S&W M&P Shield Plus 9mm Tabletop Review and Field Strip 

The 15 rounders really change this pistol, giving it a grip that feels like a full sized pistol and near that capacity in a much smaller, more comfortable to carry package. The 15 rounder I bought was marketed as “shield plus” on the package so I think S&W realized that’s a better market. They also sent me 3 15 rd mags as part of a rebate program.

Best carry gun i have. And i have the p365, hellcat pro, hkp30sk, glock 19, sr9c, cz75 pcr and many more. Shield is reliable and accurate and easy to carry

Two of my son's own Shields. They aren't the "newest, hottest, trendiest flavor of the month", just utterly reliable, and not as expensive as many alternatives.

I love my Shield Plus. Bought it brand new about a year ago and it never disappoints at the range. Functions very well, easy to shoot and I like the grip texture of these pistols. So far, it seems to digest any ammo I feed it and it still delivers excellent accuracy. I like the trigger on it better than my Glocks and I believe this is why it shoots so well for me. The first time at the range I was impressed how easy it was to put all my rounds dead center of the target. For a daily carry micro 9, you can't go wrong with one of these pistols, excellent gun for the price.

Shield+ is my daily carry. Reliable and flat shooting for its size. Trigger reset can be vague , but otherwise a good trigger. Affordable. Pearce Grip extension on 10 rnd mag is perfect.

Big BOO for the box, the pistol itself, Effin A. Carried a G17 for years(still do) but once I get enough rounds through it and another 15rd mag, THIS WIL BE MY CARRY EVERYDAY.

Traded my original Shield for the Plus a year ago, for the increased capacity, and never been more pleased. Much better trigger on the Plus. The original Shield was flawless, but it was more difficult to rack, and I found it a little snappy. Something about the Plus makes racking as well as shooting control much better, and I'll be very interested to see what you and Tia think of it. I find it to be a softer shoot and more controllable than the original Shield, which may have something to do with the ever so slightly fatter grip and the better texturing. Whatever it is, this is my EDC, and just fits my 76 year old (also slightly fatter) body well, IWB, at my 5 o'clock. I added the 15-rd mag as backup to the 13-rd, and 10rd, and the four of us never travel alone. It does double duty as the nightstand gun, but the S&W 9c keeps it company. I have about 600 rds through the Plus so far, and without any hitch....steel, nickel, brass...all fed flawlessly. I'll own this until they take me out in the box. Thanks for the review, and looking forward to your shooting impressions.

I believe the "15 rd" mag you took out of the Equalizer, was actually a 13 rd that comes with the Equalizer box also.

I’ve carried one for 2 years now, never malfunction, trigger is pretty sweet plus it’s a great gun for appendix carry. Mine is the performance center which has a better trigger, sights and ported barrel. Hey what works for me may not work for you. Probably why there’s 100 different choices on the market

Very informative. Thank you!

Very excited to see how well you shoot this. I am between this and ruger micro 9 for pocket carry with safety. Had a bodyguard 380 in pocket for years. Can’t believe how well the bodyguard held up to my pocket . carry .

I got the Performance Center version that I've used for CCW for well over a year. This trigger is so much different than the old M+P's , Thanks for the review. I find it much better than my wife's Sig P365 in every way possible.

This gun is great I've carried one of these for about 20 seconds now. No malfunctions, never fired a single shot, and no money in the bank. Like i said, great gun and you couldn't get better validation from anyone else.

I have a 'Gen 1' Shield Performance Center, a regular Shield Plus, Sig P365XL and Glock 43x. I like them all, but consistently shoot the Shields best, especially the older model. There is something to be said for the trigger on the Performance Center models, which l think boils down to a rounded and polished slide safety plunger, which really changes the feel of the trigger. The good news is the slides between Shield generations are interchangeable. As always, thanks for the video!

I bet it will be a great shooter .. Enjoyed the vid ! 👍👍

Love my shield, might be getting a plus, with thumb safety , this coming weekend

Thanks for reviewing the Shield Plus, I was one of those asking. Reloads by Cousin Ed sometimes have different chamber fit, but it's also cheaper and can lead to different friction coefficients making for extraction issues. In case you ever use reloads for what's for dinner, LOL.

If you get the Shield Plus, check out the Pearce Grips mag extender. It transforms the 10 round mag. The 10 round is now just as comfortable as the 13, and it's still a bit shorter.

Interesting, .. It didn't occur to me that you hadn't covered this before ! It's certainly one of the very best for concealed carry. Thanks

There are many different versions of the Shield Plus with or without thumb safety, night sights, optics ready, shorter/longer barrels, Performance Center or not, EZ or not, etc. So people may like only version one version and not like all of the others. I would just recommend the thoe who are considering the Shield Plus to try out all of them before buying.

Greta video, I just got this gun this is a good video Thanks

Awesome review, G. I picked mine up almost exactly 2 years ago and it is my go-to hot weather, carry gun, which here in Central Clownifornia is about nine months of the year! Can’t wait for your shooting impressions. You and T stay safe up there.

In my pocket right now with 13rd mag. Like the Hellcat also, or Shield 40. I sent your video to a friend in Dundee to check out TJ. Thanks.

Thanks for the caution on the front sight being difficult to get out

Glad you are giving the shield plus a fair review. I look forward to your shooting review. I find the shield plus to be the second "softest" shooting micro 9, behind the SIG 365 X-Macro... The ported PC model I believe is actually equal to the macro. I also found the shield plus to be the most accurate of the micros, for me... More easily natural shooting for my grip and style... Can be just as accurate with most others, but it takes greater effort for me. Just my own observations... Many others feel differently.

Very nice tool❤

My first carry gun was a Shield 1.0, Upgraded to a PC Shield and then loved the Shield 2.0 texture so started carrying that. When the Plus came out I bought one fairly quickly. Over the years I’ve bought, carried and still own a P365, P365XL, Hellcat Pro, CZ P10S. In other words I was sure I was going to find a gun I liked better than the Shield. Still own each of those listed, carry them from time to time but I still shoot the Shield much better than any other of the small guns I can easily conceal and carry. It’s just a good, solid edc gun.

Thank you enjoy your video

I got my hands on a Shield Plus with factory night sights, and I don't like it. It's not snappy or anything performance wise, I just find the grip really uncomfortable, and I shoot a lot better with all of my other subcompacts. So I traded it in for something else I'm *really* comfortable carrying. Great tabletop as usual Graham.

It must be fate. I was just looking at this gun yesterday to replace my current carry which has a terrible trigger. Thanks again for your reviews

After renting one at the range multiple times, I finally purchased a used one almost a month ago. It's an excellent shooter and fits my hand great. I still intend to purchase the Equalizer and CSX, though (and probably also the Sig P365-380), since I've also had very positive experiences with those. But the Shield Plus has served me very well on the range so far. Now I have to find a good holster for it.

Carry one daily. Before that, I carried the original shield. I'm not a fan of Springfield, I was always a bit hesitant towards the p365 for safety reasons until I recently bought the p320 and am now comfortable with the trigger, I won't go Taurus, and I prefer the build of the shield over the max-9. The M&P line has always done well for me. They're solid pistols that have never let me down, so I was eagerly awaiting their intro of a high capacity micro-9 and the day that S&W announced the shield plus, I was immediately on board. It has yet to fail once since the day I picked it up.

Carried the S+ for over a year now. Liked the original so much, i bought a 2nd. One is optic ready, the other standard. They're both laser beams for me. Impressive given the size. They shoot like a bigger gun to me. Trigger is excellent. Reset force could be a bit stronger though. I decided to try an Apex in one. Duty kit, just internals. Completely fixes that small issue. I like the option of 10,13, 15rd mags. Both of mine have been flawless through a combined 2000 rounds. 1250 roughly on one, 750 roughly on the other. If desired, a Hogue grip works great on one, as does the pinky ext for the 10rd mags. I tried just about all of these micros when choosing last year. 365, CCS, GX4, 503, Hellcat, etc. The Smith just felt the best, had the best features, for the best price. Not to mention an American company.

When they first came out I got one to compare to my Walther PPS, and Kimber Micro 9. The slide stop did not work as a slide release, and I was used to the PPS' trigger staying back on last shot - giving a second tactile feel feedback that gun empty of bullets My impression was that PPS acts like real gun, and Sheild + trigger felt like a toy. Micro 9 with ext mag easiest to conceal. PPS never fails. Result, sold Sheild +. Still happy.

I've been using a Shield Plus with optics cut, night sights, and safety, as my EDC, for over a year now. It's well made, accurate, and reliable. I did, however, make 5 changes to it: 1) S&W says they used less aggressive grip texturing. But it's still to much for me. I used a pair of cow hide work gloves, rubbed it down for a while, and put a coupe years worth of wear on it. 2) The mag release also bugged me. So I used a small finishing file on it and reduced the texture on that slightly. 3) I added Pierce grips to the 10 & 13 round mags and they're now both a comfortable full size for my hand. 4) I mounted a Holoson 507K circle dot (couple hours of careful dremel, file, and perma blue work). As I got older, and my eyesight worse, I began to realize I couldn't acquire a sight picture unless my glasses were ideally placed. If my glasses slid to the end of my nose, I couldn't see the sights at all. With the Holoson circle dot reticle, I can acquire a reliable center of mass sight picture even without my glasses. 5) I really dislike the manual thumb safety lever. It's to small, to tucked in, and to far back on the frame. No matter how much I practice, I can not reliably disengage it, on the draw, every time. So I don't use it (I leave it off all the time). I have found someone that hand makes an extended safety lever with a thumb shelf and I've ordered one. Hope it works.

Best micro for the price

Nice 😎

I love this Gun I absolutely love it I unfortunately had to sell it due to some financial issues but I am now even considering trading in my Glock 19 for another shield plus!

I have one. I bought it when it first came out. I like it and I refuse to sell it. But I retired it when Shield arms came out with the Gen 2 mags for the Glock 43x. I plan on using the shield plus when I travel. since it has the 10 rd mag.

I have a 4” Shield Plus and 4” 2.0 Shields in 40 S&W and 45 Auto. I prefer the longer barrel and slide on the 4” Performance Center models since they balance better in the hand for me and they seem to shoot a bit more accurately at distance than the shorter barrel models. All of my Shields seem well made and they all have been very reliable.

The "yellowish lever" is some real dejavu from the Ruger P-85 series pistols. They used an almost identical means of getting the ejector out of the way during dissassembly.

Looking at replacing with this after my gx4 stopped resetting. thx

I didn't have any trouble changing out the front sight on either the shield or shield plus. It's the rear sight that I won't touch!!!

That trigger gets better once a few hundred rounds go through it. I have several m&p 2.0s and I think the triggers are great

It's weird that you need to push the lever down for triggerless takedown. The technology has been around for a while, with the FN Reflex being a new example. The yellow lever method is the same as in some Ruger designs.

I like the pistol ( or ready model) but I continue having the frame pins walking out ? I’m not sending it back in for that . I’m considering just ordering stainless steel pin set from NDZ .

❤️

The rear site on that gun is problematic for me. Because of the screw, but the front side is super simple. A site pusher from Amazon, and I had night sites on it within 10 minutes. And, I do carry the M&P Shield 2.0. But I rotate it between my beloved hellcat.

It took three months to get extra mags for it at the time of the Plus' release. Mine had a weak reset but with an Apex Tactical trigger kit that fixed it plus I prefer Apex Tactical's trigger shoe over the stock trigger. I used a Fisher Solutions sight pusher tool to change out the sights. That's with using lube on the tool's threads and using a box end wrench for leverage and placing the tool against the front sight's blade portion. It's tough to line up the replacement front sight with all the torque applied plus the Fisher Solutions sight pusher tool has course threads. Thanks for the info on the equalizer mag capability. I installed trijicon night sights on mine with the yellow ring front sights. GunMag Warehouse has the Equalizer 15 round mags.

I’m pretty sure that was the 13 rounder you pulled out of the Equalizer, not the 15 rounder. Anywhoo, I love my Shield Plus!

I heard the mags are hard to get the ammo in.

I thought all this time watching that you guys were in Washington.

I carry one of these, I had originally planned on getting a 365xl but the gun shop I was at cut me a deal for like 275 dollars on one which was just too cheap to pass up. My only real complaint is the thumb safety on it is atrocious and really needs to be completely changed for it to be usable. Other than that it's light and easy to conceal and is big enough that it's pleasant to shoot. It's funny when these first came out people complained they were larger than 365s or Hellcats, now the market has shifted to CCW guns bigger than a Plus, so I guess it wasn't a problem after all. I think I would prefer one of those new Canik CCW pistols they have started to sell recently but not enough to drop the money on one.

So shotgun is the best choice… hit wise!

Debating on this and the shadow system cr920 war poet ?

The newest Shield Pluses (got mine at the end of February) no longer have that yellow part.

12:23 all you have to do is sand the bottom of the sight till it fits. I learned the hard way.

4:25 that’s still the 13. Lol

Not "yellow" or "yellowish". The pain in the rear lever is devilish. I've experience case ruptures in my Beretta 92. Both times resulted in mechanical issues that required stripping the gun down and putting parts back the way they belong. (no more gun show reloads after that)

I just bought a new shield plus 2 days ago and mine had 2 ten rd mags . Why didn't I get a 13 rd mag ? The gun store owner said it had to be a special order . Thought it was standard . With the gun .

Sucks can't use 13 or 15 in my screwed up state of Connecticut.

I know it’s a bit old, but could you do a VP9?

@GBGuns Is the mag release reversible?

I call that color "Highlighter" yellow.

If this gun said grand power he would sing its praises

So true about reholstering fast. Very common. Much danger, especially with appendix. For what? Convenience? Bye bye junk...

That last part you did it to fast I’m lost from it please explain to me how to do it with out going through that yellow barrier from the inside than you

Where did you get the just under 3 shot statistic from?

The trigger on that looks like is plastic rather than metal. Is it plastic or does it just look like it is in this video?

It's so much easier to pull the trigger for stripping

The slide stop on mine randomly locks back and doesn't release under normal pressure. A known issue for these guns that none of the gun media will tell you, but S&W will when you press them.

I love S&W.. but anyone else think it's tacky and sort of unsafe that the OE box is frickin cardboard? Shouldn't there be some policy, or effortto at least provide a decent strong plastic box for liability reasons.

First. Hard to find mags in stock. Great little Shooter

"Whats in the box..."

Bruh reviewed a csx but says he wasn’t impressed with the plus enough to make the list…that’s crazy

Owned three.. sold three,,,stick to my caniks and glocks

I enjoy and watch most all of your videos, but I must say in this one you come off as very biased against the Shield Plus. Your comment about the front sight being very difficult to remove being a very common problem is something I've never heard before, and I've had no difficulty removing several M&P sights, including a couple of Shields. You've handled and shot several small firearms before, yet for some reason you made it sound as if this one was somehow more difficult to shoot and handle than any others. Just saying, this was not one of your better reviews that I've watched. I'm not a fanboy of any particular micro 9. I own a 43X, GX4, several different models of Shields and the new Canik MC9 and like them all, with the 43X being my least favorite. Hopefully your what's for dinner video will be a little more objective and you leave your previous personal bias out of it and do an open, honest review of it. 👍

Says he’s not disassembling the gun for RU-vid but 10 sec later shows a page that says Field stripping/ disassembly 😂

It might be argued that S&W bringing the Shield to market, initiated many other manufacturers racing to produce reliable, very compact 9MM pistols for the American public. More choices for the consumer as a result. Kahr was innovative and around, but polymer Kahrs weren't always considered as reliable. Walther PPS wasn't as available. Ruger only had a snappier LC9. At that time, Beretta, Glock, FN and SIG weren't making Shield size 9MM guns. Please don't flame me. I am not an S&W "fanboi". I also have Glocks, Beretta, SIG, and FN. They're all really good. My only really small guns are the excellent G43 and the G43X. I'm looking to possibly buying either the newly announced Beretta APX A1 revised compact, or the terrific Walther PDP F, or the new FN reflex sub compact, which has an internal hammer.

Your comment about a pistol with seven rounds possibly being not enough, is wise. These days a great many accounts of bad actors attacking people, have three or four, maybe even more criminals involved. Seven or eight rounds is dangerously marginal then. Don't count on being able to do a reload, no matter how quickly you think that you can do it.

Full chamber support doesn't really matter with 9mm round. it doesn't really hurt with 9mm blowing up. 40sw and 45acp is where you may want full chamber support in case you're shooting reloads that could blow up..

I’d say it’s a solid yellow-ish. Cause it’s also a like…booger green? Also thank you for this. Great comprehensive review and I appreciate you showing the break down.

I carry this gun in a T1C every single day. It's not the prettiest gun in the world but for many reasons, I think its the best daily carry gun for the vast majority of men. I do think theirs better options for women