The Best S&W Shield Accessories To Improve Your Handgun

S&W Shield Accessories 

Recently, we did an article on some of the best handguns on the market today in the 9mm parabellum cartridge. Overall, the list presents a fantastic list; any of the firearms on it would be good options for concealed carry firearms. With that in mind, many of the entries on that list are full sized handguns, which might be a little hard to conceal and are certainly heavy.

That’s not the case with the S&W Shield. The shield is designed from the ground up for concealed carry. First of all, it has a single stack magazine, keeping things light. Second, it gives you an option to have a manual safety, or rely on the trigger, depending on what you prefer. Those, combined with the large three dot sights make this an excellent option for carrying on a daily basis.

Here, we’re going to focus on a few accessories that will make carrying the Shield an absolute breeze. Thanks to its popularity, there are tons of awesome accessories out there. Here, we focus on a few themes. First, we want to dial the ergonomics in as much as humanly possible. To that end, we’ll recommend some grips that have a laser in them Second, once that’s done, we work on the sights with a light, laser, or some new sights. There are some great options in the sight market for these awesome handguns. After that, we settle into performance to try to make the S&W Shield live up to its potential.  For example, some new magazines and a drop-in barrel can make this into a great suppressor host and concealed carry firearm. Smith and Wesson have been making handguns, both auto loaders and revolvers, for a century now, so we have the impression that they really know what they’re doing. 

Flashbang Holsters Prohibition Holster 

When talking about concealed carry, one of the major considerations has to be the holster. After all, that’s how you keep the gun on your person. Ideally, a holster will be comfortable to wear, fit well with the style of concealed carry you want, retain the pistol well, and print as little as possible.

We think that the Prohibition Capone Holster for the S&W Shield is an excellent option that strikes a balance between all of those things. Leather tends to break in to the wearer with time, making it a really comfortable holster material: the back plate of this holster is leather, and thus really comfortable. The large belt clip makes it easy to work into your daily routine. The good design retains the pistol well and, importantly for non-safety models, covers the trigger guard.  The holster itself is kydex, so you get the retention of a modern holster system with the comfort of leather. Overall, this is a great holster option.

LaserMax S&W Shield Laser

Aside from a holster, another thing that might come in very handy in using the S&W Shield as a concealed carry weapon is a sighting system. This one, the LaserMax, is a laser that mounts directly to the frame, and sits on the trigger guard. Then, you’ll get a red laser that will help you keep your rounds on target. One feature that we really like is that you can configure this to activate either left or right-handed. Between that and the easy installation, this is an excellent and slight light that doesn’t add much bulk to the gun and could be seriously useful. The major benefit of a sight like this one is that it matches up very nicely with the ergonomics of the firearm and you’ll be able to activate the laser with your trigger finger easily.

SilencerCo Threaded Barrel 

9mm is one of the handgun rounds that suppresses really well. Given the popularity of suppressors these days, it makes some sense to try to add a suppressor to the Shield. If you want to do that, this barrel is exactly what you’ll need. Made by Silencerco, this drops right in like a normal barrel. But, this one’s a little different. Aside from the match grade rifling and generally really high quality, it’s also threaded 1/2×28 so that you can attach a suppressor onto the S&W Shield and make it into a wonderful suppressor host.  Even if you don’t plan to run a suppressor, this barrel is a high quality one that you would do well to add to this excellent firearm.

ProMag Steel Magazine 

If you’re modifying your S&W Shield, we imagine that you’ll also be putting a fair few rounds through it. So, you’ll need some magazines. These, which are  made by Promag are excellent.  These come in a few different options, from 8 to 10 round. If you’re looking to keep your Shield extremely svelte, stick with the standard capacity and a flush floorplate for the mag. If, on the other hand, a little extra width doesn’t bother you, try the ten rounder. They’re all steel magazines with polymer floorplates or extensions that are meant to run for a long time without giving you any headaches. We recommend picking up a few to cut down on the amount of time that you spend reloading magazines.

CrimsonTrace Laserguard Red Laser

That accessory rail on the bottom of the S&W Shield gives you a fair few options. A light, as we mentioned, is a good one. With that said, we know that not everyone needs the same things and a full flashlight does, by design necessity, add a little bit of bulk to a gun.  If you do want to exclude the light, that makes sense.

But, we may as well still try to make good use of that rail. The Shield’s stock three dot sights are honestly good ones, but some people will still want a little more intuitive sighting system for concealed carry, especially considering that you may well end up fighting without the opportunity to take a second to get a good sight picture. This Crimson Trace Laserguard does that. This particular model replaces the stock trigger guard and occupies the front rail. This cuts down on overall bulk, with the major added benefit of having an easy to see green laser dot for a sighting option. This kind of thing works well as a standalone sighting option or in conjunction with a new pair of sights. One major benefit to a laser is that you don’t need to have a sight picture in order to use it. That makes them quick and very useful for self defense shooting.

S&W Shield Factory Magazine 

One of the great things about the S&W Shield is that it is a slick, easy to conceal package that, overall, is really quite slim. With anything in design, though, that means a tradeoff has to be made somewhere. In this case, that tradeoff was that the Shield has single stacked magazines that have a pretty limited capacity.

With that in mind, we think it’s probably a good idea to pick up a few spare magazines and keep them nearby if you’re carrying. Here, we recommend the OEM mags that run very well in the gun and give you 8 round of 9mm each. When I carry a single stack, I keep a magazine in the gun and two in a bag nearby. That puts me at the same overall capacity as some of the bigger, harder to conceal handguns, assuming I train well and can do quick mag changes under stress, which is something you’re going to need to practice as well. We recommend both these and the option by Promag. It’s a good idea to try a wide variety of magazines to see what works best in your specific gun, and for your budget.

ProMag Drum Magazine 

Earlier, we had mentioned that one of the potential limitations of the Shield was that it only came with single stack, 8 round magazines. And, for concealed carry purposes, that is largely true. But there is one exception that is worth talking about here.

Promag has decided to release a 50-round drum for the S&W shield. No, you did not misread that. If you need to put 50 rounds of 9mm on target, you can do so with this small, relatively compact pistol, now with a 50 round drum hanging off of the bottom. So, if you do, in fact, need to suppress a platoon of enemy soldiers, this might just be the magazine you were looking for. It might not be the most practical magazine on the market, but if you do want to have some fun with your S&W Shield, it can certainly be done with this magazine.

Crimson Trace Lasergrips 

Some of us don’t love to have a bunch of stuff hanging off the front of a handgun. Or, perhaps, you already have a holster that you like that doesn’t allow for the slide mounting of a laser. If either of those sound like you, but you still want a laser sight, try these. These Lasergrips put an easy to activate laser on the grip of the S&W Shield, meaning that you still get a laser without having any additional weight or bulk on the slide. These are a great way to get a laser on the gun with just the changing of the grip, and they make a fie grip even when the laser is off, that some people find fits them better than the OEM grips. Overall, these are very much worth a try. Like the other laser we recommend, this one can be used either alone or with a new set of sights in order to get you rounds on target quickly. The combination of a laser and night sights would make the Shield a fantastic concealed carry option.

Trijicon Orange Night Sights 

If you’re looking to upgrade the S&W Shield in a really meaningful way, consider getting a new set of sights. These Trijicon HD orange sights are from one of the best manufacturers in the business, and with these we see how they eared that reputation. Being that these are night sights, they have a really bright tritium set of dots. To make getting a sight picture easy in any lighting condition, the front sight has a nice orange ring around it that makes it difficult to miss. Additionally, the rear sight is serrated. This does two things. First, it makes it such that there is less glare in sunny conditions thanks to the serrations breaking up the light. Second, it gives them more grip if you want to use the rear sight as a place by which to grab the slide to manipulate it. Overall, these great sights are a serious update.

Galco Right Hand Shoulder Holster

When it comes to holsters, there are a lot of great options out there for your S&W Shield. One that has not gotten a ton of attention in the last few years is the idea of a shoulder holster. When carrying a full sized 9mm, it might be worth thinking about, especially if you’re always wearing a jacket, or in a place where you can open carry. Usually, these attach by some suspenders, and then sit over your shoulder. These, by Galco, are a high quality and comfortable option that you can wear all day and barely notice. One thing that we really like about these particular holsters is that there is the capacity to store a few magazines on the side opposite the gun. This, of course, gives you extra ammo, but it also serves to balance out the weight of the overall holster. These can be a great option if you do a little bit of practice with your draws: they can be extremely  quick.

Parting Shots…

Smith and Wesson have made a really compelling pistol in the S&W Shield. It’s small, designed for concealed carry, and is generally a really slick design. We think that, with a few little modifications it can become one of the best 9mm handguns ever made.  We start off fairly simply, with some magazines or a holster. With a bit of messing around, you can begin to change the internals with a barrel, or put some new sights on the gun. No matter what you do, the Shield is an excellent platform to start from. So, we hope you got a lot out of this list and take the chance to check out this excellent firearm and its accessories.