 handgun. I found I wasn't hitting most of the targets.

I decided to go simpler and shoot at some paper targets. I wasn't even on paper at 20 yards. Something seemed amiss. Fired some more with a heavy focus on keeping everything spot on... still off. Something was surely awry. I got closer and noticed I was print low and left... with great groupings. Strange.

Pulled the gun apart for some cleaning and general inspection of sights. I got a good look at the barrel and noticed that the rifling simply ended where some one had jammed on the extra metal for the threaded adapter. Not sure if this is normal, but it got me concerned.

I shot various handguns for the remainder of the day, even my crappy Keltec PF9 and hand no such results with those firearms. Something seemed amiss.... and I was underwhelmed by the firearm.