A few extra features specific to the M&P9 Shield EZ are the special magazine loading system. The magazine features two ears on either side of the follower that protrude out of the side of the magazine body that allows the loader to preemptively depress the magazine spring to make for easier loading.

Those with a weak grip will find this feature useful during extended range sessions as the constant loading of pistol magazines can wear out your hands and thumbs pretty quickly. This system also eliminates the need for a magazine loading tool to be brought along to the range, further simplifying range sessions for new or inexperienced shooters.

Shooting the M&P9 Shield EZ is like any other pistol. The recoil can be quite sharp at times due to the angle of the grip. The 18-degree grip angle makes the pistol easy to point but I also think it translates to sharper recoil especially when loaded with hotter defensive loads. There are reduced recoil 9mm defensive ammunitions out there if this ends up being a problem for the shooter. Compared to the 380 EZ the recoil is significantly more but I don’t think it’s a deal-breaker for all but the most recoil sensitive people.

The pistol comes with white 3-dot sights both adjustable for windage. The sights are pleasant enough to shoot with for daily range sessions and I have no complaints about their useability during the daytime. However, it would be nice to have night-sights for use inside the home if it came down to that.

AmmunitionThe M&P9 Shield EZ didn’t seem to have any ammunition sensitivities. I ran 5 different types of ammunition through the gun both target and defensive ammunition and experienced no cycling issues.

I was able to make consistent and accurate shots for defensive use with all these ammunitions. The testing targets I used were various sizes of steel plates placed at ranges between 10 and 25 yards. Shots at 25 yards were no problem on an 18″ steel plate which is about the size of a person’s chest. I did not text to see any trends that might have cropped up due to the different ammunition types.

Ergonomics and ControlsLike I said above, the trigger is amazing. With the gun being a single action internally hammer-fired gun this is no surprise. The take-up is about a quarter of an inch after which there is about 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch of creep before the trigger breaks. Normally this would be a slight problem but with the trigger pull being just a hair under 5 lbs your trigger finger can easily fight through that tiny bit of creep to make accurate shots.

By far my biggest grievance with the M&P9 Shield EZ is the slide-stop/release. To be frank, it is simply next to impossible to release the slide using your thumb. I experienced this problem both at my testing at Smith & Wesson as well as with the review gun they sent to me. For a gun that is marketed towards being easy to use I find this to be a pretty big flaw. If the intention is to train up newer and weaker shooters in proper gun handling, providing them with a difficult to use slide release isn’t going to fare well for teaching them the proper use of that particular control.

Thankfully the slide is so easy to rack that you can do that instead but I’d like to see Smith & Wesson improve this particular feature for the good of its customers who are new to guns and are learning their way around the various controls and features of semi-automatic handguns in particular.