I have a bone stock M&P 45 that I got new about 6 years ago. It was the fancier model with the night sights.
I can do basic work on 1911's and S&W revolvers, but have never worked on my M&P,( have good mechanical skills).

The three questions are:
1) What functional upgrade would you add?

2)Is it a do-it-yourself drop-in upgrade or does it need to be sent to someone?

3) Cost ? Turnaround time? (if applicable).

Thanks,
Dan

Apex parts. You can do them yourself. As to which kits/parts, that depends what you want your results to be.

The trigger on my 45c was really bad so I searched this forum and found a lot of great info on trigger work.
You need to polish the rough edge where the trigger bar pushes the striker block, or whatever that little button is in the slide. If you look at the trigger bar with a magnifying glass you'll be shocked at how rough and jagged it is. A little touch up with fine sandpaper and a dremel with polishing compound will slick it right up.
My USB plunger hole also had a burr in it. This was noticeable by pushing in the striker block with a pencil eraser, pushing toward the rear of the slide just as the trigger bar pushes.
I took off the rear sight, removed the striker block and honed that hole with 1500 grit paper wrapped around a drill bit.
My trigger went from gritty and almost 8 pounds to extremely smooth, actually buttery take up, and under 6 pounds of pull. The trigger has no gritty feel at all anymore.
After that good luck I polished all of the trigger bars on my M&Ps.

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Kirk / Spock 2020

Mainly a better trigger. A RMR red dot would be nice but that's a ways off money wise.

Which upgrades do you feel you need? After 6 years, how's the trigger? If it's still gritty and such maybe a change is necessary. But it's the only functional change I would and have made.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

I haven't shot it enough to wear out anything. I have a colt series 70 gold cup and I guess I'm spoiled by the trigger. I understand the M&P will never be a gold cup ..but a smoother lighter trigger would be nice. I have some india stones from Brownells for working on things, but the Apex thing sounds pretty nice. What should one buy from them ? - some of their offerings I'm a little confused about.
thanks.

I now have 2 FS45s and have done the same mods to each for a better, smoother trigger pull. An Apex hard sear and a DIY round/polish job on the striker block. The trigger pull on each is at 5lbs and not gritty at all.

The Apex sear is easy to install and there are tons of vids out there on how to do it. The DIY job on the striker block takes a drill, drill bit the size of the hole in the back of the block (not sure which size off the top of my head), some fine sandpaper and a polishing wheel or pad. It's a very simple process I could explain and it achieves the same result as the Apex USB for free. You could just buy the Apex USB and call it a day.

Both of those mods achieve a 5# smooth trigger pull. I don't know how light you want to go, but I don't find it necessary to replace any of the springs since one of my FS45s does HD duty and it's perfect for that right now. I'd only go lighter if I was going to set it up for competition or as a range toy.

Installed the APEX DCAEK in my M&P 45C and couldn't be happier with this upgrade!! A great carry gun made even better!!

NC

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

I went with the Apex Forward Set Sear kit. I bought it before they came out with the polymer trigger so mine has an aluminum trigger.

The difference in trigger pull is night and day. I highly recommend it.

If you can detail strip a 1911, installing any part on the M&P is a breeze. The M&P is the easiest gun I've ever worked on and that includes Glocks.

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Freedom isn't free.

My 45c has:

- Trijicon SA37 night sights
- Apex .45 DCAEK

That's it. No turn-around time. If you have a sight pusher tool and about 30 minutes free time you can do it all yourself.

In fact, my entire M&P family is so equipped, except the Shields - they wear Ameriglo SW-145 night sights.

Thanks for the advice !
I will order the .45 DCAEK.
I will not order the trigger.
Only issue is whether to buy a new sear housing block from S&W since Apex doesn't sell it:

"This kit no longer contains a Small 1/16" sear plunger spring. If your gun has the 1/16" sear spring, we recommend purchasing a new sear housing block, if you are unable to obtain a new sear housing block, we recommend the use of the factory sear spring."

I have to assume, since my gun is an early model, that I have the 1/16" spring. Whether the 1/8" spring is worth the trouble I don't know.