Smith Wesson Shield EZ Orchid Stainless – Superb Easy Rack 9mm Pistol

Description

The Smith Wesson Shield EZ Orchid Stainless is the Shield EZ with a satin stainless slide over an orchid frame, and it exists to solve a problem the industry spent decades ignoring: plenty of people cannot rack a conventional semi automatic slide. Arthritis, an injury, smaller hands or simply less grip strength put most compact 9mm pistols out of reach.

Smith Wesson Shield EZ Orchid Stainless Why the Slide Racks Easily

The key engineering decision is that this is not a striker fired pistol. It uses an internal hammer, which changes the effort required entirely. On a striker gun the slide must compress the recoil spring and cock the striker against its own spring at the same time, and both need to be stiff enough for reliable ignition. With an internal hammer, Smith and Wesson could tune the hammer separately and then fit a much lighter recoil spring, because that spring no longer has a second job to do.

The result is a slide most people can operate with two fingers. Aggressive serrations with raised ledges at the rear give the hand something substantial to pull against, which matters as much as spring weight for anyone whose grip is the limiting factor.

Magazines, Safeties and Finish

Loading is usually the second barrier, and the magazines address it directly. Each carries two tabs on the sides of the body connected to the follower, so the follower can be drawn down by hand to relieve spring pressure while a round is dropped in. Anyone who has fought the last two rounds into a stiff magazine will recognise the value immediately. Two magazines are included.

The satin stainless slide is the visible difference from the black version, and it is more than cosmetic on a pistol likely to be carried in a purse or a bag rather than a rigid belt holster. Stainless resists the humidity and incidental contact that environment involves better than most finishes. There is a grip safety in addition to an ambidextrous thumb safety, and the slide catch is ambidextrous as well.

What to Know Before Buying

Two honest points. Eight rounds in a single stack magazine is fewer than the ten to fifteen a comparable double stack compact holds, and that is the direct cost of a grip slim enough to suit smaller hands. For most buyers choosing this pistol the trade is clearly worth making, but it should be a decision rather than a discovery.

The grip safety also requires a proper firing grip to disengage. That is by design, but it does mean the pistol will not fire from an awkward or partial hold. Anyone buying it should fire enough rounds to confirm their natural grip depresses it consistently, particularly if hand strength or hand size was the reason for choosing the model. It takes five minutes at a range and is worth doing deliberately rather than assuming.

Specifications

• Model: M&P9 Shield EZ
• Caliber: 9mm Luger
• Capacity: 8+1 single stack, two magazines included
• Barrel: 3.675 in., six groove, 1:10 right hand twist
• Action: Internal hammer fired
• Overall length: 6.8 in.
• Height: 5.05 in.
• Weight: 23.2 oz unloaded
• Sights: White dot
• Slide: Satin stainless
• Safeties: Grip safety and ambidextrous thumb safety
• Controls: Ambidextrous slide catch, reversible magazine release
• Frame: Orchid polymer
• UPC: 022188884500

Why Buyers Choose the Smith Wesson Shield EZ Orchid Stainless

For a shooter who cannot reliably rack a conventional slide, this is not a matter of preference. It is the difference between owning a defensive pistol that can be loaded independently and owning one that cannot. Very few manufacturers have engineered around that need rather than simply marketing at it.

It is a well mannered gun on its own merits too. At 23.2 ounces in 9mm with a full length grip, recoil is mild, and new shooters of any hand strength usually shoot it noticeably better than a lighter micro compact.

Who Should Buy It

The Smith Wesson Shield EZ Orchid Stainless suits the shooter with arthritis, an injury or limited grip strength, the new shooter wanting a forgiving first pistol, and anyone for whom loading magazines or racking a slide has been the obstacle to practising regularly.

Learn more from Smith and Wesson, or browse the rest of our firearms selection.

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