Shield 2.0 Accuracy?

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I've had my shield for a couple of years now and after a few hundred rounds I'm not quite comfortable carrying it because of the trigger. For the life of me, I cannot get this thing to shoot straight with the stock trigger. I don't know if the break is too heavy or if my finger placement is not working like it should because of the size of the gun and the length of my fingers but I pretty consistently shoot high and to the right.

Am I the only one that's had this experience with this particular gun? Is this just a matter of finding a non-standard finger placement? Little baby bitch fingers? Or should I consider getting something like an Apex kit to change the trigger out?

I am relatively new to carry guns in general, so any training/form tips that might help is greatly appreciated.
 
Shield 2.0 - It is a better trigger than the 1st generation & if you practice, you should be fine. If you want to upgrade - Yes to APEX trigger & is easy enough. ...but before you spend that money, perhaps it is time to sell this pistol. There are soooo many great pistols, if you aren't feeling comfortable with the Shield, move onto another.... Best of luck!!
 
Might be the trigger.... I shot my buddies MA compliant Shield and the trigger was much tougher than mine. I have the same model, but with a different trigger (stock S&W, but different from most) and the difference was night and day (mine is very accurate and fun to shoot). With enough training, you can get used to anything, but I'd throw an Apex trigger at it and see if that helps.
 
Might be the trigger.... I shot my buddies MA compliant Shield and the trigger was much tougher than mine. I have the same model, but with a different trigger (stock S&W, but different from most) and the difference was night and day (mine is very accurate and fun to shoot). With enough training, you can get used to anything, but I'd throw an Apex trigger at it and see if that helps.

I should note - I purchased the gun in Texas, so it has a free state trigger. Not a big chungus ""safe"" trigger.

Selling the gun might be an idea... it's worth my life in a bad situation to find something I'll actually carry comfortably than to try and fit a square peg into a round hole.
 
Selling the gun might be an idea... it's worth my life in a bad situation to find something I'll actually carry comfortably than to try and fit a square peg into a round hole.

Check out the Walther PPS M2 and don’t look back.
 
I've had my shield for a couple of years now and after a few hundred rounds I'm not quite comfortable carrying it because of the trigger. For the life of me, I cannot get this thing to shoot straight with the stock trigger.

there's your answer. need more training, dry and live fire. become a student of the pistol and it will reward you. alternatively can join with most internet commandos and blame the equipment. can also consider carrying and training on a full size pistol. i have no uses for small guns but that's a separate discussion.
 
I have APEX Carry/Duty kits in all my Gen1 Shields and love them. Not owning any 2.0s can't say for sure.
 
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Love my PPX, so I'm pretty strongly considering this. Also looking at the Springfield 911 but I'd rather it in 9mm than .380.


there's your answer. need more training, dry and live fire. become a student of the pistol and it will reward you. alternatively can join with most internet commandos and blame the equipment. can also consider carrying and training on a full size pistol. i have no uses for small guns but that's a separate discussion.

If you can shoot any of those other guns, you can shoot a Shield w a free-state factory trigger. A couple hundred rounds over a couple of years? Sounds like a 30 handicap golfer: I can’t hit that club.

If you can shoot one gun you can shoot the other. You may not like to shoot it as much, you may not be able to shoot it as well, but when I hear guys say they can’t shoot a particular gun the first question I ask is how they shoot other guns. And not the one time they went to the range and shot lights out and that gun became their binkie, how do they shoot other guns consistently? Just like the guys who had a great day on the course and striped a couple 300 yard (225 in reality) drives right down the fairway but pretty much suck every time I go golfing w them but they swear by that driver and they’re just having a bad day (every time).

Have someone who you know to be a good shooter shoot the gun. That‘ll rule out any issues w the gun. Then take a lesson, have a professional help you out.

It’s not the gun, it’s the shooter.
 
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It will be a lot easier to buy an apex kit and have it installed than it will be to sell the gun and find a replacement in this current market. More time spent with dry fire and live fire will help as well. If you’re really inexperienced, might be worth in the investment in yourself to take a class or two.

Also, try replacing the sights, some people just don’t respond well to the three dot white.
 
If you can shoot any of those other guns, you can shoot a Shield w a free-state factory trigger. A couple hundred rounds over a couple of years? Sounds like a 30 handicap golfer: I can’t hit that club.

If you can shoot one gun you can shoot the other. You may not like to shoot it as much, you may not be able to shoot it as well, but when I hear guys say they can’t shoot a particular gun the first question I ask is how they shoot other guns. And not the one time they went to the range and shot lights out and that gun became their binkie, how do they shoot other guns consistently? Just like the guys who had a great day on the course and striped a couple 300 yard (225 in reality) drives right down the fairway but pretty much suck every time I go golfing w them but they swear by that driver and they’re just having a bad day (every time).

Have someone who you know to be a good shooter shoot the gun. That‘ll rule out any issues w the gun. Then take a lesson, have a professional help you out.

It’s not the gun, it’s the shooter.

That is certainly a fair point of view.

I will put it this way: I can shoot every other gun I have (and have tried) well enough to warrant some sort of evaluation of the particular piece of equipment or my technique with it. I'm not winning any competitions, but I am definitely not consistently off POA with any other gun that I have. The major reason I'm really questioning it is that I have heard of a lot of people replace triggers in these. Wasn't sure if it was because of similar issues to mine, and I know the general consensus around the original shields was "bad trigger."

Doing some more research it seems like I'm not the only one that has had trouble adjusting to this trigger. I suppose I expected to pick it up and be at least as proficient with it as any other handgun, but I guess that was a pipe dream (especially because it's a small handgun and I have minimal experience with them).

Appreciate everyone's input; I'm going to put some dry fire time in and see if I can make some headway that way.
 
alternatively can join with most internet commandos and blame the equipment.

Certain people just shoot certain guns/ platforms better. I had an M&P 9 that I couldn’t shoot worth of shit. I shot it fairly often but could never get used to the trigger or the way it pointed. I can shoot lights out with all of my Glocks and Walther right out of the box. I also have a Smith 442 which I’ve shot a fair amount and I find it challenging to hit consistently. I’ve shot the Ruger LCR twice and for whatever reason I shoot that gun much better.
 
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That is certainly a fair point of view.

I will put it this way: I can shoot every other gun I have (and have tried) well enough to warrant some sort of evaluation of the particular piece of equipment or my technique with it. I'm not winning any competitions, but I am definitely not consistently off POA with any other gun that I have. The major reason I'm really questioning it is that I have heard of a lot of people replace triggers in these. Wasn't sure if it was because of similar issues to mine, and I know the general consensus around the original shields was "bad trigger."

Doing some more research it seems like I'm not the only one that has had trouble adjusting to this trigger. I suppose I expected to pick it up and be at least as proficient with it as any other handgun, but I guess that was a pipe dream (especially because it's a small handgun and I have minimal experience with them).

Appreciate everyone's input; I'm going to put some dry fire time in and see if I can make some headway that way.

The issue w the trigger is mostly a local thing since the M&P models 1.0 required a 10lb trigger to be MA compliant. The free state versions are ok triggers. Sure, they could be better but certainly nothing that renders the gun unshootable. Perhaps there’s a defect w your particular gun? It may be more of a single stack small gun thing than a trigger thing, but that’s not insurmountable either. I’d definitely shoot other carry guns in the same class before I switched to one of them. Is your Shield a 9?
 
Certain people just shoot certain guns/ platforms better. I had an M&P 9 that I couldn’t shoot worth of shit. I shot it fairly often but could never get used to the trigger or the way it pointed. I can shoot lights out with all of my Glocks and Walther right out of the box. I also have a Smith 442 which I’ve shot a fair amount and I find it challenging to hit consistently. I’ve shot the Ruger LCR twice and for whatever reason I shoot that gun much better.

Of course, everyone has their platform & brand preferences - I do. But still believe that if you can shoot a glock, sig, walther, ruger, etc in the same class there’s no reason you ought not be able to shoot a Shield proficiently even if you shoot better/prefer other guns.
 
I have a MA shield 2.0 Put in a free state spring. The Shield is excellent. You did say you had a free state trigger so the 10lbs MA BS should not be the issue. Have you shot it from a rest?
 
To me, the Shield trigger, bad as it is, is better than the PPS which is long and stacks in a funny way. The answer for the Shield is the Apex. It's terribly expensive but buy once...

What I don't like about the Shield is that the grip is long front-to-back and narrow. In my hand it creates a couple of uncomfortable pressure points. So it has been assigned to bathroom duty and fired once a month merely to confirm reliability.
 
Go shooting with someone that shoots well.
Have them shoot it.
Watch how they hold and fire the Shield.
Some people just don't shoot certain pistols well.
Hate on any pistol and you will find someone that shoot it like a lazer beam.
Haters going to hate on the Shield as much a Gaston Glock is better than John Browning.

.40 for the win!
 
I have 2 Shields in .45. One has a 3.3" barrel and the other is a performance center model with a 4" barrel. Both are extremely accurate at the distances I shoot them which is a max. of 100 yards. You probably don't want to hear this but unless you got a lemon, I'd say it's you and not the gun. I have large hands and big fat fingers but don't have a problem with the Shield. My advice is practice more and try other guns to see if something else is a better fit.
 
I've had my shield for a couple of years now and after a few hundred rounds I'm not quite comfortable carrying it because of the trigger. For the life of me, I cannot get this thing to shoot straight with the stock trigger. I don't know if the break is too heavy or if my finger placement is not working like it should because of the size of the gun and the length of my fingers but I pretty consistently shoot high and to the right.

Am I the only one that's had this experience with this particular gun? Is this just a matter of finding a non-standard finger placement? Little baby bitch fingers? Or should I consider getting something like an Apex kit to change the trigger out?

I am relatively new to carry guns in general, so any training/form tips that might help is greatly appreciated.
Ok so you shoot point of aim point of impact with other pistols?
Are the 2.0 sights adjustable?
Are your groups ALWAYS high and right with the 2.0?
Can you post a few targets with 10 rounds each ?

There are some guns i shoot better than others because of fit issues. Especially pistol grips.
Thinner short grips will often fit into my hand in a way that the muzzle will not point "straight" so there is a lot of manipulation to keep that pistol pointing where it needs to be. Your body will always lean back to its natural point of aim.

This leads to fighting your natural point of aim.
Both you physically and the pistol as it sits.

My hands are not that big but I prefer a wider grip on my pistols. Think 4013 double stack with houge rubber grips. Or thick target grips on my 1911.
Years of shooting guns lefty and shooting guns of poor fitment as a youth has had me compensate. Over the past 20 years If I cant get what ever im shooting comfortably it gets sold. Well except my M1 garands those dont fit me to well especially standing and sitting. Rules of as issue d matches keep me from modifying my rifle to fit me.

If your constantly hitting high right with nice groups adjust the sights.
 
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I shot one a couple months ago that was horribly inaccurate. Something was definitely wrong with it. It wasn't my gun so I didn't spend time diagnosing it. No one that tried it could get consistent accuracy. Years ago, SW had issues with accuracy from the M&P line, wouldn't be surprised if it happening again
 
I should note - I purchased the gun in Texas, so it has a free state trigger. Not a big chungus ""safe"" trigger.

Selling the gun might be an idea... it's worth my life in a bad situation to find something I'll actually carry comfortably than to try and fit a square peg into a round hole.

No shame in this either. The lack of mwld between me and the trigger of an LC9 (first gen) was why I parted with that.

(I will be grabbing an Lc9s at some point though. Great ergonomics. The trigger was just unusable for me. )
 
I like to use TargetShooting Canada’s Pistol Group Analysis (lot’s of similar docs out there). Pistol Group Analysis

The below is assuming that that pistol’s sights are on, so you need at least one or two others to shoot the gun (preferably from a rest) to confirm the sights are on. It could just be the sights are off high right. As mac1911 said, if you are getting tight groups that are consistently high right, adjust your sights. You’ll notice the examples on the above link show scattered groups, not tight ones.

According to their analysis, high right grouping could be caused by (assuming a right handed shooter):
1. Slackening the wrist while the pistol fires
2. Heeling (applying pressure with the heal of the hand)
3. Anticipating recoil

Most of this could be caused by just not getting a good grip on the smaller pistol. I agree with BrianWilson, "Grip that thing like you're trying to squeeze the oil out of it”. And then concentrate on that front sight.
 
I have a 2.0 Shield 40 with MA trigger. The original MA compliant 10lb was pulling at 10-12lbs consistently on a scale and made it a real bitch to be accurate with. Full Apex Duty Kit kept me from selling it and it remains my EDC. Night and day difference.
 
I have a Shield and a full size M&P, yes the triggers suck! Every addition I did, sights, triggers, grips helped but, the biggest improvement to accuracy was to change the barrels. Look closely at them, the riffling depth varied on both barrels, the full size was the worst.
 
I've had my shield for a couple of years now and after a few hundred rounds I'm not quite comfortable carrying it because of the trigger. For the life of me, I cannot get this thing to shoot straight with the stock trigger. I don't know if the break is too heavy or if my finger placement is not working like it should because of the size of the gun and the length of my fingers but I pretty consistently shoot high and to the right.

Am I the only one that's had this experience with this particular gun? Is this just a matter of finding a non-standard finger placement? Little baby bitch fingers? Or should I consider getting something like an Apex kit to change the trigger out?

I am relatively new to carry guns in general, so any training/form tips that might help is greatly appreciated.
first time I ever shot s shield it belonged to a friend, a fellow instructor, and I shot it better than she did. I ended up buying one before I moved to TX but never shot it until I decided I was going to do my class and qualification for my TX LTC. I scored 249/250? I wasn't even wearing glasses and couldn't even see the sights. So, yeah, maybe it's not the right gun for your hands. I have really small hands.

ETA: this one has a MA trigger.
 
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