Smith & Wesson Performance Center Ported M&P 45 Shield M2.0 Hi Viz Sights 45 ACP Pistol - 3.3" Barrel, 7+1 Rounds, Polymer Grips, 3-Dot Sights

I based my purchases heavily on the reviews a particular item has and then steep that in a lot of common sense with a dash of salt. I was not a fan of the S&W Shield 1.0 line. I have one, but quickly relegated it to the emergency hidden weapon storage. I jumped on the micro-compact bandwagon and tried a lot of the options. Then I got the Shield Plus and found I was rightly satisfied. However the one niche that has been missing, I love the .45 ACP cartridge. To be clear, I conceal-carry everywhere I go unless prohibited, have my permit and I try to get out to the range at least monthly and spend 1000-1500 rounds at a time (economic conditions may vary on the mileage). Suffice to say, I spend time with the tool and learn how to shoot it well and be comfortable with it before I carry it. I read a number of reviews, watched a number of YouTube videos with various "reputable" shooting experts and then made the decision to add this S&W M&P Shield .45 2.0 Performance Center pistol to my stable. I really like the .45 cartridge but I have not liked many of the potential offerings. I have owned and gotten rid of the Springfield XDS 1.0 and mod.2, and I found the Glock 36 unreliable at best and limited in round count being its second offence. Neither of those guns stood out to me as stellar in performance, but lets be honest with ourselves here for a moment, we are putting a .45 acp round into a frame that the total weight is less than 1/3 a 1911 ... that's a lot of kinetic energy. I want to like a .45 to be my carry piece (without getting out my 1911) and I don't want the weight of the 1911, or the Glock 30(s) or IWI Jericho - all nice pieces. At the range, the S&W M&P Shield .45 (2.0) Performance Center performed far better than my expectations. This gun has fiber optic sights, great in light or ambient light, next to useless in zero light or dark conditions. This gun has a ported barrel and slide. I was not sure how that was going to work and affect things, lets just say I am very pleasantly surprised. No a brief digression here, I am 6ft tall, 240 lbs with pretty good hand control so I was not expecting this gun to fly out of my hand. I found the recoil very manageable, not "light" by any means, the .45 acp tends to push more than snap and the motion isn't usually unpleasant with regard to muzzle rise. The ported barrel and slide negated a lot of this motion. Remember this is a .45 in a small frame polymer wonder, I'm just saying that it was easier than I expected to keep on target for follow up shots. Let's talk about the grip. I hated the S&W Shield 1.0 texture - still do. But I found the S&W Shield Plus to be excellent for my grip and control, except it can be a bit too grippy when worn next to the skin. This 2.0 is a nice in between to me. Again, your mileage may vary, some think this is worse than putting asphalt shingles next to your skin all day. In grip length with my hands I can almost get a full 3 finger grip on the gun, but I discovered the 6-round magazine has no grippiness on the front of it so by the 3rd round or so my pinky had slipped to under the magazine and this was not conducive to comfortable control. Enter the Pearce Grip Extension for the 6-round magazine. This is a game changer that I highly recommend. I have this on my Shield Plus too just for comfort and because without it I found myself anticipating recoil a little too much. Once I got this issue fixed the gun ran exceptionally well. I don't mind both the 6-round and 7-round magazines for concealment, obviously the 6-round is better but even the Pearce extension does not affect that too much. I think my biggest draw back is how this gun works into my carry rotation. I usually plan based on where I am going to be and what I know of a location. For example, around town I may take the Shield Plus, or Sig 365, (kind of interested in the coming FN Reflex) but then I know I am going to be in relatively open places with avenues for egress. When we travel out of town, I again look at where we are going and have my wife carry accordingly. For perspective I like to have commonality in our ammunition and even better if its common magazines, but I will still take a backup with me if I am going somewhere I am uncertain of (i.e. wear the Shield Plus or Sig365 and have a back up Glock 30). My concern is, reading the news and the brazenness of criminals and more frequent "mass shootings" it appears the perpetrators tend to be working together, or tend to be carrying large capacity magazines. The concept of having 6 +1 in my CCW and a 6, or 7 round back up is less appealing than say having 13+1 and 2 more 13 round backups. Overall, I am quite pleased with this purchase of the S&W Shield .45 2.0, I especially like the tuned trigger and ported barrel of the Performance Center. I am less enthusiastic about the fiber optic sights but they are serviceable and I am more lazy to change them out them out than aggravated by them. The gun performs very well at the range and I am highly confident I can hit anything within my capability (not the guns full capability) that I try to aim at. It conceals well, all but disappears with the correct clothing. I am just not sure about the limitation in round capacity based on trends today. I would highly recommend this gun if you are looking for a .45 that is nice to shoot and conceal. It points naturally, fills the hand decently, and is effective as a CCW.

Surprisingly soft shooting 45. Sights are fantastic. Good CCW.

I carried a first gen. 9mm for years. This .45 Performance Center model is fantastic and shoots like a full size pistol or better. Bud's service got it here quick and at a great price.

A nice CCW firearm and it goes along with my 40 and 9 mm and 380 vented ported performance models very comfortable firearm to shoot fits my hand perfect

Beautiful personal protection firearm. Can’t wait to try it out. Again, great purchase from Bud’s. Fast service and delivery. Always a pleasure working with Budsgunshop.

feed rail had never been polished at factory was scarring the bullets horribly and taking a chip out of the rim of the bullet making brass filings all through the slide from literally tearing the casing every time it tried to feed a bullet... a little subpar for smith and wesson as far as i am concerned no quality control at all and just a tiny bit of caring about the product that gets sent out it would never happen. With a little tlc from someone that actually cared works as it should today.

I want to love it, but... I've ran about 300 rounds and had a couple of dozen fail-to-feed's. It's very snappy too. It takes a firm grip and a bunch of want to to get it on target. A beautiful gun, but really disappointed with the performance so far. I've been searching the internet and most seem to blame the mags rather than the gun. I did notice that the factory M&P mags work better than the after-market, 10 round pro mag mags that don't work at all. Maybe in another 200-300 rounds it'll be working as expected. If not, it's going back.

I've only shot 2 clips through this gun. Worked perfectly. Easy to take down and clean. Very accurate. Very comfortable to handle and fire. Fits well in my conceal carry holster. The sights make it easy to acquire the target quickly.

fast service. product fits hand well. would recommend.

Great gun. All around. .45. Slim, lightweight. Dependable. Great trigger. Rugged as hell. What else could you ask for?