Mp 9mm barrel

Randy Lee is a brilliant guy, and very helpful - he and I exchanged emails when he was looking at getting into making these 10 years ago. Unlike many "industry guys" he was very generous with his time when discussing the barrel issue.
 
If the barrel doesn't need fitting then just buy a S&W factory barrel with a 1 - 10 twist. Some of the after market barrels are 1 - 16 twist rates. In theory they should work. S&W brought out the 1st Gen with 1 - 16 barrels and immediately got swamped with complaints about accuracy. They switched to the 1 - 10 twist which is what most Euro guns are. No more complaints about accuracy. I replaced my Gen 1 barrel with the newer 1 - 16 twist. I have it and you are welcome to it for free. Contact me via PM. The barrel worked great for me but I wanted the 1 - 10 twist.

Barrel is 4.25"

Let me know via PM. You can pay for the postage.

Take Care

Bob
 
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It all comes down to accuracy, and whether or not you're satisfied with the (poor) 'accuracy'. Now, if you're happy, you're happy... but...

if you, too, suffer from poor accuracy from your M&P, an Apex barrel can fix that.

 
Randy Lee is a brilliant guy, and very helpful - he and I exchanged emails when he was looking at getting into making these 10 years ago. Unlike many "industry guys" he was very generous with his time when discussing the barrel issue.

Randy is a great guy. I also corresponded with him about M&P trigger issues. Then I had the good luck to meet him in person during a winter Arizona visit, just after he moved Apex from California to Arizona. Extremely approachable and very knowledgeable about the M&P platform.

They also make this:

Citing a significant accuracy enhancement for the tactical shooter, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) has approved for duty use the highly accurate Apex Grade Barrel in the Department’s 9mm Smith & Wesson M&P pistols carried by the LASD Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB).

The decision to authorize the aftermarket barrel designed and manufactured by Apex Tactical Specialties followed stringent testing by the department that found not only a significant increase in accuracy over the original factory barrel but also 100% reliability during testing.

In its official authorization, LASD evaluators noted the following performance characteristics from the Apex Grade Barrel:

Significant increase in the mechanical accuracy of the pistol evidenced by an over 200% decrease in group size at 25 yards
100% reliability with all ammo tested including Winchester SXT 147gr and Federal HST 147gr
Over 30,000 rounds were fired over the test period in two pistols and no firearm related malfunctions were noted
For 9mm M&P and M&P M2.0 Pistols
 
Is the apex barrel the one to get ?

There is a lot of marketing hype to wade through. What does a 200% increase in accuracy mean? Shot from a Ranson rest? Freestyle? Unless the barrel is hand fitted to the slide I doubt most would know the difference. Does it require hand fitting or does one size fit all, just like the factory barrel. The 1 -10 factory barrels shoot as good or better than most shooters so spending a couple of hundred dollars on an Apex barrel is just a fancier way of removing $200 from your wallet. The M&P is a duty pistol not an Olympic Free Pistol.

The Apex barrel no doubt is well made and works in the M&P but you have to ask yourself will it really improve your shooting. Maybe but more likely not. From a Ranson rest the info is the M&P will apparently be able to shoot 1.25" groups at 25 yards.

If I spent the money for an Apex barrel, if asked, what do you think I would say about how much it improved my shooting.....

The barrels according to their website require fitting. If they do then you would expect an improvement in the mechanical accuracy of the pistol. $175 US is $213Cdn + 12% tax and whatever a competent gunsmith will charge for fitting. Your money.

Take Care

Bob
 
Check the bottom locking lug of your barrel. If it has one or two dimples, it is the 1-10 twist. S&W also addressed the lockup issues affecting accuracy in the later v1 models.
 
...if I spent the money for an Apex barrel, if asked, what do you think I would say about how much it improved my shooting...

There's one way to find out, Bob.

For an avowed M&P fan (such as yourself) to have not even tried it is - to me - unbelievable.
 
There's one way to find out, Bob.

For an avowed M&P fan (such as yourself) to have not even tried it is - to me - unbelievable.

I replaced all my innards for my M&P Pro with Apex parts to improve trigger etc. I felt good about the move but my scores did not reflect the lighter and shorter trigger pull. My Pro had the 1 - 10 twist and shot better than I could so I am pretty sure the barrel would not have improved my scoring significantly either.

I have a Pro 40 with all the Apex goodies including their FF trigger. It has developed a bad case of the light strikes. I have replaced the striker and will do some more testing before contacting Apex to seeif they can help.

If the Apex barrel is actually fitted by a 'smith there might be a slight gain in accuracy. If there is and the shooter is good enough to notice it is all good. My experience has been spending money on some decent instruction and lots of careful practice will improve results more than a new barrel. The M&P's are pretty good pistols.

I have a stable of PPQ's. Out of the box they have better triggers, shorter resets and are capable of better mechanical accuracy than the M&P's and are, like the M&P's dead nuts reliable. I think I still shoot the M&P Pro better but that likely is because I have more time on the gun. So there you go.

If a shooter thinks he/she shoots better with their blaster by adding parts so be it. There money, free country. I just have to say though from my experience there are few shooters that I know who can take advantage to any great extent a shorter reset, a slightly lighter trigger pull etc. Short term, maybe a slight improvement but really over time...not so much.

Now practice, not just shooting holes at paper but practice and some instruction and you see improvement. Even then we are all not like Robbie Leatham.

Take Care
Bob
PS I shot a WA State Match in Revolver Division with the, then current IPSC World Champion. Nice fellow who helped this old Canuck along. My take away. If I practiced the rest of my life, had the lightest, fastest revolver ever made I could not hope to shoot near his level. It was not what he did shooting that allowed him to wax my butt but a hundred little things that separates average results from winning results.

To the OP spend $300 on ammo AMD decent instruction and your shooting will improve....

Take Care

Bob
 
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