I have been wanting a 5" 9mm Pro Series pistol for some time now. Just this weekend my local dealer got a 4.25" Pro 9mm in and I bought it to add to the 4.25" .40 and 9mm Shield that I have until I could find a 5" Pro 9mm.

My disappointment comes from the gritty feeling trigger this new Pro 9mm has. My Shield feels a little gritty as well but not as bad as this new Pro. My standard M&P .40 trigger has a pull that is smooth as silk. I would have thought that the extra $$ for my Pro Series 9mm would have given me at least the same if not better overall feel than my 40. This is not the case.

Being new to the forum I hope no one is offended by my bringing this up. Is it a break in thing? Is it the norm for this series of S&W's? I am not so sure I want another M&P if this is the norm. I currently own 2 Sig Sauer's, a Glock, and 4 Ruger's and not one of those brands has had this gritty feel to thier triggers.

If anyone else has had a similar experience, will S&W do anything about it or should I just trade them off for something else? I love the ergonomics of the pistols, but not at the cost of poor trigger performance.

Many thanks for everyones patience with me post on this post I would appreciate any guidance you veterans could offer me.

If you pay for the best, you want the best. Tell S&W your problem and see if they will make it right.

I had the same experience with a 5" 9 Pro the other day. A buddy of mine wants me to get into a trade for his 5" 9 Pro. I took it to the range the other night and although it shot really well, the trigger was just as bad as my wife's 9c. I usually carry a Sig P239 and shoot a P226, and both have excellent triggers. I don't want to have to spend $100 on an Apex upgrade to get something I think should be correct already. And his gun has 1000+ rounds through it already. It should be broken in by now.

I was seriously considering the trade, but after shooting it, I'm not so sure.

I believe the demand is so great today every mfg is under the gun to get the product out the door as fast as they can. Then they will repair what comes back.

I too have a Sig P226 E2, it is smooth as silk, I know about the Apex trigger and Sear kit and seriously thought about curing the problem by installing a complete kit in my pistol. The only problem with that is S&W will no longer honor the lifetime service on the pistol. My gun dealer has told me I can choose another pistol or just return the one I have. I am leaning towards returning it since I have not yet shot the pistol.

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40FS-Pro9FS

Dry fire it/shoot it, should get better directly.

May I ask what your pistol cost? I spent $669 on a M&P 40 Pro Series because I have dreams of amateur competition, plus I am no home gunsmith, but I fear I may have spent $100 more than I had to. Because I live in NJ I have to wait at least another month or so before I can bring my pistol home, but I would be quite dissapointed if the trigger is nothing special.

I am sorry that your Pro has a poor trigger. I have to ask though, did you not try it before you took delivery?

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NRA Certified Instructor

My M&P trigger was smoothed out by replacing the striker block with the Apex USB -$35.

I kept the original part and can reinstall it quickly if I ever need to return the gun to S&W for a warranty issue.

I have yet to find anyone shooting competitively with a stock pistol whether its a Glock, H&K, S&W, or Sig, and the M&P upgrades seem pretty cheap compared to what some of the others cost. A friend did polish his Springfield XD for free, and the results were pretty good.

I tried a Pro at my LGS and the trigger pull was less than my stock M&P, which is what S&W claims. But it wasn't as smooth as my upgraded M&P. Still, the upgraded sear and sights from the factory seem like they are worth the extra money - to me.

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As you may have missed in the OP, my intent was not to whine or offend anyone in forum. It was a request for information from owners of the same firearm that will determine if I keep the pistol and return it to S&W for repairs or just off it and move on. Also please note the reference to the other brands I own that did not have this problem out of the box. This is the "Pro-Series" we are talking about yes?? Why should I have to treat the "Upscale M&P" product any different than the other brands I own? Lube this, adjust that, send a brand new pistol back for "Service" out of the box...REALLY? Are asking questions here whining in your opinion? If it is then let me thank you in advance for your response to my post. It helps me to see that this is probably not the place for me to seek assistance and guidance in what I had hoped would be a new place to interact with fellow collectors without the sarcasm that is so prevelant in public forums today. I wish you all good health and I will trouble you no more.

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40FS-Pro9FS

Nor mine. Please accept my apology for the uninteded slight.
There have been many posts on the forum about initial gritiness in M&Ps that usually works itself out, which can be found with the search function. There are also many discussions on the APEX aftermarket trigger parts.

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Science plus Art

M&PAddict, I am sorry for your bad experience on this forum. Been there and had it happen several times. I read this forum everyday and see some good advice and a hell of a lot of sarcasm.
I have a M&P 9 and and went thru the gritty trigger problem and after 400 rounds sent it back to S&W who returned it within 2 weeks at no expense to me. 300 more rounds thru it trigger still rough, so I just ordered an Apex kit. Hope this fixes my trigger problem. I'll take it to a professional gunsmith for parts install. I'm not a professional gunsmith and don't pretend to be one, so I will not take the "fixed it myself" route. Too many variables can make a safe gun dangerous with out the proper tools and knowhow to safely modify a gun.
I am still waiting on my M&P40 5" Pro C.O.R.E. (3 months out) and hope it is range ready out of the box. I own 3 PC revolvers (can I say revolver in this forum) and all have functioned perfectly out of the box. Hope the Pro40 does.

I highly recommend what CheckMySwag says as it will smooth out very nicely after use. I have about 1200-1500 rounds through mine and a couple hundred dry fires. My 9 Pro is smooth as butter now and better than my M&P9c and much better than my M&P45.

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M&P15 Sport,9Pro,9c,Shield9,45

Um, why wouldn't S&W honor their warranty? If you put the Apex Hard Sear or Forward set sear kit in, just remove it before you send it back to S&W.

Don't return it or modify it yet. Just call S&W and tell them what you're experiencing. I'm sure they will at least try to make it right.

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Freedom isn't free.

This-should-not-be. A couple of minutes of QC at S&W would make a lot of happy customers. Lately I've heard of all kinds of problems with M&Ps. Fortunately mostly minor. I've been waiting for my bought & paid for M&P 40C since Dec 10. Calling S&W did nothing to give me even a hint when It would get delivered to the gun store. Upon reading all the probs that seem to crop up I sincerely hope that I didn't make a mistake. My two Glocks, 23 & 21, shot perfectly right out of the box & continue to do so after many thousands of rounds. Thought I'd try something American this time.

All my M&P's are smooth. I always go through everything while cleaning when I get them new to make sure there aren't any burrs or rough spots.
My old 9 PRO was smooth a silk right out of the box. ALL have also gotten better with time and shooting. Most just need break-in time.

I have yet to buy ANY new handgun of ANY make that didn't need break in time or some fine tuning for this price range. Even my "dancing pony's" needed some fine tuning and I paid WAY more for them. I have ONE High Standard that was perfect right out of the box and I DID pay dearly for that one. AND I did get what I paid for.

Many thanks to those of you who have posted all the helpful and well thought suggestions to resolving my concerns with my M&P Pistols. Since my OP I have purchased a 4.25 9mm C.O.R.E. and got the 5" Pro I have been wanting bringing my total number of M&P's to 5, so I still have high hopes for the brand in general. I did however take a brand new 4.25" standard .40 to the range this weekend and during the first 100 rounds the rear sight started walking out of the slide to the right. I am beginning to think I am cursed with this brand With all the excellent advice here and the "known" issues with the M&P line, I think I will back off collecting them for awhile and see if they improve any as time goes on. Again many thanks to those of you who chimed in to assist me in my collecting of this brand of handguns, in the end I think they will perform as intended with a little effort on my part.

Best regards to you all

Same thing happened when I first took my new 4.25 Pro Series 40 to the range after I purchased it. I always carry a few small allen keys in my range bag just because. I tightened it back up and have had no issues. I have ~1000 rounds through it right now.

I know on my Shield 40 I could not get them to budge even with a sight pusher. I had to bring it to my LGS to get the sights replaced after the white dot fell out.

On my Pro Series I only need to loosen the set screw and it slides right out.

My M&P9 Pro 5'' trigger was gritty too when I first got it. But after a lot of dry firing and only 100 Speer Lawman 115gr through. It's sweet. Real sweet. 68 more rounds coming soon. JUST SHOOT IT

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40c FS,9Shield(2)40,9Pro

I remedied the "gritty" trigger with a little emory paper (320 then 400 grit) on this surface. I saw it was a little rough, and as soon as I sanded out the roughness, the gritty sensation went away. I just accelerated the same wear as pulling the trigger a thousand times.

This portion of the bar is what pushes up the safety plunger just before the sear starts moving.

Can't believe that no one has asked this..when was your pistol produced? Check the fired shell casing envelope for the test fired date. My Pro 9mm produced only a few months ago has a very smooth trigger. My 40c produced the end of last year has a very gritty trigger that will need some work. I realize the Pro has some factory trigger work done to it, but S&W also reportedly started using different sears at the beginning of 2013. If your Pro 4.25 was a 2013 production, I would fire around 1000 rounds and if it doesn't go away, send it back to S&W for possible repairs

Thank you AwfAxis - that was the ticket. Took the 5" Pro down and sure enough a burr on that area. Sanded away and this reduced it a lot - still some grit feel but 80% better.

My 4.25 Pro had a fairly smooth stock trigger. I still switched it out with an Apex FSS kit. This made a nice pistol into an outstanding pistol.

Dry firing is the best way to break trigger in. It will lighten up over time and get less grity. Over time spring will get weaker so trigger will feel lighter. Over time the trigger will polish itself.

I would advise to steer clear of Apex triggers. You have to file some of the frame with a stone. I personally find that not a good thing. I would not want any stone taking fiber away from the frame period. If you are looking to get a striker fired and a trigger mod, go with a Glock 34 like I have. GLocks are way better than the MP Pro for competition.

It appears that it is only the Aluminum Apex triggers that have issues. I have installed 3 polymer triggers and one aluminum trigger. I had no issues with the polymer triggers. I had lots of issues with the aluminum trigger and finally ended up taking it to the gunsmith to finish the install. He too had issues. On the polymer triggers there was no filing involved at all.

I should note that we have 2 M&P 9c's and 2 5" Pros, with a 5" C.O.R.E. on the way. On both the Pros we have the FSS kits in (polymer in mine, Aluminum in his) and in both the 9c's we have the DCAEK kits in with polymer triggers.

I have both a standard 9mm 4.25 and a .40 5" CORE. both factory triggers had a slight gritty feeling. I installed an Apex FSS and trigger kit on both of them and haven't had a single problem. they both fire beautifully.

What is sad here is that at any gun show, there are at least 3 certified Glock armorers doing trigger upgrades for the price of a decent dinner, using factory Glock parts. Why is there no one doing this for S&W guns? Not enough demand? I joked with one of them yesterday, asking him to go to the Burwell site & familiarize himself with what to do. He could then practice on my gun. This guy rips a Glock apart, & does his upgrades in minutes, & the customer doesn't have to pay $100 for the trigger parts. $30 max for all the trigger parts, plus labor. It's actually quite entertaining how this one particular guy does the work. The customer gets his gun back with all the Glock upgrades, & is entertained as the work is done. Why can't people do this for us M&P guys? GARY

Because this isn't true. Maybe at the gun shows where you go there are a lot of Glock guys, but I don't see that around here.

Sounds like an opportunity. Why don't you go through the armorer's class, become certified and then offer this at the gun show? You could make some money.

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Freedom isn't free.

I bought the Pro 40 a couple of years ago. My trigger was very gritty also. I put Flitz on all the trigger contact points and worked the trigger until it smoothed up. I have now installed an Apex sear and my trigger is great. Yeah it stinks it wasn't smooth out of the box but I'm happy now.

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Doing Glock upgrades is FAR EASIER from my expierience. The Apex stuff is not drop in on some pistols. The biggest difference is the way S&W designed the drop safety. Except for CORE pistols, you have to remove the rear sight. That can cause issues on some pistols. It did mine. I got my sight off but stripped out my sight tool trying to get it back on. I spoke with 3 local gunsmiths who would not touch it. So it has been sent to a fella in AL. to get the sight put back on.
I know many folks here have had no problems installing the Apex kits but I know some have so it really is hit or miss. Sight relpacement is a bugger on M&P's

It is true here in the Dallas/FW area. Glock armorer at every gun show I attend. No S&W armorer at any show I have been.

Because I am already at all the local gun shows selling guns, so I don't have time to work on guns. GARY

Well, I haven't done all the different upgrades, but I have done some. I find the M&P to be easier to work on. Then again, I haven't installed any parts on a Glock in a while. I can install the Forward Set Sear kit (probably the most involved kit) in 15 minutes or less.

Maybe I should start doing this at gun shows? Hmmm....

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Freedom isn't free.

It would have taken me about 15 min if I could have got my rear sight back on. Now the Aluminum kit I tried first was a complete nightmare! The pin is far to tight in the trigger.

Have to disagree with you on this. You don't have to remove the rear sight to remove the striker plunger on a Glock. It takes a hammer and punch to completely dissemble the M&P, it only takes a punch for the Glock, no hammer. The Glock is much easier to work on then the M&P. I have both Glocks and M&P's. They are both good products but being easier to work on is not one of the advantages of the M&P.

The components in the PRO are the same as what is in the latest generation of M&P's. It used to be that the PRO got the Performance Center Sear and the standard M&P's didn't. That is no longer true.

Gritty feel generally comes from the striker block (specifically the spring having too much tension on it). Either polishing this part and cutting down 2 coils off the spring OR buying the Apex USB solves most all of the grit feel.




C4

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