DONE WITH MY SHIELD!!!

[Fercho64]

Ok, I kept on reading in this trigger jobs and how we could do them ourselves so I gave it a shot. I have never work on a striker fire gun before .

First I rounded off and polished the OEM striker block, then cut the spring to .50 and the trigger got very smooth. Very nice, then I remove the sear and file away using 400 grit sand paper on a block and then polished the hump on the sear away.
The trigger pull is very light. I have no way to measure it but it feels so smooth. I may get the OEM spring back on the striker block to get a bit more weight on the trigger pull.

So the only two things that I did were to round off the striker block and file the little hump on the sear.
I would not waste my time doing anything else. That freaking gun is so smooth its unreal.
Finally I installed my Dawson fiber optic sight. That was a pain is the rear to fit but I got it.

A tip to those removing the sights is to heat up the OEM sights with a small torch to soften the thread locker that they used to install the sights. And make sure that you use masking tape on the punch that comes with the sights. Dawson precision has a great video explaining how to install it. Make sure that you have a dial caliper and proper files before you attempt this and measure the new sight against the OEM sight. Dawson precision has a great video online.

This last picture I found it online

 

[Fercho64]

Please google "M&P trigger job" and pull the PDF document from burwellguns


Please use this priceless document as reference

 

[kris7047th]

And here I thought by the thread title you were getting rid of your Shield .. lol


Nice job !

 

[mcracco]

I thought you were a dissatisfied customer as well. Good job on the mods.

 

[Moonman]

You could just order the APEX HARD SEAR and the Striker Block too if you thought that was necessary. Swap out the parts in a few minutes, and you're done. Parts are $40 each.

 

[Marshal Tom]

What exactly does the Apex system or parts mod. do for the M&P's? I have read some about the mod on the forum.

Tom

 

[Fercho64]

You could just order the APEX HARD SEAR and the Striker Block too if you thought that was necessary. Swap out the parts in a few minutes, and you're done. Parts are $40 each.

True you can. The mods were so minor and unsignificant and the results worth the effort. For those who like to keep their OEM parts its the way to go. It took less than 30 minutes to modify the block and sear once they were out, for those that want to do it, just be conservative. I followed the instructions on the document posted on modifying the striker block, put it on a rod with masking tape and attached to my drill then found a stone and grinded the corners against it, then wrap the ends on 400 grit sand paper and turned it again. I had some red rouge (polishing compund) and used some of the attacments that came with my dremmel to polish the metal and give it that mirror look.

I figured that if I screwed up I would order the parts but it was a piece of cake. I cut my striker block spring. I would have to recommend leaving it alone as removing the bump on the sear decreased the trigger pull.

If you just want to get rid of the grittines of the trigger just do the stricker block.

My next mod is a rear serrated rear sight. It's so much faster for me when I do not have the rear dots. It allows me to focus on the front sight and just align the height of the sights together. IMO

WHEN REMOVING THE PIN THAT HOLDS THE SEAR MAKE SURE TO HOLD THE SEAR IN PLACE BY HAND. As there is a spring and a pin that pushes the sear up, mine came out flying, lucky me it landed on a large white towel I was working on. When reassembling I use a toothpick with one end cut flat to align the sear prior to inserting the pin. The sharp end of the toothpick goes in first on the direction that the pin will be inserted, keep on pushing and follow with the retaining pin.

 

[Fercho64]

What exactly does the Apex system or parts mod. do for the M&P's? I have read some about the mod on the forum.

Tom

It eliminates the drag that you feel when pulling the trigger, it also reduces the effort (trigger pull weight) to have the striker fire.

 

[Fercho64]

So last night I mofdified my sear once again, filing the end that will reduce the over travel of the trigger after it strikes and reducing the resetting distance aswell.

So recapping here is what the mods do for you

The striker block modification smoothens and eliminates the grittines that you feel when you pull the trigger.

The sear modification involves filing in two locations and the results are independant from each other
First it reduces the trigger pull weight
Second, it eliminates the over travel after the striker fires and shortens the re setting of the trigger.

This works great for me, as on my other SHILED, I will be only modifying the striker block to smoothen the trigger pull and eliminating the over travel/reducing the resetting of the trigger.

There is another mod to the sear where you can reduce trigger pull weight even more my filing down the top of the sear where it drags againt the striker, but I left that one alone.

Take a look at the document fron Burwellguns

By the way, I spoke to Dave Dawson from Dawson precision and he tells me that the Shield has a different front sight, that is why I had such a hard time fitting it. They now have a new sight specifically for the M&P Shield.

 

[RobzGuns]

I also thought your Subject line was referring to your getting rid of your Shield.

Thanks for the info on this as a DIY, as well as the google search suggestion for the PDF.

 

[Fercho64]

RObz where are you in Texas, I am in the Houston area.

I had to remove the link to the document as I was in violation of the forum rules

Back from the range, what a day. Not a single hickup after all of the work that I did on it. I can tell you that the trigger is actually as smooth and the trigger resetting is a good as my Walther PPQ that I fired for the first time today. HAD A WONDERFUL DAY. Had FTE issues with my Bersa BP9cc a week ago and after polishing the back end of the barrel to make sure that the cartridges fitted as loose as my other 9MM it solve my FTE issue. Bersa, SHIELD and PPQ were awesome. I cant belive the accuracy of the PPQ.......WOW!!!!!!!!

Love my new SHIELD Dawson sight. So much nicer blacking out the rear white dots, it made a huge difference in target acquisition. I now see no need for rear dots at all.

 

[tul9033]

Can't find the Shield specific fiber front. They do a have a "Charger" rear for the Shield that looks really nice.

 

[Fercho64]

DP S&W M&P Fiber Optic Inserted Front Sight .160 Tall x .125 Wide #021035 is the stock replacement

DP S&W M&P Fiber Optic Inserted Front Sight .150 Tall x .125 Wide #021138 is shorter so it shots a bit higher

 

[gnystrom]

I just put in the Apex hard sear using the YouTube video. Reduce the trigger pull from 8# down to about 5-3/4#. About 20 minutes work. I have no need for anything more than that except for better sight options.

 

[kris7047th]

I had Doug at ATEi do mine and the trigger pull is at 4lbs, plus he installed my Trijicon HD night sights for me and last month the Shield went back to him for full serrations. I did the grip stippling.

 

[gnystrom]

Two questions?
1. I called Trijicon and they told me they do not make HD sights for the Shield. I notice yours stick out a bit at the back. Can they catch on anything? Any machining of the slide to get these on?

2. 4# triggers on a carry gun makes me nervous, even if the gun has a external safety. Did the trigger weight reduction occur when you replaced or polished the striker block?

The gun looks beautiful. Great job.

 

[kris7047th]

Two questions?
1. I called Trijicon and they told me they do not make HD sights for the Shield. I notice yours stick out a bit at the back. Can they catch on anything? Any machining of the slide to get these on?

2. 4# triggers on a carry gun makes me nervous, even if the gun has a external safety. Did the trigger weight reduction occur when you replaced or polished the striker block?

The gun looks beautiful. Great job.

Nope .. no problem with the rear sight catching on anything. They are the Trijicon HD M&P FS sights. I have weak hands and fingers so the 4lb is perfect for me. 6lbs and more makes it difficult for me to pull the trigger correctly.

Thanks .. Doug at ATEi deserves the credit. He does fantastic work making a good gun become a great operating gun. He makes sears and replaces the M&P standard/stock sear with his and thus the lighter pull weight. He also fixes the mushiness, shortens the pre travel and over travel. He did the serrations and has the slides sent to a local shop for the melonite finish.

 

[jfrey]

I bought and installed both the Apex hard sear and striker block. They worked great and the trigger was smooth and very light. After some dry firing and a couple of mags at the range I decided the sear was just too light for me in a carry gun. I left the striker block in the gun but replaced the original sear. After 300+ rounds now, the original sear has smoothed out a lot and feels lighter than it did when I got it. Right now I'm happy running it like that. I prefer plain black sights so maybe one of these days the dots will fall out too and cure that problem.

 

[cornchucker]

I thought you were a dissatisfied customer as well. Good job on the mods.

Same here!