want2race

I use a CompTac belt holster. It's my favorite. Mine has thumb knobs for the tension. Very handy to have. I've never really cared for Bladtechs.

I'll take your Apex trigger springs. I'll pay postage!

Too much friction for the light trigger spring, is what it sounds like. I just bend the trigger bar, but if I bend it too much i get the same thing. Too much friction and the reset is sluggish. With the trigger bar I just "unbend" it a little. Look at how the Ram works and see if you can lighten the spring tension. Also try polishing the tail of the trigger bar and take off the rough edges. I did another M&P last night (yet another borrowed gun from a friend) and it had a mushy reset too. The trigger pull was gritty and that was my first clue. The tail of the trigger bar (under the "loop") was rubbing the sear housing in a bad way.

Heat gun till it smokes. Don't use a torch. Kidding aside, start with 30 seconds of a 1000-1500w heat gun. Add 15 seconds while trying to budge it each time. Put the long end of the torx wrench in the screw so you can't get too much torque on it. Try that first. Get more aggressive as needed.

You want class 3, or hard coat anodize. Google for places near you. You may find it expensive to do just one piece. Most non-gun anodizers are used to doing 100's of items. I've been quoted $250 to do a magwell. I didn't use that shop. You can also search in the aluminum grip threads. There are some guys that have had their gips ano'd for a good price.

I have installed full kits in quite a few guns without light strikes. In the Pro I shoot, I have the trigger spring and sear spring installed. I don't feel like messing up the zero by taking off the rear to install the FPB safety spring. Kguns had already polished the stock FPB so I didn't bother. Installing the supplied FPB and spring that comes with the kit makes the biggest improvement other than the trigger spring. No light strikes for me, even with a shortened Apex striker spring. It only took .25# off the trigger pull. Not nearly as big of a change as the Glock striker spring changes. I can still get under 3# triggers using the stock striker spring.

Thanks, I'll work on that. Here's some major PF shooting. http://www.youtube.com/user/want2race441#p/u/16/rWxSfohHV6Q

The point is a flatter gun. If a 9lb spring existed, I would run it. It's not sluggish at all. Lock up on my borrowed Pro is just fine. The second to last stage was two bill drills with a tactical or retention reload. I was down 1. But my point to sharing the vid is, note the brass streaming out. It's very, very consistent now. I've adjusted the ejector as well as tuned the extractor. I borrowed a full size and shooting it stock, there was a HUGE recoil difference. I shoot Blazer Brass 9mm.

The reloads looked like moon clip reloads. Very nice.

I get my recoils from Shooters Connection. I bought the Apex competition spring kit to get all the springs.

I run an 11# as well. I cut 4 coils off the Apex competition striker spring.

Beavertail. 170ish PF. Reduced power recoil spring to match. I run 14.5 in mine.

You can also put a little bend in the trigger bar to achieve a more positive click in the reset.

I file on the sight. Using a persuader (big hammer) the sight stopped short of half way and would not budge. I took some material off the sights dovetail until it went in with a smaller hammer. LOL Once it finally went in it was still super tight. Took me about an hour.

Put the slide in a good (padded) vise. Dawson has changed the metal on the front sights and it will tap in quite nicely. Follow the arrow on the bottom of the front sight. The rear will give you much more trouble. I use a 60* dovetail file to fit the rear sight.

Also known as the "Dadwood Derby". Some troops have a build party where the kids all build their cars at the same time at the leaders house. Then the cars are put in quarentine until race day. It keeps machinists Dads honest.

Is it bad? Probably not. I'm not even aware that my gun HAS a trigger when shooting at speed. Reset length is far more important to me than reset strength, or snap.

The M&P Pro that I use is at 2.2# using the sear and spring kit only. Using the whole kit and some time to work it, I can get 2lbs pretty easily. I can get under 2 if I polish the sear. Have you checked it with a gauge? Before and after? The sear alone will lighten it only a smidge, but adding the spring kit and polished (rounded) firing pin block and spring will make the biggest difference in pull weight. I still end up working over the trigger bar quite a bit to get the release where I want it but the whole kit is really worth it. It's quite easy to get a very very short reset with the Apex sear. I wasn't sold on it (the kit) initially either since I can do most of the work myself anyway (altering sear angles etc) but the cost vs. time makes is a value for me. If you want the magically good M&P trigger, you might have to send it out. The triggers on these can be very very good. Mine breaks nicer than my 2011.

My first question is, What did you mean to accomplish by installing the Apex sear? Is it the pull weight that you can't a difference in? The reset length and where the sear is released (in the trigger pull) should be very different. The pretravel will be longer, but the reset shorter. Should be. The pull weight is determined by the right combination of parts and the skill to tweak it. Many have had luck with just dropping in the whole kit. I've had to work on every kit I've installed. The end result has always been great though.

There's an app for that. I play it on my wifes iPod too. Don't get skunked.

My local Pizza Hut had one of these. I used to wear it out when ever I'd go there. So much fun.

The "light" striker spring that comes with the Apex kit is not like a Glock light striker spring. The Apex spring is a good 4 coils longer than the stock M&P spring. I tested trigger pull weight with and without an unmodified Apex striker spring. The difference in pull weight was so slight that it really didn't benefit using it. However, I took the 4 coils off to match the stock length and then it dropped the trigger pull weight a whole half pound. .5lbs. If you're worried getting light strikes, leave the stock spring in and use the rest of the Apex kit. Most people can't tell a half pound difference with their finger anyway.

Nice! I use a reverse curve. I like the feeling of a flat trigger, but I also like how a traditional curve trigger is easy to find center. Here's an old picture, I've since changed barrels, stippled the grip, then switched to aluminum grip and had the whole thing finished in Atranite. You can see the undercut I like in plastic grips and the Beyond Flat trigger.

Single undercut for me. I don't like double undercut trigger guards. I think most people do it, have it done, because that is what everybody else does. Double undercut and my left index finger rubs my trigger finger. The key to the undercut is to make it big (front to back). Too many jobs I've seen are too short. My knuckle hits right on the hump between the two. I'll post a pic of the plastic grip I did. Dremel sanding drum then finished it off with finer paper. I'll post the pic tomorrow as it's on another computer.

Fitting a new barrel to new slide and frame, the back of the slide usually hangs off the frame and has to be filed to match. The barrel is fit until IT'S right, not the frame to slide fit is right. Sometimes fitting a new barrel to existing frame and slide requires the same thing. Don't know your complete story on that one, but it's pretty normal. Many barrels have a flare at the end. Not necessary, but many do.