Posted this elsewhere a while back, but thought it pertinent. I still hold with my read on the carbine.

Off the top impressions:

This weapon leaves me in a dither. Not one I would run out the door with knowing I may never come back, but boy is it small and cute. But I have a dangerous love for things small and cute. It is a much more serious weapon than many give it credit for and it is very European, urban, mechanized in its optimization. Truly ambidextrous, which is good.

Various Notes:

No particular order.

Definitely not simpler is better time.

Followed me home when I went to buy a sling last year. Boy was that an expensive sling! Speaking of slings, probably the one weapon I may end up keeping a single point on.

Space or ray gun for sure. Very different than a traditionally laid out weapon, but makes a lot of sense once you learn it. Very fast repeat shots and very fast on target with an Eotech. Really needs to have an optic BTW and after a number of experiments, the Eotech is the one for this weapon.

Safety and trigger are just fine.

Not the POS a lot of net chatter makes it out to be, not a death ray as the fan boys make it out to be, but rather a very good implementation of a euro interpretation of a MOUT or mech inf weapon, fast house clearing, handy, but not what I would want out in the mountains per se.

Never would have bothered if it wasn’t ambi, no favorite sword, no favorite shoulder. Had an AUG back in the 80s and it wasn't one to shoot on the off hand shoulder.

First firing was in a spring blizzard. A couple of malfunctions that in retrospect were operator induced. You need to download your GI 30 rd mags to 28 and given them a good whack and tug to ensure they are seating. Don't buy into the web crap about difficult immediate action drills or it being hard to clear.

The mags don't drop free. I like that. The AUG had a habit of bumping the mag release on things and dropping the mag.

Lots of room inside ala the AK to move crap around in so the gun keeps going. Given the design not much will get in anyway.

Getting a cheek weld even with the eotech a bit odd. With a bit of practice you get there. Eotech definitely the optic for this rifle.

The weapon is plump feeling and has lots of surface area. In lots of wind it is something like a sail boat and blows around. Put a rough zero on the Eotech on a howling day. (Not much mild weather around here.) Needed to shelter with the shooting bag to get stable.

Had a strange series of malfunctions shooting Wolf. Short stroking to include a weird lock up of the action. Putting the gas valve on the adverse conditions setting cured that. But not easy to clear the malf. Just fiddled and jiggled until it unlocked. The weapon literally locked up tighter than a drum. Had long discussions with FN about it. They had not run into same. (FN is very nice to deal with and really cares about their customers.) Still don't know why, some odd harmonics or something. Bottom line is that if you aren't using US GI ammo, put the gas valve on the adverse setting and all is well. Side note, per FN, if you run the gun on adverse all the time it will start to wear prematurely around 13,000 to 15,000 rounds. OTH, given ammo like Wolf is so under powered, I suspect that isn't a worry! FN probably did their testing with SS109.

Double taps faster than M4s, but a wee bit slower than with the SIGs.

The piston shaft is small. Drag ass a bit as it got dirty with wolf. A big piston ala AK or SIG would be better with all the crappy ammo we have currently. Does get dirty inside. All this crap about piston guns running super clean is just crap IMHO.

Definitely needs to be used with patrol carry or single point slings.

Good for shooting of moving things. Tracks really well.

The bolt carrier group is fiddly! Watchmaker’s delight. Not something to take apart with cold fingers at night in the mud. Just rinse it with carb cleaner or gasoline, dry in the sun and douse in Breakfree.

Several colleagues noted that the real issue with this gun is its odd manual of arms compared to everything else. Hard to argue with that comment!

Use GI mags only, better to use DSG Arms Teflon coated with magpul ranger plates. Makes mag manipulation a lot easier. No noticeable difference to date with GI or magpul followers.

My bottom line? Once the gun market recoverers I may yet sell it on, having had my experiments with it. OTH, I have always liked bullpups and it is a fine example of the breed. Just don't try to run it like an AR or AK and feed it good mil spec ammo and when you can't give it more gas.

- RCK