To modify or not to modify?

[leejack]

If I had a gripe (and it's very minor), it would be the takedown thingies. I'm thinking the designer of that piece was high on something at the time. LOL!

 

[ou1954]

If I had a gripe (and it's very minor), it would be the takedown thingies. I'm thinking the designer of that piece was high on something at the time. LOL!

That's the only part I changed. "Slide Lock Lever" by ndzperformance on eBay. $12.95 for Stainless and $11.95 in Black.

Only about 1 mm longer than stock but makes an incredible difference in taking down the gun. Before I got I had a lot of broken fingernails and was using a towel to help grip it. The ndzperformance version has the same end design as the factory version and I have seen some that were longer and had tapered ends. The "square" end version works just fine. I picked SS to add a tiny bit of color to the gun.

 

[ou1954]

No idea about the legality. Anyone know about the legality of disabling the magazine disconnect safety? Also, here are some pics of the disconnect safety:

Definitely required in CA guns. S&W went to quite an effort to meet the CA registry requirements.

1. Gun cannot fire without magazine in place
2. Tactile round in chamber indicator
3. 10 round magazine limit
4. Drop tests, not sure what they are

I don't currently live in California but did get a CA gun because I like the added safety benefits, especially items 1,2, and 4 above.

 

[M&PGuy2014]

Mine is stock and I like it that way. I'm a revolver guy from way back. Not the best DAO trigger out there, but not the worst either. My SW40VE is my go to pistol. Carry it a lot and would stack it up next to a Glock 23 any day.

 

[kakarote9130]

pistol grip

In an effort to figure out why I am dead-on with other pistols I hadn't previously fired, but can't group well of hit the mark with my SDVE, I upgraded with the Apex trigger kit. Several visits to the range later and multiple changes to the way I was gripping the pistol, I finally was able to gain some accuracy and put together some decent groups.

Now 3 months later, the better part of a day was spent at the range...couldn't hit **** with the SDVE at 25 yards. Fired my brothers PPQ, 3-4 inch grouping...fired the XD-40 of a guy at the bench next to me and I was right on. Very frustrating.

Then I got an idea, pulled one of those fancy new "work gloves" from the cubby in my vehicle, has the padded palm, and BAM, back on target again! No glove, horrible. Add glove, consistency. So my next step is to find a way to change the grip on the pistol.

Other than these issues, I love the pistol!

I installed a houge slip on, the feel and grip it gives is fantastic!

 

[Monteman1971]

SD9, Apex trigger spring kit, Galloway stainless 17lb guide rod spring, Traction grips, Ameriglo big dot night sights.

I just can't leave anything well enough alone. The gun was real nice before but it's great now!!!

 

[Vanimal]

Definitely required in CA guns. S&W went to quite an effort to meet the CA registry requirements.

1. Gun cannot fire without magazine in place
2. Tactile round in chamber indicator
3. 10 round magazine limit
4. Drop tests, not sure what they are

I don't currently live in California but did get a CA gun because I like the added safety benefits, especially items 1,2, and 4 above.

Honestly I consider 1 and 2 to be more of a hazard than a safety.
1 causes mag to not drop freely. 2, I've personally seen fail (on a rental Sig) so it can lead you a stray, better up press check anyway. 4, all manufacturers do this anyway.

 

[djt17]

I can't think of anything that needs to be modified on my SD9VE; it suits my needs, (home defense), perfectly.

 

[bigtom63]

Galloway wide body take down plate and Galloway reduced power spring
set. Also added a red dot sight. Wonderful!

 

[histed]

Lota people complain about the SD trigger - I even had a guy tell me it was "unshootable because its so heavy. " I grew up shooting DA revolvers, maybe that's why I don't mind the trigger. I would, however, swap the rear sight for something adjustable. I can't get this one to stop shooting low. My groups are decent, just about 6" low with 125 ammo.

 

[Vanimal]

Yeah, it all boils down to the shooter. It's a great and accurate gun, you just have to learn how to shoot it.

 

[smithman 10]

SD9

I had the Apex trigger put in my SD. The gun ran fine, I guess I just wasn't prepared to shoot enough to become proficient with it. Big groups. I wanted to like it, it felt good in the hand but I never got so I could shoot it well.

So I sold it.

Went back to my revolvers, where I should have stayed in the first place I guess.

Although I do have a 39, a 39-2 and a 915 that I can shoot half way decent. Just never have been any good with any striker fired pistol.

 

[histed]

Vanimal - any hints on that would be greatly appreciated. Or is this like any other firearm I've ever owned - Practice, practice, then practice??

 

[silverwolf636]

The only thing that I may consider is a grip and add some glow-in-the-dark marker to my sites. I enjoy the way it shoots stock though.

 

[Bamaeagle]

Going to leave mine STOCK for now. Might add Talon grips and new sights at a later date but for now it does what I want it to do.

 

[JAREDSHS]

Mine is just like it came from S&W. would not change anything about the gun I feel that the shooter should "learn" how to accurately shoot each firearm they have as each firearm is distinctly different from the others they may have. To me this makes more sense than tinkering and changeing the weapons. Just my opinion.

 

[MGMorden]

To me the stock trigger on the SD (much less the Sigma) is borderline unusable, but I'm used to a much lighter trigger.

I ended up putting the Apex trigger and spring kit into my SD. That takes it from bad to "pretty good". You're not getting a PPQ trigger out of an SD no matter what you do, but with those parts its a big improvement.

I tend to be a tinkerer though. For my carry guns I tend to leave those stock, but out of a lot of guns I only carry 2 of them. The rest are range and competition guns and I tweak/upgrade them as needed.

 

[Vanimal]

Vanimal - any hints on that would be greatly appreciated. Or is this like any other firearm I've ever owned - Practice, practice, then practice??

Dry fire that thing! I noticed when I dry fired it my muzzle was dipping big-time! So when dry firing I really concentrated on trigger control. Next time at the range I was totally on point. Once you get used to the trigger you'll know when it's going to break so you can stage it, then concentrate on trigger control that last little bit.

 

[Tmatahead]

Modified! Modified! Modified!

Wive's SD9 Modified:
1) HiViz LitePipe Red front sight.
2) NDZ extended Slide Release
3) Apex Spring Kit
4) Polished Trigger Bar & Sear
5) Pachmayr grip sleeve
6) Polished ramp
7) Black Trigger Stop
8) Streamlight TLR3
My SD40
Above with:
A) Hogue Grip Sleeve in lieu of Pachmayr
B) Galloway 20# recoil spring
C) Polished Trigger surface
SW9/40 Zombie Killer
1) OEM new Striker assy (9mm)
2) Polished Trigger Bar & Sear
3) Polished Ramps on both barrels
4) Black Trigger Stop
5) Removal of Sear Spring
6) Stippling to Index finger rest area
7) Stippling to Thumb rest area
8) Stippling to bottom of trigger guard
Future plans: CeraKote SW9 slide, Polish SW40 slide, So they are easily identifiable.
New model HiViz LitePipe rear Sight on SD's (not yet released)