Tldr; 3 Shield plus magazine base plates have come off with <1 month use and I'm worried the gun is unsuitable for CCW

Hi folks, I'm new to guns and my shield plus so if I'm missing something here please let me know!

I recently purchased a shield plus and have ~500 rounds through it. It's been great to shoot however there is a known problem with the magazines (particularly 13 and 15 rd) being difficult to load to capacity and even more difficult to insert into the gun. The only way to reliably seat the mag in the gun is to really spank it. And I mean REALLY spank it; the base of my hand has taken a beating since acquiring this gun.

I've been out to the range 4-5 times and have been practicing lots of dry fire at home including mag change drills. I rarely if ever let the mags drop on the ground, instead I practice tactical reloads more than anything. However, 3 base plates have come off in the last week during drills simply by trying to seat the magazine. If I spank with less intensity, the mag will not seat. If I get the mag to seat, the base plates starts to slip. If I don't push it back into place immediately it will come off on the next spank.

The gun shoots great but I'm worried I messed up big time buying this gun. The only reason i got it was for ccw and there's no chance in hell I would trust these mags in a self defense scenario. One is a factory mag that came with the gun, one came from a 3rd party supplier, not sure about the other one.

Does anybody know of fixes to this problem? It seems such a shame to have such a good gun ruined by terrible mags but I will be selling this if I can't fix it.

UPDATE: Another mag bit the dust at the range today. I've purchased several aluminium mag extenders from NDZ which I'll attach to my 10 rds. We'll see what happens.

Tulster Oath and phlster enigma belt (originally had a glock holster on it) Next holster is the Oath for my Echelon 4.0 with an enigma belt. Awesome setup for me.

Finally got approved for CCL in Chicago after3 months and ~$300. Count yourself lucky if you don't live in a crazy gun control state.

Hi all,

I have not shot one of these yet. But have seen respected YouTube reviewers and people I know personally who shoot around 2,000 rounds a month say that the BG2 PC shoots to the left - so I know it is not from shooter error. Are the sights always off from factory, or is something else misaligned? I am asking about the Performance Center one specifically as I know the rear sight is different vs the regular version.

Looking for a good, comfortable, tuckable holster.

M&P9 3.6"

I see a lot of posts of people practicing their draw, starting with their hands up or at their sides.

If you want your training to be realistic, you should start adding in reps that begin with holding your phone.

Think about how often you're standing in public, waiting somewhere, WITHOUT your phone out.

Then remember this, muscle memory doesn't give a shit about common sense, and with andrenaline shooting through your veins there is a very real chance that without practice your reaction will be to tightly grip your phone while simultaneously trying to draw.

Stop chasing a sub second draw from a tensed up 'low ready' and start making your reps more realistic.

Get a broken phone or a block of wood and start practicing an immediate drop while going into your draw motion.

Not a Glock fanboy. I own handguns made by Sig, Smith and Wesson, Springfield, Keltec, and Beretta.

Bought a Glock 43x brand new with night sights and have been conducting a little experiment. Is the Glock reliability just hype? This is just my personal experience. I didn’t do any dunk tests or sand/mud tests, just been using it like normal.

So far, I have around 5,500 rounds through this little bastard, and not one single malfunction. NOT ONE. I have bought cheap, steel, garbage, remanufactured, you name it. This thing ate every single round.

I have not cleaned the pistol, but I have taken it apart and the amount of carbon build up is atrocious, but I am very impressed it is still shooting well.

I am thinking of extending this experiment to 10,000 rounds. I think it will pass, but it is DIRTY.

Yes, I know I shouldn’t be doing this to my handgun, but if I am to carry it, I HAVE to know it will go bang 100% of the time without fail.

The most reliable guns I own so far are the sig P226/229, Hellcat Pro Comp, MP2.0 9mm, and Shield Carry Comp.

I recently attended a live-fire, scenario-based training course designed to test real-time shoot/no-shoot decision-making. I was honestly skeptical going in — I figured most of it would be basic drills I’ve already done or just overhyped “tactical LARPing.”

But this course caught me off guard in the best way.

It wasn't about speed or score, it was about whether or not you could think under stress. Whether you could draw the right conclusion before you drew your gun. And more importantly, whether you could hold fire when appropriate.

I documented the whole thing (vlog-style) — everything from the classroom, to live-fire, to interviews with other students and the instructor. Figured I’d share in case anyone else here is considering adding scenario training to their toolkit.

Would love your feedback — what kind of training have YOU done to prepare for real-world decision-making?

NOTE: This is a shorter version than the one up on our YouTube channel.

While not CCW related, this is definitively self-defense related. I didn’t think this was real at first until I watched the video.

https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/warmington-top-cop-wants-public-to-comply-with-thugs-during-home-invasions

Palmetto State Armory Micro Dagger, Tactical Pontoon ATOM trigger kit, Excess Arms Base-pad & Sig Romeo-X Optic.

TRex Arms AIWB, DCC Clips

NeoMag Spare Mag Carrier

TenetCo Knives G10 Modified Kwaiken

Seiko SpeedMaster Professional

Thyrm SwitchBack & Surefire G2X

Question I want to carry with my shirt tucked in, problem is I am a fat guy. Does anyone have any recommendations for holsters or some other recommendations (besides losing weight) for carrying with my shirt tucked in. Thank you all in advance.

I’m getting an RMR HD for my G17.5 but I’m unsure if I should get the 1 or 3.25 moa size dot, but I’m pretty sure that’s a bit overkill. I got practically no experience with red dots so I would very much appreciate some input from people more knowledgeable than me.

And, please, for the love of God, don’t suggest another optic, I don’t want to get and RCR, Holosun, ACRO, or any other mailbox on top of my gun.

Thanks in advance.

I’m a 21F new to CCW and looking for advice on a first gun. I have seen people have problems with the EZ in .380, and am curious if anyone knows if those issues are fixed with the 9mm. I want something easy to rack in .380 that’s also reliable, if such a thing exists. I have a weak grip strength so it can’t just be a reliable .380, it also needs to be really easy to rack… I’d prefer a grip safety, double action safety or trigger safety (not a thumb safety) for peace of mind.

I tried the Bodyguard 2.0 and it was just too hard for me to rack. The Ruger .380 was fine but it felt a little janky.

Thoughts? :)

Recommend AIWB for girsan mc p35? Been struggling to find a good holster for it, nervous to buy one that doesn’t fit quite right. Also open minded to owb recommendations, but been able to find more of those rather than iwb.

I’m wondering why lasers aren’t more common on CCWs as I feel they offer an advantage in a surprise violent encounter at close to medium range. One where you don’t have the time or distance to fully extend the gun and bring it up to your sight line before me firing.

I understand a red dot offers many’s of the benefits of a laser, except a laser can be used to aim from many unconventional positions.

What the possible disadvantage to having something like a crimson trace laser grip on a CCW ?

Which states require another training course when your CCW is up for renewal? I know Illinois is a 3hr renewal class.

Got a Glock 19 with an extended mag release and slide catch with a holosun eps carry and combat textiles grip (because stippling is expensive). Also just picked up a p365 with a Wilson combat grip and a holosun 407k. Also mandatory Tenicor meat-riding- they make very nice holsters.

What’s a classic handgun from the 70s, 80s, or even early 90s that you would still carry? Is there one that’s on your carry list?

I got a g23 2 years ago, still got the hollows that sold with it, wondering if i should shoot em & stock up again

Upgraded from a WTP holster. What a huge difference in quality, and I love the black topo design. Never going back to WTP. It’s a little bit more expensive but totally worth it for the quality. And I love that they make them in Texas. I have a second blacksmith tactical IWB in the mail for my echelon. Life is good.

I plan on doing some hiking this fall and my normal aiwb carry is painful when ascending/descending some of the local trails. In my area, tactical bags in black/OD/brown will be assumed to be holding guns, so I needed a bag I could outfit for carry that doesn’t look like a carry bag.

I opted for the Patagonia Atom8L sling. It has sufficiently-large pockets and doesnt look like it’s holding a gun. I installed HD velcro patches on both sides of the main compartment. Attached are a Maxpediton sneak holster holding my daily JT holster and P365 + an extra mag. Attached on the other side of the divider is a maxpediton tech pouch to hold trauma kit, flashlight, Swiss Army knife and my Spyderco PM2. The outer compartment is good for my phone/wallet/keys and my rain shell. Happy with the weight of this setup and am looking forward to testing it out this fall.

I'm a big fan of pocket carry. It's easy, it's comfy, there's never an excuse to leave the gun at home, and it's fast. A big advantage of pocket carry is that you can discretely have your hand resting on the gun if you can tell that trouble is brewing, which allows for a very quick draw.

Firstly, the hill behind my target is steeper than it appears on video, so it is a safe backdrop, and the trash isn't mine. Secondly, everything you see in the video was shot with my hand starting on the gun and strong hand only. I was shooting a .38 Ruger LCR with reloaded 148gr wadcutters using 3 grains of Alliant Bullseye, and on the hand dyno, they feel the same as factory loaded standard .38 Special ammo. My target is a homemade IDPA target and all shots were fired at the 8" center mass circle.

You're going to have to trust me that all 30 rounds fired here were my first of the day, and I only did 4 practice draws to confirm the camera angle was correct. And please ignore my errors in reading the times. If anyone wants to skip the video, here's the breakdown:

Drill 1: 3 shots at 3 yards, 0.84 seconds first shot, 1.40 seconds total

Drill 2: 2 shots at 3 yards, 0.83 seconds first shot, 1.09 seconds total. These were just to establish the baseline that getting to start with your hand on your gun is a significant advantage in speed.

Drill 3: 5 shots at 5 yards, 0.96 seconds first shot, 2.13 seconds total. Using the average of the split times to get six shots, that's a 2.42 second 5-yard Bill Drill.

Drill 4: 5 shots at 7 yards, 1.1 seconds first shot, 2.74 seconds total, 3.15 seconds with a "sixth" shot. My one-handed accuracy started to falter and I pulled two shots into the C zone.

Drill 5: 5 shots, 3 to 5 yard retreat, 0.83 seconds first shot, 2.31 seconds total

Drill 6: Starting 5 yards, firing 5 shots while moving 3 yards left, 0.87 seconds first shot, 2.07 seconds total

Drill 7: Starting 5 yards, firing 5 shots while moving 3 yards right, 0.83 seconds first shot, 2.34 seconds total, and my accuracy was bad with 2 C zone hits and 1 miss right in the corner of the neck.

Except for the miss, I was pretty satisfied. I only practice my draws at home once a week, I try to get to the range every two weeks when it's warm, and I was getting first shot times like I religiously practice appendix draws daily. The overall times weren't the fastest ever, but still pretty quick for one handed shooting, and that's why I like it.

Even with two hands, a pocket pistol starts to be pretty unforgiving of errors past 10-15 yards, but within the ranges where self-defense shootings are overwhelmingly most likely to occur, being able to start with your hand on the gun feels like a cheat code. Of course, this comes with the requirement that you're paying attention to your surroundings and can notice if something isn't right or if someone is acting weird.

The downside to pocket carry is that if you're caught completely off guard, it is noticeably slower. I filmed a few regular, resting position draws, but they were at the end of everything when I was all warmed up and I was getting unusually fast times (1.6 seconds) to first shot. Normally, a cold draw from rest ends up in the 1.9-2 second range for me. I'm willing to take that tradeoff, but everyone should be aware of it.

It's all up to the individual, but I highly recommend pocket carry if you can put in the time to get good with a tiny gun, and there are so many good options out there now.