For defensive work, I would only go with the Apex USB (Ultimate Safety Block). If you have the infamous M&P gritty pre-travel trigger, this will completely remove the grittiness and return a smooth trigger. If you are primarily interested in target work, the USB and the Apex hard sear is a very good way to go.

Beat trigger? The full DCAEK. But of you want a noticeable improve not for much less, get their USB and then do a "Burwell polish job"
That said, my 9c has the full DCEAK. My 45c is getting a USB this week (and night sights) and I will do the Burwell trigger.

The Apex DCAEK will result in a trigger pull weight of around 6.5 pounds. If you use your OEM trigger spring instead of the DCAEK trigger spring, you can get down to around 5 pounds, depending upon the gun and any other setups you have. I would be reluctant to go much under 5 pounds for a defensive handgun.

The M&P from the factory is a perfectly capable gun with a functional trigger. I carried my 40c for years before getting the DCAEK for it. I enjoyed shooting it then, and I enjoy shooting it now...Now so just a little bit more.

The DCAEK isn't a must before you even shoot or carry the gun but it is well worth the money, and I'm very glad I installed it.

My fix for the M&P was to replace it with a Sig P226

Originally Posted by rdstrain49

My fix for the M&P was to replace it with a Sig P226

Sig Sauer's are fine guns as are M&P's, Glocks, Springfield XD's, H&K's, and a host of other great offerings out there. But even with the best of them, it is a fact that they can be made even better through various modifications to meet the wants and needs of their owners. Some folks prefer a heavy trigger for a carry gun and that's fine. If that works best for them and serves their particular needs best then that's what they should have. Others, like me for example, like a smoother and somewhat lighter trigger so we either buy a gun that offers this feature or we modify guns that we buy to fit out desires.

I own three M&P's. The first two I bought had for me, properly weighted triggers but they both suffered from the M&P gritty pre-travel trigger. Easily fixed with the Apex USB and nothing else was needed for my likes. Both of these guns turn in a trigger pull of between 4 pounds 14 ounces to 5 pounds. The third M&P I bought, a 4" barrel .45ACP with the standard sized frame, had over an 8 pound trigger pull with the gritty trigger to boot. I installed the Apex DCAEK but kept the stock OEM trigger spring. The DCAEK trigger spring with the kit installed returned a 6.5 pound trigger but with the stock OEM trigger, it dropped to 5 pounds. And the letoff is much like a 1911.

Some people get it in their heads that you should just buy the gun and learn to live with it, regardless of how the trigger feels. They have the attitude that you would adapt to the gun and not have the gun fit to you. My advice is not to listen to people who think like this. Instead do what YOU want to do. If that means leaving the gun as is, then that's fine. If it means altering the gun to fit your specific wants and needs, well that's also fine.

The point is, we all have our own particular ideas about what makes a gun better, be it adapting ourselves to its specifics or modifying the gun to our own set of wants and needs. The OP had questions about his M&P, not about some other gun or about replacing it with something different. We own it to him to offer suggestions in line with his question. The M&P is an excellent platform however like an weapons system, it's not perfect. But it can be made better by after market products.

For the OP, I would start simple and take it from there. Since you mentioned that defensive work was to be the primary use of the gun, I would recommend keeping it simple. I would suggest beginning with the Apex USB and see how that works for you. One of my M&P's is the 9mm Pro Series (bought in July 2011) in which I have installed the Apex USB. I shoot this gun every two weeks and have over 3000 rounds through it. It is accurate to a fault and shoots great. With its fine trigger, it is a very consistent shooter and will do its part as long as I do mine. It is a little sensitive to dirty magazines so keep those clean (a really simple task) and you'll be good to go.

Hope all of this helps you.