Upgrade Your M&P Thanks to Apex.

I recently purchased two Apex upgrades for my full size M&P 9mm from Amazon.  You can see all the stuff Apex has available on their website HERE.

The first is the Apex Tactical M&P 9mm / .357 / .40 Duty/Carry Trigger Action Enhancement Kit that I got from Amazon HERE.  This is a new set of springs, a hardened sear and new striker block.  If you have some mechanical ability and access to YouTube you can do this work yourself or you can have a Gun Smith do it, but I did the work myself.  It was a fairly straight forward install and took about an hour to do all the work as I went very slow to be sure I was doing it right.  

Be warned that you do need a 1/8 in. punch, and you will have to be comfortable removing the rear sight (need a drift that won't mar the sight) on the slide to make this upgrade.  I used a laser bore sight to get the rear sight back on and aligned in my workshop so I didn't have to play with it on the range.  I checked the sights with the laser before I did any modifications so I knew what I was looking for when I put it all back together again

I also installed at the same time the Apex Tactical Specialties RAM S&W M&P 9/40/357 W/O Thumb Safety Trigger Reset Assist Mechanism RAM also from Amazon HERE.  This little add on gives you a click when the trigger gets to the reset point.  It makes it easier to feel this reset and get that follow up shot without riding the trigger all the way back to its rest position.  Since I had the sear assembly out of the gun anyway it was the perfect time to do this upgrade too.

The end result was a trigger that was a bit lighter, but was MUCH smoother to use.  Gone was the hard gritty feel of the original trigger I was use to.  It was much easier to keep the gun on target and I think the results speak for themselves.  

I should have taken a few photos of the kits but you can see them at the links.  They come with a few extra parts to help in the re-assembly of the gun when you are done and they do help making it much easier to put the rear sight back on and getting the trigger group back in and pinned in place.

Before the upgrade I tended to shoot low left and just outside the black. . . . here is the first target I shot at about 25 feet:

Here is a view of the target from the firing line.

And the target after the first five rounds. . . 

I have to say I am very happy with the upgrade.  Now I have to get use to the new feel of the trigger, it is like having a new gun again almost.  The accuracy is better, the feel is better, and it is easy to the gun back on target.  I think the original heavy trigger was part of the problem with my low left shots.

Here are a few photos of my tests at the 50 ft mark (end of the range):

 Here is the target at the end of the range

And the results after 10 rounds. . . not to bad even if I did drop a few low. . ..

To finish up my tests and to get a bit more familiar with the new trigger I did two more targets at the mid range again:

Still shooting a bit left, but now I am in the black.  I think the left thing is me, not the gun and I am working on it. . .

So two big thumbs up for the folks at Apex in making a great upgrade for your Smith M&P.  If you have one I would highly recommend this upgrade whether you do it yourself or have someone do it for you.  I think you will find the improvement in the trigger feel, reset, and weight is well worth the about $115 it cost for the parts. 

Go get the upgrades, you won't be sorry!