Shooting my M&P Shield in USPSA

[Mr_White]

That is really what my goal was in doing this. My competitive background is in bicycle road racing where I was able to make some money as a Cat 2 doing everything up to Pro/Am races. A person can do all the interval sessions they want but adding in the stresses of competition and the unknowns you inevitably encounter and have to learn to deal with will push you far harder than you can push yourself. I can't go out and get into gun fights to gain experience and test my gear (not sure I'd want to make a hobby of that even if I could) so this is the best I get.

Totally agree. As I was watching your videos, I kept thinking that I don't remember many (any?) instances of seeing someone running a Shield or similar small gun that well outside of a short and narrow drill. It's great to see someone pushing that kind of gun in broader circumstances, instead of just resigning themselves to a muted performance that is hopefully 'good enough.'

[Lomshek]

I shot my third (and final for a while) match with my Shield last Sunday. The gun shot fine with the exception of one failure to extract midway through the match. I'm averaging one FTE every 300 - 400 rounds (thus far only with reloads not my HST carry ammo). I'm convinced the culprit is the large gap (as photographed on page two) between the breech face and extractor hook allowing the case rim to bounce back and forth between the two and occasionally bounce out of the extractor's grasp.

Once I get the extractor fixed or replaced I'll shoot a couple more matches to test that out (beyond my non-match shooting) and otherwise probably shoot it in a couple matches a year just to keep in practice. My intent is to have the Shield set up identically to my full size (trigger, sights, POA) so that the differences are minimal and I'm not developing conflicting habits with the two guns.
If anyone wants to put a word in with S&W I'd appreciate a more accurate full size and a G19 mid-size (never heard that before have you).

Here's the video of me doing this match. My draws are fairly slow for a few reasons. The holster I made for this exercise places the butt of the gun a little low and my belt interferes with my thumb, the vestigial safety is a little awkward to de-activate and lastly I'm trying very hard to keep my finger off the trigger until I'm on target and I'm moving a little slower to try and beat that into my subconscious.



For anyone considering doing this themselves I'd suggest at least 40 rounds carried total. I have 6 seven round magazines (42 rounds for those who struggle at math) and that's barely enough if I factor in a potential malfunction clearance or a bad stage where the steel refuses to fall. I use the cheapo Uncle Mike's single stack double mag pouch. I had to tweak them with some washers to get the tension just right.


On an earlier trip to the range I spent some time trying to work on my trigger finger discipline (hard index until my sights are completely on target) and work on my 25 meter accuracy at the same time.

9 hits out of 11 and an average draw of 2.5 seconds. Once I'm comfortable with my finger discipline I'll speed up. At the last session I was able to stay under 2 seconds but was only at about 60% hits.

Last thing is a 25 meter group pic. About 4.5" 8 round group fired off the bench with HST 147gr +p.
For comparison my full size M&P will do a little over 6" at best. Really hoping Apex starts accepting new work soon so I can have them install a barrel.



Once I get a second (or third) Shield I'm tempted to weld up a barrel and refit it to increase the accuracy as much as possible. Not gonna play games like that on my carry gun until it's proven reliable but a 2"/25M pocket gun would be nice.

[BillSWPA]

Still running the factory sights which work OK but my eyes are starting to slip (48 and never needed glasses) and I'm hoping the HD's I'm considering will help but not too sure about the fatter front sight. Body shots at 25 meters are easy and I was shooting a steel silhouette at 100 last week but head shots at 25+ are "challenging". Going to see the optometrist too of course.

If you end up needing bifocals, get the kind with distance on top, reading on the bottom, and a gradual transition in between. You don't want the kind with a line in between or the kind with near and far dispersed throughout the lens. At least for me, that transition region between near and far is perfect for a sharply focused front sight.