Amazing improvement
Ive owned a gen 1 S&W Shield for several years now and its my summer time carry when dressing light. I always shot the pistol well but the factory trigger was horrendous. Installation of this trigger kit is a pain. Its really tedious and significantly more challenging than a Glock trigger kit. Theres plenty of online content to walk you through the install, but if youre not confident in your abilities Id consider avoid on doing it yourself. If install goes well, this trigger is a tremendous improvement. Im genuinely impressed. The take up is VERY smooth, and the break is very nice and crisp. This trigger kit feels kinda like a HK VP9 or is comparable to any of the super high end striker fired triggers out there. Im certainly happy with the purchase and would definitely buy it again!
Great Trigger Kit
This trigger is way more smooth than the trigger that came on the M&P Shield. I can't understand why they use that horrible cheap trigger on such a great gun!!
Excellent Upgrade
I installed the apex duty/carry kit in both mine and my wifes S&W 9mm Shields. One of the kits had the wrong sear. A call to customer service resolved the problem. They have excellent customer service and they promptly shipped the correct one to me. Since this was a new problem for them I took some pictures and provided some measurements. It seemed to be an error in packaging as the other kit was correct. The kit provided a lighter smoother trigger pull and the reset is excellent. I used a flat thick punch which was in my wheeler gun tools. The blade was almost the width of the rear sight dove tail. I covered the tip with vinyl tape. The sight was very tight but several level blows did the job. Since I had the rear sight off, I replaced the front sights as well with Ameriglo tritium dot over dot sights for faster target acquisition. With the new sights and a smoother lighter trigger pull (a little less than 5 pounds) I find that I am able to accurately hit the target and then reacquire the target for faster follow up shots due to the wonderful reset. The full size S&W M&Ps are our duty weapons and we also have two M&P 40Cs. I have installed the duty/carry kit in all of them. The kits are excellent in these weapons but the kits in the Shield do not seem to function as well as they do but they are different weapons. With that said, there is enough improvement in the Shields operation to make the Apex duty/carry kit for the M&P Shield worth the money.
Shield Carry Kit
Excellent addition to the S&W Shield. Easy to install after watching the Apex Tactical video on their website or U-Tube. Removing the rear sight for the USB & spring is the only downfall, but this is easy if you do it right. Anyone can do it. Forget the heat gun, freezing the slide, or sight pusher. The sight pusher will not work for this job (Usually). Remember what your Dad told you? Use the right tool for the job. I used Kroil on the sights overnight while I got the proper tools ready. A good vice with jaw protectors. I C clamped it to a table. Also a piece of duct tape on the sides of the slide or jaw protectors for added protection. Put the slide in the vice with the sights just above the jaws and not past the end of the jaws. Snug it up in the vice. Snug but not too tight. Now you are going to doubt me, but lets continue. I used a cold chisle slightly narrower than the dovetail. Square up the end with a file and cover with masking tape. Carefully line it up on the ledge of the sight and drive it out. I used a ball peen 8oz. hammer. No scratches. no dents, no dings. Drive it out left to right just like the video and put it back in left to right, also like the video. I did this twice because I decided to use the factory spring rather than the kit spring. No damage at all. As with a previous reviewer, I also elected to leave the factory trigger return spring installed. This is a great trigger.
very nice
This has made all the difference with my satisfaction with my Shield 9mm. I struggled to say the least with the gritty long travel of the factory trigger and this solves all the issues. Some may find the installation difficult but it is worth it. Be patient and watch the youtube videos.
GREAT UPGRADE!
With the help of a YouTube video I installed this very easily in my shield. Be aware you DO need to remove and re-install the rear sight to install the complete kit! The factory trigger return spring is softer than the Apex one so I left it alone, which gave me a lighter trigger pull than with the stronger Apex trigger return spring!
Should have done it sooner
Had this installed and it is a huge difference. Before I had a stiff tough trigger pull, now it is nice and smooth. Nice audible reset. Was considering selling my 40 shield because it was so difficult to shoot, now I have a keeper.
Makes a good trigger even better
I'll admit that my utter lack of mechanical aptitude made me nervous about installing this trigger, but the fact is, if you have the right tools (Worklight, punches, polymer hammer, heat gun, allen wrenches), it installs in less than an hour. It dropped the trigger weight on my 9mm Shield from 8.5 lbs to less than 5, and it's now got a HECK of a reset. Buy it, you won't regret it.
Shield Carry Kit
Never liked M&P pistols due to the trigger. The Shield offered an improvement over those, but was still not quite there. The Apex Kit put the Shield right in the sweet spot with feel, break, and reset. Along with the XS Big Dot sights I installed at the same time, this makes this little gun a serious fighting firearm and not just a last ditch back up! The first set I ordered went on the Wife's daily carry Shield. First outing at the range I dumped a mag at 10 yards fast enough that it stopped the civilian range I was on. Then at the "apex" of the silence my Wife exclaimed, "wow, all in the 10 ring!" We left due to all the questions after she got ample trigger time and shot well herself. What a great kit.
S&W Shield Duty/Carry Enhancement Kit
Everything in the kit works. The YouTube video is excellent as you can go step by step with the video as you install the product. One major problem is not with the kit but with the rear sight removal. Kevin from Arizona mentions, as a tool to assemble, a heat gun. Applying heat to the rear sight could cause problems. The washer under the rear sight might be stainless steel or it may be polymer. According to the package on Red Loctite, it takes 300 degrees to dislodge. Then there is what the rear sight is made of as one of Brownell's expert mentioned with the use of heat. Now go to the MGW Semi-auto Sight Mover. The instructions say not to use this to remove original factory sights. One of Brownell's experts suggested using the Meprolight Universal Sight Installation Tool. Most shooters find this too much of a price ($679.99) to pay for a possible one-time installation. Someone needs to address this issue as it will make sales of this product skyrocket. Especially as people are looking for a powerful and compact pistol which this pistol is and that this product makes even better.
