FN's FNP-9m

Let me go over a couple things before I actually start writing this review. My process... When I get a new pistol to review, the first thing I do with it is examine it visually. I'll take it apart, clean it, inspect the parts, and basically go over it with a fine tooth comb. Then I'll carry it. I'll pack it for a week solid at least. Around Ogre Ranch, to and from work where I put in 10 hour days. Sometimes during that time on my to or from work, I'll pull off from the highway onto a dirt road and find one of my “shooting spots” and pop some rounds. I'll fire informally a couple boxes or more. I have no set amount but generally I average about 500 rounds through each gun. Sometimes I'll shoot more. Especially if I like the gun, but let's be honest, I like shooting. It's fun and I find the process relaxing. I'll shoot different brands of ammo, different types. No, I don't have a specific formula. But I do shoot the a majority of Blazer Brass. Think of it as my baseline. If a gun can't deal with Blazer Brass, it isn't handling anything else.

Using this method I'll generally get a good enough impression about how it carries and how it shoots. I get to know the pistol pretty well during this time. I'll also take it apart a few times during this process to clean it and of course, to inspect all the bits. I don't just take the gun out to a range with a bench and sit down and record shot group sizes and velocities. That has nothing to do with how you guys are going to live with a gun. I think my method is best for evaluating concealed carry guns, but I might be wrong. I don't care how tight a gun groups from the bench if you can't live with it every day all day. It's kind of like dating a model. She might be great looking, but when you take her out you might find that she isn't very sharp. I once dated a Snap-On Tools calender girl. She was stunning, but the wrench she posed with was probably smarter. I did dent up my Thunderbird Super Coupe watching her walk up some steps though... but that is another story.

If I find that a gun is a good companion, most likely you will find it to be good company too. If I find that it isn't, you know I'm going to keep it real and give you the 411 straight up. I don't care who made the gun. HK, FN, SIG... I don't care. I don't work for any gun company so I have no stake in how a review turns out. What I do care about is being honest with my readers. If a gun has a problem, you are going to know about it.

I'm supposed to be working on this review of the FN FNP-9m. But I have no inspiration for it. So let me simply go over what it is and isn't and hopefully my muse will visit me with a creative spark here. Because it doesn't seem like FN had any creative spark when they created this thing. It is plain vanilla molded in black. If it was a car, it would be a Volvo. That is not necessarily a bad thing though. A Volvo is a good solid car. A safe bet. Not all that much to look at and not very stimulating to drive, but it will get you from point A to point B in relative safety and comfort. I think this is a good example of the FNP-9m. It's going to make sure you get to and from your destination without any hassles.

When I first received the gun from FN, I almost immediately picked up on some deep gouges in the grip-frame. It looked as if I might have let Ranger (one of my dogs who you've seen sneaking into some the article photos) chew on it for awhile. That's okay with me, the gun is a press sample and looks like it was well used. Gun companies don't send us ringers. Regardless of the gouges, the FNP is a handsome looking pistol. It looks like what a serious use pistol is supposed to look like. Meaning it looks a lot like a SIG. The gun arrived in a nice locking case with three 15 round magazines. That's a nice touch. I don't know if this is a normal number of mags or if its just a little extra goody to help the writer review the gun. Gun lock, bore brush, the usual. Nice package, but not as encompassing as Springfield's XD packages, which includes other goodies like a simple belt slide holster. I would rather have included the extra spare mag. While Springfield throws in a dual mag pouch, they only give you two magazines. Why don't they throw in another one so you can fill the holder? Come on. A spare mag costs what? Five bucks at the very most to make? Raise the cost of the package five bucks and do it right. Short changing like that is annoying. Of course they could do what Kimber does and never include anything extra, so I guess I wont complain. Moving on.

I picked up the gun, cleared it, and pointing the gun into my Clear Bucket, dry fired it. (A Clear Bucket is a 5 gallon bucket of sand, allowing for a safe direction for pointing your weapon when you clear or dry fire the gun. Should there be a negligent discharge, and there shouldn't be, the fired bullet is caught in the sand and nothing is damaged. I have one in my office near where I work on my guns. I suggest you get one too. It is a simple and cheap thing, but something worth having. Just in case. Like fire insurance.) When I dry fired the gun, I found that the trigger was less than effective... to the point of being defective. Let me describe the defect for you... I would pull the trigger back in double action mode, pulling it all the way to the trigger stop and the gun would fire. As it should. However, in single action mode, and this is the most interesting part, the trigger would hit the frame as far back as it would go and then you had to squeeze further and harder – about 15 to 20 pounds worth – and then it would go off without any actual further trigger movement. Weird.

I was told by a fellow that knows FNP's better than I that the trigger was indeed defective. Of course it had to be. No gun company would put out a trigger like this on purpose... so I contacted FN and they arranged for the return of the pistol. I didn't hear anything back from them after that for a long number of weeks and I forgot about the pistol. I wrote two reviews since, and then all the sudden here is the very same pistol back with the same gouged up frame. I looked at it with suspicion and was hesitant to try it out. I didn't want to, but that is my job and that's what I do. I suffer so you don't have to. Your welcome.

FN repaired the gun and the trigger is about 500% better. Unfortunately it remains long and heavy and somehow awkward. Sure, it's relatively smooth. Much better than most factory guns, but not nearly as smooth as it should be. I know I have high expectations for handguns... even for a mass produced injection molded pistol from Belgium. I know this because I've been called an elitist. When I am pulling this trigger side by side with the trigger on my pistol from the Czech Republic that costs $150 bucks less, I would have hoped that the Belgian would be better. The memory of the damaged trigger remains in my mind every time I pick up the pistol and it leaves me with little confidence. Yet at the same time I feel I am judging it too harshly. FN did fix it, and they even payed for the return shipping which was very nice of them. Those are big plus marks in my book. Kudos to FN for standing behind their product.

The stamped sheet metal decocker lever looks and feels cheap and befitting of a something coming from a Yugoslavian Kalashnikov factory. As such, it works perfectly well, but they sure didn't spend any money on it. For the MSRP on these things... I expected better. It makes you long for the good days of MIM parts. The decock lever is also too low on the frame. During firing the recoil moves the gun, and the lever right into my thumb, thus decocking the weapon and in effect turning it into a DAO pistol. Yeah, I know I can change my grip but I don't like being forced to. With a grip adjustment made, the gun fired with no problem. Speaking of grip adjustments, I forgot to mention that these pistols come with alternative backstraps that the user can switch out, allowing for a better fit. For a plastic framed gun, this new trend is an advantage. I don't know of any metal framed pistols that have this. Well, you can get straight or curved mainspring housings on your 1911, but it is not something you can just swap out in a matter of seconds.

The plastic seems tough and solid, but somehow feels like it was rushed from molds to finished product too quickly. While there are no glaring faults like mold seams that needed any tailings filed off, it just didn't feel “finished”. I can't put my finger on why specifically. The frame sports an accessory rail under the dust cover. All the tactical lights I tried snapped on and off easily. This is a big advantage for a gun of this pistol's purpose. While it might not feel like a Mercedes in terms of the frames fit and finish, the upshot is that the shortened frame feels pretty good in the hand, giving the gun a good balanced feel. This is important in poly framed pistols because too many of them don't. So this is another feather in FN's cap.

The sights are standard high visibility 3-dots. Nothing fancy, but they do their job. They allow you to deliver your 9MM payload into your target effectively enough. At least while there is light. Night sights are an upgrade option that I strongly recommend getting.

The most impressive part of the FNP is the slide. Upon disassembly and inspection I found that the milling work inside the slide is absolutely flawless and is probably the best I've ever seen on this sort of pistol. The finish on the slide is thin and uniform and looks good. It doesn't have the smugness of other pistols who claim their finishes to be the stuff of superheroes and could stop direct RPG hits. They just have a simply good clean finish. But it must be pretty tough... whatever mangled the frame didn't put a scratch in the slide.

I can't express enough how impressed I am with the precision work done inside the slide. It is bloody fantastic. It is so good that I think it is a shame that they put this slide on top of a plastic frame... This is something like Ferrari building a Chevy Cavalier. It's almost shameful. Okay, now before I get flamed in the CCM forums for saying that please understand... I'm just being straight up with you. Other gun magazines have writers who say everything is wonderful. So far, CCM has allowed me free reigns to state my opinion. I've found this is the easiest and most effective way get people to hate me.

Lots of companies have gone out of their way to jump onto the plastic framed band wagon when they shouldn't have. Beretta with their 9000s, SIG with their “SIG Pro” pistols... and now FN with their FNP series. I've only seen a couple plastic framed guns that have been done right. The Springfield XD is one of them... the new S&W M&P pistols are another... the Wilson Combat KZ-45 is another one... So it is possible that a company can make a good unit. The real question remains “Should you?” Just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Stick with what you do best and avoid the risk of being the next object of pointing and laughing. The advantage of making a frame out of plastic is that the resulting pistol is very light and costs less to produce. I don't know if it is all that less expensive, because there are a lot of other guns out there with plastic frames that are even more expensive while at the same time there are guns with lightweight alloy frames that are less money. This FN begs for an alloy frame.

The size and weight of the FNP-9m makes for an attractive carry package. The sharp edges around the slide get penalty flags, but overall it's pretty good. The full sized FNP is just a touch too big for concealed carry work, but the “m” class is just right. The shortened grip frame is the key here. I had no problem packing it on the low down without anyone suspecting I was heeled. That, my friends, is the whole point. When your carry gun goes undercover, it can not blow its cover – ever. It was easy to carry and caused no discomfort. Another feather in FN's cap.

The magazines drop free when the release button is pushed. They reload to max capacity easily and there is no difficulty with the last round. Neither mag that came with the gun showed any indication of potential problems. They are above par.

Shooting the FNP-9m was easy. The recoil was perfectly manageable and the gun absorbed a lot of the felt recoil before it transferred into my hand. Not that 9MM is all that snappy to begin with, but I've felt a lot worse. The grip-frame is too short for a full “all fingers aboard” grip, but the gun was perfectly controllable and pleasant to shoot. Accuracy was not spectacular, but better than average at 15 yards. If I was another CCM writer I could boast of tagging out two jackrabbits with it, but I'll just report it. Just teasing, Robert ;) Ranger would like to thank FN for that... it's not every pistol I review that is able to take down running jacks like that. Ranger likes eating fresh rabbit and any pistol that feeds him, he likes. Because of that, I'm of the opinion that the accuracy is perfectly suitable for the pistol's purpose. Going up against a thug who has the intentions of doing harm, such a target will be no challenge. Jack the Ripper is a much larger target than Jack the Rabbit.

I tested the gun with a couple different loads, mostly FMJ's because I simply didn't have any more ammo on hand at the time of shooting. Remington UMC ball ammo fired up like usual... meaning they were reliable enough but left a lot of gunk to clean out afterwards. Blazer Brass is a favorite load of mine. It's cheap and clean shooting. Winchester “White Box” bulk packs are the average, but produced the worst shot groups from this pistol. On the other hand, Winchester's SXT loads were very accurate, making it my choice for carrying for defensive purpose. All loads cycled and fired with no problem. The FN didn't really care what I loaded, it fired them all and placed the shots well enough even with the worst loads. Good enough for me... the FN pasts the ultimate Go/No-Go test. Does it Jam? Yes or no. If yes, the gun fails. Since the gun didn't jam, it passes. Simple as that really. Overall the accuracy was well above average. It gave me shot groups between 2 to 3 inches. For a compact handgun, that is great.

While I was not initially impressed with the FN FNP-9m, I have to say that in the end it comes out ahead of the game. I am impressed with it now. All things considered I think the FNP-9m is a great CCW option. One of the better choices. I wouldn't have a problem buying one myself if I was in the market. I would also give it good consideration if I was a new Officer looking for a new pistol to carry on duty. For a home defense gun. Or even for a plinker. If I was going to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, I'd have to say that it's a solid 8. FN could do a few things to raise that score. I'd like to see night sights as a standard. I'd like the decocker lever reshaped to allow for a higher shooting grip, or remove it all together and roll with a DAO version with a light double action. If I was going to order one, that is how I'd order it. If I already didn't have my fill of high capacity 9MM automatics, I'd give this one a strong consideration. You should too.

For more information:

http://www.fnherstal.com/