MemphisMechanic

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=227981 Stipple the backstrap. Wood burning iron or soldering iron. Production an IDPA SSP legal. Then add grip tape everywhere else.

There's no sandpaper that's as grippy as my fugly but functional stippling job. Dip the iron in the plastic and make about a 3/16" oval shape... Wiggling it in an oval. Tapping little dots into it with an iron tip doesn't make it more than grip tape-like. This feels more like 10 or 20- grit sandpaper.

I've found the factory striker spring (which I much prefer to run over a lighter Wolff or Apex) will work consistently with a 13b recoil spring, as long as the recoil spring is replaced faithfully. When running an 11lb recoil spring I needed a lighter striker spring to prevent shifting the slide rearward as the trigger was pressed on some occasions. There's very little difference between the way my gun ran between an 11 and a 13, so I run the 13 or 15 and a factory striker spring.

Saturday was a little disappointing - I ran out of my current jug of Solo1000 just as I installed this barrel. So I committed two sins at once: I changed more than one thing at a time. (Barrel and new ammo recipe) I took it to a local IDPA match untested. And yes, Murphy bit me. Light strikes and one double-feed. However, I don't believe it was the fault of the way I fitted the barrel - I switched to WWB for the final three stages and the gun ran 100%. I'll post up in a week. That'll be two range/testing trips and one USPSA match, and I'm confident I just need to figure out my new powder and OAL issues because I am effectively shooting a new gun after installing this barrel.

It certainly does seem to be a pattern that "you're using too much crimp" is the answer to 4 out of 5 handgun reloaded ammo issues, doesn't it, Randy?

Let it be known: That a 124 round nose FMJ can be loaded at 1.169" and pass the spin test in my barrel. At 1.175 it was in the rifling just a bit. However, as Randy predicted my flat nose 130gr BBI moly coated rounds are another story. At 1.117" they were kissing the rifling just a hair. At 1.115" they spin freely. Looks like I'll be shortening the second load up. But if you shoot LRN or FMJ bullets, you can keep on rocking whatever length you were already using. Most people around here seem to load around 1.160" if they like to load long, and that puts you around .012" shorter than the chamber's maximum tolerance.

Heresy!! Being an APEX SDI barrel fanboy is all the rage! ... I just fitted / installed mine last night. Lol

It's in. Took more than two hours to slowly, precisely fit to the gun. The muzzle end and the sides of the hood needed no fitting. However the hood length and the locking lug pad needed LOTS of fitting. I fit the hood so it had zero slop (literally, you can't feel even a thousandth!) yet dropped into an upside-down slide without the slightest tap. I cerakoted this slide when the gun was new, and had to take a brass wire wheel in an airtool to the openings in the slide to make sure it was all stripped off. That took a bit of extra time, but I didn't want any potential for play between barrel & slide. The barrel easily spins WWB, American Eagle 115, and my 124FMJ reloads at 1.120" I polished the feed ramp heavily, chamber just a touch, and every surface on the back of the barrel til it was chrome. I do this to all of my guns to make them easier to clean. Normally stubborn carbon wipes right off. Fitting the locking lug pad also took some time. The most time, actually. I shaved roughly half of it off - initially you couldn't assemble the gun even with heavy blows from the heel of the Palm - so my gun was very tight here. I'm thrilled. The gun locks up tight as a bank vault when it's in battery. With a brand new 13lb ISMI spring on the factory rod, I fit the barrel at the locking block just loose enough so that slingshotting the slide from halfway back will barely get the gun into battery. There's no slop between the slide and frame and barrel - it no longer rattles. Feels five times more solid with the barrel wedging the slide & frame apart in the forward position than any plastic gun I've handled. An amazing change to the way the gun feels - as solid as a tight as a really nice SIG, I'd say. I'll shoot her Saturday and report back in!

It also drops with pretty much zero slop into the muzzle end of my slide! Excellent. If you'll excuse me, this guy is in full-on "kid at Christmas" mode and is going to go play with some files. Slowly and carefully.

It's HEEEEEREEE! So here are a couple shots of the current design of feed ramp, and the machine work done to allow a live round to eject. Along with one of the other end - I hadn't seen a picture of the very sexy recessed crown on this unit!

An Apex replacement of it?

Need carry gun sights? I put these on my SHIELD last night while she was dremeling away. Warren Tactical's fullsize night sights fit the SHIELD just fine and hit at the top of the front post like God intended, just like they were advertised to. Front is green, rears are a dimmer yellow. The white circle on the front really jumps out during the day, too.

The springer pads are aluminum, and not IDPA SSP legal. I've also never met an aluminum pad that held up well to being dropped onto a concrete indoor range floor every Tuesday Match Night for years - plastic ones don't seem to care. Also, while it looks slick, like the basepad, the extended mag release isn't IDPA approved for stock service pistol. Unfortunately. I keep my guns 100% compatible with both sports and she's already doing very well flipping/turning the gun in her hand to drop the mag. But thanks for mentioning them! I hadn't seen Springer's offerings for the M&P until now. All my stuff has come from Speed Shooter Specialties and of course, CPWSA. I buy everything I can through Chris! I have an Apex SDI barrel waiting on my porch for my 9L.

I walked my girl through doing all of her own trigger work and internal polishing. While she was doing that, I stippled her backstrap with my patented "hideous but grippy" pattern and fitted the sights to the gun. Specs (I'm not a fan of aggressively modifying guns. This resulted in a smooth 4-lb or so trigger.) 13-lb ISMI recoil spring on the factory rod. Apex sear Apex competition spring kit Warren Tactical fiber-optic sights. Stippled backstrap (small) Polished all trigger internals Reshaped striker (firing pin) block & polished. Grip tape down the frontstrap. Swapped magazine basepads to Apex/10-8 ones. She'll be shooting a couple of IDPA matches to make sure the bug as really bitten before she drops some money on magazines, pouches, and a 2-piece belt for USPSA Production. But I'm pretty sure that's coming. Pic #1:Her backstrap compared to my SHIELD carry gun's grip. Pic #2 & 3: Apex vs S&W factory sears. Pic #4:My high-tech process: dig in the tip of the soldering iron, wiggle in a circle, and repeat. Pic #5:Top secret striker block reshaping techique. Find an allen wrench that it will spin freely on without wobble, and use a sanding drum to give it a round profile. Then switch to a polishing wheel and work until it looks like liquid chrome. Pic #6: Warren Tactical F/O sight picture. Nothing new here, you've seen these before. Pic #7 & 8:Her gun is nearly a carbon copy of my 9L. That's no accident. We both have a backup gun now! Pic #9: You're welcome.

Randy,Can you chime in on the answers to the questions that I asked, and he quoted when you replied to him? I think you missed them. Primarily I'm looking to see whether or not the barrel that arrived today (left Brownells on Tuesday) might be one with your newer cutout and feed ramp. Edit: It has since arrived and been installed, and it was indeed the newest version. See installation review on next page.

<edit: triple tap! Phone got a little excited!>

<edit: double tap>

Randy, the barrel I ordered this morning from Brownells (with 2-day shipping! Do want!!!)... will it have the cutout and modified ramp, or did they have a considerable number of the older ones on hand? I wonder how long they're keeping these in inventory before they move out. My gun is one of the earliest 9L's made which surely has a 1:18 twist, so I've been avoiding 147s thus far and I'm excited at this barrel's potential. I plan to fit it when tracking says it will arrive, on Thursday and shoot a few photos of the groups I manage with it in on Saturday morning - I'll run a few mags through it early that morning, then shoot an IPDA match with it. If the front end of my 9L's slide needs fitting, I'll hold off on that and contact you Friday morning, I suppose, given the issues the guys above were having. Unless you can describe right now where I'm going to need to remove material on whichever design of barrel that Brownell's is sending me, I'll plan to hold off and call you Friday morning if the muzzle of the barrel doesn't slip in without fitting, just in case the design I receive is different from your YouTube video. This gun has been cerakoted so I already anticipate needing to remove the coating in all of the places where the barrel is fit to the slide BEFORE beginning to remove material from the barrel, as well. Also - any suggestions for a recommended OAL for a bullet like the flat-nose 125gr I usually shoot?

You can't get a 17? Moderators, please close the thread. There's no need to continue. One of the most common, dominant platforms for production with legendary reliability? (I shoot an M&P so don't call me a Glockophile. It's just that obvious and I'd have jumped on it like *that*)

Right now you cannot find the popular powders anywhere, like my preferred Solo100. This also applies to game favorites Titegroup, WST, and VV N320. You'll probably have do some research on something like Ramshot Comp or another available powder with a suitable burn rate and cook a load up yourself. Also, my length limitation on OAL is the magazines. Anything longer than 1.140ish won't fit front-to-rear in them, even though they run through the chamber with room to spare. For me... 4.0 grains Solo1000 1.120" OAL 124gr Precision Delta FMJ ...is right around 124-125 power factor (super freaking soft and your gun may not eat them with a factory recoil spring) 4.2 got me where I needed to go with a power factor around 130. 3.5gr Solo1000 1.120" OAL 147gr Precision Delta FMJ ... right at 131 PF. (Disclaimer: Unlike most powders, lot numbers of Solo 1000 vary widely in burn rate. Use any available load data from the internet with caution, and definitely start below their numbers and work up to the required velocity. That said, I have one of the "fast jugs" of Solo from what I've seen, so often times people I shared my data with needed an extra .2-.5 grains to hit the same PF.)

Put a heavier factory spring back into it somewhere or take the VQ sear out, and play with factory / VQ part combinations until you come up with a combination that feels how you like. I had their sear and a marvel trigger and light springs in mine and got what you have - too light, zero travel. I shoot production with striker fired guns and this gun (for rimfire optic in steel challenge) had a totally foreign trigger to my M&P for all other disciplines. I took the VQ sear out to get back up to around 4 pounds and with some ability to prep it the way I'm used to. (The marvel trigger has pre/over travel stops and an altered pivot point to lighten the pull.) Mix and match, sell the unwanted parts on eBay. I'm sorry to say that you'll have to put this infernal firearm together from detail stripping it over and over.

I don't know how married you are to the 124/125 weight... but black bullets does make a 135 grain round nose coated bullet that flies well in most guns I've shot it through. Being coated and not being 124 might be deal killers for you, just thought I'd mention it.

Also, my carry holster is a color tac canted paddle holster for a Shield 9mm OWB, and a crossbreed-knockoff IWB. The 9L lives in a straight drop belt holster for games.

Ready Tactical, Blade-teach, or Comp-Tac. Pick one, they all work really well for gaming.

If it's running lighter ammo, install a 13-lb spring in the gun to speed the slide back up... If it has light loads and a light spring, or standard power loads and stock recoil spring? Have her tighten up her grip pressure. That's the actual cause. When my girlfriend shoots her M&P standard length fullsize, the brass came from a 124PF 9mm reload came right back at her if her grip slackened... it also often failed to load the next round. It ejected normally (3 feet to the side and over your right shoulder) trajectory when I shot it and also fed reliably. Re-springing the gun to match the lighter ammo caused it to operate correctly for both of us. The only reason she fired it before she installed the new recoil spring was simply because she was itching to shoot and the sights/Apex parts/spring were not here yet. Honestly, even with full-power loads I'd probably have dropped her recoil spring down to a 13 pounder for better ejection & reliability for a 110-lb girl with a looser grip. Random note: my Shield ate that light ammo without a single hiccup for both of us - an impressive gun!