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Thread: The Premature Old Man Gun: .380 Shield EZ

  1. #21
    Learned that I forgot something. When my wife got her base model .380 EZ, I had noticed that the lefthand loading nub activated the slide stop. Which I had forgotten by the time I ground mine down. So my magazine no longer locks the slide open when empty.

    I will replace it with a couple spares as finances allow but also keep it. If I find myself carrying the gun I'd prioritize the spare magazine being dehorned over holding the slide open since there'd be no more reloads at that point, anyway. To mark it for easy segregation, I'll paint the baseplate.

    Will head out shortly to start vetting the Shield EZ with Speer Gold Dot through Ed Head's Cleaning & Ammo Cycling Drill. As a fun comparison, will run my SCCY CPX-3 through Head's 20-Round Defensive Pistol Drill. Then work a few cylinders of ball and dummy draws to 1, 2, and 3 shots into a 6" paper plate with my carry snub to recalibrate myself before heading home.

  2. #22
    Abducted by Aliens Borderland's Avatar
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    Feb 2019
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    Quote Originally Posted by OlongJohnson View Post
    They've used revolvers for the product images on their web sites with embarrassingly bad roll marks, too.
    Nobody does bad roll marks as well as Colt.

    I don't look at that stuff anymore in the world of polymer seams and plastic sights.
    In the P-F basket of deplorables.

  3. #23
    Opened with a run of the 20-Round Defensive Pistol Drill with my CPX-3 carried appendix IWB. It had another stoppage (slide closing on a spent case while feeding a fresh one as usual) and will be going back to SCCY for a check-up when I can get in touch.

    Then on to the Cleaning & Ammo Cycling Drill with my Performance Center .380 EZ carried strongside OWB under an untucked button-up:


    Left target. Center of mass is the 10-ring of a B-27 target with the X-ring as a shaded aiming spot. Headbox 4" across the top and 3" vertical.


    Right target. Center of mass measures 5.5" wide by 8" tall with a 3" circular headbox. I need to work the balance of speed and precision as Grant Cunningham puts it so took the opportunity here.

    The target transition string was started with my hand on the gun and support hand up in a fence while yelling at the target from the seven and ten yard lines. All strings in time and the light single-action trigger made the quick pace easier than the DAO gun. I later repeated this drill with my EDC Ruger LCR in 22 Long Rifle. Accuracy similar to the EZ but slightly overtime with the last shot on the target transition string which was thrown a bit in my rush. The LCR started in my pocket with my hand on the grip for every string.

    I can say the EZ is easier to run at speed than the CPX-3 but that's a bit of a given with the different triggers and sights. A more pertinent point would be the much higher build quality and more likely reliability in the model line. Though the EZ did have a stoppage in a friend's hands, yesterday. He dragged his thumbs on the slide and cause a failure to eject at one point. The short in height slide with relatively low bore axis does get cramped in larger hands.

    While pulling guns out of the safe, grabbed my second generation LCP as a point of comparison and ran it through 3 Seconds or Less:


    First shot dropped and slightly overtime in the "load and fire one" stage. Had the wrong par time in my head, depsite the name of the drill, and majorily rushed the headshot. It was so bad that I immediately pulled my head out of my butt and repeated the string to have a good rep.

    Easier to throw a shot with little grip to combat a rough trigger roll, markedly more recoil than anything else, took much more effort to hang onto, and tougher to track the sights. The funky drawstroke using an AIWB Clipdraw was surprisingly not a real detriment on this particular day. Though I do miss the longer trigger press in the first generation guns for a Clipdraw equipped gun. I personally haven't found the shorter trigger any benefit in shooting but it does sketch me out more in the pocket gun category.

    Keeping it on topic, the EZ is quickly growing on me. I may have just bought it to bail a guy out of the doghouse but it's plain fun. It also carries great. Dragging a weight sled before shooting then leaving it on for a family game of cornhole, it packs flat and light for a full grip, longish sight radius, high profile fiber/tritium sights, and 8+1 capacity while shooting softly with a minimum of muzzle blast. Even shooting Gold Dots was no different than cheap ball with regards to point of impact, felt recoil, and muzzle blast. Little bugger might become a favorite autopistol by virtue of being just plain pleasant.
    Last edited by SCCY Marshal; 05-24-2020 at 01:03 PM.

  4. #24
    May have set a record for gun that took the longest to see a handload. Finally got around to running a couple mags through the EZ. Lee 95 grain round nose flat point cast from pure range scrap lead and water quenched. Powder coated, sized 0.356", and parked over 3.1 grains Unique. Velocity averaged 950fps versus the 789fps from my LCP.

    While feeding definitely grinds on the feedramp of the LCP, feels smooth in the EZ. I'll run more on a future range trip to get a feel for how well it gasses the port and check POA/POI. Also want to run some low light drills and see how much fire it spews while playing with the new Olight.

    As an aside, my Glock 42 would only run this load if clean and warm. Periodic stoppages would occur if dirty or cooled off to winter temps. The EZ and LCP were both rather dirty yet neither seemed to mind.

  5. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by SCCY Marshal View Post
    May have set a record for gun that took the longest to see a handload. Finally got around to running a couple mags through the EZ. Lee 95 grain round nose flat point cast from pure range scrap lead and water quenched. Powder coated, sized 0.356", and parked over 3.1 grains Unique. Velocity averaged 950fps versus the 789fps from my LCP.

    While feeding definitely grinds on the feedramp of the LCP, feels smooth in the EZ. I'll run more on a future range trip to get a feel for how well it gasses the port and check POA/POI. Also want to run some low light drills and see how much fire it spews while playing with the new Olight.

    As an aside, my Glock 42 would only run this load if clean and warm. Periodic stoppages would occur if dirty or cooled off to winter temps. The EZ and LCP were both rather dirty yet neither seemed to mind.
    My G42 definitely wants full power loads. I run Titegroup behind an Xtreme plated. I ended up at near max load to get the gun to run reliably.

    If you are bothered by muzzle flash BE86 has a flash suppressant and a burn rate almost identical to Unique. It measures much better too.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  6. #26
    Another 24 rounds downrange, today. Still running my LFN handloads. Recoil is smoother than some factory loads which may be attributable to the way Alliant's relatively slow-burning Unique gasses the barrel port. Possibly also the light hanging off the dustcover. Anyway shot ecerything from low-ready with safety engaged. Started at five yards for five shots in a five inch circle, using 2.8x seconds of my five second par time. Then back to seven yards for ready to a single body hit, ready to a pair in the chest, and ready to a Mozambique. Back to ten yards for several presentations to a mix of single high center chest shots and single headshots. Then back to about thirty yards to see if I could topple a rock about the size of a printer pater sheet. First round hit. Then back to ten yards for a presentation to single body shot, emergency reload, hit the same rock now about fifteen yards distant. Back to the thirty yard line, up to a hit on the rock (took two shots having gotten cocky), sprint to seven yards, single shot to the body. Average seven yard time to one B-27 10 ring hit from low-ready was 1.0x seconds. 1.2x seconds from ten yards but got that down to 1.2x seconds for a 4" circular headbox hit from ready and 1.1x seconds to body hit after a couple reps:

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    I'm starting to wonder if this would also be a good ammo shortage piece. The little bullets don't use much lead and low case capacity makes efficient use of small powder charges when one handloads. Brass is reasonably commonly found these days to have some collected and set aside before the next nationwide gun rush. Low recoil helps mitigate some recoil control issues that crop up with reduced round count range trips in days of austerity. I might be off base but that is what's currently churning around in my head.

  7. #27
    Student
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    I have been seeing these with some regularity among basic pistol students at my local range -- some have brought their own, and some rent when it is available. I've observed that occasionally there are issues with thinner hands engaging the grip safety while maintaining a proper grip, but other than that I've yet to switch someone shooting one to a .22 rental, which I can't say for every new shooters who starts on a 9mm.

  8. #28
    Ready! Fire! Aim! awp_101's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gato naranja View Post
    I shoot them well enough to normally be as pleased as a little kid having a good day with his trusty BB gun
    That may be the epitome of happiness right there...

    I haven't paid attention to the EZ line but with my carpal tunnel flaring back up much easier recently, this thread coming back up is timely. Have they given the 9mm this option yet or is it .380 only?
    Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits - Mark Twain

    Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy / Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

  9. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by awp_101 View Post
    I haven't paid attention to the EZ line but with my carpal tunnel flaring back up much easier recently, this thread coming back up is timely. Have they given the 9mm this option yet or is it .380 only?
    Yes, there's a 9mm EZ, single stack.


    Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

  10. #30
    If you're specifically asking about the ported Performance Center version, S&W is doing the nines pimped in gold like my .380 or blacked out.

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