Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Better trigger: XDm, Glock, S&W M&P?

I am purchasing one of these in a 45 (or a maybe revolver).

Which has the least amount of trigger travel most importantly, and then break and weight.

I hate travel; a revolver can be shot single action for a precise shot which may be my best bet.

Best trigger?

The only other handguns I own are a Colt King Cobra and a Ruger Super Blackhawk.

ok for me and the poly semi autos the trigger I want goes like this. I like it to be a 2 stage affair. a quick take up that hits a wall followed by a clean break. this is how nearly all the service type strikers guns work, however glock IMO is by far the cleanest break, the walther PPQ might be better than glock at this but of the handful I looked at 2 or 3 had IMO better triggers than glock and the other 2 or 3 didn't have what I felt was a better trigger than glock.

the XD be it the regular or M flavor does not have as good a trigger, nor does the M&P, however the new shield is the best of the smith pistol triggers. there you go thats just my opinion.

For my taste out of the box I like the M&P but if you put a 3.5 lb dis connect in a glock that is muoochoo better than

Why don't you just try the triggers on each before you buy? I've found variations in trigger quality can exist even within the same brand/model. I've owned all three of those mentioned, and to me they all needed a little help, but then I'm spoiled on good 1911 triggers.

M&P Shield has the best factory trigger, but only comes in 9mm or 40 S&W

If you want the sort of trigger on a .45 automatic that you're speaking of, then you need to be thinking about either a tradition double action auto (where you can manually cock the hammer for a crisp/short trigger pull) or a single action auto for the same after disengaging a thumb safety. None of the handguns you mentioned fit into that category, nor will any other "striker-fired" auto pistol.

No, he just needs to learn to properly pull a trigger. Jerry Miculek is probably the most capable shooter alive, he was raised on revolver. There is a huge lesson there. One has to learn to "drive" the front sight to the target as you work/pull through the trigger, without yanking the schit out of it. Those who think a lighter trigger will prevent this are fooling themselves. I know this because I used to think the same thing, and I had to learn the hard way. I have a LOT of training scars I'm in the process of uphucking.

If you like to work your trigger reset with stock guns of the three XD has a very nice reset. Glock is always Glock and can be plenty good.

The first M&P's had terrible triggers. The recent ones I've shot have had very nice first round triggers. When trying to reset you still have the same first round long trigger pull. To me that matters. To others, I'm sure they're fine with it.

The triggers of the XD (powder river), M&P (Apex) and the Glock (multiple choices) all can be tuned by the user with a few springs/parts... the Glock being the cheapest to get parts for.

FORGET the trigger and try all three and see which fits your hand the best, then tune up the trigger to what you want!

Jerry

Hawkeye... I stole your Israeli Teacher Picture Love it, Don't get all the shrill 'more guns will not make us safe' crap I hear here1

You're welcome to it. I stole it from another member myself.

Imagine if she had been at Sandy Hook Elementary when some Dipstick I want some fame or I have a mental problem and want to kill some little kids (I have a kid this age and it just PISSES ME OFF that some one would hurt such an innocent!). Probably still some innocents killed but it would at least have the possibility of being stopped right there.

I apologize to the OP for the sidetrack!

Jerry

My M&PL trigger was 7# and rough. A friend smoothed it out to 5# and crisp. I bought the Apex comp springs but have yet to install them. I've fingered a few M&P Pro's that had triggers equal to mine, out of the box. The Pro also comes with a NICE set of sights, with a fiber optic front. Its pretty much IDPA ready, out of the box.

My M&P triggers are very nice for what they are. I have a 5" Pro Series and a Compact, both in 9mm.

There are aftermarket triggers available for all of them, and plenty of capable gunsmiths out there to work on them. Just about anything you buy will probably need trigger work anyway. I suggest you try all three, and see which one works the best for you.

Good advice.

MM

Great news for you guys that have the M & P

Apex tactical specialties has a spring kit for the M an p

805-528-5250 in CA

or

gunsapextactical.com

www.apextactical.com

Do the M&P replacement triggers fix the reset issue?

Glock and XD don't need the replacement.

Check out Springer Precision. Scot is a Master with these triggers. He has done my XDm 9mm and XDs .45 ACP. They are wonderful

WPAH,

That was kinda weird the thing with trigger travel. If you don�t like trigger travel, then you may be best suited to a 1911, or a traditional double action auto with an exposed hammer. The trigger travel of the trigger cocking auto�s really doesn�t take much to get over. Of the three, the Glock has the longest and stiffest, and consistently the XD is the shortest and lightest. The XD�s striker rests about 80% cocked, and back in the day IDPA used to classify it as a single action pistol, and the Glock was a double action only. The M&P�s trigger is long like a Glock, but it�s a lighter pull. But you�re looking at pistols with very similar trigger action that mimicks a double action only, or that of a double action revolver. So either you learn to work with these types of triggers, or you should be looking at a completely different platform, like a 1911 or traditional DA semi-auto.

Regarding mucking with Glock and similar pistols triggers:

Gents allow me to put my observations in perspective. I�ve been OUT of the competitive shooting game for a good 15 years. But when I was in the competitive shooting game, it was the Glocks that were the least reliable pistols out there with the 1911�s being the most reliable. Rumor has it, that has flip flopped, but I personally haven�t seen that first hand. So people into IPSC were a bit sour on Glocks, and would often tease Glock owners. BY FAR the most common failure was the failure to fire, actual feeding malfunctions were rare, and almost always could be attributed to out of spec reloaded ammunition.

For those pistols that had failures to fire, some observations. When Glock first branched out into other calibers other than the 9mm, it was a horrible mess. They just slapped different slides, or made new frames to upsize to 10mm/.45 ACP. Very little testing went into these early guns, and it really showed; they were a disaster. Meanwhile, the original G17 just hummed along like a Singer sewing machine. Shortly afterwards, they ironed out the issues with the 19 and those two to this day remain the best choice for a Glock IMO.

But besides those early pistols, the other constant trend was Glocks where people had tried to improve the trigger pulls. Most times this involved reducing the stricker spring weight, which proved pretty much disastrous. Oh things were fine when everything was perfect. Perfect ammunition, and perfectly clean pistol. It�s when you encountered a stiff primer, or one that hadn�t been properly seated. Or when the pistol got good and dirty fouling inside the firing pin area�click! I really can�t count how many times I�ve seen this.

But I can say that un modified Glocks RARELY had any issues at all; and that goes triple for 9mm Glocks. My observations were that the .40�s have always been a bit temperamental, but I don�t think that is the case much anymore. I�m no �Glock Armorer� or Glock expert, but I have observed what I have observed. If you�re going to mess about with trigger cocking pistols such as the Glock, XD, or M&P, take this advice. DO NOT TRUST THE WORDS OF ANY COMPANY SELLING YOU ANYTHING.

Just because a company makes it, doesn�t automatically make it a good idea; even if it�s from a reputable company. And just because some hot shot world champion pistol shooter uses it, doesn�t mean it�s a good idea for a daily carry pistol. Range conditions are not real world conditions. That may be hard to swallow, but it�s the truth.

Even if you stick to factory ammunition, a hard or stiff anvil in a primer can be encountered; you really need full striker power in a striker fired pistol. I�ve never heard of a single military or law enforcement agency who has asked that the striker spring be reduced on their striker fired pistols. Now some have mucked with the trigger return spring weight, but I never the striker spring weight. There�s a reason for that; it�s a bad idea. The Glock, XD, and M&P are pretty damn good right out of the box, and honestly their triggers aren�t objectionable at all; only when compared to a well tuned 1911. I�ve seen several times someone talk about how smooth his DA revolver is, and then later on criticize the trigger of a Glock. When in fact, the Glock trigger is much smoother and lighter in pull that about 99% of all DA revolvers; including those that have been expertly tuned.

As for trigger return spring weight. I think there�s some room to play with there, but not a whole lot, so tread lightly.

Okay, I�m off my soap box. If someone is a striker fired pistol guru, feel free to let me have it.