I shot over 300 rounds out of mine today and no failures. I was impressed on the difference in the pull.

good to know, thanks.

...toldja it would be that way, don't we?

WHAT MODEL DID YOU INSTALL IT IN ? ? ?

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.

Mine is the SDVE 9mm. I bought the spring kit and the trigger from Cheaper than dirt. And paid a gunsmith to install and he also cleaned up some spots that he said was a common problem in the areas.

What is your impression of the trigger itself vs the factory one?

Yes & was the gun new / old , if old how many rounds ?

I got it new for christmas. I put about 500 rounds through it.
I found it was a long and hard pull before.
now it is smoother and less travel.
I also put on a slip on grip that helped also.

After about 500 rounds down the tube, I put the Apex spring kit in my wife's SD9, put the trigger & spring kit in my SD40. We went to the range and both our groups are notably smaller. We did a before & after using the Texas CHL 50 round test. We both reduced our "strays" about 50%. Highly recommend the spring kit.

I didn't want to start a new post about this, because there seems to be too many related to the Apex kit already. So I will update this one.
I haven't been to the range, since my birthday back in March, because of wrecking my truck, and having hurt my back.
So I went yesterday.
I was excited to get to shoot again.
But that didn't last long. About 30 rounds into my shooting, I started having fail to fire issues.
I would eject the shell, and then it would fire fine for about 3 rounds and then do it again.
I kept having to tap the magazine, and it would then fire.
Then I tried barely touching the slide, and it would fire.
Well this kept messing up my aim, so after dealing with it for about 100 rounds, I called it a day.
Brought it home, broke it down, and cleaned and lubed it.
But even after this it would fail to dry fire, unless i held the gun at a certain angle, or touched the slide. No magazine was in it at this time.
The only thing I can see is maybe the spring is too weak now.
I am going to go back today to the range and if it does it again, then I will leave it with the gunsmith there and see what he says.
I may be putting the original springs back in.
The guy who installed it for me I didn't really like his customer service, and he charged me $75.00 to install it. He said he also did some polishing also, but I do not know if he did or not.
he will not get my return business for sure.
Anyway, I just thought you would like to know what happened. And if you have any suggestions, let me know.
I will update what I find out.

Keep the internals factory and dry fire with snap caps. The "heavy" trigger pull will smooth out and you will give your trigger finger a work out.

Bill

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Remember the Alamo!

Same issues today, so I took it to another gunsmith to repair. Told him if he needed to put it back stock to do it. He said he would take care of it.

All you really need to do is replace the striker spring with the original. Leave everything else alone and it'll be fine. Most of us have had issues with the Apex striker spring but the rest of the Apex kit is excellent. You can replace the spring in about 3 minutes.

Well honestly, I can rebuild an engine in my sleep, but when it comes to a pistol I do not have enough experience doing it.
If I mess up an engine part, it might blow, but not in my hand.
I will learn. I should of just left it alone. I have spent more money on this one than I should have. Not counting what he will charge me, I already have spent $200.00 on stuff for it.
I could of bought something else.
But I know now.

There is clearly something wrong with the timing of the trigger. I could tell you immediately that adjusting the trigger bar loop would fix it if you had an M&P, but with the SDVE, the internals are a bit difference.

I still think your gun needs a very small adjustment to make it work perfectly, but the gunsmith ought to know what to do if he is worth his salt. I would be a little miffed at him if he charged that much multiple times for something that he should have found right away and should have done for free.

You should try to duplicate the problem while dry firing or with snap caps. Wiggle the magazine and slide around until you can duplicate the "dead trigger". Find out what you did to cause it, then see if you can repeat it every time. Then take it to the gun smith and have him make the adjustment so that you don't get the dead trigger when pushing the slide or magazine the same way. That should fix it. It may take multiple adjustments, but once you/he knows what to adjust, it should be an easy fix.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. I took it to a different gun smith this time. I did not like the way the other one did me on the initial trigger job. He waited to the last minute to get it done, closed early on the day I was picking it up during a snow storm. And then was not very nice to my wife when she went up there to check on it.
The guy that I am using now does it all, but his specialty is 1911.
when I get it back, I will let ya know.

Don't be disappointed.
You probably now that there are folks who pay $500+ for a new pair of axles when all they need are a couple of new $15 CV boots. In the gun world it is worse. There are precious few gunsmiths who can do even the simplest job and they are so busy that some will put the minimum effort thinking they are getting the job done right.

It would have been better to send your gun in to Apex and let them do the installation because they know exactly what to look for and how to check for marginal situations.

The bottom line is you liked the way the gun shot when it was working after the mod. So if it can be brought back to that form and be reliable, you should be happy. Get it done and don't have any regrets, you'll enjoy life a lot more.

Good luck

Thank you.

...and you'll know more about your gun than many who just buy it and shoot it.

Any updates?

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Perpetual optimism is a force

He called me Monday and said it was ready, but due to my truck being in the body shop again,(3rd time since the wreck in Feb) I wont be able to get it until Friday.
I asked what was wrong, and he laughed and said the best way to say it was, that it has been OVER GUN SMITH-ED. He said he put the original striker spring back in it, and did some polishing, that was supposed to been done by the first guy. He said to leave it alone, and shoot it. If i want a glock go buy a glock.
This gun was made for home and self defense its not a competition gun.
I will take it saturday and shoot it. I want to go do my CHL classes soon.

Good to hear. If your gun shoots reliably, keep it that way and don't mess with it. As a range toy, it might be fun to tinker with a gun to squeeze every bit of performance out of it, but if your life depends on it, just make sure it works every time.

Well, you are not the only one to have gone down this road!

I have reached the point where I am not a big believer in lightening hammer springs in revolvers, or weaker striker springs in M&Ps or SDs, for that matter. Even if they work -- will they still work as they naturally lighten up over time, or when the striker channel is clogged with a little dirt?

No problem with a lighter spring on the trigger -- all it does is return the trigger to the 'get ready' position, it doesn't affect the striker...

But I think there is virtue in leaving the factory striker spring in place (it will lighten up over time) and maybe replacing it after about 5000 rounds 'whether it needs it or not.' Maybe not so critical for a range gun, but pretty important for a SD pistol -- truck gun -- home defense weapon -- carry weapon.

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S&W Rover

I want to add -- I like the SD so much that I have sold off my last M&P (the one I spent so much money on improving) and am down to a basket of revolvers and one pistol -- my SD9. I just bought a third magazine for it, because I think that, as long as you have a fast-cycling high capacity weapon, you need to have some magazines to feed it.

But the SD is it. Mildly modified, works great, and (secret to tell) has a trigger not unlike those of my S&W revolvers...

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S&W Rover

Did the "good gunsmith" leave in the apex kit or removed, back to factory?. Good luck. PS

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Perpetual optimism is a force

I will k ow more when I get it. But my understanding is he left everything except the striker.

Cool. Keep us posted. Did you discuss with Apex?

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Perpetual optimism is a force

I did not call apex. It is the other guys fault. I am going today to pick it up.I hope

Good luck and straight shooting.

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Perpetual optimism is a force

I picked it up last night. He showed me some markings on the trigger side where the other guy had filed or whatever and marked in the polymer with his tool.
He also left everything in there except the striker spring. He polished the trigger bar assembly,and the sear area. He showed, and explained to me me the right and wrong way to clean, and said to this gun should eat just about any ammo I put through it.
I will go this weekend and try it out. I want to finish off this ammo I have from my birthday party back in March. I still have about 300 rounds.
Thanks everyone for listening and giving me help. I am new to this and I am learning the hard way.
Have a good Day, time for work.

Your experience is like most of us. The OEM striker spring works best(see post #13). Everything else that Apex supplies make a very large improvement.

Oh man, I am in love with my pistol again.
Took it back to the range today, and shot 300 rounds out of it. Flawlessly, no problems at all.
I worked on my technique, and aim, and got better every pull of the trigger.
I had to make myself stop shooting or I would of shot more.

first 150 rounds

Second 150 at 7 yards.

Pretty good sooting there! Got a few fliers, but you took out the center nicely! Interesting thread about the Apex stuff. I almost got some of their stuff for my M&P, but it had to go back to S&W (dots in the sights fell out, apparently that had a bad batch that were not cleaned before installing the dots...)

Anyway, stuck a note in the box asking if they could do anything to improve the trigger, especially the trigger reset. The gun I got back was nothing like the one I sent in. VERY happy with it.

Some of the strays were due to me adjusting my new laser I put on.
Some was because I just got out of line.

Trust me, not criticizing you. I have plenty of fliers if I am not paying close attention.

Oh no problem. I actually got to work on stance and how I look through the sights.
I wear glasses mostly for up close, but I tried with and without wearing them.

I replaced just the sear in my M&P 45 and it improved the trigger 100% and cost very little. I have had the pistol for a couple of years and it operates great but the trigger was the worst of anything I had ever shot. With the Apex sear it is great and I have no plans to do any other changes to it.

I am just happier than a fat kid with cake, and I like cake.
I started out shooting 5 rounds at a time, just to see how I was doing.
Then started playing around with my laser, which will not stay tight on there
Pretty much had the range to myself.

Congrats, a nice happy ending to your ordeal. Shot group is right. Well done. Hats off to the last guy. Cheers

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Perpetual optimism is a force

Thanks. I was warmed up, and then they had the shooting at the events center close to me, I was supposed to head to Academy about that time to shop, but changed my mind.