Got my Apex 5" gunsmith fit barrel late this afternoon. Spent an hour, fitting the barrel to the slide. Didn't need to take anything off the front of the barrel, to fit it in the slide. Took about a half thousandth off each side of the hood for that part of the fit. Fitting the chamber/hood, into the slide was done very slowly. I found that dry erase marker worked better for me, than Dyekem, as it doesn't dry in place and shows a mark better.

After dinner, I worked on fitting the barrel lug to the frame. Being the gunsmith version, there was a lot of metal to remove. The fitting lug required me to disassemble and reassemble the gun literally a hundred times to mark and file the lug squarely. Fitting it took 2.5 hours alone, plus the hour for fitting it to the slide, I have 3.5 hours total into it.

I would not recommend everyone getting the gunsmith fit version. It is a lot of work to hand fit it and if you are not adept at it or impatient, it might not end well. Most people would find it a lot easier to install the semi-drop-in version.

It now locks up just like Randy said it would, in the video and there is no doubt it will shoot very tight groups. I would recommend keeping a light gun grease on the rails and barrel lug, as the lockup puts extra stress on those parts.
I'll be out at the range this coming Sunday, December 13, to benchrest it with several types and weights of ammunition. Results to follow.

I would have to say that Randy and the guys at Apex hit another home run with this product.

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NRA R.S.O. & Life Member