Fns -9
Overall I am very pleased, accuracy is more than acceptable. Function was great, but it's only seen 100 rounds. *Feel is exceptional, and the construction is fantastic. The front and rear metal rail sections are replaceable and there is nearly ad much metal in the frame rails(linear inches of contact) as a 1911, just spread out further.*
The design borrows heavily from cz, Sig, glock, and the m&p.
The barrel seems exceedingly thin when compared to a glock, but it shot well. I would like to put it in a rest someday to truly measure accuracy. But I was able to ruin the x rings of several targets and on a standard silhouette target, place the first two rounds at 25 yards intentionally in the face.
Sights: these are a bit confusing and I'm not totally convinced I like them yet. Even after a 100 rounds I'm not exactly sure where the round will go. It's a u notch setup with a bright front tritium/ white dot, and two tritium tubes in the rear which are considerably and purposely dimmer than front. The manual says poi/ poa is set to be zero at 20 yards. And shots I missed dramatically was a fundamental issue with me, mostly I grouped low, 1-1.5" lower than I held. The sights are metal, provide no ledge for racking one handed, and appear to be held in place with an adhesive.*
Trigger: it's just a little gritty( no worse than many factory glock triggered ) I love the shape, it is slightly rounded, with a slight curve (almost flat). The trigger pull is not mushy, it is very light, then you hit a wall, when that wall breaks it fires. It reminds me of a 1911, just with 5-6x the take up. Very little resistance with take up, I did throw man shots wide because when the trigger finally would trip, I would push through just a bit, and that translated to a shot being level with the bullseye, just 2-3" out of the ex ring at 7 yards. (bullseye in target is .45" dia).
The trigger reset is not as short as on a glock, it takes about a 1/4" of forward travel of the trigger to reset, it is very positive, both in feel and sound.
The safety, very small, yet well shaped, I shot a high thumbs grip and had no issues in recoil, or handling of randomly flipping it on. I turned it on a few dozen times then holstered it, and had no issue deactivating the safety. It is big enough to use and small enough to ignore.*
Frame. *The polymer is very stiff. It doesn't feel waxy like a glock, or like you can deform it the way I can an m&p. The texture is a good balance of aggressive and light, I don't feel gloves are needed, but the gun stated put in my hands.*
The very first shot my hand was just above the beavertail and it but me, it was made worse by the fact that I have a scab there from last weekends shooting.*
The frame is wide, and as such cements itself in your palm. It doesn't want to roll the way my p30 seemed to. I will say that large handed people my not like it. Front to back the frame is very short. my fingers wrapped all across the front and halfway to the left side grip panel. This made it hard to get good contact with the frame and the palm of my support hand. Small handed shooters should love it. I changed to the flat backstrap and I think I will like that more than the arched one, it also shortened the front to back distance of the grip by 1/8-3/16" of an inch. *There is a noticeable flare at the bottom grip which serves as a Slight mag well.*
Mag release was sufficiently large to use , but bit too big as to be a liability. *It was very easy to use with either my weak or strong hand.*
The slide release is an issue. No problems accidentally holding it down preventing slide locked. (bulk of the rounds I fired were from mags loaded with 1-3 rounds). However is is not stiff enough to use the left side. When shooting weak hand (left) I was unable to drop the slide with my left thumb, my left index finger worked well l.*
The gun I impressively light. The slide machining is very clean and there were no rough machine marks. It was also 1/2-2/3's the weight of a g19 slide cutting down on recoil.the barrel is very thin walled, but again shot very accurately. I really think the full metal guide rod was a nice touch, it seems over built, but the weight up front was a great indicator.*
The mags are treated with a rust inhibiting coating that is very slick, the mag catches on a small protrusion in the front and all mags locked in, and released.
I like it, I like holding it, and I like shooting it. Once I figure out the sights I may look to put this in the carry rotation, currently I plan to just shoot production with it. If it is eligible, and shoot locals steel matches.
Overall I am very pleased, accuracy is more than acceptable. Function was great, but it's only seen 100 rounds. *Feel is exceptional, and the construction is fantastic. The front and rear metal rail sections are replaceable and there is nearly ad much metal in the frame rails(linear inches of contact) as a 1911, just spread out further.*
The design borrows heavily from cz, Sig, glock, and the m&p.
The barrel seems exceedingly thin when compared to a glock, but it shot well. I would like to put it in a rest someday to truly measure accuracy. But I was able to ruin the x rings of several targets and on a standard silhouette target, place the first two rounds at 25 yards intentionally in the face.
Sights: these are a bit confusing and I'm not totally convinced I like them yet. Even after a 100 rounds I'm not exactly sure where the round will go. It's a u notch setup with a bright front tritium/ white dot, and two tritium tubes in the rear which are considerably and purposely dimmer than front. The manual says poi/ poa is set to be zero at 20 yards. And shots I missed dramatically was a fundamental issue with me, mostly I grouped low, 1-1.5" lower than I held. The sights are metal, provide no ledge for racking one handed, and appear to be held in place with an adhesive.*
Trigger: it's just a little gritty( no worse than many factory glock triggered ) I love the shape, it is slightly rounded, with a slight curve (almost flat). The trigger pull is not mushy, it is very light, then you hit a wall, when that wall breaks it fires. It reminds me of a 1911, just with 5-6x the take up. Very little resistance with take up, I did throw man shots wide because when the trigger finally would trip, I would push through just a bit, and that translated to a shot being level with the bullseye, just 2-3" out of the ex ring at 7 yards. (bullseye in target is .45" dia).
The trigger reset is not as short as on a glock, it takes about a 1/4" of forward travel of the trigger to reset, it is very positive, both in feel and sound.
The safety, very small, yet well shaped, I shot a high thumbs grip and had no issues in recoil, or handling of randomly flipping it on. I turned it on a few dozen times then holstered it, and had no issue deactivating the safety. It is big enough to use and small enough to ignore.*
Frame. *The polymer is very stiff. It doesn't feel waxy like a glock, or like you can deform it the way I can an m&p. The texture is a good balance of aggressive and light, I don't feel gloves are needed, but the gun stated put in my hands.*
The very first shot my hand was just above the beavertail and it but me, it was made worse by the fact that I have a scab there from last weekends shooting.*
The frame is wide, and as such cements itself in your palm. It doesn't want to roll the way my p30 seemed to. I will say that large handed people my not like it. Front to back the frame is very short. my fingers wrapped all across the front and halfway to the left side grip panel. This made it hard to get good contact with the frame and the palm of my support hand. Small handed shooters should love it. I changed to the flat backstrap and I think I will like that more than the arched one, it also shortened the front to back distance of the grip by 1/8-3/16" of an inch. *There is a noticeable flare at the bottom grip which serves as a Slight mag well.*
Mag release was sufficiently large to use , but bit too big as to be a liability. *It was very easy to use with either my weak or strong hand.*
The slide release is an issue. No problems accidentally holding it down preventing slide locked. (bulk of the rounds I fired were from mags loaded with 1-3 rounds). However is is not stiff enough to use the left side. When shooting weak hand (left) I was unable to drop the slide with my left thumb, my left index finger worked well l.*
The gun I impressively light. The slide machining is very clean and there were no rough machine marks. It was also 1/2-2/3's the weight of a g19 slide cutting down on recoil.the barrel is very thin walled, but again shot very accurately. I really think the full metal guide rod was a nice touch, it seems over built, but the weight up front was a great indicator.*
The mags are treated with a rust inhibiting coating that is very slick, the mag catches on a small protrusion in the front and all mags locked in, and released.
I like it, I like holding it, and I like shooting it. Once I figure out the sights I may look to put this in the carry rotation, currently I plan to just shoot production with it. If it is eligible, and shoot locals steel matches.
Thanks for the write up. I love the FNS's I have a 9mm and my step-son just bought a .40 from the last 1500. Three mags and NS's for a price that can't be beat if you shop around. They shoot great and I like the triggers better than glocks for sure. The u-notch rear is getting more popular and they go on all my 1911's and getting ready to get a set for my M&P this week. You should definitely consider one of these if you are looking for a 9mm or .40. They are releasing a no manual safety version as well for those who were put off by the safety.
