S&W M&P Shield.....What caliber?

[Hamshire]

I have it in the 9 and love it. All my pistols are 9, just made sense.

[tvc184]

I own 8 various models of M&P pistols from .22LR to .40S&W.

I carried Glock .40 or M&P .40 for about 16 years on patrol. The only point in that is that I am not a .45 guy or a 9mm guy and hate the .40. Some people simply hate some calibers and that is great if that is what they think. I could care less about calibers and a couple of years ago looked at what is my opinion on positives vs. negatives.

I carried the 9mm round for about 4 years on duty until we were approved for the .40 and .45. I opted for the "more powerful" .40 over the 9mm but not the .45 due to capacity. In truth the rounds that we were carrying back in the early 90, the .40 and .45 probably were in some cases decidedly better than the 9mm.

We also didn't have smart phones, laptop computers, drones, smart tv's and so on back then. Things have improved, been invented or modernized and it is no different with ammo. While it is likely that you can load certain ammos to better terminal ballistics (with whatever you call "better"), the typical factory defensive handgun load is made by factories to fit the FBI standard. No matter what a round is capable of, the FBI handgun round standard limits penetration as a safety factor yet requires a certain depth to help give a better chance of incapacitation (I think it is 12"-18"). It is not unlike slot limits for fish like the redfish.

For that reason, the rounds have been engineered and are manufactured to perform very similarly and is some cases, almost identical. Can a reloader make a .45 or .40 or 10mm that will penetrate way more than the 9mm or can the 9mm be jacked up to do certain things? I don't reload but I would venture to say yes. Some companies advertise certain rounds that claim all kinds of things and they might be correct. They likely will not fit in that FBI standard which is what is most common in comparing rounds and what is readily available to most people.

So if round are now manufactured roughly the same, what is the difference in them with positives vs. negatives?

The 9mm generally speaking, carries more rounds than either the .40 or .45. The 9mm recoils less than the .40 or .45, giving faster on target follow up shots. The 9mm is typically cheaper and sometimes much cheaper for the same rounds in the .40 or the .45.

For the most 3 things that are important to me, the 9mm wins on all counts. The others are great rounds. Maybe they have better potential as a hunting round while using something other than the common self defense rounds like the Federal HST or the Speer Gold Dot.

While looking at only a self defense handgun and realizing that the ballistics of the three most common rounds being almost identical, I can see no benefit of the .40 or .45 over the 9mm.

My best friend at work was a .45 fanatic. In fact he shot and killed a guy that was holding a hostage with a .45. He told me that it would always be his duty round. I always ragged on him about the need for the .45 and if he thought it gave him some kind of sexual enhancement. He told me that he simply felt more comfortable with the .45 and knew it was a "man stopper". Okay, he felt comfortable with it so he should carry it. Good for him. Then about two years ago he killed a second guy in the line of duty with a .40. Apparently somewhere over the years he determined that the .45 was not a requirement to kill someone. Shortly after the last shooting that he was involved in, he went with the 9mm. I asked him what happened and he determined that after almost 30 years in police work including many years in detectives, he saw little difference in the final product of the big three calibers. Like me, he now opts for the lower recoil, higher capacity and cheaper round that performs almost identically (and with some loads, better) to the .40 and .45. The "I will never carry anything else" guy now carries the lightest round.

That is a long winded explanation but if someone ever convinced me that my current 9mm loads were inferior to the same brand .40 and .45 loads (Federal HST) and would more likely save my life, I would again move back to a larger rounds like I carried for many years on duty. I eagerly await such an explanation. Until then, I will stick with the lighter, cheaper, higher capacity round that performs the same and the others that fall short in those categories.

[tvc184]

Oh yeah, my every day off duty carry is the M&P Shield in .40.... I mean 9mm.

[ATXArcher]

9mm...I carried a Glock 27 as a backup or off-duty gun for 18 years before switching to the 9mm Shield. I don't miss the 40 at all. If you are going to just carry it around, it doesn't really matter, they are the same size. If you are going to the range and shooting on a regular basis, you will appreciate the 9mm.

[brownchristian]

The are now making the shield in 45. Just impossible to find.

[clintb]

I'm a Glock .40 guy for years. I got the shield 9 for CC. It's small and slim. I like it so far

[12RingKing]

Y'all are funny!

I think I'm going to get the 9. With 147 gr. ammo at 7 yards I bet I'll be ok.

Yep. I put 147 grain gold dots in my carry gun.

[Mike D]

S&W M&P Shield.....What caliber?

9mm. You already have a 9mm so no extra type of ammo to buy. Also the recoils is milder so after recovery on shots. And finally there is no appreciable difference in terminal performance between 9, 40 & 45 take advantage of the extra Mag capacity and milder recoil.

With the compact size stay in the 124 grain range.

Edit: TVC pretty much nailed it in his response.


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[firemanjj82]

My wife has the 9mm Shield, and I've only shot it a couple times, but I will admit it was nice to shoot a smaller gun with less recoil.

However, my EDC is a .40. If I was to get a Shield for myself, it would be the .40. I like a "middle of the road" caliber. I may convert it to a .357 also.

If I was to get a new EDC, I would look more at the XDS in the .40, just because I've got the XDM now, and I like the grip safety.

I would also like to add that I don't much care for the sight on the Shield. Seems to me that it's too tall, if I remember right. My XDM has a lower profile.

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[jesterdoc]

So this happened last night...

[12RingKing]

Awesome... Did you end up with the 9?

My wife just bought me a G43 for my birthday.

[tvc184]

So this happened last night...

Turn the box sideways so we can see the caliber.

[Cottonfish]

Can't say it any better than tvc84, I went to 9mm carry guns long ago. Currently have a 9mm Shield. From what I read, there's not much difference in terminal performance between 9mm, .40 Short & Weak, and .45acp, given modern high performance loads in each caliber. 9mm offers greater capacity in the same pistols than the other two chamberings, and is less expensive to boot. Besides, all pistols stink as man stoppers, and should be used to fight your way to your rifle, right?

Stu

[jesterdoc]

Yeah, I went with the 9. I just put 100 rounds through it and I gotta say, this is one sweet shooting lil pistol.
Recoil is nowhere near what I expected, and for that matter is easily controlled. I was easily putting double and triple taps on a 8" paper plate at 10 yds.

I'm glad I went with the 9.

[12RingKing]

Congrats. Glad it worked out well for you.