S&W M&P 40 Shield Kaboom issues

[TSiWRX]

Alan

As always, you give an analytical and well-thought out response. And I agree with the majority of what you say in your post.

Same goes to you, too, brother.

I'm thinking in shades of grey here. We all have trade offs in our carry selection. Do you carry a bigger round, but have less capacity? Do I carry Appendix or Side-of-Waist? Etc, Etc.

One solution doesn't work in every situation. And there is no perfect black and white solution.

Again, our thinking meshes completely, here.

I'm all about individual compromises.

Accepting that....if I can shoot a 40 just slightly slower than a 9 mm, but I feel the 40 is a better round, using only objective measures means I should carry the 9mm. But, what is the probability that the time difference or accuracy difference is meaningful in most situations? For example, if I'm hunting whitetail at 100 yards, I don't really need a one MOA rifle. A 4 MOA rifle will be fine, although maybe I'd prefer a more accurate one perhaps. But maybe the rifle I am confident in is a 4 MOA rifle. It will be fine for the job at hand.

When you actually have a situation where you think you might need a gun (whether you have to draw or not draw it), it tends to focus your thinking. Are purely objective measures the best, and will you be confident in your time of need? Or, will you have to convince yourself that, really, you'd have felt more comfortable with a 40 rather than a 9, but the 9 is ok. When it is time, it is time. Doubtful thoughts take away from success in the moment.

I completely understand what you're saying, but here's where I go off the other end with that doubt - if I know that my splits with the higher caliber are just a bit slower than that of the lesser (or, alternatively, I can push speed on the BSA template and compromise accuracy), what does that to my success in the moment?

We can train and train. But no one really knows what will happen in the moment until it is here, That is why confidence is so important...it maintains the willingness to fight in adverse situations.

But, sure, if you can't hit the broadside of a barn, you are confident for no good reason. Some level of competence is necessary, or you are fool. The reverse is also true, you can be the best shooter in the world, but if you have no confidence, then you won't take action when required.

I agree completely, but that confidence is subjective, whereas I can measure in an objective and dispassionate manner my level of competency.

I don't think the OP has lost confidence in his gun of choice, he is re-accessing based on internet stories. The first rule of the internet is not to immediately change your position, but rather research the new information first. If it bears out, then consider your individual gear. I took it the OP was crowdsourcing his research.

If this was the OPs goal, then I think it is definitely valid.

I've broken a couple of Glocks. Should I not carry them now? Or, should I measure the probability of my life-long round count in Glocks against the number of issues, knowing that all guns can break?

Certainly, if I have one patricular gun that malfunctions a lot, then move on from it. But not if it is only related to your gun by way of being the same model/brand.

On this I agree completely as well. Being an XDm shooter and often facing the good-natured ridicule I get for it at various classes , it's an example I frequently use for others who ask that very question.

So, with the table stakes of some functional level of competence, I feel confidence is something we tend to downplay in an analytical environment (like this one), and it is our loss as it can often be the difference between survival and not.

I do not disagree, it's just that I think confidence can be mistaken for competence, and I think that is much more dangerous than the downplay of the role of confidence in helping an individual win the fight.


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Mr. Glock, you hit my motive in this thread right on the head. I like the Shield in 40. It's a bit more snappy than the LCP but does a lot more and is more accurate at a longer range. I still carry the LCP, depending on the situation. The reports of Kabooms do concern me and I would be the fool referred to in this thread if I just brushed off the reports OR I just put the gun away without any further research.

I have googled some more and there doesn't appear to be any more than 3 separate instances of this happening. None of the threads got a bunch of "me too". I haven't gotten that here either. I am losing confidence in the internet report as being any more than the inevitable periodic lemon and not an inherent mechanical flaw in the pistol.

There are definitely going to be occasional reports of various failures with any firearm.

Heck, in all honesty, this is "the way of the internet" for just about everything and anything: is it more likely that someone gets online to sing the praises of an item when it's simply lived up to their expectations? or are they more likely to want a channel to vent their frustrations at disappointments?

If we used online reports as our sole means of doing homework on products, I think it's likely that we would not purchase anything at all...major appliances, vehicles, hotels/motels, etc....

While I agree that "crowdsourcing" this kind of homework certainly can help, I also think that there's danger in assuming that simply because an issue was reported once or twice - and dismissed by the masses - may simply be a freak occurrence.

Look at what led Springfield Armory to recall the XD-Ss in the fall of 2013. That was a recall I tracked closely because of my then very high interest in that particular firearm. This DC.com thread is long - http://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/def ... ecall.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - but myself along with a few other XD-platform owners cited the few cases on XDTalk where just a handful (three?) of XD-S owners came forward and documented their problems with the XD-S, and you can track through those cited threads on XDTalk just how rudely each of these individuals were treated by their fellow XD-S owners before the recall became official.

As to my skill levels, I train center mass, two to the body and one to the head. I am near perfect at this out to about 30 yards.

Have you timed this performance?

Distance and target size are only two legs of the BSA template. Without time, the template is incomplete at best.

With the airsoft gun I shoot at a basketball hoop pole about 3 inches wide figuring this is center of the body and the airsoft tends to fall more dramatically after about ten feet. The ping sound also gives clear feedback without checking a target meaning I can just bang away. The range is usually 30 feet and on good days I put up a steady ping sound and on windy days I hit a little less than half.

What type of airsoft gun are you using? You should be able to get out to 30 ft. or so without issue.

Also, remember that airsoft - in so much as any sub-caliber training is concerned - is a poor substitute for live-fire where it comes to recoil control.

I'm also a devoted airsoft user where it comes to training tools, but for me, there is a distinct cut-off in the number of days that I can go between life-fire shoots before I see a small but similarly distinct degradation in my recoil control.

It's not a large difference, but it's quantifiable. And no, I didn't feel any less confident about my skills as I set about the task - yet, the quantified results told a different story.

Don't misunderstand, catfish86.

I didn't post what I did to call you out or anything of the like. There's no need to post your performance.

Rather, I simply wanted to point out that there is a difference between subjective confidence and objective competence, and to highlight that while the former can be misplaced, the latter is a hard-number calculus that is an undeniable measure of basic skills.

[catfish86]

No offense taken. There are a number of ways to skin a cat and this fits my budget, time and schedule. The ideal: the commandos in the spec ops units I was in (I wasn't a Green Beret but I made coffee for them and loaded their planes) trained pretty much every day and I am not talking a few rounds either. Not too many people can match their skills. As to timing, I have not timed myself and try not to do that. When you do a certain amount of repetition your time improves naturally. It is pretty much double tap pause tap. I am generally relaxed in my stance and find my pistol comes back on target without much effort.

[TSiWRX]

When you do a certain amount of repetition your time improves naturally.

Overall, I agree - "slow is smooth, smooth is fast."

However, without actually pressing for time, you're never going to be as fast as you can be.

Please - and I am being absolutely sincere in this request - think about adding a timer (even a free smartphone App) to your practice/training.

Without a way to truly quantify, you're not playing with a full deck.

[Brian D.]

Catfish, Allen is absolutely on point with his advice. Without a timer one is just guessing, not gauging their skills overall. You can set up an almost infinite number of realistic two/three target drills.

[Klingon00]

Yep, metrics are useful for making comparisons. If you aren't using a clock, how can you really know if you are improving?