Trigger pull smoothing - lightning on S & W Shield and KAHR

[leroy]

Dear fellow opiners:

 

I took the time to look at a couple of pistols today... One a S & W Shield 40 and the other a Kahr CW 45 (...im lookin for a single stack carry pistol in 40 or bigger-- these two were the "right price"...)....

The Shield was heavy and gritty...  The Kahr wuz better; but with a long pull.   The question(s) is this:

1.   can ya smooth out the trigger on the Shield and make it close to a good Glock??

2.   can ya smooth out the trigger and improve the Kahr to make it smoother and the throw shorter??

 

thanks a bunch.

 

leroy

[Garufa]

1.  Yes.  Apex makes a trigger kit just like they do for all other M&P's.  I believe there is also some shadetree smithing you can do to smooth it out.  I haven't needed either.  Perfectly happy with mine.

 

2.  I kinda doubt it.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Garufa

[Oh Shoot]

Yeah, the Kahr trigger was pretty much designed from the gitgo not to be modifiable, as the striker isn't actually in firing position after cocking. I guess you could lighten overall pull with the right springs, but don't know any way to shorten it.

 

Guy talks about it a bit in this vid at 8:50.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCzn3uYwuPc

 

- OS

[Garufa]

Basically, the Shield has the best trigger in the business for that size pistol, excluding Glock.

 

Never shot a Sig 938 but that's not quite the same type of gun.

[Beretta Racer]

On the Kahr you can do two things. One is order a lower weight striker spring from Wolff Gunsprings. It will reduce the trigger pull by a pound, maybe. The other thing is to remove the striker spring and clean out the spring channel of any metal from the machining process. Kahr does a good job, but metal shavings get left behind.

[mikegideon]

Dear fellow opiners:

 

I took the time to look at a couple of pistols today... One a S & W Shield 40 and the other a Kahr CW 45 (...im lookin for a single stack carry pistol in 40 or bigger-- these two were the "right price"...)....

The Shield was heavy and gritty...  The Kahr wuz better; but with a long pull.   The question(s) is this:

1.   can ya smooth out the trigger on the Shield and make it close to a good Glock??

2.   can ya smooth out the trigger and improve the Kahr to make it smoother and the throw shorter??

 

thanks a bunch.

 

leroy

 

This. You can trust Apex completely...

 

https://apextactical.com/store/product-info.php?pid65.html

[mikegideon]

1.  Yes.  Apex makes a trigger kit just like they do for all other M&P's.  I believe there is also some shadetree smithing you can do to smooth it out.  I haven't needed either.  Perfectly happy with mine.

 

 

As I understand it, the Apex kit kinda is the shadetree deal, done professionally. The grit comes from dragging the trigger bar across the squared off striker block. The solution is to round it off, or get the Apex one. Accuracy suffers because of the severe over-travel after the trigger breaks. The Apex drop-in sear moves the break back, reducing over-travel, and lowers the force to break the sear (engagement). Then, they add a heavier trigger spring to bring the pull weight back up to optimum for carry. Very well done upgrade. Not cheap, but good triggers never are. You need tighter sear surface tolerance to improve a trigger without reducing reliability.

[leroy]

A special thanks to all who took the time to opine on this.   Of the two pistols i handled; the M & P shield felt the best in the hand and it looks like the Apex kit would fix one right up.  Looks like a $400 pistol (...new....) goes to $500 approx with the apex kit which overall aint a bad deal.

 

Havin said all that; do any of you all have any experience shootin the M & P shield; and do ya like it?  It looks to me like it could be a "poor man's" PPS; which is a helluva thing, i think... . 

 

Also; do ya like the smaller 45 ACPs (...i like the Glock 36; and everybody else must like theirs too -- cant find 'em -- a good indicator of how good they are, i think....) like the CW 45?

 

Thanks again, as always.

 

leroy

[Guest Razz]

 
Also; do ya like the smaller 45 ACPs (...i like the Glock 36; and everybody else must like theirs too -- cant find 'em -- a good indicator of how good they are, i think....) like the CW 45?
 
Thanks again, as always.
 
leroy

I'm thinking about picking up a G36. I really like the fit and finish of my 26 and want to add a .45 to my safe. The XDs .45 looks nifty, as well.

Anyway, if you don't mind ordering online, PSA has a g36 and I believe free shipping this weekend. I've had several good dealings with PSA.
http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/firearms/handguns/glock/glock-36-45-pi36502.html

[Oh Shoot]

On the Kahr you can do two things. One is order a lower weight striker spring from Wolff Gunsprings. ..

 

I would never reduce force on a striker or hammer, especially on a carry gun.

 

- OS

[Beretta Racer]

I would never reduce force on a striker or hammer, especially on a carry gun.

 

- OS

 

That would be a choice you can make, or not. Reducing the striker spring weight by, I believe it was, one pound, from 6 to 5, is perfectly safe on a well maintained carry. I used reduced weight mains in USPSA competition for years. It comes down to round count. Keep track and replace.

 

The only reason I posted my reply is because I have done this and found it to be safe in my Kahr.

[jimmydeuce]

I just bought a Shield last week. I put the Apex DCAEK in my M&P 9 because the trigger was horrible, heavy and really gritty. Night and day difference in the trigger pull after I installed it. My Shield didn't have the gritty pull like the fullsize so I didn't get the whole kit. I just got the Apex sear. Like Mike said, the sear moves the break back, lightens it and removes most of the over travel. That was all I was wanting with mine. I also polished the trigger bar at the contact points with the striker block and sear.

[Chadastrophic]

S&W is in the process of upgrading triggers in the M&Ps, starting with the shield. The shield I handled didn't have any noticeable grit like my fullsize.

The reset on the new triggers has a very audible and positive 1 click to it. The old M&P triggers are very quiet and almost a 2 click reset.

Maybe you were handling and old trigger setup?

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[A.J. Holst]

My MK9 is pretty darn smooth, but I'm always interested in making "good" even better if a reasonable DIY project. Saw a step by step for removing the striker assembly from a Kahr, the poster said use your third hand for reassembly.