Is This The Best EDC That Smith & Wesson Has EVER made? | 1 Year Smith & Wesson Shield X Review — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03Smith & Wesson Shield X. Here we go.
2. 0:38After about a year ownership and all the
3. 0:40hype has died down about this gun, do I
4. 0:42still think this is the best concealed
5. 0:44carry gun that Smith & Wesson has ever
6. 0:46made?
7. 0:47Let's talk about it. For my YouTube
8. 0:48manual reviewer, there is no ammunition
9. 0:50anywhere near me. This firearm has been
10. 0:52made safe and clear. I'm in a controlled
11. 0:54environment. Nothing in this video is
12. 0:56for sale. Everything I talk about in
13. 0:57this video is for entertainment purposes
14. 0:59only. Question of the day is, do you
15. 1:01think you should carry a flashlight on
16. 1:04your EDC? Comment down below and I may
17. 1:06choose your comment to respond to in the
18. 1:08next video coming up. So, quickly I'm
19. 1:10going to tell you guys how this pistol
20. 1:11is set up. That way you don't have to
21. 1:13ask me down in the comments. Although,
22. 1:14please comment down below if you have
23. 1:16any questions. I am rocking the
24. 1:17Streamlight TLR-7 sub. This is the
25. 1:19non-HLX, just the standard sub. And for
26. 1:22the optic, I'm running the Vector Optics
27. 1:24Frenzy MRT, fully enclosed RMSC pattern
28. 1:27multi-reticle micro red dot. Fantastic
29. 1:31red dot option and I would never tell
30. 1:32you guys to ever in a million years use
31. 1:34code VHS10 to save yourself a few coins
32. 1:38on something like this. First things
33. 1:40first, the basics on the Shield X. And
34. 1:42yes, I do have notes down here. It's a 9
35. 1:44mm striker-fired handgun at 6.87 in
36. 1:47long, 0.9 in wide, 4.9 in tall, and it's
37. 1:51got a 3.6 in barrel with a flush fit
38. 1:54capacity of 13 rounds and an extended
39. 1:56capacity of 15 rounds. The Shield X is
40. 1:59going to be the very first firearm I'm
41. 2:00putting on my new firearms ranking list.
42. 2:03Each firearm is going to go through five
43. 2:05different categories. Each category has
44. 2:07a one out of 10 score. One being the
45. 2:09worst, 10 being the best, and five being
46. 2:11neutral. And at the very end, we're
47. 2:13going to tally up all five categories
48. 2:15for a total up to 50. So, a perfect
49. 2:17score for any firearm would be 50. That
50. 2:18makes sense? Cool. Get it. Got it. Good.
51. 2:21Let's go. So, category number one is
52. 2:22features. The Shield X is a fairly
53. 2:25feature-rich being the the newest
54. 2:27concealed carry gun from Smith & Wesson.
55. 2:29You have front and rear slide
56. 2:31serrations, very nice iron sights with a
57. 2:33blacked-out rear and a high-vis front.
58. 2:35You have an accessory rail, which is a
59. 2:37big deal coming from the Shield Plus,
60. 2:38which didn't have that at all. Flat face
61. 2:40trigger, very similar to the one that's
62. 2:42on the M&P 2.0. Aggressive grip texture
63. 2:44on the front and back. A textured
64. 2:46magazine release. Beaver tail. Optics
65. 2:48ready. You do have a loaded chamber
66. 2:50viewport here on top of the barrel.
67. 2:51However, Smith & Wesson has alleviated
68. 2:54that by doing something they call the
69. 2:55clear sight cut. There's a small
70. 2:58angled cut right here on the slide that
71. 3:01ejects those gases forward, and I can
72. 3:03happily say that it does work very well.
73. 3:05And lastly, they are one of the few
74. 3:07options in this size of firearm that can
75. 3:10actually be equipped with a safety.
76. 3:11Whether you want it or not, it is
77. 3:13available on the Shield X, and for some
78. 3:14people that's important. Most of the
79. 3:15features on the Smith & Wesson Shield X
80. 3:17are fairly ubiquitous in this segment of
81. 3:19firearm. However, it does have the
82. 3:21ability to have a safety and that clear
83. 3:23sight cut, which is going to raise the
84. 3:25score in the features category to eight
85. 3:27out of 10. The pros of the ergonomics of
86. 3:28the Shield X. It's got good grip
87. 3:30texture. It's abrasive enough to be
88. 3:32usable, but not so abrasive that it's
89. 3:34going to rip up your skin really bad
90. 3:36like the M&P 2.0. It's got a really nice
91. 3:38length of pull, and what that means is
92. 3:41the distance from the back of the
93. 3:42backstrap to the trigger is nice. Now, I
94. 3:44have a large to XL size hands, and for
95. 3:47me, it's just a nice place to put my
96. 3:49trigger. Maybe on just on the small
97. 3:51side, but for anyone who has average
98. 3:53size hands, I think this would be
99. 3:54totally comfortable. And for me who have
100. 3:56a large hands, it's completely doable
101. 3:57and and very comfortable. I don't feel
102. 3:59myself, you know, craning over the
103. 4:00trigger too much or under riding it back
104. 4:02here, which those things will affect
105. 4:04your accuracy under rapid fire. I don't
106. 4:06feel that at all and really is kind of
107. 4:08inconsequential. So, good design. The
108. 4:09cons are going to be similar to the
109. 4:11shootability. I really don't like the
110. 4:13magazine design of the Shield X. And
111. 4:15this is a hot take and I on my last
112. 4:16video I got a lot of hate for this, but
113. 4:18I still stand by it after having this
114. 4:19thing for a year. I think this gun
115. 4:21should have been a 15 round flush fit
116. 4:23capacity from the factory. I think
117. 4:26basically the Shield X should have been
118. 4:28this long from the factory with a flush
119. 4:30fit base plate. And then if we wanted
120. 4:33to, they should have given us a 17 round
121. 4:35magazine. That way one, it can compete
122. 4:37with the largest players in the segment,
123. 4:40which is the X1 rows, the MC9 primes,
124. 4:43the Glock 43X, which has 15 round
125. 4:45capacity from the factory. Because check
126. 4:47this out. So, this is a Glock 19. The
127. 4:49Shield X and its flush fit magazine is
128. 4:51almost identical in dimension to a Glock
129. 4:5419, obviously aside from the width,
130. 4:56while other competitors like the Canik
131. 4:59MC9 prime are also almost equal in size,
132. 5:02but this is a 17 plus one round pistol.
133. 5:05So, I personally think that Smith &
134. 5:07Wesson should have nixed the 13 round
135. 5:09flush fit, given us a longer grip from
136. 5:11factory, a 15 round flush fit just like
137. 5:13this. Get rid of this little
138. 5:16dingus thing here. Give us some square
139. 5:18magazines like a Glock, you know, to
140. 5:19where other companies can build
141. 5:21aftermarket mag wells for this thing
142. 5:22without having to do some weird jicky
143. 5:24stuff. And then if we want the higher
144. 5:25capacity magazine, that could be the 17
145. 5:27plus one. I think that would make this
146. 5:29gun compete closer with its competitors.
147. 5:31I think it would bring more value to the
148. 5:33customer and I don't think people would
149. 5:35be upset with a gun that is
150. 5:3815 round capacity at the same length as
151. 5:40a Glock 19 just being a thinner more
152. 5:42carryable package. I know it's a hot
153. 5:44take, but it's how I feel. And I felt
154. 5:45that way for a long time about the
155. 5:47Shield X. All the controls are easily
156. 5:49accessible, even the safety, although
157. 5:51it's so small that you really don't ever
158. 5:52notice it's there. Just get the one with
159. 5:54the safety on it because you literally
160. 5:55never know it's there. It doesn't get in
161. 5:56the way at all. You don't feel it, you
162. 5:58don't see it. But, if you're traveling
163. 6:00or maybe you put on your bedside and
164. 6:01your kids are around or something, who
165. 6:02knows, and you want to use it, it is
166. 6:04there. Actually activating the safety is
167. 6:06a little bit tedious. It's hard to do
168. 6:08one-handed, but swiping it down is
169. 6:10actually fairly easy. So, if you you
170. 6:12know, say you forgot you left it on safe
171. 6:14and you need to use your firearm,
172. 6:15swiping it down is pretty simple. Also,
173. 6:18the the trigger guard on the Shield X is
174. 6:20very large, which I didn't think I was
175. 6:22going to like it first. I thought it was
176. 6:23going to kind of get in the way of my
177. 6:24finger and kind of give me like a Glock
178. 6:25knuckle situation. Not at all. It's been
179. 6:27actually really enjoyable, and I do like
180. 6:29having this much space. It's a little
181. 6:31bit less with this light here, but I do
182. 6:33like having the space here on inside the
183. 6:35trigger guard for maybe if you had
184. 6:36gloves or, you know, you have super
185. 6:38duper large hands, something like that.
186. 6:40This is something that could be
187. 6:41beneficial for a few people out there,
188. 6:43and so I do like that. And the last
189. 6:44thing I'll critique on ergonomics is I
190. 6:46wish they brought some of this texture
191. 6:48onto the sides here. I know why they
192. 6:49didn't, obviously, to make it more
193. 6:51comfortable during carry. However, I
194. 6:53feel like, in my personal opinion, just
195. 6:55give me all the texture everywhere and
196. 6:56let me deal with I'll put some goon tape
197. 6:58on it, I'll file it down, I'll flatten
198. 7:00it, I'll make it more comfortable. But,
199. 7:01give me that texture everywhere. Make it
200. 7:03that Make this a fighting gun. You can
201. 7:05see how much room they have here on this
202. 7:07gas pedal area, but for some reason they
203. 7:09give you this tiny little square texture
204. 7:10instead of filling out this entire area.
205. 7:13Especially on this side, it's very
206. 7:14noticeable. Look how small that little
207. 7:15guy is versus all the space they had to
208. 7:18put some texture. So, I like the texture
209. 7:20itself, I just wish it was in more
210. 7:22places. So, for ergonomics on the Shield
211. 7:24X, I'm going to go 7 out of 10.
212. 7:26So, the next category is going to be
213. 7:27reliability and build quality. Now, I
214. 7:29don't think it's any surprise that Smith
215. 7:32& Wesson has been been making quality
216. 7:33firearms for a very, very, very long
217. 7:35time. Just for funsies, I'm pretty sure
218. 7:37it's going to pass, obviously, but we're
219. 7:39going to do some limp wrist and just to
220. 7:40see how this thing cycles cuz it is It
221. 7:42feels like it's sprung a little bit
222. 7:43tighter than some of their guns. And so,
223. 7:45we're going to see how it does if I
224. 7:46really try and loosey-goosey grip this
225. 7:47thing, if it cause any kind of short
226. 7:49stroking or malfunctions. So,
227. 7:51let's let's give it a shot.
228. 7:54We're just going to go real
229. 7:54loosey-goosey with it.
230. 7:57Good so far.
231. 7:59Okay, even looser.
232. 8:03This feels so wrong.
233. 8:05It feels so wrong to do that. Okay, last
234. 8:07one real loose.
235. 8:10And lock back. Not like we expected
236. 8:12anything different, but seems like Smith
237. 8:14& Wesson's got the reliability and
238. 8:16spring pressure down. So, Shield X
239. 8:18looking good so far. And it's no
240. 8:20different with the Shield X. The slide
241. 8:22coatings are fantastic. The polymer
242. 8:24quality is very good. All the components
243. 8:26have been working very well, and there's
244. 8:28really no complaints there. Except for
245. 8:30two things. In regards to build quality,
246. 8:32I've noticed that this roll pin right
247. 8:34there seems to have started to walk out
248. 8:36just slightly
249. 8:38compared to the other side. You can see
250. 8:39it's kind of sunken in there. To be
251. 8:40honest with you, I can't confirm on
252. 8:42whether or not that was like that from
253. 8:43the factory or not. So, it's something
254. 8:45I'm definitely going to kind of keep an
255. 8:46eye on to make sure it doesn't get any
256. 8:47worse, and I'll probably end up pushing
257. 8:49it back to center and seeing if we can
258. 8:50kind of replicate this over time. Now,
259. 8:52for reliability during shooting this
260. 8:53pistol, it was stellar. I ran everything
261. 8:55from 115 grain to self-defense rounds.
262. 8:58It fit everything. It shot everything.
263. 9:00It was great. However, I did have issues
264. 9:02with this flush fit base plate magazine.
265. 9:05And I'm actually going to take the slide
266. 9:06off to try and convey this to you guys
267. 9:08on camera. What was happening is I would
268. 9:10have a fully loaded magazine. I'd go and
269. 9:12shoot my, you know, 13 rounds. After I'd
270. 9:14be done with that, the slide would lock
271. 9:16back, and I would go to take out my
272. 9:18magazine, and I couldn't for some
273. 9:19reason. I'd pull on it, and it wouldn't
274. 9:20come out. It didn't feel like it was
275. 9:23super duper jammed in there, but there
276. 9:24was kind of like some springy kind of
277. 9:26tension to it, to where I could pull it
278. 9:28a little bit, and it would sort of snap
279. 9:29back in. After looking at the inside of
280. 9:32the firearm, what was happening was
281. 9:33this. Somehow, and only after shooting a
282. 9:35few rounds,
283. 9:37the follower of the magazine would end
284. 9:39up on top of the slide stop slide
285. 9:41release right here.
286. 9:48Oh, interesting.
287. 9:52Not sure what that was. Magazine won't
288. 9:53drop free.
289. 9:55It does now.
290. 9:59Yeah, look at that. I'm not sure. Oh,
291. 10:01okay, I see. Interesting. Let me see if
292. 10:04I can try and show this to you guys. And
293. 10:05so what I would have to do is push this
294. 10:08down to pop off the top of that slide
295. 10:10stop slide release, and then I could
296. 10:12pull the magazine out just fine. And you
297. 10:13can even tell right here on the corner
298. 10:15of this magazine that that slide stop
299. 10:17slide release lever has started to chew
300. 10:18up the edge of it right there just a
301. 10:21little bit. So, it wasn't all the time.
302. 10:24It happened intermittently. I'll
303. 10:25probably end up reaching out to Smith &
304. 10:26Wesson, kind of telling them, and I bet
305. 10:27they'll probably just send me a new
306. 10:28magazine, and it should be okay from
307. 10:30there. But nobody gets a free pass here
308. 10:31on the channel, and so I got to tell you
309. 10:33how it is, and that is how it was.
310. 10:36So, for build quality and reliability on
311. 10:38the Smith & Wesson Shield X, if 10 is a
312. 10:40great score, we had an issue with the
313. 10:42roll pin, and I had an issue with one of
314. 10:44the magazines, but none of the
315. 10:46malfunctions were related to cycling or
316. 10:48reliability with different types of
317. 10:50ammo. So, I'm going to give this a 7 out
318. 10:52of 10 for reliability. But keep in mind,
319. 10:54this is a sample size of one. So, not
320. 10:55every gun is going to have this issue,
321. 10:57but I think it's worth mentioning
322. 10:59anyway. All right, so next category for
323. 11:01the Shield X is going to be
324. 11:02shootability. And considering that it is
325. 11:04really slim and kind of a, you know,
326. 11:06smaller profile gun, I was able to get
327. 11:08some really nice groups with this
328. 11:09firearm and consistently over time with
329. 11:12different types of ammo and different
330. 11:13types of higher pressure loads, things
331. 11:15like that, I was not having a hard time
332. 11:17at all getting nice solid consistent
333. 11:19groupings with THE SHIELD X.
334. 11:27ALL RIGHT, LET'S BRING THE TARGET BACK.
335. 11:29PART OF that is due to this trigger,
336. 11:31which I actually really enjoyed. It's a
337. 11:33very reminiscent trigger to the new
338. 11:34style on the M&P 2.0. Just like you can
339. 11:37see here on my 2.0 full-size metal here,
340. 11:40it has that kind of hybrid curve {slash}
341. 11:42flat trigger shoe here. I would consider
342. 11:44this to be one of the best triggers in
343. 11:46this segment. You have your take-up
344. 11:49right there. You hit your wall, pull,
345. 11:50pull, pull.
346. 11:52Nice clean break, no overtravel. It
347. 11:53stops where it's at.
348. 11:55The reset
349. 11:57nice and lightweight, pushes your finger
350. 11:58forward.
351. 12:00There's your click, audible and tactile.
352. 12:02Back to the wall, pull again.
353. 12:04And it breaks.
354. 12:05It's a very serviceable trigger. Now, is
355. 12:07it some competition trigger? No, it's
356. 12:08not meant to be. It's a everyday carry
357. 12:11duty style trigger, but it feels good.
358. 12:13It has those characteristics that allow
359. 12:14you to be accurate, consistent,
360. 12:16predictable, and reliable. Another
361. 12:18feature I really like, and this is a
362. 12:20maybe a big hand problem kind of thing,
363. 12:22but it does have a small beaver tail
364. 12:23here on the back of the handgun, which
365. 12:25is nice because I do tend to get slide
366. 12:27bite on very low bore axis handguns like
367. 12:30Glocks and things like that. And with
368. 12:31this beaver tail, there's no way I'm
369. 12:32getting slide bite at all. The width of
370. 12:35it is very thin, but it kind of has a
371. 12:37wider section here, so it fills up the
372. 12:38hand nicely even though I have large
373. 12:40hands. And with that beaver tail, it
374. 12:41really feels like you can lock in tight
375. 12:43on this thing and get a lot of traction
376. 12:45and control over it. The grip texture
377. 12:46itself is very nice as well. It's not
378. 12:48quite as aggressive as your M&P 2.0's,
379. 12:51but it is more aggressive than say the
380. 12:53Bodyguard 2.0. You have some really nice
381. 12:55slide serrations on the front and back
382. 12:57of the slide, as well as some kind of
383. 12:59moderate cocking ears. You can see here,
384. 13:01you can kind of do your pinch pull here
385. 13:02on the back if you'd like to. I do have
386. 13:04a couple of buddies who say these aren't
387. 13:05quite as aggressive as they'd like them
388. 13:06to be. However, I haven't found them to
389. 13:09be very difficult to use, but I could
390. 13:11see if maybe your hands were sweaty or
391. 13:12bloody or messed up or something that
392. 13:14you might slide off these serrations cuz
393. 13:16they're not quite as aggressive as they
394. 13:18could be. Or maybe they could have
395. 13:19wrapped those serrations around the top
396. 13:21like Shadow Systems does. Now, in
397. 13:22regards to shootability, the cons of the
398. 13:24Shield X is it is Is bit snappy. I don't
399. 13:26want to say it has a lot of muzzle flip
400. 13:28because it doesn't. Uh Um, you have a
401. 13:30lot of great texture here to hold that
402. 13:31muzzle down. However, whether it's the
403. 13:33way that it's sprung or because it has
404. 13:35kind of a tapered grip profile towards
405. 13:37the back here, maybe you are just I'm
406. 13:39feeling more recoil in the hand because
407. 13:41of the angle of the grip towards the
408. 13:43back. But it doesn't shoot as flat,
409. 13:45obviously, as a compensated pistol or a
410. 13:47ported pistol. And I know they have the
411. 13:49uh carry comp model, which maybe that
412. 13:50does alleviate some of that more
413. 13:52perceived in-hand recoil. But, I would
414. 13:55put this just as equal to something like
415. 13:56a Canik MC9 Prime, a Glock 43X, 365XL.
416. 14:01It feels like a micro-sized 9 mm
417. 14:04handgun. However, it's a little bit
418. 14:05skinnier in the back, so maybe that's
419. 14:07why it has more perceived in-hand
420. 14:09recoil. Now, lastly, a con in the
421. 14:11shootability category is the grip length
422. 14:14is not quite long enough. As you can
423. 14:16see, my my pinky is kind of halfway on
424. 14:18the grip there. And so, when you go to
425. 14:20insert magazines, because Smith & Wesson
426. 14:22integrates, for whatever reason, they've
427. 14:23been doing this for years, and it's
428. 14:25People have been complaining about this
429. 14:26for like decades, it seems like. The
430. 14:28base plates integrate with
431. 14:30the bottom of the gun. You have this
432. 14:32weird little kind of dongle on the back
433. 14:34here, and then the the actual base plate
434. 14:36is part of the grip geometry. And
435. 14:38especially when you put in the 15-round
436. 14:40magazine,
437. 14:41it fits like a puzzle piece. And because
438. 14:43of that, this is your extended This is
439. 14:44your grip now. But, if your finger is
440. 14:47already hanging off the edge here on the
441. 14:48front, like mine, and you go to reload,
442. 14:51guess what happens?
443. 14:53Pinches right here. And it's It did that
444. 14:55to me quite a few times. Now,
445. 14:57oh, yeah. I'll I just There's an example
446. 15:00for you right there. You can see right
447. 15:01there, it pinched me on my pinky. Not a
448. 15:04massive issue. However, when this gun is
449. 15:06comparing to things like the X-MACRO,
450. 15:08which is a fully fleshed out, I mean,
451. 15:10it's it's basically a compact gun at
452. 15:12this point with 17-round capacity, or
453. 15:14say the Canik MC9 Prime that comes with
454. 15:16a magwell, that is something you don't
455. 15:18have to worry about. And I think Smith &
456. 15:19Wesson needs to start understanding that
457. 15:21people are shooting these guns a lot.
458. 15:23They are training with these guns a lot.
459. 15:24They are doing tactical reloads. They
460. 15:26are doing manipulations. They're doing
461. 15:27things that maybe back in the day when
462. 15:29people were carrying, you know, Walther
463. 15:30PPS M2s, they weren't doing quite as
464. 15:32much. And so, this This needs to go
465. 15:34away. I've been saying this for a long
466. 15:37time, and it's the killer of this gun,
467. 15:39in my opinion. It's kind of like it's
468. 15:40Achilles' heel, which is funny cuz it's
469. 15:41on the bottom here. So, that is what is
470. 15:43going to bring the score down just a
471. 15:44little bit in the shootability category.
472. 15:46It was good overall, and so,
473. 15:47shootability for the Shield X is going
474. 15:49to be an eight out of 10.
475. 15:51All right, last category is value. Now,
476. 15:53I can't tell you exactly how much the
477. 15:55Shield X is going to cost you. However,
478. 15:58what I can say is I went to go fill up
479. 16:00my truck with gasoline, and it cost me
480. 16:03$499,
481. 16:04dude. Isn't that crazy? Which, I think,
482. 16:07is great value. That makes this more
483. 16:09affordable than the SIG 365 XL, or
484. 16:14especially the 365 X-Macro, which is
485. 16:17really getting close to 1K, which is
486. 16:18kind of crazy. It plays in the same area
487. 16:21as the Canik MC9 Prime and the Glock
488. 16:2343X. It actually costs the exact same
489. 16:25amount as its predecessor, the Shield
490. 16:27Plus, which is kind of funny. I'm not
491. 16:29really sure
492. 16:30what Smith & Wesson is doing there with
493. 16:32their pricing structure, but I think
494. 16:34this is way more gun for the same price
495. 16:36than the Shield Plus. So, I'm definitely
496. 16:37recommending this over the Shield Plus.
497. 16:39And the only other option I could think
498. 16:41of in this same category that would be
499. 16:43less expensive than this is the Taurus
500. 16:46GX4 XL, but I don't really think that's
501. 16:49a big player in the market, but I
502. 16:50thought I would mention it just to kind
503. 16:53of give you something to scale this
504. 16:54thing at. So, for the cons in the value
505. 16:56department, I I'm going to stand by this
506. 16:58till the day I die, and I stand with
507. 17:00John from the Gun Collective. This gun
508. 17:01only comes with two magazines, your 13
509. 17:03and your 15. I think that's ridiculous.
510. 17:06It's time that we get three magazines
511. 17:07with our guns, and any company who knows
512. 17:09that their their shooters are going to
513. 17:11shoot their guns seriously would give
514. 17:13them three magazines. And the reason why
515. 17:15is cuz you have one in the gun and two
516. 17:17on your belt when you're training.
517. 17:18People are shooting smaller guns like
518. 17:20bigger guns. They're going to the range,
519. 17:21they're training, they're shooting
520. 17:22competitions with them. You have a lot
521. 17:24of competitions with like the Hunter
522. 17:25Constantine Belt Competition Series
523. 17:27where people are shooting high-level
524. 17:29competitions from inside the waistband
525. 17:31and we demand three magazines. Even if
526. 17:34you have to I me personally, I would pay
527. 17:36more than what this gun is priced at if
528. 17:39I got three magazines. You tack on an
529. 17:41extra 10 bucks, 20 bucks, whatever to
530. 17:43the MSRP. Give me a third king magazine,
531. 17:46dude. What the
532. 17:48You know what I'm saying? So for value
533. 17:49on the Shield X, I'm going eight out of
534. 17:5110. And as a little bonus, I'm going to
535. 17:52throw in one more category. Now this
536. 17:54category is not scored, but I think it's
537. 17:56something that will be important for the
538. 17:57review for you guys the viewer. And I'm
539. 17:58going to call it the X-Factor category.
540. 18:00It's something special about the gun
541. 18:02that makes it stand out above other
542. 18:04guns, right? And from my perspective
543. 18:05after having this thing for a year, it's
544. 18:08the width. This is a very very thin
545. 18:11firearm. While it does decrease your
546. 18:13capacity potential, and it does makes
547. 18:16the recoil feel a little bit sharper in
548. 18:17your hand, that makes this a very easy
549. 18:20gun to carry. It disappears on your
550. 18:22waistline, guys. Or if you have a we use
551. 18:24a grab bags, it fits really nice and
552. 18:26easy in a grab bag. And to me, that is
553. 18:28very important. The most important thing
554. 18:30about choosing an EDC gun is figuring
555. 18:32out which gun you're actually going to
556. 18:34carry every single day. Now, not
557. 18:36everybody does carry every single day. I
558. 18:37know I don't. There are some days where
559. 18:39I I'm I eat a a big meal, I'm feeling
560. 18:41extra fluffy. I already have love
561. 18:43handles and guns with aggressive texture
562. 18:44can rub me the wrong way, I get it. But
563. 18:46when you go from carrying a Glock 19,
564. 18:48which is a fairly wide gun, to a skinny
565. 18:51gun like this at .9 inches wide, even
566. 18:54the Glock 43X is wider than this. And so
567. 18:57that to me is the X-Factor of the Shield
568. 18:59X. That makes this a very easy gun to
569. 19:02conceal carry. That's to me my first
570. 19:04contribution to the X-Factor category.
571. 19:06All right, so after tallying up all the
572. 19:08different categories, the Smith & Wesson
573. 19:10scored on the BHS proprietary scoring
574. 19:14tier list a 39 out of 60. So, that puts
575. 19:18the Shield X at quite above average
576. 19:20scoring and that is basically how I feel
577. 19:22about the gun. The gun is not the best
578. 19:24carry gun I've ever shot in my entire
579. 19:25life and you know, the most interesting,
580. 19:28the most feature-rich, the most fun.
581. 19:30However, it is by no means the worst and
582. 19:32it is a good competitor in the market,
583. 19:34brings a lot of value and so it is a
584. 19:36good above average gun. Now, who do I
585. 19:38think this gun is for? I think it's for
586. 19:39anybody who's looking for a comfortable,
587. 19:42higher capacity 9 mm carry gun and
588. 19:44especially for those guys who are Smith
589. 19:46& Wesson loyalists. If you shoot M&P in
590. 19:48competition or that's your duty gun for
591. 19:51work, if you're a police officer or a
592. 19:53security guard, something like that and
593. 19:54you use an M&P for work, the Shield X is
594. 19:56a great way to translate that across the
595. 19:57board and I really don't think you're
596. 19:58going to be upset. I don't think
597. 20:00necessarily anybody's going to be too
598. 20:01upset about the Shield X. It's pretty
599. 20:03unoffending, I guess you could say, but
600. 20:05I can already tell that this is kind of
601. 20:06like, you know, good old faithful. Like
602. 20:08this is going to be in the rotation for
603. 20:10a while and it's really never going to
604. 20:11let me down. It's just that typical
605. 20:14Smith & Wesson quality that we have come
606. 20:16to know and love. All right, fellas, so
607. 20:18that is going to be it for the Smith &
608. 20:19Wesson Shield X. I hope you guys like
609. 20:22this video. I hope you enjoyed it and
610. 20:24maybe this helped you kind of make a
611. 20:25better purchasing decision. That's what
612. 20:27my channel is all about, making that
613. 20:28harder and dollar in this economy last
614. 20:31as long as it can when it comes to your
615. 20:332A consumeristic habits. Like, share and
616. 20:36hype this video. If you guys want to
617. 20:38watch a few more things, I'm going to
618. 20:39throw some videos up here in a second
619. 20:40that you can kind of continue to watch.
620. 20:42If you like this one, you'll probably
621. 20:43like those. Hey, come say hi at Gun Con
622. 20:442026 by the way. I'll be there with my
623. 20:46with my boys and I would love to shake
624. 20:49your hand, give you a little ball tap,
625. 20:51you know? But aside from that,
626. 20:52gentlemen, thank you so much for
627. 20:53watching. Talk less, shoot more. We'll
628. 20:55see you in the next one. Peace.
629. 21:07As I have five categories we're going to
630. 21:09go through. Each of those categories has
631. 21:10one out of 10. You throw all those
632. 21:12points together and we're going to get a
633. 21:13one out of 100.
634. 21:15That's not true. One out of 50.
635. 21:18I'm a freaking idiot.
636. 21:20Yes, I am.
637. 21:22But don't say anything otherwise I'll
638. 21:23blast you.