I'm just throwing this out there as a what if type thing. Wouldn't that be just ******* awesome if they did this? Even if they had to beef up the gun to handle this, heck I'm sure they would. I'd get one for myself in a heartbeat and many as gifts for deserving loved ones or even lame friends just to help the cause of the 10. Hopefully S&W hears us on these ideas. I carry the G29 in jacket weather but often reduce to my Kahr CM9 for hot weather.
The Shield, to the best of my knowledge, is based on 9mm/40 S&W length cartridges. In order to support the 10mm, the first step would be to lengthen the action to accommodate 38 super/10mm/45 ACP length cartridges. This in and of itself will require a lot of engineering resource and expense. The slide would need to have it's mass increased somewhat to deal with the higher recoil impulse of the 10mm.
Given the comparative dimensions between the Glock 27 and the Shield, I think it is safe to say that once they have "beefed" up the shield to handle the longer cartridge, you are going to have a G29 length gun.
That may be great for Shield lovers, but probably not for 10mm lovers. The 10mm market is so small that such an action might splinter the market to the point that both Glock and S&W start losing money on the small 10's, and subsequently exit the market. Tough to say.
I would love to see the market for 10mm guns grow to the point that everyone feels they have to chamber it in every variant. Kinda like they do with the 40. But I don't think that is likely.
A Shield in 10, for me, not so much. But, a M&P10 would be cool.
sqlbullet, covered it well, the S&W Shield is too small as is to accommodate our favorite cartridge. The S&W M&P in 10 would be doable. However, unless they are contracted to produce them, they more than likely will not produce any in 10mm.
But the M&P 10 would be a nice carry piece or an addition to a collection. ;D
Ackkk! No love on that one, huh? How about Springfield XDS, already the length of the .45 acp. Probably a nice stout recoil spring would do it. I'll bet you some knucklehead is already shooting .45 super out of these.
I spoke to S&W the day before yesterday on this very subject. The person I spoke with said that S&W will sometimes wait until interest builds up the release something. I mentioned 10mm specifically. I told them they would blow them out the door. I even said that the day they come out with an M&P 10mm compact (similar to the M&P 45c) is they day I get rid of my G29. I like carrying a 10mm and a 1076 is my EDC.
I have heard of some custom ones being done, but I would like to see a 4516 sized handgun in 10mm. I have thought about contacting the Custom Shop and see if they would convert my 4516 to pre cocked DAO, and then maybe just tossing in," if you could turn it into a 10mm that would be great too" and then see what happens.