I saw a discussion about these pistols on sale for only $349. A quick search of YouTube convinced me this was probably a good pistol and a ridiculous low price. I ordered two of them.
The big box from Italian Sporting Goods arrived today. Each pistol is in a nice plastic gun case and includes 3 mags. Good thing about the mags. They are pricey.
I have not yet shot them. Tomorrow.
One of the first things I tested was to see how the 10th round loaded. With Glock and M&P the 10th round is a b!tch to get in, until the mag is modified. The FN engineers got it right. 8, 9 &10 all feel the same. With 10 in the mag there is still some compression room in the stack so the mag will insert in the pistol when the slide is closed.
They are Glock clones. They take down like a M&P. The trigger has to be pulled before the slide will come off, but it has to be pulled while the slide is lined up in its normal position.
Trigger has a bit of creep. YouTube has info on how to clean up the trigger.
The mag release is about the best of any pistol I have tried. Easy to reach and not hard to depress. The mag drop free. They pop right out.
Both the mag release and the slide release are duplicated on the right side of the pistol. A lefty has the same buttons on his side of the gun.
The slide release is far stiffer than I can accept. A little polishing on the slide notch and the release quickly made it easy to drop the slide. Unlike the M&P, the slide does not drop automatically when a loaded mag is inserted.
The grips are slim and more comfortable in the hand than a Glock. Not as comfy as a M&P, but are highly textured and I think form an over all grip point of view, I prefer the feel of the FN over the M&P. I compete with a M&P and a Glock.
The barrel is tight in the barrel bushing. no play at all. the slide is tight on the rails and feel smooth.
The sights are steel, not plastic. 3 dot. Dovetailed, front and rear. I will replace the front sight with a fibre optic. Not much wrong with the existing sight, but my old eyes need a narrower front sight, and a replacement will also allow me to fine tune the elevation, once I settle on an accuracy load.
I had assumed that a Glock holster would fit the FNS. Not so. The FNS slide apparently is slightly fatter than a Glock 17 or 22. The holster that does fit is the large Glock Sport Combat Holster. This is a soft plastic holster that can be worn on either side. Yhis FNS40 is too fat in the slide to go into my M&P holsters. (I don't know if a FNS9 and FNS40 use the same width slide.)
The Glock Sport Combat holster is available in two sizes. Standard and Large (for the 45ACP). The Standard is a bit tight on the FNS but the large is a perfect fit. Cheap, too. Less than $15.00 USD on ebay. It is also perfect for the M&P45.
BTW, the Glock Combat Sport holster is as close to a "universal" holster as you will ever find. I have found 20 different pistols that fit either the small or the large perfectly.
The holster looks like this: (small version pistured, with a FMK installed)
The big box from Italian Sporting Goods arrived today. Each pistol is in a nice plastic gun case and includes 3 mags. Good thing about the mags. They are pricey.
I have not yet shot them. Tomorrow.
One of the first things I tested was to see how the 10th round loaded. With Glock and M&P the 10th round is a b!tch to get in, until the mag is modified. The FN engineers got it right. 8, 9 &10 all feel the same. With 10 in the mag there is still some compression room in the stack so the mag will insert in the pistol when the slide is closed.
They are Glock clones. They take down like a M&P. The trigger has to be pulled before the slide will come off, but it has to be pulled while the slide is lined up in its normal position.
Trigger has a bit of creep. YouTube has info on how to clean up the trigger.
The mag release is about the best of any pistol I have tried. Easy to reach and not hard to depress. The mag drop free. They pop right out.
Both the mag release and the slide release are duplicated on the right side of the pistol. A lefty has the same buttons on his side of the gun.
The slide release is far stiffer than I can accept. A little polishing on the slide notch and the release quickly made it easy to drop the slide. Unlike the M&P, the slide does not drop automatically when a loaded mag is inserted.
The grips are slim and more comfortable in the hand than a Glock. Not as comfy as a M&P, but are highly textured and I think form an over all grip point of view, I prefer the feel of the FN over the M&P. I compete with a M&P and a Glock.
The barrel is tight in the barrel bushing. no play at all. the slide is tight on the rails and feel smooth.
The sights are steel, not plastic. 3 dot. Dovetailed, front and rear. I will replace the front sight with a fibre optic. Not much wrong with the existing sight, but my old eyes need a narrower front sight, and a replacement will also allow me to fine tune the elevation, once I settle on an accuracy load.
I had assumed that a Glock holster would fit the FNS. Not so. The FNS slide apparently is slightly fatter than a Glock 17 or 22. The holster that does fit is the large Glock Sport Combat Holster. This is a soft plastic holster that can be worn on either side. Yhis FNS40 is too fat in the slide to go into my M&P holsters. (I don't know if a FNS9 and FNS40 use the same width slide.)
The Glock Sport Combat holster is available in two sizes. Standard and Large (for the 45ACP). The Standard is a bit tight on the FNS but the large is a perfect fit. Cheap, too. Less than $15.00 USD on ebay. It is also perfect for the M&P45.
BTW, the Glock Combat Sport holster is as close to a "universal" holster as you will ever find. I have found 20 different pistols that fit either the small or the large perfectly.
The holster looks like this: (small version pistured, with a FMK installed)
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