Smith & Wesson M&P Shield X Gun Review

The Smith & Wesson Shield X. Let’s check it out. (Available Here)

 

When Smith & Wesson introduced their M&P Shield, it was a single stack, 7 or 8 round mag capacity, very thin, easy to carry, easy to conceal, and it was extremely popular. Then they came out with the Shield Plus, and that had a 10 round capacity, or 12 round, and yet it had very little size difference.

Now since that time they’ve made a number of different models, even performance center shields, and this is one of those guns that’s carried by a lot of people. And now they’ve released their Shield X, which really is a big upgrade. A lot of the upgrades that were made with the Bodyguard 2.0 have gone into the X, which the Bodyguard 2.0 is one of my favorite light carry options.

But with the Shield X, you get 9 millimeter. We’re going to take a look at a lot of the different features. You still have that M&P Shield quality, and yet they’ve upped the game.

Hey guys, a big thank you to Smith & Wesson for not only sending the Shield X for this review, but for adding this to my collection. And guys, I’m a big Shield fan, and this really just takes it up a notch. Alright guys, we have the Smith & Wesson M&P Shield X. This is an upgrade over, honestly, a legendary line of firearms.

In fact, the original Shield was one of the most popular concealed carry options on the market, with a single stack magazine, 7 to 8 rounds. Then they came out with the Shield Plus. Same size, a teeny bit, in fact about a tenth of an inch difference in the grip width, and yet you had 10 rounds or 13 rounds.

This gave you a very concealable option, and again, extremely popular. And now they’ve upgraded to the Shield X, and there’s a lot of cool features. So let’s go ahead and drop our magazine, 13 plus 1, real nice Smith & Wesson black nitride finish, and the gun’s empty.

Now we’re going to be showing a lot of firearms, and they’re all safety checked. So the Shield X, what are some differences? First off are the serrations. They’re much deeper, they’re easy to get to, they even come up on the slide, and that is attributed to the development of the Bodyguard 2.0. Now this has been a fantastic gun.

This is a performance center model, so it’s ported with a little bit longer barrel. It’s in .380 ACP, but with the performance center, they really kind of fancy it up, and it really is a great gun to shoot. A lot of the cues from this translate over into the X, and this is one of my major concealed carry options.

So we have improved slide serrations, and to show you, we’re going to look at the Shield Plus, and you can see they get away from those waves, and the little, really abbreviated slide serrations at the front. And you have full serrations, again, they go all the way up at the top of the slide. And then at the back, they’re just deeper and easier to get to.

We have a little bit of a longer barrel, 3.1 inches on the original Shield Plus, 3.6 inches on the new Shield X. And it’s a very little difference, and yet you get that full-size feel with the grip. One of the things about the magazines, with the 15-round magazine, is that it does hang off just a touch off the frame, but man, it gives you a full, solid grip. And honestly, with the 13-rounder, it gives you a pretty decent grip.

So this is giving you some options to be able to take a small, very thin handgun and carry it, and yet it shoots and feels like a full-size handgun, which gives you a lot of confidence. But even the grip texturing has been changed, and one of the things about the original Shield is it has a lot of texturing here and around the front, and it’s nice, but it can be a little abrasive to your skin. And with the new Shield X, they kind of have a strip down here that gives you a little bit of comfort, and the serrations are still pretty aggressive, which, you know, it gives you a good, solid hold on it.

And it’s mainly front to back, but it does kind of come over to get that side wobble out of the way. So you’ve got a really good purchase on it. But one thing I love about the Shield X, and one of the biggest things, is this beaver tail.

This allows you to get your hand up, and it’s got that same bore axis as your standard Shield, which is not really super low. But with that beaver tail, it spreads out the recoil over the web of your hand better than the original Shield Plus, even though that has a pretty good grip to it. But there’s something about the beaver tail that just allows you to distribute that recoil back against your hand a little more evenly.

This is optics ready, and we have an accessory rail at the front. And that’s one of the things with the Shield Series we’ve never had. So with a very small rail, it has two slots.

You’re going to have to look for more compact type lights, but this is going to be great if you want to carry a light. And here I’ve attached one of the Olight Baldor Minis. Again, this is a very adjustable system, so this will go on almost any light.

This thing rotates, and then when you lock it down, it just closes it down. There are some Streamlight little small micro lights that are going to fit on this as well. But the Olight Baldor Mini is an excellent light, and it gives you a lot of lumens.

Now this is optics ready. We have a cover plate. It is polymer.

We have two screws, and this direct mounts any of your Shield RMSC or your 407K from Holosun, those type footprints. And this is a direct mount. So being a direct mount, you have your nubs here that are your anchor points, and then you have your threads to be able to thread those screws in.

All right guys, here we have the sight mounted. And again, that direct mount is just the best. I mean, there is less failure points, and there’s very little that hangs off the side, even though this is a very thin slide.

I mean, again, 0.9 inches in width. And so any of your Shield RMS or your Holosun 407K, and of course this is the same footprint. And with the iron sights, you can co-witness with your micro red dot, in this case green dot.

And it kind of beefs up to the front and to the back, so it just rides really nice. There’s no real spaces in between. And for the sights, we have a little bit of a cocking shelf.

It is blacked out, and it has serrations here at the back. The front is an AmeriGlow Tritium sight, and this is their Trooper Lumi Green front. And so this is going to give you a nice sight picture, and then you’re going to have that Tritium inside.

And these are dovetailed in, so you can switch these out if you want to. But I love these serrations coming up over the top. It’s just enough to where if you grab it, you can pull that and do your press checks.

And then here at the back, very aggressive and easy to pull back. Now, they do have some models with the safety and without the frame safety. And at this time, they only had the frame safety models.

But it’s a little bit small and has a strong detent. But guys, if you have a safety on your gun, you need to make sure that you train to deploy and release that safety, especially in a self-defense situation. And really, it just fits right there in your thumb.

It’s a little more difficult to push up than it is to bring down. And that’s actually a plus. Now, we have our slide stop here.

We have our takedown lever here. And we’ll break this down in a little bit. But one of the things that they’ve improved is their trigger.

Now, they have a flat face trigger, and they have an enlarged trigger guard that is squared off. Here with the original, you can see that it’s rounded off, and we have a little more room for gloved hands. We have our standard trigger safety, and we’re going to go ahead and test that trigger pull action.

So without hitting that little safety, it stops it. Once we deploy and get a full pad on the trigger, we have take up to right here, we hit a wall, about 90 degrees. And a nice, crisp break.

Reset right there. Let’s check our trigger pull weight with our Lyman trigger gauge from Brownells. Four pounds, 8.4 ounces.

Four pounds, 13.2 ounces. So around four and a half pound trigger pull. The slide is stainless steel.

It has a Armonite finish, which is a titanium nitride finish that’s really going to hold up well. I really like the finish that Smith & Wesson puts on all their M&P series. We have a little bit of a cut here at the front.

And again, those front slide serrations, they’re just excellent. They’re easy to grab. And then we have, again, a 3.61 inch barrel.

We do have memory pads right in front of your takedown lever and right here for your trigger finger. So once you take that finger out of the trigger, it makes it nice to have that pad right there to be able to put your finger. Now you can grip here and get that high grip and hold on.

There’s no ledge, so it does help to kind of control the firearm. But overall, it’s just unintrusive and it keeps it really super thin. And again, it’s 0.9 inches in width, so it’s really thin.

Mag release is reversible to the other side. And so very distinct, positive, just brings those mags right out. Does it jettison the mags? Just pops them out.

We have a loaded chamber indicator right here at the top of the barrel, and the barrel is also Armor Knight finished and it is stainless steel. Now we have a nice deep dish crown. This is going to preserve your accuracy and it’s pretty much flush fit on the end of the gun.

It just sticks out a teeny bit and you do have this angle right here. So that’s going to make it easier to slip in and out of holsters. And as far as the holster fit for your standard M&P Shield, it may be a little different just because of the Picatinny rail section and we have that extended trigger guard.

So I doubt that there are going to be a lot of Kydex holsters that you’re going to be able to interchange. And speaking of holsters, Smith & Wesson did send this Tier 1. This is the Zyphos and it is a really well-made appendix carry. It has a couple of hooks here to go around your belt and it has a standoff.

So this is a really exceptional holster and there are holsters that are already being made for the Shield X. Now Smith & Wesson did improve the ergonomics with the new Shield X and part of that again is your beaver tail. But it gives it just a touch more thickness to the grip and yet it’s still really thin. With the Shield Plus, this has a very thin grip.

Now I like this better than the original Shield with the single stack mag but it’s still really thin. This gives you a little more grip to hold on to especially for those guys with the larger hands. And as you can see there’s no memory pad here.

We do have this panel and they’ve kind of changed things around a little bit. And this does not have interchangeable back straps but really you don’t need it for this size of a handgun. This is really small and yet it’s very shootable.

But that would just add to the size of the gun. But guys right here you can see that it is a little bit larger of a handgun which translates to better shootability. Now one that it really compares more to is the Performance Center Shield Plus.

And the big difference here is that we have a ported barrel and slide. But it does have a four inch barrel so a little bit of a longer barrel than the X. And yet the grip length with this extension is the same. But it’s only 13 rounds.

We have 13 rounds and we have a flush fit magazine with the X. So again we’re getting that micro compact size and yet it’s more in line with a mid-size firearm. And yet again super thin. And this being a Performance Center you know it does have upgrades to it.

And this is a great shooting gun. But the Shield X really comes in for a better concealed carry option. Now for a little bit of size comparison we have the Glock 43 X. And while the slide is just a touch shorter the grip is the same length.

And we have 10 plus 1. Now you can get some of the Shield Arms S15 mags which will give you 15 rounds. Then we have the Canik LC9. And this is the Prime.

This is a huge upgrade over the original LC9 firearms. And it’s one of the things that kind of reminded me about the Shield X. Kind of brings in a lot of features. And it gives you a little bit more of a shootable handgun.

I would say that the Prime, even though this is ported, the grip is thicker. A little more beefiness to it. And yet it’s really thin.

And these are very comparable handguns. But you can see that the LC9 Prime is a little bit bigger and longer. Weight on the M&P Shield X, 21.16 ounces.

Weight on the original Shield Plus, 20.25 ounces. So about an ounce difference. I mean around 20 ounces with a 13 or 15 round mag capacity.

Super thin. Really good ergos. I love the beaver tail.

This really gives you a very shootable option for concealed carry. Or for home defense. Now when it comes to magazine interchangeability.

We’re going to drop our magazines. And we’re just going to try it out. For the original Shield Plus, your X magazines go in.

They do hang off the end. Of course, just because there’s a shorter grip. But with the X model, the standard mags will not fit.

And again, they’re just shorter mags. Now last month, Smith & Wesson invited a group of influencers up to check out some of their new releases. And the Shield X was one of them.

And I got a chance to really shoot it. And I’m going to tell you guys immediately, I love this handgun. Very controllable, yet it was super thin.

And it does really shoot more like a full-size handgun. Which again, it’ll just give you more confidence. And yet you have that super thinness that makes this an excellent concealed carry option.

Big thank you to Fiocchi for sponsoring the ammo. All made in the USA. One of the biggest suppliers of ammunition in the country.

And we typically have Lula loaders down here making it really fast. But we forgot them. So we can do it the old-fashioned way.

Works. Smith & Wesson M&P Shield X. Shield’s been extremely popular. Even when it was first a single stack.

And then they went up to the Shield Plus, which gave it a double stack magazine. I really like the Plus. Much better than the original.

Not only because of round capacity, but just that little bit of extension of the grip. A little thickness makes it more shootable. Now with the X model, you have this little beaver tail.

This makes a noticeable difference in the web of your hand. It gives you a little more surface for recoil management. Slight serrations are vastly improved.

And I love the sight system with the tritium bead and the black outline at the front. We have 13 round magazines. The mag capacity is just excellent.

But one of the big things about it is how thin it is. But yet, you feel like you’re shooting a full-size gun. Very concealable.

Very easy to carry. I love the way it shoots. And they’ve added the accessory rail, which was a big plus.

Especially for those wanting to carry lights. Now our regular Shield Plus is a 3.1 inch barrel. So it really doesn’t compare to the X. But we do have the Performance Center Shield.

And this is the Shield Plus. Has a little bit longer barrel length. But it still has that shorter slide.

So this is the Performance Center Shield Plus. But it does have ports. And you can tell the difference with the ports.

But with the new Shield X and we have that beaver tail area. It really does mitigate the recoil. I will say that the ports do help.

They’re a little bit flatter. But with this, you just have that straight shooting without the ports. A lot of people don’t really care for ports.

But they are becoming extremely popular. But it’s just great to see Smith & Wesson expanding the line. Just fine-tuning our preferences.

That’s the first time we’ve had the slide not to hold open. We’ve really had uber reliability, even with the slide in the rear position. But great option.

Again, part of the Shield Dynasty and the Pinnacle. Now for disassembly. Drop your magazine.

Check the chamber. Gun’s empty. Bring the slide into slide lock.

And then you can bring down your lever. And it goes down to a 90 degree angle. Just like this.

You can pull the trigger. Or there is a striker disconnector. And it’s that yellow green little lever.

Just bring it down. Just like this. And when you put magazine in, it’ll pop it back.

But that way you don’t have to pull the trigger. Then just release your slide and bring it forward. Very simple.

And then we have our recoil spring and guide rod. It is metal. It’s captive.

And it’s flat. And then we have our 3.61 inch barrel. Again, stainless steel.

Metal knight finish. Ramped. And we have a crown.

Interior is just well done. Which is typical for Smith and Wesson. This is stainless steel with that Armonite finish.

Here we have the frame. Typical striker fire polymer frame pistol. And just works.

And here you can see that lever coming down. It is a different color. So it’s easy to see.

Guys, that’s pretty much all you need to do to field strip. Now guys, here is the frame to your Shield M&P. This is the performance center.

But I think it’s the same size as the regular. So we’re going to go ahead and put our barrel in. Put in our recoil spring and guide rod.

And the yellow goes at the front. And we’re going to put it over this slide. And voila.

We’re ready to go. So now I have it on the standard M&P side. And then for the new Shield model, we’re going to take the performance center.

Just try it out. And it works as well. So you have the performance center slide.

And then you have the X frame. So these are interchangeable. And that’s really very cool.

But we’re going to go ahead and reassemble the X as it comes. So go ahead and put in our recoil spring and guide rod. Bring it over the frame.

Now one thing I’ve noticed is when I’m bringing it over, you don’t want to go over these rear slide rails. So just make sure that you have this in there. Bring it back into slide lock.

Go ahead and hit your lever. Bring it forward. And then when you put your magazine in, it’s going to bring that lever up.

So very simple. And we’re back in business. Well, we have our Smith & Wesson box.

Cardboard. Open it up. And here we have typically what you find with Smith & Wesson.

And we do have the handgun. We have the blue cover, which they’ve been using blue for a long time. And we have the owner’s manual all down underneath.

And we have our magazine here in this little cover and our lock. So this is typical for Smith & Wesson. And honestly, guys, I do use some cases at times, but most of the time, I just take the box and put it away.

Now, MSRP is $599. On the Performance Center Shield, it’s $549. On the standard Shield Plus, it’s $499.

So about a $100 difference. And that is retail price, typically market price. You can get it for less.

What are some pros and cons? First off, the slide is definitely a big pro. I mean, the upgraded slide serrations and even coming up to the top. Of course, it’s Shield RMSP.

Direct mount, that’s a big plus. The sights with the Ameriglo sights at the front, that is a tritium sight with a blacked out rear at the back. We have an accessory rail, which we haven’t had before.

Also, we have an enlarged trigger guard, and the trigger is very nice, especially for a polymer striker for our pistol. The grip has been a little bit recontoured, make it a little more ergonomic. Actually, it’s a little thicker in this area, and I like it.

And I really like the beaver tail. The barrel is 3.6 inches, gives you a little more sight radius if you’re not using a red dot sight. And you get that 15 rounds and the 13 round flush fit.

And overall, it just feels good. It has the reliability of the Shield, and there are a number of different models that they’re still offering. And this is just really the top of the heap.

What are some cons? First off, the slide release. And I will say that it’s not a slide release. It’s definitely a slide stop, but it’s very difficult to drop, and even without the magazine.

And it’s small, and you can do it. Well, I don’t know that you can. There we go.

It’s pretty tough. Disassembly is easy, and that makes it good. Having the frame safety, I would go with a model that didn’t because I’m just used to it.

If you think just to bypass the safety and use it like you would a standard model, you need to be careful because this can get bumped. And then you grab it, and then there you go. So definitely use that if you get this model.

I like the ambidextrous mag release as well. Overall, this is just a Shield that’s been really upgraded. And so just nitpicky, really.

I mean, the slide stop is definitely a nitpick. The finish on here is very nice. And these are made in Maryville, Tennessee, which makes it nice as well.

So overall, an excellent concealed carry choice. Yes, it’s just a touch larger than the standard Shield and the Shield Plus, but not a whole lot. A little longer grip, a little longer barrel and slide.

And so, you know, it just gives us more options. This is going to be a little easier to conceal, but with the thinness of this handgun, this is going to be great to carry. And again, it gives you that confidence.

So guys, the Shield X, it’s great to see Smith & Wesson expanding the M&P Shield line. And this just gives us more options, but yet you have a more full-size gun. It’ll shoot better.

It’ll shoot with more confidence, has a higher round capacity, and it incorporates a lot of the new features that came out with the Bodyguard 2.0. And so this gives you just one of those handguns that makes it concealed, but yet gives you confidence if you ever have to use this in a self-defense situation. And it’s just more pleasurable to take out to the range. And again, a big thank you to Smith & Wesson for sending the M&P Shield X for this review.

Be strong. Be of good courage. God bless America, Long live the Republic.

 

-Don