Reddit reviews AmeriGlo Tritium I-Dot Green with Orange Outline Sight Set, Smith and Wesson, M and P Shield

Welcome to the wonderful world of /r/guns! In this world, you will receive no advice and only insults and downvotes if you don't post a stunning photo or a circlejerk argument. Also, congrats on your new purchase. The Shield is an excellent, accurate, and functional CCW weapon. I own two.

My advice on naming: name your gun all you want. It hurts no one except random strangers on the internet whose opinions don't matter anyway. That said, you might be taken less seriously in any communities that don't do something similar.

My unsolicited advice: do some upgrades. I've done the following to mine:

• Get yourself a set of Talon grips for about $20. The Shield has a comfortable grip, but a somewhat slippery one. Talon grips are almost as comfortable as stock (some people think they're more comfortable), and they're much grippier, especially with sweaty hands.
  
• Mag Guts will increase the capacity of each magazine by 1 round. Thus, the flush-mount, 7-round magazines become 8-round magazines, and 8-round extended mags become 9 rounds, plus one in the chamber = up to 10 rounds for a Shield.
  
• Consider some night sights. I went with Ameriglo Tritium Pro I-Dot sights with the orange outline. The orange is extremely visible in low light, and the tritium is visible in darkness or near darkness. They're like an XS Big Dot, but the orange ring is even more visible than XS' white ring, and XS doesn't do rear tritium for the shield.
  
• Finally, look into the Apex Shield Duty/Carry Action Enhancement Trigger and Kit. It reduces the trigger pull slightly (but still keeps it above 5.5 pounds, which is my personal safe minimum), but really cleans up the action and reset from the stock trigger.
  
  Happy shooting! Your shield can get 5-inch groups at 40 feet if you practice. That's pretty decent for a 3.5-inch barrel on a sub-compact gun.

I don't have a Glock. I have a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield 9mm. However, the same logic applies.

I have researched this for several months and have been unable to come up with a single example of anyone getting into trouble for using an after-market trigger in a defensive gun use. I have found examples (see /u/this_is_not_the_cia's post for one) in which after-market triggers impacted the case outcome for a negligent shooting, but that's different. Some experts (such as Massad Ayoob) have said things like:

> The two things I would strongly advise against doing and have strongly advised against doing, would be a trigger pull lighter than the factory recommends, and removal or de-activation of a safety device.

> You try not to give weapons to your opponent. If I have an [opposing] attorney trying to nail my scalp to the wall, I’m not gonna give him the sound bite of “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re here to determine whether this man was reckless, and arrogant, and negligent. Ladies and gentlemen, he was so reckless, he deactivated the safety device on a lethal weapon. And he was so arrogant, he thought he knew more about this gun than the designer.” Tell me how you’re gonna get past that.

> As far as the light trigger pull, your problem there, number one, is it has historically been linked to unintended discharges. So problem one, under stress, we SAY we’re gonna keep our finger off the trigger.

> The trouble with that study done in Europe with trained emergency-response personnel, indicated that several times, the sensors that were put on the test gun picked up a finger touching it [the trigger], when the officers swore that during the high-stress exercise their finger had never entered the trigger guard. It apparently occurs unconsciously, as the mind says “Hey, if we have to shoot this thing, we want to verify we can reach the trigger.”

> Second, you can go to court and say “I didn’t accidentally discharge the gun, I always keep my finger outside the trigger.” And they will then hit you with the bomb. “So, you want this jury to believe that you’re incapable of making a mistake? You’re the first perfect human being in two thousand and ten years. Is that what you’re telling this jury?” Now that is gonna be a pretty tough sell.

> Where the accidental discharge theory comes, is they know you have a justifiable shooting, but you’ve got either the rare prosecutor that is politically driven and has some political hay to make by hanging you out to dry, or the much less-rare plaintiff’s lawyer who’s trying to sue you or your insurance company for something – mainly your insurance company.

> They know there is no such thing as a justifiable accident. They know that in a state like Florida, or many other states now, even on the street, the so-called Castle Doctrine has been extended. Basically, particularly if you’re attacked in the home, the presumption is that you were right to shoot the intruder.

> If you read the fine print, you’ll find all those laws are worded so they do not cover negligence. So all the other side has to come up with is say “Yeah, well, but he killed him by accident, and that’s not what this law is about. Our theory is, he accidentally shot him.” The light trigger lends itself to that. And you’ve basically just given them an argument they can use against you.

Now, his reasons for suggesting this were due to the possibility of a manslaughter charge stemming from a negligent gun use, and this is certainly a possible side-effect of replacing your trigger. I finally decided to order one a week or two ago, and it'll arrive next week. If I like it, I'll probably keep it. It's the Apex kit for the S&W M&P Shield, and it reduces the trigger weight from roughly 6.5 lbs to roughly 4.5 lbs. This one pound less than some police-issue Glocks, which could potentially be a case for negligent modification in a circumstance in which I ever cause a negligent discharge.

I'm having the modification being done by a gunsmith, it's not a huge drop in pull weight (I'm using the Apex springs rather than the Shield spring hack that lowers the pull even more), and the Apex kit is common enough that I feel the risk is minimal. Whenever I draw, my finger stays outside the trigger guard until I'm ready to fire. Practice, practice, practice, rinse and repeat. So long as I never have a negligent discharge, I don't think I'll have a problem. If I do, I might... though for more reasons than just the trigger modification. So I'll consider carefully whether or not I love the trigger so much that I'm okay with the risk. I don't know if I will. I have two Shields so I have some time to consider it. I have modified the sights, grips, and grip bottom plates, and see no reason I might need to remove them. The trigger... may be different entirely. But as Ayoob has stated:

> The philosopher George Santayana said, “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The history on point here is Santibanes v. Tomball, Texas.

Choose wisely.

I recommend fluorescent orange. I have a set of AmeriGlo Pro I-Dot sights on each of my Shields, and that orange band really pops more than white ever did.

I got mine from Amazon for $75 shipped. I had a tough time deciding between the "I" sights and the CAP sights, but chose the CAP sights. You might as well do the trigger along with the sights because you have to remove the rear sight on the shield to install the new plunger. Shield action enhancement kit

same here i am not a fan of the 3 dots i went with the ameriglo pro i-dots. almost the same as the hackathorn, but the rear blade has a small tritium insert with no outline so it doesn't stand out in the day and is visible in the night. best of both worlds!
https://www.amazon.com/Ameriglo-Tritium-Orange-Outline-Wesson/dp/B00A95VQSG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469469284&sr=8-1&keywords=ameriglo+pro+i-dot+shield