CA M&P Shield Mods & MagGuts Spring Test

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I'll give it a try. Place the two pieces together and the sticky stuff acts like glue? It'll dry and fuse, yes?

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Update and Front Sight Color Change

Ok, Gorilla glue held through 150 rounds of Miwall 124 gr 9mm reloads. Good to go!

I also ended up really liking the Sig P320's Trijicon HD sights in yellow. I found that it was more precise and didn't blur as much as the orange. Additionally, the yellow "popped" better in darker light conditions where the orange was harder to see. I decided to redo the front sights of my other test pistols to mimic the yellow color.

I went to Kohl's and bought "Tennis Ball Yellow", "Black Licorice", and "Snow White", nail polish colors to test. I used black to redo the rear sights since the Sharpie black had a purple-ish tint to it; much better now.

Control: Sig P320 with Trijicon HD Yellow



Shield:


HK P2000


Ruger SP101. Since the front sight post was black, I painted on a base coat of white first then applied the color coat. I found that orange was better suited for the stainless steel sight picture.



Side project: The P2000 pictured here is not the same P2000 originally posted. I swapped my 9mm variant for the .40 variant because I had too many 9mm pistols and wanted a larger caliber to carry. While waiting for the 10-day, I ordered a few parts to upgrade.

The HK45C Mag Release is a common upgrade in the HK community. I figured, "What the heck, let's try it." The upgrade seriously makes a WORLD of difference. Mag changes are much, much easier now with thumb, index, or middle fingers. Manipulating with my off-hand was a breeze as well.


Before:


After:



Also OEM .357 Sig bbl for multi-caliber carry. I plan on carrying Underwood's hot, hot 1500+ FPS 125gr Gold Dot rounds.

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Sent more rounds down range today. Oddly, the only thing to fail so far from my Shield project was the Talon grips. Tsk tsk. Sending an email to Talon about this.






On the bright side, the P2000 performed flawlessly. .357 Sig was a hoot to shoot. It handled both .40 and .357 Sig no problem; very controllable. Not as good as my P229, but still good.


EDIT: QA from Talon

http://talongungrips.com/faq.html

Q How long do your grips last?
A We guarantee that our grips will last 90 days. If the instructions are followed correctly, these grips can last years (depending upon use, storage, etc).

Not even 90 days, but it's obviously a wear and tear item so I won't bother to contact them. Experiment yielded a negative result.

[Cokebottle]

Strange.
I've been carrying mine constantly ever since I picked up my permit.
The grip is constantly rubbing against my side. I was concerned about the tape, but it's been solid.
The only issue was the strips peeled off of the 8rd mags... but I didn't care for those anyways.

I'm wondering if you did not sufficiently heat that part of the grip to fully activate the adhesive?

[code_blue]

Strange.
I've been carrying mine constantly ever since I picked up my permit.
The grip is constantly rubbing against my side. I was concerned about the tape, but it's been solid.
The only issue was the strips peeled off of the 8rd mags... but I didn't care for those anyways.

I'm wondering if you did not sufficiently heat that part of the grip to fully activate the adhesive?

I did. Followed instructions and tips accordingly. I didn't take a photo but that particular section seemed to have less glue than the rest of the grip.

Not a big deal since it's about a $10-12 part.

[tonyxcom]

That's pretty normal for me with Talon Grips too, in the exact same spot (right hand shooter). Even happens on my Glocks with the granulate. It's not just that the adhesive has to stick to a textured surface but that the heel of grip must see some weird forces during grip and recoil. It's sticks like a champ everywhere else.

I never expected them to last forever anyway, so I look at them as wear items and replace when necessary. I always buy them 2 at a time.

[viet4lifeOC]

Any updates as to flawless rounds through the may gut magazines?

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Any updates as to flawless rounds through the may gut magazines?

Yes, each update involved shooting the shield with MG internals. Still no malfunctions of any kind. I did my best to try a different type of FMJ and HP each time I went.

I even tried the reduced power 100gr powerballs, Winchesters, and Hornady lights. One box each, no issues.

[Soginator]

I'm not a fan of the LCI, but I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't see it as any worse than any other LCI. In all honesty, if you have a shield, you probably have it for carry, and if god forbid you have to use it it will be at distances you can probably reach out and put your hand on your attacker. But to each their own. Personally, for those of you who didn't just win a shield and intend to drop this kind of money, why not just buy a more expensive gun that you don't have to do anything to?

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Some people like the Shield or it's a pistol that fits their price range and ergo. As you can see from the sample of my other pistols listed, the Shield would've been my lowest cost pistol even IF I had purchased it.

So to your point about buying a more expensive gun, that's exactly what I did, but I still end up modifying those pistols to suit me best. That being said, I liked the Shield so much that I'm hunting for the M&P9c and I'd likely still modify it.

[Cokebottle]

Personally, for those of you who didn't just win a shield and intend to drop this kind of money, why not just buy a more expensive gun that you don't have to do anything to?

Because there is precious little on the roster in single-stack 9mm and 380 that are also small enough to conceal well.

The Shield has the same outline as the baby Glock, but is much thinner.
I have no problems printing with the 8(9)rd mag in the Shield unless my shirt is a lighter color or I'm not wearing an overshirt.

Many other single stack 9 and 380 are a fair amount larger.
Am I a big enough guy to carry a 92FS concealed? Probably.
Does the Shield make life a lot easier? Absolutely.

[mudd]

I got my first Shield a little over a year ago. Pulled the DC , polished the internals especially the plunger and shaft, added rubber Talon grips , removed and acetoned all color off lci then replaced. Runs somewhere in the 3lb trigger pull over 1,500 rounds without a hiccup. My wife and daughter now have both bought shields , had me do the same set-up running great. Only makes me wish I had got a M&P40 when I could.

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You still can! MP9's are on back order but MP40's are readily available. I have read on various forums that the 9mm bbl will lock up no problem to the 40 slide. I have not tried it myself, but maybe that should be the next experiment.

[Cokebottle]

You still can! MP9's are on back order but MP40's are readily available. I have read on various forums that the 9mm bbl will lock up no problem to the 40 slide. I have not tried it myself, but maybe that should be the next experiment.

Caliber conversions are a problem for many counties for CCW.
Mine will only allow the DOJ-Registered caliber.

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Caliber conversions are a problem for many counties for CCW.
Mine will only allow the DOJ-Registered caliber.

I was advised by a fellow CGNer that his county did the same thing, but that was because they were new to the situation.

My county generally allows whatever you qual with including multi-caliber per pistol line item.

The neighboring county allows their community to fill up the front and back of their permits with pistols so long as it fits the paper.

Yet, another neighboring county is a No Issue county.