Smith and Wesson's M&P 380 Shield EZ

It is tough writing about firearms with a fresh perspective. Somewhere around number two thousand, the flow of descriptive adjectives become Donald Trump like and the best that can be mustered are, “Excellent. Very, very excellent. Beautiful… very, very beautiful. Unbelievable” or “Bad. Very bad. Very very bad. Completely bad. Ridiculous”. The newest of the M&P 2.0 products, the M&P 380 Shield EZ, is one of those rare products that is reflective of its name and therefore offers a bit of writer’s inspiration.

Smith and Wesson M&P® 380 Shield EZ
SKU #	11663
Manufacturer	Smith and Wesson
Point of Origin	Springfield, MA
Type	SA Internal Hammer
Caliber	380 Automatic
Magazine Capacity	8
Barrel	3.675″ Stainless
Rifling	1:10″
Overall Length ”	6.7
Overall Height ”	4.9
Overall Width ”	1.1*
Weight Oz	18.5
Sight Radius ”	5.7
Trigger Pull – Actual	5 Lbs. 3 Oz.
Sights	Three White Dot
Slide Material	Stainless Steel
Frame	Polymer
Safety	Ambi Thumb
Magazine Disconnect	No
Chamber Check	TLCI
MSRP	$399

The M&P 380 Shield EZ is, in fact  an easy to operate, easy to shoot small caliber auto loader. Measured with a load cell scale, only 9.8 lbs of effort was required to rack the slide and cock the action, 40% less than a typical subcompact 380 and half the effort required to rack and cock the typical full size 9mm auto loader. This is accomplished through spring rate selection and hammer geometry. Further racking assistance is offered with the inclusion of dog ears at the back end of the slide, but the gripping surfaces fish scale proved to be more than enough.

Not necessary, but I do like annotated images

Like other Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0 products, the 380 Shield EZ has an extended chassis, short pull light trigger and reversible magazine release, loaded chamber indicator, and an ambidextrous manual thumb safety option. The non-manual safety model is SKU: 180023. The frame also places the shooter’s hand close to the bore centerline for improved recoil control. Unlike the M&P models introduced on 2017, the M&P 380 Shield EZ is not a striker, but rather internal hammer fired, which seems to significantly benefit the trigger function.

The behind the trigger travel is approximately  0.240″ from rest to molded in trigger stop. Approximately 0.100″ is light take up, 0.140″ active travel. There is a minuscule amount of creep and then a pretty clean break at 5 lbs 3 oz. I would rate it as a very good poly frame gun trigger.

There appears to be a whole lot of safety going on… sounds like a Jerry Lee Lewis song title. There is a trigger deactivated drop safety, a manually operated thumb safety and a grip safety. While it seems a lot to manage, the use of the thumb safety is optional. It may seem like a lot to manage, however, all but the thumb safety are passive and deactivated by grasping the firearm and squeezing the trigger. The active thumb safety is used as determined by the shooter. The 380 Shield does not have a magazine disconnect, it does have a loaded chamber indicator that come in handy that can advise that there is a loaded chamber or if there was a failure to eject. Personally, I kind of like a gun with good safety systems. I realize some people scream about loaded chamber indicators and manual safeties, but they serve a purpose for me and none of them impede use of the pistol.

Unlike the larger caliber M&P 2.0 pistols, the 380 Shield EZ has a steel breech block insert pinned to the frame. It is often difficult to regulate slide velocity with short barrel pistols. The low mass usually requires heavier springing than longer barrel pistols which often leads to hard to rack slides and a narrow band of reliably cycled ammunition. The insert adds stable mass, which allows lighter springing, which makes for light racking resistance and the ability to ingest all sorts of ammunition… as you will see. The loaded chamber indicator is nested centrally in the breech block. Ambidextrous safeties do dog ear the EZ increasing the pistol’s width, from the widest point on the slide, from 1.09″ to 1.47″ across the safety. Again, manual safeties are an option. On a tiny person in skinny jeans, it may matter. To me, hardly noticeable.

I do not like full size 380 Auto pistols; too much overhead in size and weight for the cartridge and its useful range. I do not care for sub compact 380 Autos as the slides are usually quite stiff, recoil and poly frames tend to sting my fingers and the grips are way to small for good control. Must not only be me because I keep giving them to my wife and she keeps giving them back. Browning did a good job with their 1911 – 380 Black Label by picking a size between a full size 1911 and subcompact, but the browning is almost an inch longer, it has an exposed hammer and it is nearly twice the price of the Smith and Wesson 380 Shield EZ.

Little gun, substantial grip

 

While the S&W is much more compact in most areas than the Gold Cup, it is not so in the grip. The result is excellent shooting control and the 18° grip angle makes for a natural point and rapid target acquisition. The engineered high grip is obvious in the photo; draw an imaginary line back from the center of the trigger to where it intersects each pistol’s backstrap.

EZ to take apart…

The ramped barrel fed anything I loaded from the oddly shaped ARX bullets to jacketed hollow point. The internal hammer design is a good one. Reliable fire, clean trigger and not exposed to outside elements or grabbing on clothing. I really like the mag load assist button, it makes mag loading as fast as a rimfire.

It isn’t that I am lazy, it’s just that I don’t like 200 piece part field stripping efforts or a three and one half hand requirement.. They don’t come any easier than the M&P 380 Shield EZ when it comes to take down; lock slide back, dump mag, check chamber, rotate takedown lever down, release and remove slide. Done, and no little bits to fall out. Even the recoil spring and rod are part of a captive assembly.

From the bottom side of the slide, the large size of the breech block is more obvious and the linkage for the loaded chamber indicator is more visible.

The rear sight is windage adjustable and does not require punch drifting, just loosening of the rear sight lock screw which is located on the bottom side of the slide. It may seem like a hassle… “hassle”… and suddenly its the 70’s all over again. In any event, it takes a few seconds to pull the slide.

Today’s 380 Auto is not the 380 Auto of old

The 380 Auto cartridge, until recently, was best suited for vest pocket guns and hide away auto loaders. Almost always loaded in full metal jacket that penetrated with little expansion or in expanding bullet loads that at best were good for superficial penetration. Today there are a number of good self defense loads for shorter barrel auto loaders, something on the order of 61 factory loads, with bullet weights from 56 grains to 102 grains and sourced from 21 companies. Their performance is as follows:

Shot into Clear Ballistics FBI Gel blocks, the 380 Auto did pretty well on expansion and penetration. The ARX bullet numbers are a little deceptive as it does generate lateral pressure in place of expansion. Tying gel blocks with marked string and a slip knot, then measuring block expansion by measuring string movement was nearly 2″ of gel block expansion. FMJ was impressive in penetration, but it left a shallow wound channel and showed virtually no expansion. The FTX shed a little weight, but expanded much better than the usual Hornady XP/XTP bullets. My favorite is the Remington Golden Saber or what ever label they are using these days.

What does one do with a 380 Automatic?

Would I attempt bear hunting with the Smith and Wesson M&P 380 Shield EZ? Sure… Just kidding. But I would keep it on the night stand, wear it on my belt when I am wandering around the local woods and concerned with rabid fox or skunks. My wife would keep it in her purse; she loved the pistol, and I would certainly use it for target popping just for fun.

It is clearly an easy gun to shoot. The five shot 1 1/4″ group was shot at 10 yards, which is longer than most self defense distances, with a two hand hold. Any differences from one brand or bullet weight to the other was insignificant. My wife had similar (that means better but without acknowledgement) shooting results. The first time she picked up the gun her comment was, “Wow! This thing is really easy to rack”. Then she commented on comfortable grip and, finally, how easy the Smith and Wesson M&P 380 Shield EZ to shoot compared to the 380 subcompact she packs. It is a nicely done little auto loader and available at a very affordable price and covered by a lifetime service policy.