FN FNS

By: B D

When asked to review the FNH FNS .40 I was so excited I yawned and considered a nap instead.  Double-stack, plastic-framed, double-action-only handguns are so common right now I could not, at first, find the excitement.  Looking closer, however, the FNS series includes some new features making it worth a look.

Background

Belgium is divided into three main governing parts, as Americans might think of states.  The largest, Wallonia, owns a holding company that owns FN Herstal, often known as Fabrique Nationale or FN, of Herstal, Belgium.  The holding group owns such household names as Winchester and Browning, as well as, FN Manufacturing and FNH USA, both located in the United States.  FN Manufacturing focuses on US Military production of the M16 battle rifle, the M240 machine gun, and the M249 light machine gun.  FNH USA, of McLean VA, is the manufacturer for the US civilian and police market.

FNH was late to the striker-fired double-action game with the FNS hitting the market in 2011, about 29 years after Glock started the transition of the handgun market.  To be fair, FNH has had the FN 5.7, a plastic striker-fired large-capacity handgun for many years, but the 5.7 X 28mm has always been a specialty product and never a mainstream contender.  FNH placed most of the handgun emphasis on the excellent FNX series of handguns.  The FNX series uses the plastic frame and high-capacity magazines common to the market but features a standard-double-action firing system with an exposed hammer.  This is an excellent system but out of style for the past 15-20 years.

Another curious distinction is FNH departed from the typical naming conventions we are used to for the sizes of their pistols.  Instead of offering full-size, compact, and subcompact with a long slide model geared toward the competition segment, the main FNS model most closely corresponds to other companies’ full-size offerings and the FNS compact comes in between the subcompact and compact.

Here, let me show you:

FNS and Glock 23

The FNS runs .35 inches smaller than the S&W M&P, but it is .7 inches smaller than a Glock 22 and .11 inches smaller than even the Glock 23.  Running small isn’t necessarily the problem but I had ordered the FNS full-size pistol and upon opening the box thought they had sent the wrong gun.  If you are looking for a full-size duty type gun instead of a concealed carry gun the FNS is going to seem small.

As long as we are talking size, the FNS is a bit pudgy.  While the Glock 22 has a width of 1.18 inches and the M&P sports a very competitive 1.2 inch width, the FNS comes in at a whopping 1.55 inches wide.  The extra.35 inches doesn’t sound like much but is a quarter larger than the M&P.  This extra width makes for a comfortable shooting handgun spreading recoil across a larger area of your hand, but I’m not sure it will be very welcome in an inside-the-waistband (IWB) holster.  The overall size profile of the FNS, closer to the compact class than the full size, seems to lend itself to concealed carry over overt carry.  Many people prefer the extra concealment of an IWB holster, but may not appreciate that extra third of an inch of width.

Features

The FNS arrived with two interchangeable back straps; one arched and one flat. I consider this an absolute minimum feature in today’s market and two choices are lean pickings.  Both were comfortable and well textured and swap with the easiest system I have seen so far.  A punch goes into a hole on the strap to depress the retainer and the back strap slides off easily.  The other slides on. I could not choose a favorite between the two finding both comfortable and the gun pointed just as well with either in place.

The truly amazing feature on the FNS is that it is fully ambidextrous.  Fully ambidextrous means more than being able to have a certified armorer change the magazine release to the other side of the gun. The FNS has a magazine release on each side of the grip. Pressing either or both releases the magazine. The gun also has a slide release on both sides of the frame.

The manual of arms on the FNS series is exactly the same for right or left handed shooters.  This could be a very big deal when training multiple people.  Several agencies currently teach right handed shooters to thumb the slide release during a reload and teach left handed shooters to slingshot the slide.  One reason many departments have recently switched to teaching everyone to slingshot the slide is to teach everyone the same methodology.  If you are teaching multiple shooters and your method is to thumb the slide release the FNS could make life easier with the fully ambidextrous controls.

The FNS is available either with or without a manual safety in the traditional frame mounted position.  The safety is also mounted on both sides of the gun allowing it to be set and deactivated with the thumb of either hand.

Magazines

First, the FNS ships with three magazines.  It doesn’t seem like a big deal at first, but many manufacturers try to get away with just one magazine these days.  Magazines retail over forty dollars for the FNS so including a third magazine is a big deal.  The magazines are metal with a weld in the back and both look and feel reassuringly substantial.

Glock 23 magazine on the left; FN FNS magazine on the right.

Sights

The sights are a squared off three dot design.  They are made of metal and provide a very good sight picture with a pleasant amount of space in the rear sight.  One tester found the pointed notch at the bottom of the rear sight distracting.  I never noticed the notch while firing and do not consider it an issue.

Shooting

The trigger is a hinged design.  Here is a photo of the FNS trigger in front of a Glock trigger:

Hinged triggers are not my favorite because the slack taken up to actuate the hinge can move your finger position, but the FNS trigger was well done and once on the range I never noticed the hinge and forgot about it.

I am an advocate for trigger consistency.  I can learn to shoot a heavy trigger, even a gritty trigger, but an inconsistent trigger is difficult to learn and accuracy is a matter of repeatability.  The trouble is that a double action striker-fired pistol has a lot going on as you pull the trigger.  As you draw the firing pin back, disengage the safeties, and the transfer bar finally falls; multiple springs and surfaces each provide their own resistance.

The trigger on the FNS broke at an average of 6.88125 pounds with 5.1 ounces of standard deviation and exactly one pound of maximum deviation.  In other words you can expect your FNS to fire with between 6.33 and 7.33 pounds of pressure on the trigger and most often the trigger will break between 6.56 and 7.19 pounds.  That isn’t bad.  The chart below shows the Glock 23 had a maximum deviation two and a half times as bad as the FNS.   The recently tested Canik TP9SA is included as a comparison of a really good trigger, but the Canik is a single action trigger releasing a firing pin already under full spring pressure.  Basically a single action trigger has to do less while you pull the trigger.

The FN FNS pointed naturally in the hand, was comfortable with either of the included backstraps and the sights were large and usable.  The wide grip distributed the recoil well and combined with the 27.5 ounce weight made for a soft shooting .40.  Testing the FNS took place the same day as testing several other handguns, all the others were 9mm, yet no one remarked that the recoil seemed sharper on the only .40 in the group.

The Problem

The most impressive feature on the FNS turned out to be its Achilles’ heel for me.  Remember those fully ambidextrous controls I raved about earlier in this article?  My right middle finger rested just on the underside of the right side magazine release button.  The button is contoured making me suspect this is typical of most people gripping the gun.

Maybe I have particularly muscular (or fat) hands but as the gun recovered from recoil my middle finger pushed against the right side magazine release and dropped the magazine.  This tended to happen about every three magazines.  I would shoot about 30 rounds no problem and somewhere in the next 15 the magazine would depart.  I tried to adjust my grip, but eventually my hand would find its natural place again and the magazine would dump.

Ten other shooters have tried this FNS .40 while I have had it.  The shooters have included experienced law enforcement officers, competitors and brand new shooters.  Exactly zero of them have had the magazine dump unexpectedly while firing a string.  The results have been consistent for me with the FNS over multiple occasions in varying conditions and I have no explanation why my hand and grip cause this issue.

Ultimately, my experience testing this gun reinforces to me the importance of trying a handgun before you buy if at all possible.  The FN FNS is a beautiful handgun with some exceptional features.   The entire package is executed well, though the size: short slide, tall grip and a bit bulky, defies some of the traditional classifications.  The trigger, sights and size combine for an effective and comfortable shooting experience.  Unfortunately, I learned the hard way this just isn’t the gun for me.  Something about my hand design clashes with the ambidextrous magazine release to cause premature magazine expulsion.  This problem seems to be exclusive to me so if you get a chance to try the FN FNS it could be the perfect gun for you.  I will keep looking.