After six surgeries on my hands in the last three years plus severe arthritis I came to the conclusion that my Sig P938 was no longer an option for me. It hurts to rack the slide, my grip strength has diminished and I no longer can hold the slide back to remove the take down lever. Love the gun but it’s time to move on.
I have a M&P 1.0 full size 9mm with an Apex trigger and a red dot that I still enjoy shooting but is too big for comfortable carry so my search began. I tried the P365, Hellcat, M&P Shield Plus and many others without success. S&W has been touting their Shield EZ and their Equalizer as being designed for people with poor grip strength, arthritis and women and when I tried them I found that it was true. I could hold and function both of them equally well. The EZ is like a first generation Shield, single stack but with tabs on the magazine like a 22 to pull down for reloading. For me, my finger-thumb squeeze strength and the pain associated with that cancelled out that feature. I would still have to use my UpLULA which still works for me.
I then closely inspected the Equalizer which is to the EZ family like the Shield Plus is to the Shield family. I have read many articles and seen a lot of videos about the grip safety and how many people don’t like them. Also mentioned was the trigger, is there any review of any gun where that is not mentioned? My LGS had four Equalizer’s in stock so I tried all of them to see which one had the best trigger pull. The difference between them was amazing, from gritty all the way through to gritty halfway through to not bad. The last one I tried was the charm, very smooth to the wall, crisp break and a decent reset. I pick that one. Turns out that one was the model with a thumb safety which is a turn off for many. However since I have been carrying a P938, a mini 1911 style pistol, cocked and locked for years it’s not an issue for me nor is the grip safety. It is also optic’s ready and since at 77 all my pistols have optics on them that is another plus. It also comes with three magazines; a 10 round, that I probably won’t ever use, a 13 round that allows me to get a full three finger grip an a 15 round that will most likely be used at the range.
I brought it home and field stripped it and did a full cleaning. Yesterday I took it to the range to start the break in process. I loaded the 13 round magazine with 10 rounds five times on the first target. At 10 yards hand held, no rest, it was a dream to shoot. Very light recoil and quick recovery. The trigger was nice and I assume with more rounds through it, it will get even better. I shot 100 rounds , 50 per target, and the gun ran flawlessly It was a bright sunny day and I had a little trouble with focus on the front sight, remember, old eyes and all my pistols have red dots on them. The pistol seemed to shoot a little bit left but it’s good enough for me. I’ve already ordered a Holosun 407K for it. Here are the obligatory pictures of the two targets.

First target



Second target




Would I recommend the Equalizer to anyone? Not really, if you’re young, healthy and enjoy shooting there are plenty of options out there for you. However if you’re older, have compromised hand strength or a slight female, I believe this is probably one of the best, if not the best option out there currently to keep you in the game either as a carry gun or a comfortable range gun.

Nice report on the new Equalizer. You shoot it pretty well too !

Yep, good report, and glad you found a solution.
I’ve had hand surgery also, for arthritis destroyed thumb joints. I’m going on 75, and still able to rack most slides, but preparing for the future I bought the .380EZ, then the 9EZ when it came out. I pounced on the Equalizer as soon as it came out. The fact that it shared mags with my Shield Plus made it s no brainer. Three different mag capacity options make these very versatile pistols.
My Equalizer, like yours, also has the thumb safety and an extremely good defensive trigger.
NEVER give up!
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I have the 9 round single stack EZ. Its a great shooter and reasonably priced too.

Great to hear. I am thinking of picking up an Equalizer for my mother, so I am glad for the report. However, in that vein, there may be another option. I know 5.7 isn't for everyone, but I bought a PSA Rock in 5.7, and found it has a very easy to operate slide as well. The Rock also has probably half the recoil of a 9mm. It's a big gun and ammo is costly (but coming down). But depending on your shooting schedule 5.7 could be great for people who have hand damage and/or recoil averse. I really regret not picking up a non-optic ready model for $299 when they were blowing them out.