Installation report on Apex DCAEK
Well, got home a couple days ago; the Apex kits were waiting for me.
Looked at the Apex videos for installation, thinking it would be as easy as was the J-frame installation. However, the videos for the M&P start with the striker block already removed from the frame - no step-by-step for how to do that. Uh oh....
Decided to call a friend who does a lot of tinkering and hobby gunsmithing, not to mention tool-making. He said to come on over, and we could do the DCAEK installs and also put on the Heinie Straight 8 sights I'd ordered.
Did I mention he has a lot of tools, and that he designs tools?
So he has a plastic disc he's made, with holes of varying sizes in it. He uses this for roll pin removal. He also has punches of varying sizes, and one punch with a rounded contour which he designed and had made specifically for counter-sinking roll pins in the M&P series (although it works on roll pins in other guns as well). He had the striker blocks out of my pistols in seconds.
Interestingly, my 45c had the old style block, with a small spring; my 45 F/S had the new style, with the larger spring. The larger spring is much easier to reinstall/replace than the smaller spring. If you buy the DCAEK, this is why the one packet has two springs, but says to use only one: Use the spring that matches the original in size.
Ensure you have a clean work area, because it's easy to launch the springs - especially the little ones. Finding them amidst clutter can pose a challenge.
We changed the springs in the striker blocks, and changed the plungers. I was amused to see that Apex provides a Talon Tactical tool for changing the plunger without losing the disc that holds it in place (my buddy who was helping me owns Talon Tactical, and designed that tool himself...). In order to change the plunger, the rear sight has to be removed. This tool slides into the dovetail; by moving it in as the rear sight is coming out, positive tension is kept on the disc.
The spring in the striker block adds a pound or two of tension; the new plunger removes about a pound and a half.
We opted not to pull the trigger blocks, and change out spring and sear. The DCAEK spring/sear add a pound or so to overall tension. My pistols measured between 4.75 and 5.00lbs on the 45c, and 5.25lbs on the 45 F/S, so we decided to leave well enough alone. (There are apparently five alignment points that must mate perfectly to reinsert the trigger block, and I didn't see any real gain in adding a pound or so of pressure to offset the pain of playing with removing and reinstalling the trigger block.)
While we were at it, we removed the thumb safety from the 45c. That took perhaps fifteen seconds.
The Heinie sights took the longest. Apparently they are cast, not machined. The rear sights were pretty loose in the dovetails; we used blue loc-tite to anchor them. I'll do some test shooting tomorrow. We suspect there are good odds we might need to do a small spot-weld job to anchor them, but we'll see.... The front sights were the big time-consumers. They were cast both deep, vertically, and long, fore and aft, for the dovetails. Therefore, they had to be filed, both vertically and along the leading edges, in order to be forced into place.
Speaking of forcing into place, my buddy had a pair of thick and thin teflon rods, which he bought from Spruce Aircraft, a model aircraft firm. He uses them as punches - they won't damage metal unless you really do something drastic. He got the front sights started into the dovetails using the teflon punches. Once they were established into the grooves, he switched to another tool he'd machined - this one is a piece of aluminum, cut to match the dovetail, with a squared end. It allows more forceful hammering, but the aluminum will bend before it damages the slide.
We finally got the front sights installed...
At which point he took out a jar of Optho Blue compound, and swabbed some onto both slides. This step removed the smears of aluminum from on and around the dovetails. A gunsmith taught him that trick years ago, and it works.
Total time involved: 1 hour.
Total tools involved:
Plastic disc with holes for removing roll pins.
Magnetized metal punch for removing small parts and springs.
Non-magnetized metal punch.
Rounded metal punch for counter-sinking roll pins.
Needle-nose pliers.
Teflon punches.
Small ball peen hammer.
Talon Tactical plunger tool.
Allen wrench for loosening rear sight screw.
Aluminum sight punch.
Small flat-head screwdriver (used for prying up striker block after roll pin removal).
Surefire light (for finding small parts we launched under the workbench).
Loc-tite.
Lubricant for new parts.
Accomplished: 4.75-5.00lb trigger on compact, 5.25lb trigger on full-size; Heinie Straight 8's on both pistols.
Not bad for an hour, but then again I had somebody who knew what he was doing.
Now I get to try them out tomorrow, and see how they shoot - and if the blue loc-tite was enough to hold the Heinie rear sights in place, or if we need to do the small spot-welding jobs.
Edit: Just in case I wasn't clear enough - the J-frame kit is easy to install, just using the Apex online video and a few common tools. However, the M&P DCAEK kit requires several tools that many of us might not have, and a pretty decent working knowledge of M&P internals. While I do recommend the DCAEK kit, I also recommend either having a gunsmith do the installation, or else having a skilled buddy help out with it - unless you are one of those people with a solid working knowledge of M&P internals, and a pretty good collection of tools.
