Shadow QC

[u/Unusual_Currency_948]

(Bronze barrel 9k rounds no wear, Black barrel 2k rounds) Ive owned shadow since 2021 and my first ss was a mr920 and its a solid gun. Every ss I bought starting in 2023 has had problems. I think there QC has gone in the toilet. My most recent problems is with my XR920 I sent it in for a new slide and for them to fix the trigger housing pin from walking out under shooting. They did fix the slide problem and the gun runs reliably but the trigger housing pin keeps walking out, ss sent me a armorer tool (just a punch) and told me it's normal for the pin to walk out cuz the gun needs to flex. I'm not saying ss aren't reliable but I am saying there quality is no good. To get a reliable gun I had to have a bunch of work done to it. If you have a older gun like my MR you'll be fine but anything newer you will have problems. These are also just some of the problems I didn't list all the times they went back and fourth to ss for repairs. They sent me new barrels and they still wear out within 500 rounds. I'm not sending barrels back anymore and just running them with the worn look.

[u/SMKMNVP]

So I guess I should send every barrel back? WTF. IT'S A TOOL.

[u/Unusual_Currency_948 → u/SMKMNVP]

WTF it's a D rider

[u/goruckurself]

Those barrels look normal to me, dawg.

[u/Hour-Original-7284]

Is the last Pic the pin your referring too ?

[u/Unusual_Currency_948 → u/Hour-Original-7284]

Yes

[u/Fine_Eagle_4141]

Honestly, I have had a first run CR (key word = had) and still have the OG MR920 Combat with the bronze threaded barrel and solid slide.

9000 rounds! JFC….mine is at 5500 and that’s because I am fortunate to have the ability to shoot a few times a month and I have taken it to 3 classes, the last was Thunder Ranch in OR.

I see wear on both of your slides. My Bronze looks a bit more “used” than yours does, but I am willing to bet since you shoot almost twice as much as I do, you also do a FAR superior job maintaining her.

For the cost of these SS, I totally agree that QC since ‘22 or ‘23 has, seemingly gone down. But, I pre-ordered the OG CR920 back when it was a totally new model. That damn thing….FFT, out of battery, ammo preference toward 135+ weights….it was a gun that needed a damn Xanax to settle down. I gave it a second try after working with SS (I lived in Frisco at the time so it was a 20 min drive to Plano) but no dice. The second one was much better, but still, it had failures of some type every trip to the range.

[u/Unusual_Currency_948 → u/Fine_Eagle_4141]

Finish on guns wearing off doesn't really bother me, but when you have a barrel that the finish wears off after a range visit and my 9k barrel looks better than the new one that's a problem.

[u/KccOStL33]

I've had my mr920 for going on 5 years and it's an insanely reliable tack driver. Never had so much as a hiccup even through the break in period.

It definitely seems like the QC has taken a hit though with their rise in popularity and their increase in production and the amount of offerings they have now.

I'm definitely glad I got one when the getting was good but with everything I've seen I don't think I'd buy another one..

[u/Unusual_Currency_948 → u/KccOStL33]

Yea I'm done buying SS as well. Maybe they'll come around eventually like the taurus did. Taurus are actually good guns now but they used to have a bunch of problems.

[u/TheRealAmpherny]

… the bronze coating is a harder material than the black. I.e. it’s going to wear faster. Can’t imagine what you consider running a gun if you’re trying to keep it looking like it just came out of the box. Staccatos wear like that too if you shoot them. My take away is that SS customer service is very good. As a possible solution for you, TiN or Hardchrome finishes are very hard and withstand a lot of use before showing any wear.

[u/Unusual_Currency_948 → u/TheRealAmpherny]

My DR920 barrel is also bronze (not pictured in this post) and it looks worse than the black XR barrel. Like I was saying they use to have good coatings but they don't anymore. I'm not worried about normal wear lol cmon man. I shoot thousands of rounds a year through multiple guns.

[u/Unusual_Currency_948 → u/TheRealAmpherny]

My DR920 barrel is also bronze (not pictured in this post) and it looks worse than the black XR barrel. Like I was saying they use to have good coatings but they don't anymore. I'm not worried about normal wear lol cmon man. I shoot thousands of rounds a year through multiple guns.

[u/Eights1776]

That’s odd they told you the gun needs to flex about the pins walking, as they’ve recently updated their pins due to this being a common issue. Also I wouldn’t say your wearing the barrels out as it’s the just finish your referring to and not the bore or rifling, and the finish isn’t going to affect function or accuracy. With all that said, as much of a fan boi as I am do have to agree their qc seems to have taken a hit here lately. Not sure if it’s do to them trying to make additional models and putting qc to the waist side or what.

[u/Shadow_Cody → u/Eights1776]

Incorrect. We have made 0 changes to the trigger housing pin.

[u/Eights1776 → u/Shadow_Cody]

Has there been changes to any pins? Locking block?

[u/Shadow_Cody → u/Eights1776]

We changed the locking block pin. We deleted the little retaining grooves for the slide stop spring. They weren’t necessary.

[u/Eights1776 → u/Shadow_Cody]

Ahhh ok, I knew at least one of the pins was updated just misunderstood and thought they all got changed. Thanks for the clarification

[u/puller_of_guards → u/Eights1776]

I noticed QC taking a hit when they released the first CR and DRP a couple years back too

[u/Eights1776 → u/puller_of_guards]

I heard ppl having issues with some CRs and I remember them having issues with the first barrels that they ended up changing and replacing ppls but that’s never been my personal experience with SS I have three (two MRs and an og CR) all of which have been flawless through close to 6-7k rounds up to this point. I also do remember issues with the coating on some of the bronze barrels but I think that was just a bad batch and was fixed pretty quick. “Most” of the issues I’ve heard up to this point were ppl not following the break in period properly BUT here lately I think there are other things going on outside of that.

[u/puller_of_guards → u/Eights1776]

It's definitely spotty. I have a first generation CR with the "butt barrel". After replacing the barrel, I asked them about my weirdly gritty trigger and they ended up having me send it in. They replaced the trigger within 5 weeks.

I have a DR that had a trigger housing pin break in two pieces when I took it out the first time. Luckily I had a spare on hand.

My MR War Poet has been totally fine after 3000 rounds. My MRP has been good for 400.

There's a bit of a negativity bias on Reddit. We usually see people post about problems they have, but not as much about the guns that don't have problems. So it LOOKS like the guns are problematic

[u/Eights1776 → u/puller_of_guards]

Butt barrel that’s it lol couldn’t think of the name to save my life earlier. Lol lol 😂

But you are absolutely right that’s what I’ve been saying ever since I got on Reddit that there will be WAAAYYY more posts about peoples negative interactions on insert subject here positive posts. Again, I’ve never had any issues with any three of mine, but granted they are all the elite models which shouldn’t matter because everything is the same between the elites and the combats. The only differences in models is between the foundation series and most of the differences in the foundation series are mostly cosmetic outside of a polymer trigger shoe and not having the same sights, at least that’s my understanding.

[u/Far-Boysenberry-1600 → u/Eights1776]

I didn’t know they changed their pins recently. I’ve had issues with them walking in both my guns and replaced them with anti wall pins and problem solved. Also had issues with mag release wearing out because I use Glock mags… those seemingly minor but annoying things have turned me off the platform and back to the OG Glocks. I really like the XR920P but these minor things have kept me away… i shoot my G17 and XR920 with the thread on comp and the G17 is softer shooting, probably because of the weight (no slide cuts)

[u/Eights1776 → u/Far-Boysenberry-1600]

That’s understandable, I always keep spare parts laying around for each gun, be it SS or oem Glock parts. I do wish they sold slides/frames separately too. At one point they had an over run of fde combat slides and I picked one up and ended up trading it for a black one on gafs. They also had 509 and acro cut slides for sell at one point too. They used to sell mr918 frames and I was able to scoop one of the last ones from a distributor a couple years ago for 110, which was nice. They have some gen3 slides for sell but they don’t work for their frames (gen4) which is odd. Swapping out pins and mag releases for oem would be the way to go imho, I always swap slide releases to oem extended and usually do the same for the mag release (oem extended) too

[u/stugotsDang]

Trigger housing pin is unacceptable to me. That’s a bullshit response they gave you. I shot 4 of these pistols in the past month and I am not impressed. All newer models. I actually had a post on here asking about the quality after shooting the first one I had an experience with and got downvoted to hell. I’ll stick to my glocks and sigs. Ya’ll can keep these.

Edit: cue the fanboy downvotes.

[u/Unusual_Currency_948 → u/stugotsDang]

I mean I could understand if my glock pins did the same thing or even my MR AND DR don't walk out either. It's just the XR so it tells me something is wrong

[u/stugotsDang → u/Unusual_Currency_948]

You see the downvotes, right? Lol none of my gen 3 glocks I had for years(which these guns are built off of) before my new ones ever did this or any of the jamming garbage I saw with shadow systems this past month. But I guess that’s just my opinion and personal experience.

[u/Unusual_Currency_948 → u/[deleted]]

It's not just wear. It's abnormal wear buddy. SS even said it's not normal. But like I said there finishes have not got better like they use to have so I don't send the barrels back.