New M&P Shield

[Art in Colorado]

After shooting this the first time along with my two Sigs I cleaned all three weapons. I was shooting jacketed rounds and I use Wipe Out when using jacketed. After three patches down the Sig barrels they were clean with no blue residue. With the Shield I am now on my fourth swab and there is still alot of blue residue. This is the Shield with the ported barrel and am not sure if that is the cause. Never had a ported one before. I have heard tha S&W is now using I think a EDM process for the rifling and was wondering if the rifling is a bit rough. The good news is that the Shield shot very well and the trigger from the Performance Center is very good and I imagine will get better with use. It is a keeper.Art

[Idaho45guy]

I just bought a new Shield Performance Center 9mm in August. I took it out and shot it, noticed it didn't feel right when I racked the slide, and its 25yd performance was awful; maybe 6-8" groups. Stripped it down and noticed strange wear marks on top of the barrel. I searched the internet and concluded that something was seriously wrong with my barrel. I sent it back 3 weeks ago and still haven't got it back from S&W.

I own a couple of the other M&P pistols and love them. The trigger on my new Shield was noticeably better and I really liked the sights and recoil. Should be a great little gun when it's fixed.

No idea on your issue, but I do know there have been some issues with the Shield barrels apparently...

My Shield barrel...

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178261

Wasn't bad at 7yds... Course neither is a slingshot...

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[Strtspdlx]

I had roughly the same issue with my barrel. Looking down the bore when new it was very rough compared to the smooth finish of other firearms I've owned. With much more shooting it has cleaned up but it still has some noticeable scraping. I've run 15-20 patches through it and still pulled out dirt after shooting about 200 rounds. I won't speak of groups as I'm not the most proficient shooter. But comparing it to my rifles and my friends 1911 and some glocks the barrel just didn't look correct.

[dubber123]

I'm not sure the barrels aren't coated in and out with the same finish. If they are, it would explain the rough texture. If it is the same finish it's also very hard, and will likely take a while to smooth out. I have a .40 Shield, and it seems pretty decent as far as fouling, a couple pulls of a Boresnake cleans it up nicely.