DIY M&P trigger job

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I think you would be better off buying the parts from Apex Tactical than modifying the stock components. I have done both and prefer the Apex trigger job.
 
I personally went with the apex fss kit with RAM but I did shoot one had this exact kit done to it and it felt real good. Definitely not an apex but light years ahead of the stock trigger. Just don't remove too much material.

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I've never done this kit but I've installed Apex parts on four guns now and love them. They are easy to install and it's a known quantity so the risk of removing too much material isn't there.
 
IIRC there was a thread here on how to do that mod yourself, dating back to when the M&Ps first became available in MA. You might try searching on titles only and see if you can find it.

I recently shot an Apex modified gun and thank you but I'll keep my Greg Derr trigger jobs. The Apex mod for travel might be smart but I didn't like the trigger itself on the Apex kit.

YMMV
 
Thanks guys. I know I can go Apex, just want the pride and knowledge of doing it myself. I found a 9 part YouTube series on it too that I'll link later.
 
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I just finished. I basically went very conservative. I reduced the angle on the Sear, polished the trigger bar, and rounded off the firing pin plunger. I probably did about 30% of what I've seen on guides. The trigger is smoother, and it pulled out a little over travel, only a little lighter. Gun is back together and functioning, but I'm going to go back and do a little more to the plunger and sear. Just wanted to take it slow.
 
http://www.burwellguns.com/misc/M&Ptriggerjob.pdf

I'd like to attempt this myself, and was wondering if anyone here has done it. I'm an M&P armorer, so detail stripping it is no problem. Just wondering about pitfalls from anyone's experience? Thanks.

Not sure I'll attempt every part of this guide.

I have done every part. If you want to try mine sometime let me know. It's at about 3-3.5lbs and crisp break. I did the work two years ago. I have had no issues over thousands of rounds and I carry it every day.

There's no total cure for the reset without swapping parts though. The reset has never bothered me.

ETA: I've though of going all the way down to the min, but I'm not sure I'd want to have that light of a trigger on my EDC. Where I'm at now I feel the trigger is not impacting my shooting, so I stopped.
 
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I recently shot an Apex modified gun and thank you but I'll keep my Greg Derr trigger jobs. The Apex mod for travel might be smart but I didn't like the trigger itself on the Apex kit.

Please tell us more. I’ve been considering – 1) DIY 2) Greg Derr and 3) Apex. I’ve been procrastinating on this for awhile because I am not sure which will serve me best. I have done number of trigger jobs before on other guns so DIY does not scare me, but this M&Pc is my winter CCW so I rather have a pro like Greg work on this, however my understanding that Apex is better because the parts are hardened, while trigger job weakens OEM parts. Not sure it that is total bs. So please tell us more what you like about Greg’s job vs Apex. How do they differ? Also if anyone can add to the whole hardened parts vs weakened OEM allegation. Thanks.
 
I was one of the Instructors teaching Women on Target at Westford SC back some months ago. As we were setting up the range (while the women were in class), another Instructor had an M&P with Apex that a few of us got to shoot. I was 3rd or 4th person, each shooting only 10 rounds. I didn't really look at it as I picked it up to shoot it, but commented that the trigger was rather hot and not comfortable. Then I looked and noticed that it had the Glock-like trigger with the steel insert (hot part)! I remember having a Glock armorer change out the trigger on my G23 for the same type as on my G22 as it was "biting" my trigger finger. Similar discomfort.

I had Greg stipple my M&P triggers, makes for a firm grip even in hot sweaty weather. Even Jim Conway commented on the trigger job (he had asked me to bring my M&P 45 to WOT for him to try out) that he liked it, but travel was still excessive. I think that Apex has a solution to the excessive travel issue, but keeps the stock trigger.

I've run many thousands of rounds thru my 3 M&Ps, all with stock parts (but trigger jobs). I'm not worried that I feel any need for "hardened" parts! YMMV
 
Oh, I think you are talking about their competition trigger. Did it look like this?

FSS-Trigger-kit-web-600x400.jpg


If so, that is not what I was thinking about or what I believe most people install on their CCW. I was thinking of their DCAEK which uses OEM trigger but replaces few internal parts as shown below.

DCAEK-web-600x400.jpg
 
I was one of the Instructors teaching Women on Target at Westford SC back some months ago. As we were setting up the range (while the women were in class), another Instructor had an M&P with Apex that a few of us got to shoot. I was 3rd or 4th person, each shooting only 10 rounds. I didn't really look at it as I picked it up to shoot it, but commented that the trigger was rather hot and not comfortable. Then I looked and noticed that it had the Glock-like trigger with the steel insert (hot part)! I remember having a Glock armorer change out the trigger on my G23 for the same type as on my G22 as it was "biting" my trigger finger. Similar discomfort.

I had Greg stipple my M&P triggers, makes for a firm grip even in hot sweaty weather. Even Jim Conway commented on the trigger job (he had asked me to bring my M&P 45 to WOT for him to try out) that he liked it, but travel was still excessive. I think that Apex has a solution to the excessive travel issue, but keeps the stock trigger.

I've run many thousands of rounds thru my 3 M&Ps, all with stock parts (but trigger jobs). I'm not worried that I feel any need for "hardened" parts! YMMV

What is the "travel problem"? I have a couple of M&Ps with no such problems that I am aware of.
 
What is the "travel problem"? I have a couple of M&Ps with no such problems that I am aware of.

I assume he's talking about excessive over travel. Burwell offers a service that adds material to the sear housing to reduce it if you don't want to change the geometry of the sear.
 
Oh, I think you are talking about their competition trigger. Did it look like this?

FSS-Trigger-kit-web-600x400.jpg


If so, that is not what I was thinking about or what I believe most people install on their CCW. I was thinking of their DCAEK which uses OEM trigger but replaces few internal parts as shown below.

DCAEK-web-600x400.jpg

I carry with the competition kit (fss), it is really light with zero take up, very crisp break and short reset. I have no problem carrying it and have used it through a few different high stress classes. If you train correctly you should be safe and confident carrying a gun that only requires touching the trigger to cycle a round.

Sent from my mom's basement.
 
What is the "travel problem"? I have a couple of M&Ps with no such problems that I am aware of.

Could be over-travel or take-up that he's referring to. The comp AEK from Apex solves the over-travel issue but does nothing for the take-up. The lighter (~3lbs IIRC) trigger return spring makes the take-up hardly noticeable, but it is still a long pull to stage the trigger. When the stock m&p trigger breaks, it has a bit of over-travel before hitting the little trigger travel stop tab on the inside rear of the trigger guard, with the comp AEK, it's already pretty close to contacting the tab when it breaks so there is little to no over-travel. The FFS trigger from Apex gets rid of the excess take-up.
 
What is the "travel problem"? I have a couple of M&Ps with no such problems that I am aware of.

The over-travel issue was raised by Jim Conway. I agree that it is true, but don't see it as a major problem. Apex has a mod to deal with this.
 
Over travel can be corrected with the trigger job on the stock trigger. Take up, however, cannot be.

Reset can be made better on the stock, but not made into a crisp click like a Glock without swapping parts and even then you're limited by the design.
 
Reset has never been a huge deal to me. Whenever I've trained really hard or done any kind of competition, I never notice it. Smooth, and a clean break are really what I pay attention to.
 
The kit LenS tried is called the 'forward set sear'. It replaces the trigger and other components to greatly shorten the overtravel. The Duty/Carry AEK and Competition AEK replace the sear, firing pin stop plunger, and some springs to provide a drop in trigger job generally similar to the Burwell method.

I've shot the comp AEK in my 9Pro and someone elses DCAEK alongside my Greg Derr modified 9c and greatly prefer the Apex.

If you care about such things, the AEKs are IDPA SSP and USPSA Production legal, the FSS is not.
 
The kit LenS tried is called the 'forward set sear'. It replaces the trigger and other components to greatly shorten the overtravel. The Duty/Carry AEK and Competition AEK replace the sear, firing pin stop plunger, and some springs to provide a drop in trigger job generally similar to the Burwell method.

Was that your gun that I shot?
 
Update: I have done everything except reducing sear engagement at the firing pin block.

The trigger is smoother, and a couple pounds lighter, but I ****ed up a little bit. Where you take material off under the sear (where it contacts the trigger bar) I filed it uneven. When pulling the trigger, it pushes the trigger bar off to the right, and it barely gets the sear even before it kicks out from under it. I know exactly what I need to do to fix it, so it's kind of a learning experience. Rounded out the firing pin safety pin no problem using a bench grinder.

All in all, it's nice to experiment, and I can just get the Apex hard sear if I go full FUBAR trying to even it out.
 
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I finally realized (duh) that the problem obviously isn't just the trigger job (double duh). The trigger job I originally posted would be much more effective on a free state trigger, as I assume (just a guess) that it comes with a different spring set. I got my trigger down to probably 8-8.5 pounds using the guide. I got a little extra cash, so I went with DCAEK. In hindsight, I could have kept my sear and plunger, and just bought the carry spring kit. When I got the DCAEK, the angles were pretty much exactly the same that I cut, but I put in the whole kit anyways. Love it. I may put my sear and plunger back in, just to see what changes. All in all, a good learning experience.

I won't be a threat to BEC anytime soon! hahahaha

eta: I might start a 'Show me your competition gun' thread if there isn't one, as this project was my comp/carry gun.
 
Did both my 40c and 45.

The 40c was much more aggressive and I ended up with a pretty decent trigger. I took quite some time with an Omaha stone taking things down very slowly until it started to break like I wanted. Then, I used some jewelers polish and smoothed everything. The result is a smooth crisp break with little overtravel at about 4.5 lbs.

On the .45, I wanted to smooth things up, but not go too nuts or too light as I used this one in Basic Pistol classes. Again, I went with the Omaha stone until I had a feel and overtravel I liked. At that time, the trigger was about 6 lbs. I've since put close to 1000 live rounds and many many hours of dry fire and the pull is now running about 5.25 lbs.

In both cases, I used marking compound I have to install ring and pinion gears in a motor vehicle to ensure the sear and firing pin met square. I was surprised how off the factory parts were. Once the parts were properly aligned and square, it was amazing how well just a lubrication film improved the feel. Complete loss of "grit".

Just take it slow. Oh, and it was nice feeling to have a set of spare parts if I screwed up. (^_^)

That said - If you don't really know what you are doing and what "good" feels like, don't do this yourself. The last thing you need is to create a dangerous gun.
 
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