Slicking Up A Stock Gun

I’ve never been one to make changes to my guns. After an unfortunate experience involving my dad’s favorite wristwatch, I’ve left complicated machinery pretty much alone. It’s worked out better for everyone that way.

Since a no-nonsense drill instructor during an ROTC summer training camp told me “if you reassemble this firearm incorrectly, when fired, the bolt will travel to the rear in a rapid manner. It will continue to travel rapidly backward until it lands in the squishy stuff that was your right eye. Gentlemen, I can assure you this will leave a lasting impression on everyone who views your corpse at your funeral” I have left the innards of firearms strictly alone.

That doesn’t mean I have never disassembled my guns; just never one ten-thousandth beyond the point where the manual advises further work should “be performed by a qualified gunsmith”. Other than grip panels, my pistols are always stock – or worked by “a qualified gunsmith”.

Recently, Lisa Farrell and the team at Apex Tactical sent me a Competition Enhancement Kit for my Smith & Wesson M&P Pro pistol.

Using the word loosely, that M&P Pro is my “competition” gun. I used it at this year’s Bianchi Cup and a couple of local steel matches since then. A long sight radius and a stock fiber optic front sight mean I can see -and shoot- better and faster.

The M&P Pro already has a pretty darned good trigger. But, Lisa assured me the Apex kit would give me a smoother action and sub-three pound trigger pull.

At this point a caution: a sub-three pound trigger pull is NOT for concealed carry, home defense, or duty guns. Under duress, fine motor skills diminish. You’re capable of creating an accidental bang when you mix adrenaline and an uncontrolled situation with an ultra-light trigger.

Taking a trigger pull down to a competition level also means you need to practice until you’re totally aware of the light pressure necessary to initiate the firing sequence. A few negligent discharges in dry-fire practice will cause an enhanced awareness – it can produce tragic outcomes anywhere else.

That having been said, I found myself conflicted about pulling perfectly good working guns apart. Flying springs didn’t hold much attraction to me; neither did the thoughts of showing up at the gun shop with a frame, slide and sandwich bag of parts.

But, Lisa assured me that even I could make the changes. So, I decided to try – with some help from a friend who will readily disassemble virtually anything.

I’m not going into how deliberately we worked. If you’ve seen “Hurt Locker” think slower- with the same anxiety level.

A tip when working: have your manual handy. The schematic may be designed to help you order parts, but it’s lets you know where the parts are located -before you start backing off screws or releasing springs.

A bit of work that a “competent gunsmith” might have accomplished in about a half-hour, assuming a couple of interruptions along the way, took just over an hour. And a quick inventory revealed the same number of pieces outside the pistol as when we started- and no leftovers from the inside. It looked finished.

Reluctantly, I racked the slide and very tentatively squeezed the trigger. After “tentative” -but before – “squeezed” the trigger broke-like a proverbial glass rod. And it worked that way through several dry firing sequences before I worked up enough nerve to take it for a test firing. It ran -like a race-tuned machine – with a trigger pull that measured roughly at about 2.8 pounds, more than two pounds lighter than before.

That makes a big difference -and not just in the pistol.

With the Apex Tactical Competition Action Enhancement Kit, I have the ability to break my first shot faster and subsequent shots as quickly as I can bring the sights onto the targets. Apex can’t help there, but they’ve made my equipment capable of breaking more smoothly when I get there.

Apex Tactical’s kit has taken away any pistol excuse. The rest is up to me.

Watch this space.

–Jim Shepherd
www.shootingwire.com