I just wanted to give a very enthusiastic two thumbs up to Apex Tactical for their excellent customer service. Too many times we hear of companies that fall short, but in this case Apex went far beyond what they needed to do.
I contacted Apex about a Duty/Carry trigger kit that I had installed in my Shield. The installation went without a hitch, but a lot of different reasons prevented me from firing the gun for several months. I thoroughly cleaned the Shield after the install and it remained stored for quite some time. On the first trip to the range I experienced a no primer strike on every other cartridge. It would fire one and then the very next one would not fire or show any primer strike at all. If I ejected the cartridge and loaded a second one, it would fire. That ended that session and I took the Shield home, disassembled it and thoroughly cleaned it.
The second outing was better, but I still had that same no fire problem about 25% of the time. Again I took the Shield apart, recleaned it and inspected it for any obvious problems. I couldn't find any. If I dry fired it, I could not duplicate the problem and to test the firing pin operation I used a BIC pen in the barrel. It never failed to launch the pen 10-12 feet so the source of the problem still remained a mystery.
For some strange reason on the third trip to the range, the gun fired perfectly, and on a fourth trip it also ran fine. But getting back to Apex. After the first trip and the disappointing failure, I contacted Apex just to see if they had any idea if it could be related to their product. After discussing all sorts of ideas such as type and brand of ammo, where I purchased the Apex kit, how many rounds were fired from the Shield before and after the installation of their kit, and whether I had adjusted the trigger loop bar, nothing definite stood out. Apex requested and I sent them detailed pictures of the Shield just to verify that everything was installed properly. Evidently it was, but from the pictures they could tell that the kit that I installed was one of their earlier kits.
Apex is continuously improving their products and they told me that they had a kit with a new and improved sear and a new ultimate striker block. The next thing I knew Apex told me that they would send me a new complete kit to me to install to see if it helped the problem. They asked for me to return the old kit in a prepaid envelope to them for evaluation. I was blown away. There really was no solid indication that the problem was even the result of the Apex kit installation.
Fast forward a couple of days, the kit arrived and was installed. Installation went very well and the trigger does have a little crisper feel. I haven't shot the gun yet, but I'm optimistic that it will perform well.
As far as what caused the original problem, I still don't know. I have one theory, however unproven. I have always used Froglube and have been very happy with it so far. Just recently I got my Springfield TRP 1911 out to fire it after it had been setting for several months. I had also used Froglube on it. When I got it out of the safe and tried to rack the slide, I could just barely move the slide and when I finally released it it was very slow to return. Not good. It was fine when put away and it only has very few rounds through it. Out of curiosity I took a hair dryer and heated the gun up with it for a couple of minutes to liquify the Froglube and then retested the slide. It was much easier to rack and operated much slicker. After cooling off for a while, the gun reverted to it's old slow self confirming my suspicion that the Froglube had solidified and was gumming things up. The next day I disassembled the TRP, thoroughly cleaned it and lubed it with Mil-comm products. It runs as slick as whale snot now. I hate to knock Froglube, but I can't deny that it does seem to gum up the works if left on a gun for some length of time. When I regularly fire a gun I don't seem to have that problem and it does an excellent job protecting against rust and moisture.
Now back to the Shield. When I was installing the new kit, I noticed that the Froglube had migrated to a lot of areas that I had never intentionally applied it. In some cases it had formed a semi-hard sort of sticky jell. I know that this is supposed to liquefy when the gun heats up from firing, but I'm wondering if this sort of gummed something up to where it caused it to malfunction. Maybe my cleanings between trips to the range helped clear this up, or maybe it just cleared up on it's own from firing it. I guess I'll never know and I can't fairly put any blame on Froglube.
As a result of my findings I thoroughly cleaned the gun, AGAIN, and switched to Mil-comm products. I have yet to fire the gun, but so far it operates as slick as can be. So far it seems like all I'm doing is knocking Froglube and praising Mil-comm. That was not my intention, but if this information helps anyone, that would be great.
But back to the original purpose of my post. I just wanted to give Apex Tactical two big thumbs up for stepping up to the plate and supplying a new kit to me free of charge, even though there was no definite proof that their product was at fault. It shows me that Apex will go to whatever extremes to stand behind their products. I would recommend Apex to anyone.
I contacted Apex about a Duty/Carry trigger kit that I had installed in my Shield. The installation went without a hitch, but a lot of different reasons prevented me from firing the gun for several months. I thoroughly cleaned the Shield after the install and it remained stored for quite some time. On the first trip to the range I experienced a no primer strike on every other cartridge. It would fire one and then the very next one would not fire or show any primer strike at all. If I ejected the cartridge and loaded a second one, it would fire. That ended that session and I took the Shield home, disassembled it and thoroughly cleaned it.
The second outing was better, but I still had that same no fire problem about 25% of the time. Again I took the Shield apart, recleaned it and inspected it for any obvious problems. I couldn't find any. If I dry fired it, I could not duplicate the problem and to test the firing pin operation I used a BIC pen in the barrel. It never failed to launch the pen 10-12 feet so the source of the problem still remained a mystery.
For some strange reason on the third trip to the range, the gun fired perfectly, and on a fourth trip it also ran fine. But getting back to Apex. After the first trip and the disappointing failure, I contacted Apex just to see if they had any idea if it could be related to their product. After discussing all sorts of ideas such as type and brand of ammo, where I purchased the Apex kit, how many rounds were fired from the Shield before and after the installation of their kit, and whether I had adjusted the trigger loop bar, nothing definite stood out. Apex requested and I sent them detailed pictures of the Shield just to verify that everything was installed properly. Evidently it was, but from the pictures they could tell that the kit that I installed was one of their earlier kits.
Apex is continuously improving their products and they told me that they had a kit with a new and improved sear and a new ultimate striker block. The next thing I knew Apex told me that they would send me a new complete kit to me to install to see if it helped the problem. They asked for me to return the old kit in a prepaid envelope to them for evaluation. I was blown away. There really was no solid indication that the problem was even the result of the Apex kit installation.
Fast forward a couple of days, the kit arrived and was installed. Installation went very well and the trigger does have a little crisper feel. I haven't shot the gun yet, but I'm optimistic that it will perform well.
As far as what caused the original problem, I still don't know. I have one theory, however unproven. I have always used Froglube and have been very happy with it so far. Just recently I got my Springfield TRP 1911 out to fire it after it had been setting for several months. I had also used Froglube on it. When I got it out of the safe and tried to rack the slide, I could just barely move the slide and when I finally released it it was very slow to return. Not good. It was fine when put away and it only has very few rounds through it. Out of curiosity I took a hair dryer and heated the gun up with it for a couple of minutes to liquify the Froglube and then retested the slide. It was much easier to rack and operated much slicker. After cooling off for a while, the gun reverted to it's old slow self confirming my suspicion that the Froglube had solidified and was gumming things up. The next day I disassembled the TRP, thoroughly cleaned it and lubed it with Mil-comm products. It runs as slick as whale snot now. I hate to knock Froglube, but I can't deny that it does seem to gum up the works if left on a gun for some length of time. When I regularly fire a gun I don't seem to have that problem and it does an excellent job protecting against rust and moisture.
Now back to the Shield. When I was installing the new kit, I noticed that the Froglube had migrated to a lot of areas that I had never intentionally applied it. In some cases it had formed a semi-hard sort of sticky jell. I know that this is supposed to liquefy when the gun heats up from firing, but I'm wondering if this sort of gummed something up to where it caused it to malfunction. Maybe my cleanings between trips to the range helped clear this up, or maybe it just cleared up on it's own from firing it. I guess I'll never know and I can't fairly put any blame on Froglube.
As a result of my findings I thoroughly cleaned the gun, AGAIN, and switched to Mil-comm products. I have yet to fire the gun, but so far it operates as slick as can be. So far it seems like all I'm doing is knocking Froglube and praising Mil-comm. That was not my intention, but if this information helps anyone, that would be great.
But back to the original purpose of my post. I just wanted to give Apex Tactical two big thumbs up for stepping up to the plate and supplying a new kit to me free of charge, even though there was no definite proof that their product was at fault. It shows me that Apex will go to whatever extremes to stand behind their products. I would recommend Apex to anyone.
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