S&W's mini-45, the Shield. Little difference in size and effectiveness, the .45 Shield is only slightly larger than the PC M&P Shield 9mm above.

The M&P45 Shield has arrived for my examination. A six/seven shot .45 Auto, this compact pistol is just slightly larger than the 9/40 predecessors. With the longer magazine, it has the original capacity of the 1911 Government pistol, in the same caliber, but in a gun that's much smaller and weighs in at around 20.5 ounces – 18.5 ounces less than the government spec for the old .45 pistol. That should mean that it's uncontrollable and far too small to be useful. Well, let's take a look at that. S&W has been known for taking powerful handgun rounds and making them fit small or light firearms from the time of the .38 Special being crammed into the nominally .32 caliber size J-frame, the .357 Magnum going into the originally .38 K-frame, the Model 329 Scandium .44 Magnum, and the .500 S&W Magnum into anything short of a carbine. Is this in the same class as the Model 340 five-shot scandium revolver chamber for the .357 Magnum – or even the 640-1 J-frame .357? Until it's fired it's hard to say. I'll advance the concept that I've not seen a use for the .45 ACP +P loadings since we had the monstrously heavy S&W 4506-1 (the DA .45 with the same slide as the 10mm). A favorite was the 185 grain CorBon +P load that shot like a junior grade rifle from that block of steel. Since then, I've seen little use for such a round. The juice simply isn't worth the squeeze. In the same sense, I thought little of jamming the Shield with +P .45 loads but figured on something along the lines of the Hornady 185 grain FTX Critical Defense round. Not a terribly hot load, it's quick and snappy enough and accurate out of every gun from which I shot it. The conventional .45 round at regular SAAMI pressures is a relatively gentle round, a push instead of a jolt. The round relies on projectile mass to do the work and it's not a terrible plan. Is it better than the 9x19? Some will howl to the high heavens, chant to the gods of physics and look at the Lilliputian variance between .355" and .452", between 124 grains and 230 grains.

A push, not a jolt. How they got the Shield to shoot so softly is a question to be answered soon.

Until you get to a 1200 fps 1 ounce slug or a 3,000 fps .55 grain bullet, you have angels dancing upon the heads of pins, but I digress. The round has to work – reliably fire, extract/eject, reset the firing device, feed up and lock into place. After that, it needs to predictably hit to the sights. Beyond that, I'm wasting little time with jello and other nonsense. The .45 Shield is less than .05" wider than the 9mm variant, the length about .35" longer and the height about .30" more – yet it feels vastly different. If the 9mm were just .28" higher, it'd be a whole different ballgame and the 9mm Shield is so much easier handling than the Glock 43 it's nearly no contest. So what? The M&P45 Shield is a .45 and not a 9mm. At that, it fits the BLACKHAWK! Tecgrip Pocket Holster Size 4 – that nominally fits "most" compact 3.5" 9/.40 pistols. It's remarkable that S&W did so much with so little.

The gun fits the BLACKHAWK! Tecgrip pocket holster. Does this rig fit in a pocket? Yes, so far the Duluth Trading Company jeans are a 'go.' YMMV.

Going a step further, consider the new "aggressive grip texture." An attempt to put Talon Grips out of business? If S&W moves this texture across the M&P line, it could get interesting. The new gun also features truncated "front cocking serrations" along the bottom of the slide. I find them useful for the chamber check, but don't run the action from the front. You do as you will. The barrel and slide are stainless steel treated with the "Armornite" corrosion resistant finish. How is that different than the stuff Smith & Wesson had been using? They're not telling me and I'm trying not to call it by "that other name." All in all, it looks good and feels good – which means something. Shooting tells the rest. The first range trip was short. I was headed out on the road and had little time. The humidity didn't help – the shooting glasses obscured my vision with condensation within a few rounds. My concerns with the little pistol were two: reliability and controllability. In only forty rounds, I'm down to only the reliability. I took one box of Hornady American Gunner 185 grain XTP and one box of Black Hills 230 grain JHP. Both loads are standard pressure. When loading the first magazine, I found that it would bind on round number 3. This happened when loading the second magazine as well. At that time, I recalled the old prescription for recalcitrant magazines – when it binds on loading, keep it in a firm grip and slam the magazine, basepad down, into the support hand palm. Then continue loading. The remainder of the exercise was completed with no binding of magazines when being loaded with cartridges. When you create a small pistol for a large cartridge, one of the first things to go is reliability. The semi-auto, being recoil operated, requires a solid platform against which to function. If you allow yourself to shoot 'unlocked,' that's a problem. The more you perceive recoil as a potential issue, the greater the chance you'll 'unlock' – as well as anticipate recoil – when you fire. That happened in magazine #1. It likewise happened in a support-hand only 25 yard string of fire with mixed ammo in the magazine. I'm calling it a shooter induced malfunction until I can get back to the range and shoot it more. How about control? It's jumpy, but not snappy. In fact, it's reminiscent of a lightweight (alloy frame) "commander" style 1911 pistol. I fired both loads mixed in magazines on a 25 yard target shooting first with dominant hand only and next with support hand only. There's no discomfort but I was shooting slow. There is some bounce and no real 'jolt.' I fired an accelerated pair at ten yards with the 230 grain Black Hills load. I have to say both hits would have been on the Option target but I doubt both would have been in the "x" ring. Close, but not "in." The next step will be iterations of the 'demand' drill for trigger control, finding the hard zero and doing some handling drills. Stay tuned. -- Rich Grassi