The tendency for handgun production back as far as the 1970s – even some before – was smaller, lighter guns with more powerful cartridges. This goes back to the “Airweight” format in Chief’s Special and Bodyguard revolvers, the Colt’s Officer ACP, the Charter Arms Bulldog and others. It got more extreme with S&W “Airlite” revolvers and others.

Ruger developed the LC9 pistol, "Lightweight Compact 9mm," in around 2011. A few years later, a nod to folks who had need for light, compact but decent sized self-defense guns, they introduced the LC380. Needing less recoil spring – using a relatively low pressure cartridge – it was meant to cater to folks who need less gun for any of a range of reasons.

The lesson wasn’t lost. Lighter, smaller guns with larger or higher pressure rounds can be the worst of both worlds for some users. There are people who need a nice handful of pistol that won’t beat them to death to shoot – and that is easier to operate for those with less strength, victims of various infirmities, lack of experience and other characteristics.

Smith & Wesson’s Shield was perhaps the greatest single-stack 9mm since the Third Generation 3913/3914 pistols ‘roamed the Earth.’ The size was such that they handle as well as a service pistol while being light and small enough to hide; the best of both worlds. Appealing to those who have special needs, the Shield is now offered as the M&P380 Shield EZ.

A hammer-fired (not striker-fired, like previous Shield editions) gun, it has a short, reasonably light trigger but requires a full stroke of slide travel to reset the action – like Ruger’s new Security-9. Unlike that product, drop-safety is accomplished partly through an ‘upside down’ grip safety.

What’s neat is that you activate that safety feature when you put your shooting hand’s thumb on the back of the slide during reholstering – making that particular hazard somewhat safer even if you don’t use the (provided on some versions) manual thumb safety.

Like the LC9/LC380 by Ruger, the M&P380 Shield EZ has the “mudflap” loaded chamber indicator. I was never a fan of those before consideration of doing a chamber-check in the dark. Now I’m not against such an arrangement except it’s another place for corruption to enter the action. For the purposes to which this gun will be put, it’s no big deal.

A huge advantage is the easily operated slide and easily loaded magazine – the magazine follower has opposing thumb tabs, allowing the user to draw the follower down, keeping pressure off each cartridge as it’s loaded. It’s a similar arrangement to some magazines meant for 22 LR pistols.

It is a big deal especially if you have compromised use of your hands due to muscle/joint issues. The new gun shares some format characteristics with the rest of the M&P M2.0 family. The frame’s texture is between the original Shield and the more-aggressive texture of the M2.0.

The barrel is just over 3 ½” long (long for the Shield line), the gun weighs in at a comfortable 18 ½ ounces, and the gun is available with or without the bilateral manual safety levers.

 

An exemplar 25-yard group fired with Federal Premium 99 gr. HST ammo.

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There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on with this pistol. While the 9mm Shield pistols are heavier, they’re shorter than the EZ. That means that some holsters will fit, like the Safariland M27 IWB, and some won’t – like the same maker’s 7TS. The CrossBreed IWB pictured has a ‘slide’-style shell, open in front, and it accepts the slightly longer M&P380 Shield.

The rear of the newest shield has no slide-cover plate; as it’s hammer fired, the slide is formed all the way around the back, making the rear of the slide smooth. The rear-most part of the rear cocking serrations are wider than the slide forward of that point. This gives the user a cocking shelf on the rear of the slide.

Locking the slide open and looking underneath shows the rear sight mounting screw. With the magazine in the gun – to keep the slide open – and using the supplied wrench, you can easily adjust the rear sight for windage. That is very handy. And it’s a good reason to actually read the directions. I was cussing the fact that, likely due to vision and grip issues, I was printing left with this gun like I seem to with others.

I now see that it’s easily resolved. And I have resolved it.

In attempting to make the gun actually reflect the “EZ” moniker, it’s also easily disassembled. Mag out, lock the slide open to visually and physically check the chamber. Leave it open, rotate the disassembly lever down and guide the slide off of the receiver. Mind the direction and orientation of the guide rod during reassembly and don’t depress the grip safety as you load the slide back onto the frame.

The 8+1 gun comes with a pair of ‘easy to load’ magazines. A pic rail on the dustcover and a reversible magazine release rounds out the features.

I shot four loads for relative accuracy from a seated rest at 25 yards. I found that the gun shoots low – I cut the B-8 bullseye at the 2/3 level (1/3 of the bull above the top edge of the front sight), and two loads from Federal and a pair from Hornady cut the bottom of the B-8 repair center. The Federal loads were from the “Practice + Defend” package: Federal Premium 99 grain HST and American Eagle 95 grain FMJ. Hornady loads were Critical Defense 90 grain FTX and American Gunner 90 grain XTP.

(Outside of a machine rest, the cluster of three inside a five-shot group excises human error and gives one the best idea of mechanical accuracy.)

In terms of handling, the gun is too “EZ;” I tended to get over-confident and yank on the trigger, with predictably bad results. When shooting Justin Dyal’s “5-Yard Roundup” on the NRA B-8 target, I scored only 89 out of 100. This was from a nice beginning, with the first hit out of the Safariland M27 worn in front IWB squarely into the “X” in just a little under two seconds. The “four hits from ready” in 2.5 seconds also centered into the bull. I got in a bit of a rush on the one-handed stages, throwing hits outside the bull in spectacular fashion.

The Roundup is best shot cold, I did and loused it up. It wasn’t the gun’s fault.

It’s clearly more than accurate enough for the intended purpose. Does it fit the box of the “Old Man’s Gun” as defined by our Tactical Professor, Claude Werner? I believe it does quite nicely.

Before anyone asks if 380 is enough for personal defense, I’ll note that the first rule is having a gun. The second is to be able to work the gun reflexively. The third is to be able to hit the mark with it. After we deal with that, we can worry about all the nonsense. If you need something that’s easy to work, easy to carry and easy to shoot, the M&P380 Shield is ‘EZ’ enough.

When I first saw it mentioned, I wondered about the wisdom of such a piece. I’m not wondering now.

- - Rich Grassi