M&P with New Apex Sear & Striker Block

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torrejon224

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Bought a new full sized M&P 357sig about a month ago and it came with the normal crunchy, gritty stock trigger. After one disappointing range session I ordered the Apex Tactical sear and striker block. Installation took about twenty minutes and the difference was/is unbelieveable!! The trigger is now a smooth 3.5 pounds with a definite reset almost (but not quite) reminding me of one of my custom 1911s. This pistol is now my absolute favorite and my daily carry, it shoots to point of aim each and every time and is just an absolute pleasure to shoot. The 357sig round while spendy (I reload so no problem) is pure pleasure to shoot and I can see why a large number of Federal,State and local agencies now use or authorize it. My full size M&P 45 bought back in November was sent to the PC for the trigger/action job and the PC sear but I honestly can say that the trigger on the 357sig with the Apex parts is better and I believe I'll swap out the PC parts on the 45 for them soon. If you own a M&P then you owe it to yourself to get/install these parts and see what a difference a "real" trigger will make. For those not wanting a "light" trigger they also make a kit specifically for carry/duty guns that will provide a smooth 5# trigger.
 
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I'm thinking of ordering those parts and installing them myself, but I'm leery of removing the rear sight. How difficult is it? I watched Randy's video and it doesn't look all that difficult, but again...taking a punch and a hammer to my sight makes me a little nervous. I've looked at the sight pusher tools, but since I don't really envision myself removing a large number of sights, the price of these is cost-prohibitive to me.

I don't see any issues with the sear replacement, it's just the FPB that I'm concerned with.

Thanks,
 
toocool said:
I'm thinking of ordering those parts and installing them myself, but I'm leery of removing the rear sight. How difficult is it? I watched Randy's video and it doesn't look all that difficult, but again...taking a punch and a hammer to my sight makes me a little nervous.
Click to expand...

I have 2 M&P9 Compacts and the rear sights are stock and never been removed. I also watched the video and thought it would be a simple 10 minute job......WRONG! The sight on my gun would not budge using a brass punch and a small hammer. I then put a little gun oil down the set screw hole and along the dovetail and let it sit for about an hour. This time I put some tape on the punch as Randy recommended and used my 5 pound hand sledge hammer....and it worked! Once the sight started to move it became much easier. Then I used the Tactical Sight tool that came in the kit and lightly tapped on it to fully remove the sight. I repeated the procedure on the second gun, and that WAS a 10 minute job. The gun MUST be secured in a solid vise...I used a piece of old leather wrapped around the slide to protect the finish. Both guns were test fired with 100 rounds each and both functioned normally. The Apex FPB eliminated the gritty feeling of the trigger, and the reset seems more pronounced. I was really impressed with the difference. I did not install the Sear Block kit because both guns are used for CCW and I did not want a lighter trigger pull.

You might want to consider a gunsmith if you are a bit concerned with the hammer route. I think even using a sight tool would be a challenge the first time the sight is removed. Mine seemed like they were welded on! Good Luck!
 
Like Lee said above, the stock sight is a bit difficult to remove. I'm glad I wrapped my punch in masking tape, because it took several hard hits with a claw hammer just to get it started. Once out, the install was painless and getting the sight back in place wasn't too bad.
 
The stock sights on the M&P pistols are installed at the factory with a 200 PSI hydraulic ram. If I remember correctly, the sights are actually designed to crush fit into the dovetails with that pressure...so it should come as little surprise that they don't move easily.

I've tried the hammer and punch method and I've cracked tritium vials using it. The best way I've found to deal with the sights on the M&P's is to use the S&W approved sight tool which is made, I believe, by MGW. It offers support on the sides to keep the slide rails from being stressed enough to crack which is a fairly common problem with non-S&W approved tools.

The tool also comes in handy on the range when you're trying to sight in a new M&P. I bought two of the pistol-training.com special edition M&P's and the sights on them were nowhere close to being right. The front sights were installed way too far left and the rears were installed way too far right. I shot a group at 25 yards and managed to put 1 of 5 shots on paper before figuring out that the sights were horribly off. After the adjustment I was at least keeping them in the black.

As for the Apex additions, I've installed one sear in my M&P .45 and one of the full kits in my 9C. The Apex SB may not function exactly the same as the stock SB, but the folks at Apex assure me that as long as it holds the striker when the striker is manually reset then there are no safety issues.
 
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I have been reading about these here and on other boards as well.
Thanks for the information.
I plan to get 2 of these now.
 
This discussion has brought up another question...when I bought the gun, I had Trijicon night sights installed. Since they're after market, I'm guessing they'll probably come off a little easier? I've also read of breaking the tritium vials with the hammer/punch method...not a good thing, either...

Maybe I can offer to "rent" a sight pusher from someone who has one...
:-)
 
Most punches you commonly find in hardware stores have round tips. I find that making square tipped punches from raw metal stock or by grinding round punches to a square shape reduces the difficulty of holding it in the dovetail slot while tapping with a hammer. End result is less or no damage to the sight or slide.

PS: I use steel punches. Brass or aluminum simply deform and become worse with each hit.
 
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I invested in a Kaiser Uni-200L sight pusher. It fits every model of gun I own so I consider it an investment. I wouldn't even attempt it with a hammer, punch, wood block, etc. Also, remember left to right to take off and the opposite for installation and watch out for the plunger spring as it will fly!!
 
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