Apex Sear installation

[customizedcreationz]

Just wanted to say I installed my first Apex sear for a customer the other day. Excellent part, fit and finish were top notch. Made a big difference in trigger pull and feel.

Awesome work guys !

Thanks
Todd

 

[oamaam]

Just wanted to say I installed my first Apex sear for a customer the other day. Excellent part, fit and finish were top notch. Made a big difference in trigger pull and feel.

Awesome work guys !

Thanks
Todd

Does that void the warranty? Everyone says shoot more to get the trigger feeling to stop feeling scratchy or gritty.

 

[blastfact]

Does that void the warranty? Everyone says shoot more to get the trigger feeling to stop feeling scratchy or gritty.

Just take it out and install the OEM parts if you have to ship it to the mother ship!

 

[missiondude]

The sear does not remove the gritty trigger pull much unless you also install the firing pin block also from Apex. I recommend doing both together as the results are great.

 

[silvercn]

S&W.... what a crock of crap. W T F !!!
"if you replace all the working parts of the gun you will be pleased."


Why not just make the firearm good the fires time.
Additions and modifications should be for speciaty things...
not standard shooting, for the love of god.

 

[MrYoga]

FUN FUN FUN

S&W.... what a crock of crap. W T F !!!
"if you replace all the working parts of the gun you will be pleased."


Why not just make the firearm good the fires time.
Additions and modifications should be for speciaty things...
not standard shooting, for the love of god.

But then what would we do with all of our spare time and money?

 

[jtboss]

I put the Apex kit in my M&P 40c. I did it because I wanted to,not because I needed to. Some people buy cars and put pin stripes and fancy wheels on them. It's just a matter of personal wants vs. needs.

 

[silvercn]

I put the Apex kit in my M&P 40c. I did it because I wanted to,not because I needed to. Some people buy cars and put pin stripes and fancy wheels on them. It's just a matter of personal wants vs. needs.

no offense... that’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
replacing internal parts is not like pin striping on a car!
If you paint your firearm pink its like pin striping a car.
If you replace the motor because the one you have sucks is like replacing your internal parts of you gun...

S&W.......... Love the pistol... but for christs sakes....
don’t build it with the NEED to replace your crappy parts with good parts.....

 

[SMMAssociates]

I put the DCAEK's in an M&P40FS and an M&P40C....

Anything you can swap back out in a few minutes doesn't count....

Personally, I found the improvement worth the money and the time, although, to be honest, the Compact shot beautifully beforehand. It's just better now....

IMHO, most of us would be best off with just replacing the drop safety plunger, but the sear replacement is worth the extra work, and the trigger and sear springs in the kit make for a slightly better gun, with almost no more effort.

You don't need to be a gunsmith to do this, but it helps to have some experience in this sort of thing (as a 1911 guy, I have it ). The only downside is the incredibly tiny sear spring and plunger. And you really do need a roll pin punch.

I doubt if anybody at S&W would notice, either . I wasn't here. I didn't say that....

Even if you're not going to do it, or not interested, watch Randy's "how to replace the sear" video. The beginning section is an excellent reason why, and mostly a good view of why we care about triggers.

Regards,

 

[jtboss]

no offense... that’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
replacing internal parts is not like pin striping on a car!
If you paint your firearm pink its like pin striping a car.
If you replace the motor because the one you have sucks is like replacing your internal parts of you gun...

S&W.......... Love the pistol... but for christs sakes....
don’t build it with the NEED to replace your crappy parts with good parts.....

no offense,but you obviously didn't understand what I said. I didn't replace the parts because I had to,but because I wanted to. And plenty of people swap engines in cars because they want to and can afford to. I can afford to both if I so desire.Sorry if you can't afford to do either.

 

[SMMAssociates]

jtboss:

+1....

1911 guys (like me) tend to believe that their guns are "kits".... If it can be removed, it should be replaced....

I admit to swapping in night sights, and swapping grip safeties (and grips), but that's about it....

Right now there's a guy on the 1911 forums who just bought his first, and is eager to swap everything.... Unfortunately, he's got a Para LDA, and you can't necessarily just drop that old Commander slide you picked up at the flea market on the frame....

I DO wish that S&W would ship these guns with the Apex goodies installed - the sear is proprietary to Apex, but I doubt if anything else in the DCAEK kit would be a problem. (Naturally, I'd like to see Apex get a cut .) The drop safety plunger treatment is probably worth the effort all by itself - much nicer feel, and the fool thing could have been made that way from the start.

The original parts aren't "crappy".... It's just that the Apex folks found a way to improve the thing without much change, and passed the availability of the components along to us. There's nothing going on here that isn't exactly the same as swapping a 1911 grip safety....

(We won't talk about the first time I tried that. $40 for the first one, $40 for the second one, and $40 for the gunsmith to install the second one.... Then I found out how to safely re-use the one I'd trashed.... AARGH.... )

Regards,

 

[Scotch827]

I installed the Apex sear and spring last night in my 45 compact. When I started my trigger pulled a little over 8 lbs ( new gun with a 100 to 200 rounds fired) when I was done about a half hour later my trigger pulled at 5.25 lbs. I am going to do the safety plunger and trigger spring tonight. I ordered the kit thinking I would take it to a gunsmith , then watched the videos and decided to do it myself. I did have to order roll pin punches. I am very happy with the kit so far and consider it money well spent.

Scott

 

[SMMAssociates]

Scott:

Pretty easy if you've got any experience at all in stuff like this (although that microscopic sear pin and spring is a whole 'nother skill ) and the roll pins....

To emphasize again - you really DO need the roll pin.... A straight (non tapered) pin will work if you're lucky but.... The idea is that a little pimple on the end of the proper pin centers it and the whole concept is to keep the pin from expanding outwards while being driven. (Being hollow and segmented it is already a sort of spring and you don't want to change anything.)

And the first part of Randy's sear video is a great explanation of why a trigger job (even if the weight isn't appreciably changed) is a good idea.

Regards

 

[hberttmank]

I put the Apex sear and safety plunger in my M&P 9 Pro because I wanted the best trigger pull possible that I could do myself. Very happy with the results, trigger breaks at 3.5 lbs, and the reset is much crisper than before.

 

[gotigers]

S&W.... what a crock of crap. W T F !!!
"if you replace all the working parts of the gun you will be pleased."


Why not just make the firearm good the fires time.
Additions and modifications should be for speciaty things...
not standard shooting, for the love of god.

My 1 week old M&P works great. Most M&Ps work fine or very good out of the box. Some just want to make it better.

 

[SMMAssociates]

gotigers:

Maybe 'cause I'm old enough to own a couple of late 60's S&W revolvers, I can really feel the difference with the Apex kit....

If you have the opportunity, try one.... Then ask....

All Randy & friends have done is diddle the sear engagement surfaces. A time-honored tradition in the 1911 world. They added just selling us the sear, which avoids klutzes like me having to buy another sear when we muck up the first one.... Meantime, the new springs, and particularly the drop safety plunger modification are really helpful - especially the latter. The little nubbin on the trigger bar dragging across that thing may be the primary reason for all kinds of trigger-related complaints. Turning that engagement into a rounded surface makes for an improvement all it's own.

Do you really need to do it? No.... The gun shoots well enough. But the improvement is, IMHO, real, and if you watch Randy's sear video, you'll see why it may be a good idea.

Regards,

 

[Scotch827]

I just finished the installing the whole kit ! The new plunger took the trigger down to about 4.75 lbs and made it very crisp. I put in the trigger spring and that took up to around 6lbs. I am new to pistols(I shoot a lot of rifles) so I am going to leave the trigger spring in for saftey. I do appreciate a good trigger. I am off to the range to try it out. Now I have to work on my low left groups. I need some practice

Stu, The tiny spring wasn't to bad although I did need my cheater glasses

Scott