I want to say a few things I've learned about these Shield/Glock 43 sized guns, since I've shot so many matches with them. Running the little guns in matches was an experiment to see if they can hang with the big dogs if your life depended on it. In my experience they can provided that I adhered to some changes. I've got 8000 rounds thru my Shield, 6-7000 thousand thru my G26, 1000 thru a Kahr, and 2000 thru my Honor Defense, so my opinions come from my experience and YMMV. Accuracy is implied so I won't bother listing it.
1. Reliability. If I can't shoot 500 rounds of HP's consecutively, failure free through it, I don't carry it. I cast my own HPs just for this. I also load my own Gold Dots for testing. You can't find any Gold Dot projectiles anymore however. I found that different shooting positions in competition bring out the failures.
2. After reliability the most important thing is grip. This is huge. If that little bug moves around in your hand then you cannot depend on it. Shoot it at H20 in July and August, and the buckets of sweat you pour out will tell on a subpar grip. I can't express how important this is. Grip Tape is a temporary solution, especially the rubberized kind. Once the oils from your sweat cover it one time you'll need to replace it. A good stipple job is great. Some of the newer guns that have come out like the Shield in 45acp and the Honor Defense have great gripping surface. Bad grip leads to inaccurate shots.
3. Get rid of anything that clings to clothes. This could be a sharp pointed sight, or something similar; flashlight, laser. If it snags...dump it. Take grip tape off the ends of magazine baseplates. Talon grip tape has cutouts for some of the magazine baseplates like the Shield and such. Throw it in the trash. Anything grabby on the mag baseplates will mess you up. I've had matches where i had to roll the magazine out of my shirt because it got so contorted. Loading magazines is where you lose all your time, so get rid of all hindrances.
4. When you reload on any gun smaller than a compact, don't use the slide stop...overhand slingshot it. I don't know why, but all my reloading hangups, came from slide stop reloads. Once I went to slingshot only...all problems went away.
5. Trigger pull weight is a bigger issue with smaller guns, and with smaller guns that don't have a safety. This is opposite of what I used to think. I do not like safeties. But in my experience, any bug gun with a trigger pull under 6lbs is a bigger safety concern when holstering and unholstering ; especially from a seated position like in a car. YMMV, but for myself, I'm comfortable carrying a small gun without a safety only if the trigger is 6lbs and up. I prefer it right around 7lbs. But the trigger has to be smooth. If it is lower than 6lbs, then I want a safety for holsteting purposes. I firmly believe that it's easier to be safe with bigger guns. Anything the size if a G19 and up I don't have a problem with. And, I've noticed that I'm more accurate with bug guns if the trigger sits around 6-7lbs as opposed to a lighter one. I've got video, and it showed me that if the trigger was real light on the small gun, when I transitioned from target to target the first shot would fall out of the A zone/Down zero when I stepped on the gas peddle. The gun is so light I was overdriving it past the center; the lack of weight hindered me. Having a 6-7 lb trigger helped stop this as it forced me to be more diligent and less sloppy on my trigger pull.
Just my opinions.
