I installed the Apex DCAEK in my M&P 9mm this weekend. It consists of two major parts--a replacement sear and a replacement striker block--and some springs that you can use or not, depending on the trigger pull weight you want. I installed the sear and striker block but left the trigger pull spring alone instead of installing the heavier "duty spring".
With my laptop on the bench playing the Youtube videos, I found the kit surprisingly easy to install. You definitely need a 1/8" punch but not a whole lot more. Getting the sear housing and thumb safety back into the frame, under the trigger bar, was the trickiest part--but even that took only a couple of minutes.
I was concerned that the rear sight would be very hard to drift, but it was not a problem at all. The set screw had what looked like red Loctite on it, but it turned easily.
That's the good news. The bad news is that it isn't going to make an M&P trigger feel like a great trigger.
For those not in the know, the stock M&P trigger has (at least) five stages: (1) smooth takeup of the pivoting lower half of the trigger itself; (2) smooth takeup of the trigger before the trigger bar reaches the striker block; (3) cringe-inducing crunchy takeup when the striker block is raised; (4) classic bendy, squishy, creepy plastic gun feel when the trigger "breaks"; (5) overtravel between trigger break and hard trigger stop.
The first two stages aren't a problem (although I consider the pivoting "trigger safety" pointless). The DCAEK kit addresses the crunch in stage 3 by using a striker-block plunger that's rounder and more polished along with a lighter striker-block spring. The DCAEK kit also seems to address the overtravel in stage 5 by moving the break point farther back. What the DCAEK kit can't address is the bendy, squishy, creepy plastic gun feel of the "break" stage. That's because the trigger break has little to do with the sear or striker block. If you look through the side of an assembled M&P while pulling the trigger, you can actually see the trigger bar (it's one-armed, unlike a 1911 trigger bow) flex. The plastic frame and trigger contribute their own flex. There's the source of the bend and squish. A look at the sear engagement surface--even on the replacement sear--as well as the end of the trigger bar will show the source of the creep. It's not a sharp, defined "hook" mechanism, so the break has to happen over time.
The end result after installing the kit is a trigger with some extra pretravel, no more striker-block crunch, and no overtravel. The squish remains. Would I do it over again? Probably not. I would probably polish/round the stock striker-block plunger myself and see if I could get rid of the crunch. If that didn't work, I would probably just get the Apex striker block and not bother with the sear.
With my laptop on the bench playing the Youtube videos, I found the kit surprisingly easy to install. You definitely need a 1/8" punch but not a whole lot more. Getting the sear housing and thumb safety back into the frame, under the trigger bar, was the trickiest part--but even that took only a couple of minutes.
I was concerned that the rear sight would be very hard to drift, but it was not a problem at all. The set screw had what looked like red Loctite on it, but it turned easily.
That's the good news. The bad news is that it isn't going to make an M&P trigger feel like a great trigger.
For those not in the know, the stock M&P trigger has (at least) five stages: (1) smooth takeup of the pivoting lower half of the trigger itself; (2) smooth takeup of the trigger before the trigger bar reaches the striker block; (3) cringe-inducing crunchy takeup when the striker block is raised; (4) classic bendy, squishy, creepy plastic gun feel when the trigger "breaks"; (5) overtravel between trigger break and hard trigger stop.
The first two stages aren't a problem (although I consider the pivoting "trigger safety" pointless). The DCAEK kit addresses the crunch in stage 3 by using a striker-block plunger that's rounder and more polished along with a lighter striker-block spring. The DCAEK kit also seems to address the overtravel in stage 5 by moving the break point farther back. What the DCAEK kit can't address is the bendy, squishy, creepy plastic gun feel of the "break" stage. That's because the trigger break has little to do with the sear or striker block. If you look through the side of an assembled M&P while pulling the trigger, you can actually see the trigger bar (it's one-armed, unlike a 1911 trigger bow) flex. The plastic frame and trigger contribute their own flex. There's the source of the bend and squish. A look at the sear engagement surface--even on the replacement sear--as well as the end of the trigger bar will show the source of the creep. It's not a sharp, defined "hook" mechanism, so the break has to happen over time.
The end result after installing the kit is a trigger with some extra pretravel, no more striker-block crunch, and no overtravel. The squish remains. Would I do it over again? Probably not. I would probably polish/round the stock striker-block plunger myself and see if I could get rid of the crunch. If that didn't work, I would probably just get the Apex striker block and not bother with the sear.