All,
Now that they have been around for a long time —
I know Shield magazines have become widely accepted for their reliability, and many or most now rely on them in their G43X’s and G48’s.
I have put at least 700 rounds through my five Shield S15’s, in two different G48’s (with metal mag catches) or G48/G43 combos set up as a G43X. Around 300 were BPLE, about 50-100 124gHST, the rest 115g S&B. I had one failure to feed with a BPLE. That seems OK. They don’t drop free real easily, but that’s fine.
I’ve Internut read of an instance of no problems till the 500-600 range in a magazine, and some complaints (or initial complaints?) with Gen 2 versions.
Right now I’m still carrying OEM. More “testing” is expensive.
Are any folks having problems, or having problems develop after higher round counts?
And you relying on them for EDC or sticking with 10 round OEM’s?
Thanks for the input.
Scott

I've run 100 rounds through my S15 magazines. I have had zero issues. On my G43X, the original 10 round magazines do not drop free. I understand this is an issue.

Several hundred rounds through my seven Gen 1 S15 magazines. I know several other guys using them with similar results.

Two federal agencies have T&E’d them and authorized them for general issue and rank and file.

That is what sold me on them.

It's not good enough to use any metal mag catch. If you shoot the S15 mags frequently, you need a steel mag catch. Polymer and aluminum alloy mag catches will eventually get chewed up and unable to keep the mag in place.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Two federal agencies have T&E’d them and authorized them for general issue and rank and file.

That is what sold me on them.

Would you mind disclosing which agencies?

I agree that the Shield Arms mag catch is a must. If you're going to use these magazines, you should commit to using only these magazines. The steel catch will likely wear down the notch on the factory magazines and the Shield magazines will wear down the factory catch.

To me, the Shield Arms magazines are what make the 43X and 48 make sense. I didn't want to like the guns, but was surprised how well they carried and shot. Still, with no capacity greater than a Glock 26 and no larger magazine option, I saw their appeal as very limited. Ah the Shield Arms magazines and the guns make great sense.

ETA: I did keep the two factory mags and mag catch in case I'm forced to travel to a 10 round state that somehow does not exempt me as a cop and FFL.

DEA and ATF.

That I know of.

But I didn’t mention that earlier because any time you mention ATF, some people can’t control themselves and derail the thread.

They are excellent. As mentioned above, get their mag release as well.

I was on the fence and just about to give them a try and then I read a couple of trainers said they saw them crap out during classes.
Pretty sure one was that dumbass Yeager and I can’t remember who the other guy was. I have no personal experience though. I may revisit them.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
DEA and ATF.

That I know of.

But I didn’t mention that earlier because any time you mention ATF, some people can’t control themselves and derail the thread.

ATF? The ATF?!?!
Slowly I turned, step by step....
(Friend of mine is hopeful that the FBI approves soon too)

Back to the OP-
I have a few hundred through mine, so far no hiccups.

And as stated- use the metal mag release.
Metal on plastic- the metal is going to chew up the plastic. Metal on metal works!

I'm not saying you can't use the original plastic magazines OCCASIONALLY. But I wouldn't do it all the time.

Thanks for all of the comments. The endorsement by alphabet agencies is very influential.

Anyone else though have negative experience or reports besides Ruger357? I have both all metal setups for the Shields, and OEM mag catch and mags that I am still using for carry.

To me, having the feds sign off on them isn’t a big deal as far as “look at the cool guy toys”. It’s more these days from the perspectives of that now I know that federal agencies are no different than local agencies and it’s more of “hey we put a lot of your tax dollars into testing these things and they are idiot proof”

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
DEA and ATF.

That I know of.

But I didn’t mention that earlier because any time you mention ATF, some people can’t control themselves and derail the thread.

Ain't that the truth. Who gives a shit if it's ATF? They've historically been pretty conservative on guns (like most federal agencies), so their approval means something to me.

Interesting that feds would test after market parts like that. Think they would order 43x/48 with the shield upgrades already done?

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Interesting that feds would test after market parts like that. Think they would order 43x/48 with the shield upgrades already done?

Almost certainly no.

If the agency is buying them, they're either getting them direct from Glock or from a large national distributor.

If individual agents are buying them (more likely) they are either buying from a blue label dealer or through the agency.

Any add-on parts (like the mag catch) are being installed by an armorer either at the firearms unit for the agency or by an armorer at a field office. Glock is simply not going to put somebody else's parts in their guns for new sale.

They (or a distributor) sold glocks packaged with streamlight weapon lights. https://www.safesidetactical.c...-19rd-usa-made-89751

Most likely a package created by a distributor like Talo, Lipseys, Davidson's, etc. You see this sometimes with cerakote finishes, too. The item gets a UPC, SKU, etc., but is being done by somebody else.

I simply cannot see Glock offering another company's magazine (and presumably magazine catch) with their guns.

Really surprised to hear federal LE using these mags. I’ve had issues off and on, tried all kinds of stuff to have confidence in them, burned a bunch of ammo and time but have been wary the entire time.

I thought it was the mag catch interfering with the round stack as it rose up in the magazine body which would explain why Shield’s solution of new springs would work for a bit.

I couldn’t figure out why the issues were intermittent but this guy did:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6HuEk7SG1A4


Basically, the S15 positions the round in such a way that it doesn’t clear the slide unless the magazine rotates forward. This explains why the polymer mag shouldn’t be used. The mag see saws on the catch.

If your mags run in your gun, see if you have the same interference between slide and round as shown in this video. I did.

Bottom line: I’m out of the S15 game.

I have 5 gen 2 mags. No issues so far with the original Glock Mag release and now with the SA steel one.

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Interesting that feds would test after market parts like that. Think they would order 43x/48 with the shield upgrades already done?

Almost certainly no.

If the agency is buying them, they're either getting them direct from Glock or from a large national distributor.

Well......

The new FBI contract rifle for special agents is a 11.5 Colt with an adjustable gas block. It has a Geissele rail and a Geissele SSA-E trigger installed. Radian controls and Radian charging handle. The optic is a SIG Romeo 4T. I got to handle one back in December.

Other fed agencies are supposedly piggy backing off the contract.

Times are a changing on the “keep it stock” police mantra. Some gun writers will Likely lose their minds over this.