Anybody Have A 9mm Shield That Will Group At 25?

[osteodoc08]

Mine is off bags, freehand I'm no where that good (sub 3" at 25 yards) with a pocket pistol.

[Catshooter]

JB,

Oh yes, off the bench. That tests the gun. Standing tests the shooter.


Cat

[Throwback]

Mine shoots well. 4 inches at 25. Never tried cast in it though. Bore size would be critical there.

[JBinMN]

Mine is off bags, freehand I'm no where that good (sub 3" at 25 yards) with a pocket pistol.

JB,

Oh yes, off the bench. That tests the gun. Standing tests the shooter.


Cat

Thanks for helping me out. I figured as much, but wasn't sure.

Seems to me that if I am shooting off a bench with some of the results in the posts here, that some of those firearms would be going down the road. But, everyone is different about things. Depends on what ya think is right for you, right?


Thanks again!

[DougGuy]

Thanks for all the replies and PMs. My barrel is indeed .357, and has no throat to speak of. The Lee 125 RF sized .3575 has to be seated at 1.00" to chamber, while the SIG will handle 1.06 and the Glock 1.10. 125s and heavier shoot high. 115s shoot to the sights if you look at the center of the "group." I have some 125 gr. .357 hollowpoints that I will try. I can live with it shooting high if it will group decently.

Would be interesting to see how much better the group would be with a throated barrel. Jerry Keefer throats the record holding 9 with .100" freebore and 1 degree lands. I throat them plenty long, the throat is a critical transition between the fired case, which is larger in ID than the freebore in the throat, so it holds the boolit concentric in the bore and also squared with the centerline of the bore, before it gets to the leade ins to the rifling. Seating deep and going abruptly into the rifling lets the boolit become misaligned and once it crashes into the rifling, if it is skewed a bit off axis, there it stays.

[murf205]

Mine is about a 4" gun @25 yds. It will not shoot nearly as accurately as my pf9 Kel-Tec and feels quite a bit heavier. The trigger is no work of art either, but it will digest anything I stuff in it. It's got me thinking Ruger LC9s.

[fabricator21]

I compete in a monthly steel shoot. One off my competitor's shoots one and has no problems clearing plate rack or poppers at 25 yards

[sixshot]

I teach a ladies only handgun class & several ladies always show up with a 9mm Shield. If they use factory ammo the guns don't shoot very good but switching to my handloads using cast 357" powder coated bullets all the guns do quite well. Some of the ladies shoot with a "limp" wrist & the guns don't always cycle, that's common with small women. If you bump the load up just a bit or maybe switch to a heavier bullet the problem always goes away. The ammo that doesn't cycle for them always cycles for me.
You also see this problem in USPSA matches when guys are required to shoot one handed, this is when they get stove pipes & the gun doesn't cycle correctly.
Actually my 9mm bullets mic at .3575".

Dick

[knifemaker]

I bought a S&W 9mm Shield about 4 months ago. After reading this thread, I went out to the shop and slugged my barrel. I used a mike, not calipers, and it miked at .455 on three measurements. Using my 9mm plated 124 gr. handloads it will only do about 3 inches at 15 yards. Have not tested it with factory ammo yet, but will do so and hope I can improve on those 3 inch groups. I am not a fan of the trigger pull either, but it is not really that bad at 6.2 pounds. I am use to a 1911 with 3.5 to 4 pound trigger and will group 1.5 inches at 25 yards using sandbag rest. That gun was my duty gun for many years and is a Colt National Match which preceeded the Colt Gold Cup.

[Catshooter]

knifemaker,

Amazing that your Shield shoots that well with 9mm ammo in a .455 bore!

Just teasing. What do your handloads measure? And if you use a Lee Factory Crimp die, what do they measure after crimping?


Cat

[knifemaker]

You got me, my goof. That should be .355 on the groove dia. My plated bullets are .355 in dia. Do not use a lee factory crimp die, just a taper crimp die as the neck tension is good at keeping the bullet in place. I also have some plated 125 gr. 38 cal. .357 dia. bullets on hand and I am thinking of giving them a try to see if they improve the groups for my practice loads. If they do, I can use them for both calibers. Will probably have to back off about 4 tenths of a grain on the powder to avoid a pressure spike.

[knifemaker]

Catshooter, I went out to the shop and loaded 4 dummy rounds using X-Treme 125 gr. TC 38 special bullets. Loaded length was 1.070 and did the barrel drop test. worked like a charm and also feeds great from the magazine. Will now have to loaded up about 24 rounds of loaded ammo and test for better groups over using .355 dia. 9 mm plated bullets. I have hopes it will produce better groups since the 38 spec. bullets are 2 thousands over barrel groove dia. The shield 9mm I have does have a tight lockup on the barrel when in battery and should not be the problem with mediocre groups I was getting with the 9mm plated bullets.

[Catshooter]

Good luck man. Hope they shoot.

You're just using plated bullets? Are you casting your own? I have no experience with the plated, do you like 'em?


Cat

[knifemaker]

Catshooter I have been using X-Treme plated bullets for about 8 years. I have shot thousands of them in practice and IDPA pistol matches with several 1911s in 45ACP. I have used them also in 38 spec., 357 mag, 41 mag, 44 special and 44 mag. I also cast, but I am saving most of my stash of lead in the event the idiot politicians we have in CA. decide to stop internet out of state sales for reloading supplies like they just did for loaded ammunition. I have had very good luck with the accuracy in using X-Treme plated bullets until this 9mm shield gave me what I consider mediocre groups. I will admit that I am somewhat anal about having accurate guns. I will show you the groups I got with my duty Colt National Match and with my S&W 1911 IDPA match gun. The group for the National Match Colt was shot with hot +P 185 gr. hollow points full mag of 8 rounds. The S&W was shot with Federal Gold Match 185 gr. in a Ransom rest by the gunsmith who did the accuracy work on the gun.

[knifemaker]

Catshooter, well I tried the loads with .357 dia. plated bullets and also Federal 124 gr. XTP factory loads. The 357 dia. had a best group of 2-1/2 inches at 15 yards for 5 rounds. The Federal factory came in at 3 inches. This Shield is a close up defensive pistol, which was what it was made for. I want better accuracy and will keep my eyes out for a Springfield Armory EMP in 9mm. Will cost me 2-1/2 times more then the Shield, but to me it is worth it for more precision accuracy if I ever need it.
I now carry a Colt Defender in 45ACP that will group 5 shots into 2 inches at 25 yards, not 15 yards. Colt makes a defender also in 9mm but you can not get them anymore in CA. as they are not on the so called "approved list" that is required to sell a handgun in CA. I'm glad I bought my 45ACP Defender before that stupid law was passed here.

[flint45]

That is why they call them a shield they can keep all there shots on one of those big Roman shields at 25 yards. 1911,1911.1911 just keep saying it it will sink in through the fog of cheap polymer pistols.

[alamogunr]

Would be interesting to see how much better the group would be with a throated barrel. Jerry Keefer throats the record holding 9 with .100" freebore and 1 degree lands. I throat them plenty long, the throat is a critical transition between the fired case, which is larger in ID than the freebore in the throat, so it holds the boolit concentric in the bore and also squared with the centerline of the bore, before it gets to the leade ins to the rifling. Seating deep and going abruptly into the rifling lets the boolit become misaligned and once it crashes into the rifling, if it is skewed a bit off axis, there it stays.

Since this is a thread about the S&W Shield, how would a throated barrel be accomplished? I have been told that these barrels are so hard that they seriously resist a throating reamer.

[Catshooter]

Very nice pistols knifemaker. Sorry for you that you live where you do. Interesting about the plated.

alamogunr,

Doug uses a carbide reamer for nitrated barrels like the Shield. I just got back from him the barrel to my Kahr P380. Beautiful workmanship.


Cat

[fourarmed]

Loaded some 125 grain .357 JHP over 5.0 and 5.3 of Unique. At 5.3 grains, a 10-shot group measured about 7 inches, with the best 6 shots going into 2". This is the best it has done. I hesitate to go to a bigger charge, as that is about max in any of my manuals.

[fourarmed]

In the spirit of scientific inquiry, and hope for better groups, I sent the barrel off to DougGuy today.