Apex gritty.

[SmurfHunter]

Well I installed the full frame portion of the apex shield kit. The USB and springs are not in the slide as I couldn't get the rear sight off. The pull and reset feel great but when the trigger bar engages the current factory sb there is a horrible gritty feel now. Far more noticable then prior to installing the apex sear and springs.

 

[OneJzsupra]

The USB will get rid of the rest of that. Also take not that my trigger bar on my m&p was making slight contact with the slide stop. Slowly pull the trigger back and watch the slide stop and see of it wiggles. I pulled all of my non coated parts out and polished them which helped give it and smooth action. To include my apex sear as well.

 

[SmurfHunter]

The USB will get rid of the rest of that. Also take not that my trigger bar on my m&p was making slight contact with the slide stop. Slowly pull the trigger back and watch the slide stop and see of it wiggles. I pulled all of my non coated parts out and polished them which helped give it and smooth action. To include my apex sear as well.

The slide stop on the shield is completely left of the frame. The trigger bar runs along the right side. I don't see how they could touch.

 

[OneJzsupra]

The slide stop on the shield is completely left of the frame. The trigger bar runs along the right side. I don't see how they could touch.

Ahh, see I've never seen the inside of one or the outside. I was just guessing that it might have been close to the M&P.

I would say that you should either put 500 rounds through or take your run to a smith to install the usb for you. I would however polish the usb before installing.

 

[AwfAxis]

A little 320 grit sand paper right here gets rid of the gritty feeling, no matter if stock or APEX. Takes just a few minutes.

You will see the machine lines in the metal surface. A few thousand trigger pulls gets rid of it, but the sand paper is faster.

 

[Brucenterry]

AwfAxis, would you be able to sent a PM w/ that picture. I can't view it on this site for some reason. Thanks so much.

 

[TahoeDust]

I just tossed my Apex sear into my Shield...my USB will not be here until Tuesday. For now it is super gritty like the OPs. I know it will smooth out once I get the USB in there. My FS with the Apex stuff in it is smooth as butter.

 

[SmurfHunter]

Ahh, see I've never seen the inside of one or the outside. I was just guessing that it might have been close to the M&P.

I would say that you should either put 500 rounds through or take your run to a smith to install the usb for you. I would however polish the usb before installing.

I'm almost at 4500 rounds now. So I assume the natural burs are gone. But I may try to smooth out the trigger bar a hair too

 

[SmurfHunter]

A little 320 grit sand paper right here gets rid of the gritty feeling, no matter if stock or APEX. Takes just a few minutes.

You will see the machine lines in the metal surface. A few thousand trigger pulls gets rid of it, but the sand paper is faster.

How many swips across did you need?

 

[AwfAxis]

How many swips across did you need?

I just kept at it until the surface was mirror smooth. About 3 minutes.

 

[robkarrob]

Test and fix for gritty trigger pull, if you have a burr in the blocker bore:


M&P Pistol Gritty Trigger Pull -- Striker Blocker Fix - YouTube


Bob

 

[OneJzsupra]

I'm almost at 4500 rounds now. So I assume the natural burs are gone. But I may try to smooth out the trigger bar a hair too

I just used a dremel with a felt tip and polished pretty much everything with out finish on it which helped out.

I also used metal polish to go with it.

 

[SmurfHunter]

Test and fix for gritty trigger pull, if you have a burr in the blocker bore:


M&P Pistol Gritty Trigger Pull -- Striker Blocker Fix - YouTube


Bob

What size punch did you use to get the sights off?

 

[robkarrob]

The larger the better. I used a 5/16 inch punch, which is the largest I have. Do not punch on the thin lower lip of the sight. Place the taped punch on the thicker (meaty) upper area of the sight. Keep checking the tape so you don't get metal to metal contact. You may have to pound quite hard to get the sight to move, however some have said their sight moved easily.

Bob

 

[SmurfHunter]

The larger the better. I used a 5/16 inch punch, which is the largest I have. Do not punch on the thin lower lip of the sight. Place the taped punch on the thicker (meaty) upper area of the sight. Keep checking the tape so you don't get metal to metal contact. You may have to pound quite hard to get the sight to move, however some have said their sight moved easily.

Bob

Apprciate the info. My punches are too small. I never touched the lower lip(actual sight lip) didnt want to damage the smooth portion or my slide. Ill have to source the punch and try again

 

[TahoeDust]

Jesus. This thing does not want to move. Anyone have the part number for the S&W factory sight? I have a few more things to try, but this thing may be getting cut off.

 

[Sarg88]

As you read most of the posts on here about the M&P rear sights you'll find that they are on average a complete B*TCH to remove... I wanted to do all my trigger work myself but couldn't get the darn rear sight to budge so I took it down to the lgs and had them use their high dollar sight pusher to just loosen it up for me.

P.S. Fallow the link that Robkarrob put up. I promise you that the gritty feel is in the blocker bore.....

 

[gnystrom]

A little 320 grit sand paper right here gets rid of the gritty feeling, no matter if stock or APEX. Takes just a few minutes.

You will see the machine lines in the metal surface. A few thousand trigger pulls gets rid of it, but the sand paper is faster.

What he said. Try this first, it solved my problem completely.

 

[SmurfHunter]

As you read most of the posts on here about the M&P rear sights you'll find that they are on average a complete B*TCH to remove... I wanted to do all my trigger work myself but couldn't get the darn rear sight to budge so I took it down to the lgs and had them use their high dollar sight pusher to just loosen it up for me.

P.S. Fallow the link that Robkarrob put up. I promise you that the gritty feel is in the blocker bore.....

I watched the video. But unless I can get the sight off it doesn't matter

 

[SmurfHunter]

What he said. Try this first, it solved my problem completely.

Trying this

 

[dimitri]

I bought the 'sight adjustment punch' from Testimonials . A beautiful piece of brass, that got beat up when i tried to move the rear sight of my shield. I ended up buying a short, fat, flat head screw driver and used that. The first 10 minutes I replaced the scotch tape every few hits. I soon gave up on caring what the rear sight looked like and hammered away. It took a bit of a beating ( some scratches and discoloration ), but it finally moved. I figured I'd be replacing them at some point, so who cares. It is a carry piece after all.

The slide was held tightly by a 60lb vise.

Hope this helps.

 

[SmurfHunter]

I bought the 'sight adjustment punch' from Testimonials . A beautiful piece of brass, that got beat up when i tried to move the rear sight of my shield. I ended up buying a short, fat, flat head screw driver and used that. The first 10 minutes I replaced the scotch tape every few hits. I soon gave up on caring what the rear sight looked like and hammered away. It took a bit of a beating ( some scratches and discoloration ), but it finally moved. I figured I'd be replacing them at some point, so who cares. It is a carry piece after all.


The slide was held tightly by a 60lb vise.

Hope this helps.

I was basically using the same thing. Large flat head. I actually deformed the flathead and still didnt budge at all. I'm going to try again though.

 

[Air Winger]

Same thing... Couldn't get the rear site to budge. Called my trusty smith and he told me to suck it up and smack the "h" out of it. (He didn't have a site pusher for it)
So, an online visit to Brownells and more $$ than I'd like to talk about , yielded an MGW 319 Shield specific site pusher. When it arrived, I got right after it only to find it still wouldn't budge . As a last shot, I put the slide in the freezer for a couple hours, and voila! Even so, it took a lot of force to get it to move.
After the site was off, I found there was a ridge on each side of the site that was obviously meant to create the forced fit in the dovetail. Since I intend to replace the sites down the road sometime, I carefully filed down the ridge on the front side of the site to reduce the resistance when I replaced it. As someone mentioned earlier in this thread or another thread, there is the set screw to retain the site.
Ultimately the hard sear and the USB got installed and the trigger is much smoother. (I also cleaned up the USB bore) And, as mentioned many times before, my groups tightened up as well.

 

[M&P_313]

A little 320 grit sand paper right here gets rid of the gritty feeling, no matter if stock or APEX. Takes just a few minutes.

You will see the machine lines in the metal surface. A few thousand trigger pulls gets rid of it, but the sand paper is faster.

This is exactly what I did to my 9c.. What a difference it made, I couldn't believe it. But it's still about 90% as I did not have a block for my sand paper, and did not want to round off those "Angles" too much. I almost bought the USB kit, but this did the trick for me!

 

[SmurfHunter]

This is exactly what I did to my 9c.. What a difference it made, I couldn't believe it. But it's still about 90% as I did not have a block for my sand paper, and did not want to round off those "Angles" too much. I almost bought the USB kit, but this did the trick for me!

How many swips are you doing with the paper?

 

[TahoeDust]

How many swips are you doing with the paper?

That is like asking how many licks it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop. It is going to be different for everyone depending on how rough the surface is to start, the pressure applied, and the sandpaper used. You just want to smooth the surface not reshape it.

 

[AwfAxis]

Keep in mind this is not a precision part. All it does is push up the striker block button. I might even suggest an arc on top to lighten the pull. This is what the APEX replacement button does at the top end (has a rounded shape rather than a more squared off shape).

 

[SmurfHunter]

That is like asking how many licks it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop. It is going to be different for everyone depending on how rough the surface is to start, the pressure applied, and the sandpaper used. You just want to smooth the surface not reshape it.

Obviously I understand this. But I was asking for a starting point. Clearly I'm not going to use excessive force. No need. I'm using 400 grit sp. so I'm actually using a littler finer paper.

 

[SmurfHunter]

Keep in mind this is not a precision part. All it does is push up the striker block button. I might even suggest an arc on top to lighten the pull. This is what the APEX replacement button does at the top end (has a rounded shape rather than a more squared off shape).

Well the USB will be installed. And I'll also clear the USB bore when I have the sights off.

 

[SmurfHunter]

Well after some 400 grit paper and elbow grease the trigger feels a million times better. I tried the USB test using a punch and pressing it in at an angle and its actually not bad. So for me the gritty feeling was coming from the trigger bar. I could clearly see and feeling little burs.
I also froze the slide for 24 hours and tried to get the sight off again. Didnt move at all. And I beat the hell out of it. Marked it up good. The sight that is. Gonna have to use a Smith for the USB kit.