LA County Sheriff’s Dept. Approves Apex Barrel for Special Enforcement Bureau

[Wendell]

(Old news, maybe, but new to me.)

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). Individual deputies assigned to the Special Enforcement Bureau may now purchase barrels for on-duty use directly from Apex, at special law enforcement only pricing, with barrel fitting to be performed by either the LASD department armorer or SEB armorer. The LASD Special Enforcement Bureau joins the Port Authority of Allegheny County Police Department which has also authorized the Apex Grade Barrel for duty use. Law Enforcement agencies interested in evaluating the Apex Grade Barrel, or other Apex aftermarket upgrades, can contact Apex at (623) 322-0200 for product information and law enforcement agency pricing.
https://www.apextactical.com/blog/ap...cement-bureau/

[Navin Johnson]

Glad the Sheriff gets this option....

Should have been fixed by Smith & Wesson.

I would have told the manufacturer to take them all back or make them accurate.

The 40s and the 45s have acceptable accuracy..... So they know how to do it.

[SeriousStudent]

Glad to hear this! Randy, Scott and Lisa are awesome people, and are really customer-focused. The Deputies will do real well with those barrels.

[Erick Gelhaus]

While I knew the Apex barrels were good, I didn't appreciate the degree.

I had one of the SEB deputies in a class this summer. After seeing the performance (even considering how truly good he is), I contacted Apex and got two of the barrels ordered. Randy installed both of them for me, one into a 4.25" and the other into a 4". Apex has done really good work with these.

[revchuck38]

I thought S&W had fixed the 9x19 accuracy issues with the 2.0 release. Are the current ones still problematic?

[ASH556]

I thought S&W had fixed the 9x19 accuracy issues with the 2.0 release. Are the current ones still problematic?

Depends on how you define “fix” and “problematic.” Gen 5 Glocks will shoot 2-3” 10 shot groups at 25yds in my hands. Gen 4’s would do 3-4”. I had a Gen 1 M&P that would do 4-5” and another that would barely do 8”. The Gen 2 M&P I played with would still throw random fliers, they were just in the 4” range instead of 8”. For some, I guess you could say “fixed.”

[Savage Hands]

Now if Apex came out with their own Glock barrels...

[Navin Johnson]

I thought S&W had fixed the 9x19 accuracy issues with the 2.0 release. Are the current ones still problematic?

I had a 2.0 compact 4" 9 that I very much enjoyed shooting except for accuracy. Either flyers or varying accuracy with different factory loads.

My primary Gen 3 19 is much more consistent with the same factory loads side by side.

[Suvorov]

Is the Apex barrel that good or is the S&W barrel that bad?

I’m glad that this is an option for a select group of LEOs within one agency, but I’m boggled that there is even such a need.

[GJM]

Is the Apex barrel that good or is the S&W barrel that bad?

I’m glad that this is an option for a select group of LEOs within one agency, but I’m boggled that there is even such a need.

In fairness to S&W, Randy Lee says their barrels shoot sub one inch five shot groups at 25 yards. I have been competing with multiple CORE 2.0 five inch guns since late summer, and while I wouldn’t pick them to shoot bullseye, have not noticed lack of accuracy with OEM barrels to be an issue in USPSA competition.