I recently installed an Apex Flat-Faced Forward Set Trigger Kit in my M&P M2.0 Compact and I am pleased to report that the resulting trigger pull exceeded my expectations. With the Apex trigger my M&P is almost as shoot-able as my favorite custom 45.
Now, I’m not saying my M&P Apex trigger feels exactly like a great .45 trigger feels because my Apex M&P trigger has just the slightest, barely noticeable, subtle hint of a springy feel. What I am saying is that the Apex trigger gave my M&P 2.0 Compact a great trigger pull that made the gun much more shoot-able.
With the Apex trigger my offhand groups at 15 yards shrank from 3″ average to a 2″ average, which is about as good as my 65 year old eyes and hands can do.
Another benefit to installing the flat-faced trigger is that the bottom of the curved factory trigger would bump my trigger finger slightly with every shot. After shooting a couple of magazines, my trigger finder would start to get sore. The flat-faced trigger completely eliminated that problem.
Installing the trigger was not as straight-forward as I hoped it would be, but that was largely due to Apex’s failure to provide any guidance on how to install the trigger in the package that the trigger arrived in. The package contained no reference to the videos on Apex’s web site, no reference to Apex’s YouTube channel, and no reference to the important Apex PDF chart that tells which spring combinations to use to get different pull weights.
Nor was installation information easy to find on Apex’s web site. Apex really needs to have someone thoroughly audit their website, fix broken links, and improve the product pages so they link directly to the videos, charts, blog entries, and other references that customers need in order to install the trigger.
Installation Resources
This installation resources link at the bottom of some of Apex’s pages gives a 404 error: https://www.apextactical.com/installation-resources
This very useful installation video was needlessly difficult to find on their site.
This essential chart of which springs produce specific pull weights is also needlessly difficult to find on their web site. The trigger product page really should have a link to this chart.
Eventually I found a reference to the Apex Installation Video YouTube channel, but for some odd reason, the channel doesn’t have any M&P 2.0 videos!
This YouTube video on installing the Apex trigger by Hammer Striker is pretty good and was quite helpful.
Installing the Trigger Bar
I had never disassembled an M&P 2.0 before I installed the Apex trigger. Installing the trigger was pretty straightforward except the step to pin the trigger bar to the Apex trigger. For my trigger, the step to pin the trigger bar to the trigger required an astonishing amount of force to move the pin even the smallest distance.
Randy Lee with Apex demonstrates how to use a vice to move the pin in this video. At about 60 seconds into the video Randy mentions applying “a little bit of pressure.” If you watch the video you will notice that Randy actually had to apply what I consider to be a very large amount of pressure to the vice handle. Moving the pin on my trigger took much more force than you see in Randy’s video. I had to really bear down on the vice handle and then I’d hear the pin pop and the pin would move slightly. I had to do that about four times before the pin was close to being flush with the surface of the trigger. I don’t know how you’ll move that pin if you don’t have a decent size vise.
Maybe some triggers and pins are not as tight as mine was. For triggers and pins as tight as mine, I don’t think you would be able to move the pin with just a pin punch. Just something to be aware of if you decide to install an Apex trigger for yourself.
Conclusion
If you like the S&W M&P M2.0 but you don’t like the factory trigger then I highly recommend that you get an Apex Flat-Faced Forward Set Trigger Kit. The trigger kit ain’t cheap (around $170 in August 2020) but the Apex trigger has made my M&P M2.0 compact much more shoot-able and putting bullets on target under time pressure is what it’s all about.
The Apex Flat-Faced Forward Set Trigger Kit that I installed is here on Apex’s web site.