Apex SDI barrel, my install experience

[ddc]

So after reading the recent threads on the Apex barrels I tried to resist but was so intrigued that I picked one up.

I’ll describe my experience and am interested in any feedback or comments that you guys who have gone through this already might have.

So… first of all my barrel inserted into my slide with no issues. It seemed solid but not too tight. There is no binding. It felt good.

Then the sides of the barrel hood were no issue either. The barrel hood fits into the slide recess with no side binding. Again, tight but not too tight. Felt good.

The rear of the hood needed a little work. If the barrel was a little forward of being in battery and I slid it towards the rear of the slide I could hear and feel an audible “click” as the front of the hood started to slide past the front of the slide cutout. However it was obvious not fully into battery. After about 15 minutes file, fit, file, fit, etc. it clicked in all the way.

At that point it was locked in pretty solid. I couldn't disassemble by hand. I needed to give it a bit of a “wap” with a soft mallet to be able to remove it from the slide.

I left it alone at that point and thought that the next step would be to attempt to assemble the gun and to find out that I needed to remove material from the fitting pad at the bottom of the barrel.

However that doesn’t seem to be necessary. After assembling the gun and cycling the slide slowly it acts as has been described where it goes almost all the way into battery and then requires a slight nudge to get it the rest of the way.

When operating the slide in a normal fashion it goes into battery all the way. Dry fire functions as usual.

I guess I’m a little surprised that I didn’t need to take any material off of the fitting pad as I was under the impression that most people have had to do that.

Thoughts/comments?

Thanks!

Don

Edited April 30, 2016 by ddc

[mpeltier]

If you need to "Wap" it with a mallet, in my opinion its still a touch too tight tight. If its that tight it will be difficult to tell if theres and barrel springing, and it may not cycle reliably. Did you watch the videos on fitting?

[ddc]

I would not have even started to consider doing this without watching the videos.

Interestingly.... this morning no "wap" is necessary. The slide has been cycled about 10 times in the interim.

I'm tempted to leave it as is.

I'm actually more interested in the fact I didn't have to remove any material from the fitting pad. Maybe I just got lucky and my slide dimensions were almost an exact match for the SDI barrel.

[TacticalReload]

Leave it as is and try to shoot it. If it functions, then you're GTG. Randy did mention that there are certain guns that won't need any material removed from the fitting pad. It's quite possible that the tolerances stacked on your frame rails and/or slide's rail-grooves in a way that leads the slide to ride higher than most.

[BrianKr]

I wish I had gotten mine that tight after filing the barrel hood. Mine is tight just not as tight as I would have liked. I wanted to have malfunctions and then slowly remove metal to stop it from malfunctioning. But my base did need some filing and I made sure that was tight and needed the slight push.

But if you didn't need to remove material, you didn't need to remove any. We can only do what the gun needs.

Please let us know how your gun shoots with the new barrel. For me it was a night and day sort of difference.

[want2race]

Having some hood clearance will decrease the wear on the slide lock up surface. Otherwise, that edge may roll over time. By "some" I mean a thou or two.

The hood length was so much easier to get right than a 1911. Measure the opening. My Gunsmith fit barrel was only .002" too long. In fact I could tap it into lock up with a mallet. I removed the .002, then polished with 600g. The polishing have me the "some" clearance I wanted. Since the barrel and slide lock up surface are nearly right angles, I break the edge slightly on the slide.

[ddc]

Thanks guys. I could give it another pass with the file... don't know enough to know the pros and cons. Obviously want the lock up as tight as possible but don't want any downside either.

I won't have a chance to bench it until next week at the earliest but will report back if and when. Thanks.

[BrianKr]

Go really easy with the file at the point you're at. That's why my barrel wasn't as tightly fit as I wanted. It takes very little metal removal at the point you're at. You might even want to do what W2R suggested and stone it to get that critical fit.

[MemphisMechanic]

The hood fit will loosen up noticeably with use. I'm just going to say that, and let you make your own decision.

[ddc]

Yes, I am leaving it as is. Hoping to test it Friday.

[Lukedrywalker]

following.

[ddc]

I finally got around to “semi” bench resting the Apex.

Set up was an indoor range, not great lighting, standing, leaning against booth wall for support and using my range bag resting upon its end for support.

Target was only at 40 feet as that is the farthest distance my 66 year old eyes can see (barely) the target under those conditions at that range.

I was disappointed in my group sizes for both barrels but I just wasn’t having a good day. Nonetheless they make the necessary point.

So:

40 feet, 25 shots on each target... factory barrel on the left, apex on the right... yeah, the pics suck...

Edited May 16, 2016 by ddc

[Lukedrywalker]

I have been having a ton of jams with my SDI barrel from Apex Purchased from Brownells. Mostly RN ammo would feed OK with an occasional jam however the two types of store bought "Match Grade Ammo" would jam on the feed ramp every 3rd round or so. Killing my scores.

I'm shooting a M&P C.O.R.E 5 inch that came from the performance center with a ported barrel, I had to swap out barrels to shoot Carry Optics. I'm new to the sport and not even classified yet. Needless to say I got very frustrated.

After three shitty matches I emailed Apex who had me send in some photos.

I sent these photos and Apex informed me I needed an updated barrel. They shiped me a new one free of charge.

Wish me luck......50 rounds and no jams so far. Here is the new one.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Lukedrywalker

[beckham]

I was having the same issues with my SDI barrel from Apex Purchased from Brownells that I got back in mid-January. Took the barrel to the NRA convention this weekend and APEX gave me a new barrel on the spot.

Great Customer Service!

The original SDI barrel needed some fitting on the sides of the barrel hood, rear of the hood and the pad.

The new barrel does not need any fitting of the sides of the barrel hood and only a small amount on the rear of the hood. I will do the pad tonight.

[mpom]

Just got done fitting my SDI barrel. Front end did not require any material removal, nor did the hood as far as width. Did have to remove a few thousands to shorten hood enough to get a somewhat tight fit. Once the barrel locked into the slide, with some force, yet felt some binding, went with stones till it fit with a slight push. The pad required a bit of work, it took more than a few pounds of pressure on the back of slide to obtain lockup. A couple of passes with a file and some polishing with stones, and it locks up with the 2 to 3 lbs as recommended in the video. Next is live fire, tomorrow.

Props to Randy and the folks at Apex for quickly making small changes to the design/dimensions. Had issues with previous SDI barrels I attempted to fit to this frame & slide, and this one is the closest to a semi drop in. Expect it to be as good as has been the norm, especially since it has the latest feed ramp and breech configuration. If/when I miss, at least I will know it was sight alignment or poor trigger control on my part...

Mark

[mpom]

So shot the newly installed barrel at 25 yards. 100% reliability, accuracy varied, probably due to my lack of consistent hold/sight alignment. I had a few groups where 3 shots clustered into an inch, other 2 shots a couple of inches away.

Cannot fault the barrel, as accuracy is a major improvement over the OEM barrel. Checked the fit after around 50 rounds and it locks up exactly the same as prior to firing, including hood length fit in slide. May loosen a bit over time, but glad I used stones for final fit, as a file leaves ridges of metal that can deform, reducing OAL. Did notice that POI has gone down around 3 inches, time for a shorter Dawson FO front sight, not totally unexpected. Wish there was a nice adjustable rear I could throw on...

[ddc]

"Wish there was a nice adjustable rear I could throw on..."

I'd buy it; I think Novak has something but I'm guessing it won't work on a CORE?

[mpom]

Spoke with a Dawson employee yesterday. They discontinued their adjustable for the M&P as David is working on an improved version, but keeps being distracted by other projects, so we need to contact the company, expressing a need/interest, to motivate him to complete the design and manufacture.

[ddc]

Will do, thanks.

[Tmcfarland]

My experience was much in the same as others; no material removed from front of the barrel, no material needed to be removed on the sides, minimal on the hood fit up and only a couple of light strokes on the pad to mae it go into battery as the video explains. Range time showed a great deal of improved accuracy over the OEM barrel. Mostly using my range bag and dealing with very gusty winds 5 shot groups averaged just over 1-1/4". Pretty well satisfied with the overall purchase and would recommend it to anyone carrying a M&P.

[FightFireJay]

I guess I’m a little surprised that I didn’t need to take any material off of the fitting pad as I was under the impression that most people have had to do that.

Exactly. Most isn't the same as all.

[Kaldor]

Spoke with a Dawson employee yesterday. They discontinued their adjustable for the M&P as David is working on an improved version, but keeps being distracted by other projects, so we need to contact the company, expressing a need/interest, to motivate him to complete the design and manufacture.

I have a set on my 5" Pro. I wonder what their ideas are? The old ones are pretty damn good.

Edited June 16, 2016 by Kaldor

[mpom]

Spoke with a Dawson employee yesterday. They discontinued their adjustable for the M&P as David is working on an improved version, but keeps being distracted by other projects, so we need to contact the company, expressing a need/interest, to motivate him to complete the design and manufacture.

I have a set on my 5" Pro. I wonder what their ideas are? The old ones are pretty damn good.

Tech would not discuss details, just the reason why they stopped making them. Would think new ones would be an improvement of some sort. Perhaps shorter front sight?

Front sight seemed very tall compared to a front sight from a non adjustable set in photos, not sure if that is true in real life.

[FightFireJay]

Dawson, are you listening? Hook us up!

[Kaldor]

Spoke with a Dawson employee yesterday. They discontinued their adjustable for the M&P as David is working on an improved version, but keeps being distracted by other projects, so we need to contact the company, expressing a need/interest, to motivate him to complete the design and manufacture.

I have a set on my 5" Pro. I wonder what their ideas are? The old ones are pretty damn good.

Tech would not discuss details, just the reason why they stopped making them. Would think new ones would be an improvement of some sort. Perhaps shorter front sight?

Front sight seemed very tall compared to a front sight from a non adjustable set in photos, not sure if that is true in real life.

It might be a little high. Mine is a .180. But I like it, you can pick it up easily. I did black out the rear fibers, they are distracting.

My S&W 1911 .45 is getting a Dawson adjustable Novak rear with a fiber front on it, just waiting for the smith to get it done as I hate the stock S&W sights. S&W in their wisdom decided to not use a cut like any of the rest of the world uses on their 1911's so I need to have the slide recut for the Novak style.