Help me fix my bone head mistake M&P9

[BigKevo]

I'm afraid I made a bone head mistake while reassembling my M&P9 after putting in an APEX kit. After putting in the coil and trigger pins I put the slide back on and totally forgot about the take down lever. I tried to pull back the slide back and release it forward, but it's not coming off. I also tried pushing the slide forward to slip in the take down pin, but the rod assembly sits too far back.

Does anyone have any suggestions for this rookie to get the slide back off?

Thanks in advance!

[cmace22]

Did you try pushing the sear lever down or pulling the trigger before trying to remove the slide.

[ruchik]

^+1. I don't know how many times I made that mistake before I got the hang of it.

[OtoHNS]

If this is the first time you're installing the APEX kit, you'll love it. I've done it to all the M&Ps I own.