Smith & Wesson Shield Plus Leaked?

While browsing through Facebook I found a dealer that had found something interesting; Smith & Wesson was coming out with two new Shield variants. The Shield Plus and the Shield Plus Performance Center model. While there isn’t a lot of information floating around about this new pistol yet, it appears to have some really solid features.

First thing you’ll notice is that they did away with the hinged trigger that’s been a main source of complaints on all M&P models. Instead Smith & Wesson opted to use a flatter-face trigger shoe with a Glock style safety blade. The thing you won’t notice from pictures is the increased capacity.

The Shield Plus guns come with a 10+1 flush fit magazine as well as a 13+1 extended magazine which puts it right up against the Springfield Hellcat and Sig Sauer P365. If Smith & Wesson is able to keep the size profile of the original Shield it’s going to be a very strong competitor; especially with all the S&W fans that opted for the Sig P365 purely based on capacity.

For the dealers out there, you can try to find SKU:1691669. From the little I was able to see the estimated MSRP is $550 which means the realistic street price will be $450. I just hope Smith & Wesson comes out with a standard model that’s optics ready that will accept the Holosun 407K or the Trijicon RMRcc.

Additional Information since publishing:
The Smith & Wesson Shield Plus will fit existing Shield holsters. The only change dimensionally was the widening of the grip slightly to accommodate the new magazine.
The magazines are being produced by MecGar which means we might see $20 magazines in the future if Smith & Wesson allows MecGar to sell them under their own branding.

The Optics Ready Performance Center model does use the Crimson Trace footprint which is the same as the Shield RMS footprint (to my knowledge) which means it will work with the Holosun 407K. Smith & Wesson has also confirmed that they will be releasing a model that will be cut for a Trjicon RMRcc.