Smith and Wesson Shield Malfunction and Customer Service

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Shield_Malfunction

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Youtube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS5Qop8Fe8E

I bought the Smith and Wesson 40 S&W Shield without manual safety in December 2014. The backplate slides down out of the slide as seen in the video and prevents the gun from going into battery. The gun has been sent to customer service 3 times and as of April 2015 the same malfunction is present.

The first 2 times I sent the gun in myself using the local FedEx office. The third time I had my local gun store send the gun in, while also getting their Smith and Wesson representative involved. I also requested a new gun or refund the 3rd time I sent it in.

I am sending the gun in a 4th time, I have strongly requested a new gun or a refund at this point. I was told by customer service that they cannot make any promises. At this point I am extremely disappointed with Smith and Wesson customer service.
 
Make sure to post this on the S&W forum, if you haven't done so already. Smith seems to monitor that site. It might get you some extra 'care'.
GL,
B
 
Just as a counter point, our [Smith & Wesson] Walther PPK/S doubled and then broke the extractor. No idea if the two were related.

The gun was fixed in record time, totally on their dime and the fix took only one trip.

Not discounting the OP's experience, just saying it wasn't like that for us.
 
You could send your Shield back to the factory without the back plate. They would have to install a new one.
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles. I'm not a huge fan of what Smith has been doing with their pistols in regards to trigger weight. Bought and sold a M&P pistol quickly when it had a number of issues.

Owned a couple of Walter PPS pistols which required a great deal of TLC to get the triggers useable (some of these Smith pistols are coming with 12-16 pound triggers in Massachusetts).

I just sent a LC9 back to Ruger and they were fantastic. They replaced a bunch of parts got it back to me within 10 days turnaround.
 
I have given up on sub-compact 40 caliber guns several years ago, actually the 40 Shield was my last one.
It just seems to me, that when you compress a gun that was really designed for a 9mm, into a 40 cal, you are going to have problems.
The guy from CZ said it best when asked why the 40 was having problems of a similar nature, he said get the 9, it was designed for the 9 and you will have no problems with it. I have had problems wit every small 40 caliber I ever bought, even an EMP, which I did fix myself, but the guy I bought it from, sold it really cheap because he just gave up on getting it to eject.
 
Sorry to hear of your issues. Heck of a first post

On a side note, welcome to THR.
Click to expand...

Based on the username and post count, it's clear that this is just a drive-by gripe post that likely violates forum rules.

I'm not defending S&W customer service at all though. After 3 trips back to S&W, my brother's SW1911 still fails to reliably go into battery.
 
Seems like S&W customer service is hit or miss. A couple of years ago, I had a Sigma 9VE that began to have issues after a few flawlessly reliable years, including failure to feeds, and dropped mags while firing. I contacted S&W, and they sent me UPS shipping labels, to ship the gun to them on their dime. Fourteen days later, what they returned to me was almost an entirely new gun; they replaced the entire slide, and all the internals in the frame, plus a complimentary 16 round mag (which were Bella expensive then). I took it it out to test it, and whoever did the work lightened the trigger for me, which was great.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I've heard firsthand accounts from friends who've had issues. One of them has a stainless steel Model 10 that needs a rebarreling, and they refuse to even look at it; they wanted him to send it back to them, and offered him a coupon for $100 towards a new gun. What horsecrap.
 
Seems like S&W customer service is hit or miss
Click to expand...

I agree with this. My own experience with them a few years back was very similar to the O.P. It was so bad that I have not purchased a single S&W item since.

Others seem to rave about them
 
Schwing said:
I agree with this. My own experience with them a few years back was very similar to the O.P. It was so bad that I have not purchased a single S&W item since.

Others seem to rave about them
Click to expand...

I do not intend to bash S&W, just share my experience. My Father and I have sent guns back to Ruger and Savage, both have been exceptional (especially Ruger). I am just trying to share this experience so that people are aware, I have held off until this point, but after 3 trips to the factory I figured I would make my situation public. I will update how S&W handles the situation this time.
 
When you remove your backplate do you see any abnormal wear on the plastic piece? What does the frame look like where it "locks" in???
 
The 40 S&W Shields had a few kabooms when they first came out. I guess sarcastically, if your gun's back plate falls off you will not be at risk of a kaboom! I bought a 9mm Shield when they first came out and luckily it has been flawless.

S&W has good customer service and the fact that they pay shipping both ways is awesome. Now, let me say I should only rarely have to find out how great their CS and shipping really is. Their products should show up and work as advertised, however that hasn't been my experience. I've also had their repair shop not fix the problem when I've returned guns for repair.

I have owned four new S&W revolvers in the last few years. Three of those four have made trips back to S&W for repairs. Two had to go back a second time for the same problem, in my opinion not a good track record.

This has me torn... I'm addicted to S&W revolvers, but for right now I will avoid buying any new guns from them. They have proven to me the odds are against me getting a good one.

Good luck with your Shield and I hope you get things corrected. Meanwhile I'll be trolling the local gun shops for vintage revolvers which have proven to be 100% for me.

Let us know what happens with your Shield.

Edmo
 
I love my older S&W guns and they have all been super reliable firearms but, they are not the same company these days. I would personally never buy one of their products as their quality control and overall build quality has gone to the dogs. Just my opinion of where they used to be and now.
 
The first 2 times I sent the gun in myself using the local FedEx office. The third time I had my local gun store send the gun in, while also getting their Smith and Wesson representative involved. I also requested a new gun or refund the 3rd time I sent it in.
Click to expand...

That it has no manual safety makes no difference either way.

So each of the previous 3 times you sent it in it was for the same issue? How did they say they repaired the problem? What did they say they did?

It's clear that either the back plate is undersized or the rear of the slide is over tolerance or both. Odd they did not fix it the first time.

Now in the vid you're shooting a hot round for that little gun. How did it perform with a 180 gr. at 900 fps?

Granted, they sell the gun in 40 S&W and, as far as I know, they put no stipulations on the ammo. So it should not fall apart with any 40 S&W factory standard ammo. But I do wonder how it functions with a load of a 165 gr. at 1100 fps or the mentioned 180 gr. load.

tipoc
 
The only smiths that I've found to be any good still have a firing pin on the hammer.
I've tried the new m&p, bg380 and a 1911. They all sucked, and so did so called customer service.
I'd rather a Taurus than a new smith.
 
That is "hot ammo" I would not run that through subcompact plastic framed gun,
 
tipoc said:
That it has no manual safety makes no difference either way.

So each of the previous 3 times you sent it in it was for the same issue? How did they say they repaired the problem? What did they say they did?

It's clear that either the back plate is undersized or the rear of the slide is over tolerance or both. Odd they did not fix it the first time.

Now in the vid you're shooting a hot round for that little gun. How did it perform with a 180 gr. at 900 fps?

Granted, they sell the gun in 40 S&W and, as far as I know, they put no stipulations on the ammo. So it should not fall apart with any 40 S&W factory standard ammo. But I do wonder how it functions with a load of a 165 gr. at 1100 fps or the mentioned 180 gr. load.

tipoc
Click to expand...
Considering it could be a completely different production run it does matter if it has a manual safety or not (especially for future readers if this is a recall situation/large problem). As to a safety causing the backplate to slide down, of course the safety is not directly causing that problem.

The first time they said there was not a problem, no malfunctions, something along that line. The second time they replaced the striker and backplate (as I requested that at minimum). The third time they replaced an additional component. This last time they are sending the gun back with a new slide assembly which I agreed to. I will report back what happens.

There is nothing "clear" or easy to identify about the problem (at least to me and 3 trips to S&W customer service, EDIT: I don't know the details of the slide assembly, but the striker/backplate interface seemed fine to me, maybe S&W screwed up 3 times who knows). I know how guns operate and have examined the backplate, striker assembly, etc. After the second trip back, I stopped doing this because I didn't want to modify the gun/tinker/disassemble with the striker channel in any way. The striker presses back on the back plate, there is a plastic sleeve as well, it seemed to fit together well. It happens with warm ammo, doesn't happen with light, and it shouldn't happen at all. I either got a dud slide or Smith had a bad run, no other explanation.

I cannot emphasize enough this is not an ammo problem. SAAMI spec is SAAMI spec. This has happened with 180 loads slightly over 1000 fps, well within SAAMI spec, also with hot Underwood 155 grain. Failure to feed or eject is one matter, falling apart is another matter.
 
Last edited:
PabloJ said:
That is "hot ammo" I would not run that through subcompact plastic framed gun,
Click to expand...

You can shoot whatever gun you like with whatever ammo you like, to each their own. That being said, SAAMI spec factory ammunition should run in a gun... period. If the gun won't run that is bad, if the gun literally falls apart then THE GUN IS BROKEN, NOT THE AMMUNITION.
 
if your gun gets fixed, do you change your name or just stop posting?
 
I carried a glock 23 for several years, got to be a chore, bought a shield 9 a few weeks ago, first 50 rounds never a hiccup, last week at the range had several FTE's, was using some old white box Winchester ammo, I'm thinking that was the problem, gonna use some good hot ammo this weekend and give it a good workout, then a good cleaning, not giving up on it yet, very easy small 9 to stay on target with, knowing me though Ill opt for the G43 when it hits the stores, cant beat a glock
 
S&W customer service is usually pretty good. It's unfortunate that they did not get this fixed right away. But occasionally they mess things up and this is one of those cases.

Did you send them a copy of the vid?

The only recall or safety notice on the Shields is from 2013 and regards the drop safety. You can see that here...

https://secure05.lwcdirect.com/fron...inType=skipWelcome&clientID=742&campaignID=63

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category3_750001_750051_757978_-1_Y

There have been no recalls regarding the manual safeties. As you say, your issue does not involve those.

The issue you describe does not seem to be common. I haven't heard of it before and there was no quick fix.

I encourage you to go over to the S&W forum and discuss it there, someone may have seen this before.

Jerry, in post 21, does raise a good point.

My own Shield in 9mm has been flawless and a very good shooter both two handed and one handed.

tipoc
 
Shield_Malfunction said:
I cannot emphasize enough this is not an ammo problem. SAAMI spec is SAAMI spec. This has happened with 180 loads slightly over 1000 fps, well within SAAMI spec, also with hot Underwood 155 grain. Failure to feed or eject is one matter, falling apart is another matter.
Click to expand...

SAAMI nominal velocity for 155gr .40 S&W is 1115-1195 fps

http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/VelocityPressureData.pdf

The velocity on your ammunition is labeled at 1300 fps.

That Underwood ammunition is not SAAMI spec.
 
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