FN FNS Pistol Review and a glimpse of M&P for comparison.

FNS™-9

Available for commercial, law enforcement, and military.

The FNS™-9 offers the simplicity of double-action striker-fired operation with the option of a manual safety. The slide stop lever and magazine release are all fully ambidextrous for ease of operation with either hand from any firing position. Both the slide and barrel are stainless steel, and the checkered polymer frame has two interchangeable back straps with lanyard eyelets. A MIL-STD-1913 mounting rail on the underside accepts tactical lights and lasers.
LE & Military pricing on request.
FNS™ Product Numbers
*Product follows USA specifications
*Military products available to U.S. sales only

Related Products

FNX™-9

Specs

• Caliber: 9mm
• Operation: Double-action
• Mag Capacity: 10 or 17 Rd.
• Weight: 25.2 oz.
• Barrel Length: 4.0″
• Overall Length: 7.25″
• Twist Rate: 1:10" RH
• Height: 5.5"
• Width: 1.35"
• Trigger Pull: 5.5 - 7.7 lb.
• Sight Radius: 5.9"

PRIMARY FEATURES

Striker-fired autoloader
Double-action operation with manual safety
Available in standard and manual safety
Fixed 3-dot sights (standard)
Fixed 3-dot green tritium night sights available

SLIDE

Stainless steel construction

External extractor with loaded chamber indicator

Front and rear cocking serrations

Matte black finish

Find it online for 500+ bucks. MSRP 699.00

 While I will not be reviewing the M&P pictured below, as I have written extensively about it, I will be shooting it along side the FN for a reasonable comparison. The M&P C has a fifteen round capacity because it is a C. Other than that, both are of the same family of battle pistols with four inch barrels.

I have looked forward to reviewing an FN, either the FNS or the newer 509 for some time. FN has been building real battle tested weapons since 1889, and today corners the military machine gun market world wide. The FN FAL and a myriad of other time tested weapons attest to their expertise. In fact they just won a 116 million dollar contract to re-supply M-4's to the US military.

This FNS pictured above was generously donated to the review cause by a dedicated F&G member, who has never shot it. As a bit of back ground the FNS was developed to compete in the military pistol trials (Sig took the blue ribbon)  and so is robustly built. There were some issues with the gun and they were recalled for repair. This particular specimen was sent back and completely gone over by the factory. It has no manual safety, has a hinged trigger which is superior to the safety depressed triggers of the Glocks, Remingtons etc, comes with three magazines, thank you, and two back straps. The back straps are not to adjust for hand size, but rather for arched or flat back strap preference. They are easily changed with a punch. I preferred and shot with the arched after trying both.
The pistol is rated for +P ammunition without it saying so in the manual. If it were not, they would say so. In addition it was built to endure sustained fire with NATO 9mm.
I tore down the pistol (typical striker fired take down) and found it dryer than the Mojave, but clean. I wet lubed it with Slip 2000, reassembled, and dry fired 100 times. I find the trigger smooth on take up, quite mushy on let off, and decent on reset, distance and tactile wise. I then measured trigger pull 10 times and it averaged 7.75 lbs. which I find surprising. I'll recheck after 5-600 rounds.
The magazines are steel, well marked for capacity (17) and quite easy to load by hand.
Sights are tritium (small) but rugged. In fact, this entire pistol amazed me when I tore it down. The slide rails are long, thick and tough. They put the XD's to shame. The external ejector is big and looks quite rugged. Everything about this pistol says 'long lived'. The FNS has survived a 25,000 round torture test.

Let's see how it shoots. As I said, I will be shooting the M&P 9c 2.0 a bit just to have a good gun to compare the FNS too. At this point in time, the M&P's are tops in the field in my opinion, so I am always looking for something better! I am not so big on Belgium (being so wrapped up in Rwanda) but maybe this is it!

OK, so here we are at Ferry Brook. It is 22 degrees and the wind is whining like spoiled teenagers. I'll need a rock to place on the target stand.  I am alone at the range, so it is peaceful at the covered pistol station. We will shoot the following rounds, and not in this order - Federal JHPs, the preferred carry of the pistol owner, Winchester 147 grain T-series, my duty and ED carry ammunition, Fiocchi 115 grain FMJ, Remington FMJ, Georgia Arms plated, Geco FMJ, and a tub of bulk unknown. Only a good idea when you are testing the strength of a pistol!. I have not shot this pistol so the first magazine through it is the Federal JHPs at five yards, cadence fire. This gives me the info I need to know where this pistol shoots, how I must grip it to obtain accuracy, familiarize myself to the trigger, and to adjust to it's particular recoil window. My first observations are that the pistol's controls operate effectively and easily EXCEPT, when attempting to rack the slide with a full magazine in the gun. It is near impossible, and difficult enough that an inexperienced shooter would be dancing and pointing the muzzle all over the place. I could not discern the reason for this, and it did not lessen during the session. Oh, well, just make sure the slide is open when you insert mag, and use the slide release to chamber a round. Next I find the sights (tritium) small and slow. It is daylight, so I will use the generic front post as a whole to shoot with. Because of this, on all targets, the gun tends to shoot low if not compensated for. Simply replace front sight with something decent and large, and Boom! You'll be right on. The target below is the first. I am not disappointed.

Next you have a humanoid target at 12 yards. This target exercise was a draw from the holster and rapid fire an entire magazine as fast as I can shoot. Using just the front post, it is clear that the ergonomics of this pistol are acceptable as is the combat accuracy. The ammo was 115 grain FMJ.

Next is a serious exercise, the dot torture test at 3 yards. It is NOT a speed test, but a precision test for basics in accuracy. Required is good trigger work, drawing and firing, multiple targets, reloading, off hand and strong hand shooting etc. I scored a 49 on the right with the FNC. This speaks volumes for the pistol as it is the first time I have meditatively shot it. Good show, and the intrinsic accuracy is obvious.

The left target is with the S&W 9C which I have not shot in months, if not a year. (into 45 acp these days). While I scored a point less than the FNS, I completed the test in less than half the time with the Smith, thereby rushing and blowing two off. Check out the second circle. That one hole is five shots. But in any case, both these pistols are good enough, that if I were to shoot this exercise again, I would move out to five yards. Speaks well for the FNC.

No battle pistol is worth it's salt if it is not reliable or accurate with full duty ammunition. The FNS shot the owner's carry ammo fine, but my preference (and duty ammo) is the Winchester T-Series, 147 grain JHP. I do not believe there is better. The face target below (a friend of mine?) was shot with the Win T at 15 yards, somewhere between cadence and rapid fire. I am learning this pistol. This is showing to be an entirely adequate duty carry pistol.

Forgot to show the box as it comes from the factory. Good box, three magazines( why don't they ALL come with three?) and a concise operators manual. I might throw in here, that when field stripping this piece, while it is like all the rest, it does require a bit more force on the slide and the manual mentions this.

Check the massive slide rails and tons of metal in this FNS. I can see why 25,000 rounds did not touch it.

Back to shooting. This target is shot at 12 yards from the draw. Two to the chest, one to the head as fast as I can accurately shoot. The boiler room shot group is a good six inches lower than it should be, but that is due to the inadequate front sight. Otherwise, a decent shooter with practice could feel very comfortable with this pistol as EDC. Or duty, which it would serve even better.

I failed to take a picture of 5 yard cadence shoot targets or the 5 yard 5x5 drills (the cold messed me up?) but did record the results. The cadence drills were satisfactory (five inch circle, five yards, rapid fire from low ready in less than 5 seconds. No problem. But,

on the 5x5 drills, shot with both pistols, there is a discernible difference in the shootability at speed. I shot the drill five times with each. The average time for the FNS was 4.67. The average for the Smith was 2.53. Sights made a difference here, but there are other reasons as well that I will touch on. 

Next step several hours later into the shoot, we trudge up to the steel plates. I first shot the FNS at the steel man at 25 yards. Ping, ping, ping, boringly so. Then the 16? inch circle, ping pinging, the same. Six inch at 25, no problem. I was able to hit the 3 inch after about ten rounds. This FNS is accurate. Not fast accurate, but accurate. 

Plates are next, and shoot from 10 yards, I shot the six plates 10 times with each pistol. The average speed to put all down with the FNS was 6.03 seconds. In the averages are a miss or two with each pistol. The average with the Smith was substantially lower at 5.37. 

So, here are my observations, and as I always try to remind fellow shooters, our opinions are subjective. Period. 

The FNS is a tough rugged pistol, up for the nastiest handling you can give it. It definitely leans far to the military side of things to include lanyard rings in the grips. It is utterly reliable. I shot it from every position imaginable trying to make it malfunction. It doesn't. I even held it with two fingers while I depressed the trigger mechanically, giving me next to zero grip . It recycled flawlessly and never once failed to lock back. I rate this pistol equal to the Smiths, Glocks, Sigs etc. for reliability. It shot all kinds of ammo, and all to the same point of aim. 

It is accurate. Face shots at 25 yards, no problem. Six inch metal at 25, no problem. Combat accuracy on paper targets is good. But it's accuracy comes at a cost, and that cost is time. It is legions slower at 'speed' than many pistols I have reviewed. The sights are partially responsible for this and can be corrected. But the recoil impulse also seemed much heavier than the M&P. Not sure I understand why, because it is relatively heavy, and seems to have a low bore axis. The trigger doesn't help. So, my take? This is a full time duty pistol built to be on a duty rig belt. The trigger while smoothed out, stays at 7 3/4 lbs., far too heavy for my taste and speed. The slide is decidedly harder to retract than most, and as stated above, if you insert a full mag into this pistol while in battery, good luck racking in a round...The pistol, while not ergonomically distressing in the least, feels large and a bit blocky in the hand. There is nothing fine about it. I tried both the flat and arched back straps and while neither held a shooting advantage, I preferred the arched. A choice in back strap sizing might have helped ergonomicly, thereby speed, but we will never know.  This pistol now has between 700/1000 rounds through it. As I broke it down to clean and check it after our range session I did note that there are rather heavy wear marks on the rails and barrel hood and rest. Not a concern, but MUCH more pronounced than most modern pistols at this stage. Interesting. 

Conclusion:

Nice pistol, but I wouldn't bother.

Comments and differing opinions welcome.