I initially tried two loads in the Shield:<\/p>\n
- \n
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- 124-grain plated roundnose Rainier bullets and 5.2 grains of Accurate No. 5 powder.<\/li>\n
- 124-grain plated roundnose Rainier bullets and 5.6 grains of Accurate No. 5 powder.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I wanted to start low and work up, partly because that’s good reloading practice and partly because the Shield was new to me and I didn’t know how it would work and what it would like.\u00a0 The first reduced load (5.2 grains of Accurate No. 5 and a 124-grain plated bullet) wouldn\u2019t cycle the Shield’s action.\u00a0 \u00a0I fired 50 rounds this way, one at a time.\u00a0 I’d have to pull the slide back and release it after each shot.\u00a0 For the Shield portion of the evaluation, I knew I needed to bump up the load.\u00a0 For the ammo portion of the evaluation, every load fed and fired flawlessly.\u00a0 The Lee turret press had done its job.<\/p>\n
Bumping up to the 5.6 grains of Accurate No. 5 (still with the 124-grain plated bullet), the Shield’s action cycled but a couple of times the slide closed after the last round in the magazine fired.\u00a0 \u00a0I fired 50 rounds in this test, loading 5 rounds in the Shield’s magazine each time.\u00a0 The Shield was pushing the slide back far enough to strip off a new round, but on two magazine loadings the slide did not go far enough\u00a0 back to engage the slide stop after the last round. I needed to bump the charge a scosh more.\u00a0 For the ammo eval, every load fed, fired, and ejected flawlessly.\u00a0 Again, the Lee turret press had done its job.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20230102_0931-600.jpg\")
The Lee Classic Turret Press, a phenomenal value and a great reloading setup.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n At this point, I knew I needed to go a little higher on the powder charge with the 124-grain plated bullet, and I knew the Lee Classic Turret Press was making good ammo.\u00a0 Everything fed and there were no jams.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20221223_0659-600-1.jpg\")
The first rounds loaded to an overall cartridge length of 1.610 inches. I later moved that back to 1.140 inches.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n I loaded the above 9mm ammo to an overall length of 1.160 inches, which is longer than I usually load 9mm.\u00a0 The Lee manual has the cartridge overall length with a plated 124-grain Rainier bullet at 1.169 inches.\u00a0 The cartridges would go in the Shield’s magazine and they fed fine when shooting, but when loading them in the magazine, the first cartridge tended to go horizontal instead of being angled up as others were loaded on top of it.\u00a0 That hung up the magazine while cartridges were being loaded into it.\u00a0 In the past, I had normally loaded 9mm at around 1.120 to 1.130 inches overall length.\u00a0 I decided that for my next load I would go up to 5.8 grains of Accurate No. 5, and I would seat the bullets for an overall cartridge length of 1.140 inches.\u00a0 I went home and in 20 minutes I had loaded another 50 rounds.\u00a0 That Lee Classic Turret is fast.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20221223_0672-600.jpg\")
50 rounds of custom-crafted 9mm ammo created on the Lee Classic Turret Press.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\nThe popup ads keep us going…please click on them!<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nWhen I returned to the West End Gun Club, I set up a target at 50 feet, took out the Shield, and loaded the first magazine.\u00a0 Loading to a cartridge overall length of 1.140 made it easier to load the magazine.\u00a0 So far, so good.<\/p>\n
Next, I fired 20 rounds to assess the ammo’s functionality.\u00a0 Everything worked perfectly.\u00a0 Every round fed, every round ejected, and life was good.\u00a0 The Shield’s bright fixed sights were printing a bit to the left, so I held to the right on a fresh target and rattled off 30 rounds.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_4279-600-2.jpg\")
Thirty rounds at 50 feet from the Shield. Not too shabby for a belly gun.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Shield’s recoil was not at all uncomfortable; it was way better than a .38 snubnose revolver.\u00a0 The Shield is a very light pistol (19.0 ounces).\u00a0 That\u2019s lighter than the S&W Model 60 (23.2 ounces) or a Compact 1911 (33.4 ounces).\u00a0 Those weights for the 1911 and the Model 60 may not sound like a lot, but (trust me on this) it’s enough to weigh on you at the end of the day.\u00a0 I guess the Shield’s light weight is the big advantage of a Tupperware gun.\u00a0 I like it, and I like the fact that the gun is pleasant to shoot.<\/p>\n
A few days later, I was on an indoor range and I set up the Alco target that has four mini-silhouettes on a single sheet.\u00a0 I ran it out to 21 feet and put 50 rounds on target (dividing them roughly between the four targets), all shot offhand while standing.\u00a0 The load was the same as the one mentioned above.\u00a0 That’s 5.8 grains of Accurate No. 5 and a 124-grain plated Rainier roundnose bullet at an overall cartridge length of 1.140 inches, and for these, I used mixed brass.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_4351-600.jpg\")
The quad mini-silhouette from Alco Target in Monrovia, California, and 50 rounds fired standing at 7 yards.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n I also tried two different powder-coated bullets with Accurate No. 5.\u00a0 One was the 147-grain Boudreau flat nosed bullet with 4.8 grains of Accurate No. 5.\u00a0 This is an accurate load in the Shield (even more so than the plated bullet load mentioned above), but it leaded the bore.\u00a0 The other was the Boudreau 124-grain round nose bullet with 5.4 grains of Accurate No. 5; it, too, leaded the bore.\u00a0 The plated bullets did not lead the bore at all so I think they are a better load.\u00a0 \u00a0 I loaded more 147-grain powder coated bullets with a lighter charge to see if that would eliminate the bore leading, but they did not and I had cycling issues.\u00a0 4.8 grains of Accurate No. 5 is what this 147-grain powder coated bullet wants.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_4282-600.jpg\")
The Shield with 124-grain powder coated roundnose bullets. These leaded the bore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_4418-600.jpg\")
147-grain powder coated bullets. These, too, leaded the bore. They are accurate, though.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_4419-600-1.jpg\")
Another Alco quad mini-silhouette with 5-shot groups fired standing at 7 yards, this time with the 147-grain powder coated Boudreau bullet and 4.8 grains of Accurate No. 5.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Let’s talk about the Shield a bit.\u00a0 My Shield is the first iteration (not the Shield 2.0, as that model is not sold in California).\u00a0 The Shield has a 3 1\/8-inch barrel.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221228_0872-900.jpg\")
The Shield’s 8-round magazine. The left arrow points to the spacer. It can slide up, as indicated by the right arrow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Shield’s magazine could be better.\u00a0 It has a plastic spacer at the bottom, and that spacer rides up when loading the magazine. \u00a0Conceivably, it could interfere with seating the magazine in the gun.\u00a0 In my opinion it is a poor design.\u00a0 The collar slides down as easy as it slides up, so that\u2019s good.\u00a0 You get two mags with the Shield.\u00a0 The one you see above holds 8 rounds and it has a grip extender that feels just right to me.\u00a0 There’s another one that doesn’t have the grip extender and it holds 7 rounds.\u00a0 I haven’t done anything with that one, other than checking to make sure it was in the box when I bought the gun.<\/p>\n
The Shield\u2019s sights are the best I\u2019ve ever used.\u00a0 They are bright and easy to see.\u00a0 The sights let in light from the sides, and that design just flat works.\u00a0 It\u2019s the first gun I have ever shot with these sights.\u00a0 They are better than my SIG P226s\u2019s Tritium sights, and those sights are good.\u00a0 The photo below isn\u2019t enhanced; it’s what the Smith’s sights actually look like.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221228_0886-900.jpg\")
The Shield’s sights. They are the best I’ve ever used.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Shield’s trigger, in a word, is terrible.\u00a0 There are other triggers available for the Shield, but I will leave this one alone.\u00a0 The trigger got a little better with use and a couple of cleanings (I’ve put about 600 rounds through the Shield so far).\u00a0 The Shield is a striker-fired gun and the trigger is not what I would consider good, but it’s better than it was initially.\u00a0 Compared to a good 1911 like the Springfield, it’s awful.\u00a0 But, it’s good enough to get rounds on target (as you can see above).<\/p>\n
The Shield’s slide release, out of the box, was super stiff and essentially unusable.\u00a0 I could release the slide with two thumbs, but not with one.\u00a0 I found it best to pull the slide back and let it go to release the slide.\u00a0 This aspect of the design (or its execution) is poor, and requiring two hands to release the slide is not good for a defensive weapon.\u00a0 A close examination of the slide stop showed that it was rough where it interfaced with the slide, so I judiciously worked it over with 600-grit sandpaper, and it releases more easily now.\u00a0 I can release it with one thumb with no magazine in the gun, but it still takes two thumbs and a lot of effort with the mag inserted and that’s bad.\u00a0 It’s surprising that Smith and Wesson would let this happen.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221228_0898-900.jpg\")
A SIG P226, the Smith and Wesson Shield, and a Springfield Armory 1911, all chambered in 9mm. Flat dark earth is the new black.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n I had the SIG and my 1911 with me when I shot the Shield.\u00a0 The Shield doesn\u2019t look that much smaller in a group photo, but it is flatter and it will carry concealed better.\u00a0 In subsequent blogs, I’ll explore different loads prepared on the Lee Classic Turret press fired in all three of the guns above.\u00a0 I fired a few rounds through the Springfield, and they worked just fine; the same is true for the SIG P226.\u00a0 Interestingly, the lighter loads that wouldn’t work in the Shield did work in the Springfield.\u00a0 It’s counterintuitive, but compact handguns are tougher to make work well than are full size handguns. That’s because the recoil spring in a compact handgun has to be much stiffer than one in a full size gun.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221228_0859-900.jpg\")
The Shield’s sear deactivation lever.\u00a0 You have to push it down to remove the slide and barrel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n To takedown the Shield, you do not simply unlock the slide takedown lever. There\u2019s a sear deactivation release in the magazine well (identified with a red arrow in the photo above), and you have to push that down before you can turn the slide takedown lever for disassembly.\u00a0 You can\u2019t do it with your finger; you need a small screwdriver or a thin pen.\u00a0 With the SIG, you just turn the slide takedown lever with the slide back.<\/p>\n
Cleaning the Shield is a breeze.\u00a0 You make sure the gun is unloaded, release the mag, lower the sear deactivation lever, rotate the slide takedown lever, and the gun comes apart.\u00a0 The slide comes off the frame, and the spring subassembly and barrel come out.\u00a0 That’s it.\u00a0 Five parts (the magazine, the receiver, the barrel, the spring subassembly, and the slide.<\/p>\n
The plated ammo I loaded on the Lee turret press didn’t lead at all.\u00a0 Zero.\u00a0 Zip.\u00a0 Nada.\u00a0 The powder coated bullets did, which surprised me.\u00a0 All were accurate.<\/p>\n
The bottom line?\u00a0 Let me put it this way: I like the Shield; I love the Lee Classic Turret Press kit<\/a>.\u00a0 The Shield will get better with more shooting and I want to try more loads in it, but that 5.8-grains of Accurate No.5 and 124-grain plated Rainier roundnose load is a winner.\u00a0 The Lee Classic Turret press and all its accessories were good to go right from the beginning.\u00a0 Its design and quality are excellent.<\/p>\n
The Lee Classic Turret Press<\/a>…what can I say?\u00a0 It’s awesome.\u00a0 It’s fast, easy to use, inexpensive, and it makes great ammo.\u00a0 I say it’s the best bang for the buck in the reloading world.\u00a0 As an engineer I’m impressed; as a consumer and reloader I am delighted.\u00a0 I have already fired several hundred rounds loaded on the Lee Classic Turret Press in my Shield, the Springfield, and the SIG and once I settled on a load, every one of them fed, fired, extracted, and ejected perfectly in three different handguns.\u00a0 I had a box of 1000 124-grain plated 9mm bullets a few days ago; I like the Lee turret press so much they’re all gone now (they were either sent downrange or they’ve been loaded and labeled and they’re waiting their turn to go downrange).\u00a0 I love reloading and shooting; I love it even more now that I’m loading with my Lee turret press.<\/p>\n
\nA word of caution here…these loads performed acceptably in my guns.\u00a0 Your firearms may vary and you need to develop your own loads.\u00a0 Always start low and work up in any load development program.<\/p>\n
\nNever miss an ExNotes blog:<\/p>\n
\nMore Tales of the Gun<\/a>!<\/p>\n
\nMore information on Lee reloading gear<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nOur earlier blogs on Lee equipment:<\/p>\n
Lee Safety Prime<\/a>
\nLee Auto-Drum Powder Measure<\/a>
\nLee Classic Turret Press Kit<\/a>
\nLee Bench Plate<\/a>
\nLee\u2019s Modern Reloading Manual<\/a>
\nLee Safety Powder Scale<\/a>
\nLee Classic Turret Kit Unpacking<\/a>
\nLee .44 Magnum Dies 1<\/a>
\nLee .44 Magnum Dies 2<\/a>
\nLee .44 Magnum Dies 3<\/a>
\nLee .357 Magnum Dies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Joe Berk Check out that photo above.\u00a0 It’s a flat dark earth Smith and Wesson M&P 9 Shield, with ammo reloaded using the Lee Classic Turret Press Kit.\u00a0 Yep, this is a “two-fer” blog:\u00a0 A first look at the Shield, and an evaluation of the first loads prepped with the Lee Classic Turret Press … Continue reading “Lee’s Classic Turret Press and the S&W Shield: Range Results”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[331,335,3288,3289,3287,1050,1004],"class_list":["post-20582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guns","tag-9mm","tag-concealed-carry","tag-sw-shield","tag-sig-p226-scorpion","tag-smith-and-wesson-shield","tag-springfield-armory-1911","tag-springfield-armory-1911-9mm"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221228_0869-900.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20582"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20912,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20582\/revisions\/20912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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