RancidSumo
09-27-10, 03:02
I was able to try out these three guns side by side today and thought I'd offer up my experience as to how they compare. The three guns are a Glock 19 (Gen 2) with less than 100rds through it, FNX-9 brand new, and a S&W M&P9 coming up on 1000rds.
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn285/RancidSumo/downsize.jpg
Initial impressions for me is that the M&P and the Glock have the edge in ergonomics, for me at least. My dad and his friend both found the FN very ergonomic and it wasnt bad for me, just felt more "cluttered". As for the sights, I liked all three but Im not too experienced with different kinds so I'll refrain from commenting too much other than to say the FN sights seemed very tall to me.
Trigger- The FN had far and away the best and lightest trigger in the group. Even the double action pull wasn't too bad. It didn't seem too long or heavy. The single action seemed a little "spungy" but overall pretty good and my pick for the best. The 19 I would say had the second best with a heavier but very crisp break. Lastly is the M&P. The trigger was lighter than the Glock but not as clean even after almost 1000rds.
Recoil- The Glock had slightly more recoil than the others but not enough to make much of a difference. In my hands the FN and the M&P felt almost the same in recoil characteristics. All were of course easily manageable.
Accuracy- All three were accurate enough for intended purposes. The Glock and Smith shot virtually the same but it was hard to get a good read on the FN for reasons I'll discuss below. Here is the only group I got a pic of. Five shots at five yards rapid fire (I know it isn't a very far or very difficult shot but thats the distance I was practicing at when the camera came out.) with the M&P-
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn285/RancidSumo/0926101631.jpg
Overall- I liked all three guns. The Smith and Glock are obviously known quantities around here but I couldn't find much on the FN. For comparison, it felt nearly identical to the M&P when shooting other than a better trigger. There was only one problem, it wouldn't cycle the ammo we had. My dad had picked up a 1000rd box of reloads because he could get it cheap. My M&P ate it right up with no problems in about 200rds. The Glock, which belongs to a friend of ours and had less than 100 rounds down range prior to today also ran nearly flawlessly with it. It only had one stovepipe in the second mag.
The FN however would simply not shoot it. It would jam nearly every round, usually dropping the brass right at your feet and failing to fully feed the next round. Sometimes it wouldn't even eject and this occurred with all three mags. We ran 50rds of factory ammo through it and it ran fine with no failures of any kind. I think the problem is that the ammo was underpowered and would not fully cycle the gun. I recommended to my dad to leave the slide locked back for a while and see if it loosens the spring a bit. Would any of you expect it to be anything other than weak rounds with a maybe stiff recoil spring?
Here are a couple more pics for comparisons sake-
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn285/RancidSumo/downsize2.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn285/RancidSumo/downsize1.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn285/RancidSumo/downsize.jpg
Initial impressions for me is that the M&P and the Glock have the edge in ergonomics, for me at least. My dad and his friend both found the FN very ergonomic and it wasnt bad for me, just felt more "cluttered". As for the sights, I liked all three but Im not too experienced with different kinds so I'll refrain from commenting too much other than to say the FN sights seemed very tall to me.
Trigger- The FN had far and away the best and lightest trigger in the group. Even the double action pull wasn't too bad. It didn't seem too long or heavy. The single action seemed a little "spungy" but overall pretty good and my pick for the best. The 19 I would say had the second best with a heavier but very crisp break. Lastly is the M&P. The trigger was lighter than the Glock but not as clean even after almost 1000rds.
Recoil- The Glock had slightly more recoil than the others but not enough to make much of a difference. In my hands the FN and the M&P felt almost the same in recoil characteristics. All were of course easily manageable.
Accuracy- All three were accurate enough for intended purposes. The Glock and Smith shot virtually the same but it was hard to get a good read on the FN for reasons I'll discuss below. Here is the only group I got a pic of. Five shots at five yards rapid fire (I know it isn't a very far or very difficult shot but thats the distance I was practicing at when the camera came out.) with the M&P-
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn285/RancidSumo/0926101631.jpg
Overall- I liked all three guns. The Smith and Glock are obviously known quantities around here but I couldn't find much on the FN. For comparison, it felt nearly identical to the M&P when shooting other than a better trigger. There was only one problem, it wouldn't cycle the ammo we had. My dad had picked up a 1000rd box of reloads because he could get it cheap. My M&P ate it right up with no problems in about 200rds. The Glock, which belongs to a friend of ours and had less than 100 rounds down range prior to today also ran nearly flawlessly with it. It only had one stovepipe in the second mag.
The FN however would simply not shoot it. It would jam nearly every round, usually dropping the brass right at your feet and failing to fully feed the next round. Sometimes it wouldn't even eject and this occurred with all three mags. We ran 50rds of factory ammo through it and it ran fine with no failures of any kind. I think the problem is that the ammo was underpowered and would not fully cycle the gun. I recommended to my dad to leave the slide locked back for a while and see if it loosens the spring a bit. Would any of you expect it to be anything other than weak rounds with a maybe stiff recoil spring?
Here are a couple more pics for comparisons sake-
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn285/RancidSumo/downsize2.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn285/RancidSumo/downsize1.jpg