My new FNP 45 Tactical

[VincentC]

I am currently deployed to Afghanistan and I try to stay up on whats new in the gun world, so that I have a good idea of what my next purchases will be when i get home. Last summer I learned about the FNP 45 Tactical, and after reading as much as I could about it, I fell in love with it on paper. I went home on R&R in Jan2011 with the intent of buying one. I had the hardest time finding a shop that carried them let alone one that had any in stock, but with some luck and the help of some friends keeping their eyes open for me I was able to find one in a small gun store in the city of St. Mary's in Elk County (great store if and well worth the extra drive if your in NW PA). They had the pistol and had no problem holding it for me.

After buying it and familarizing myself with and cleaning off the packing greese. I did the next logical step and went to a range. At first I had a couple instances with double feeds which could have been from the magizine spring being under alot of pressure, I reloaded the mag with 10 rounds. It seem like I still had an issue with feeding and thus locking. it took about 100 rounds of American Eagle 230gr FMJ before this problem stopped completely and 500 rounds after that not a single problem, even a full 15rd mag rapid fire went down range flawlessly.

I am very impressed by this pistol. It is fast and accurate the sights are dead on, a full 15rd mag wieghs about a pound, even if you only load 10rds thats still more then most .45 pistols. The ambi controls are in the right place for smooth operation of the safty and slide release even for small hands. Overall this is a great pistol and if you can find one I would highly recomend adding it to your collection

[RichG]

Good review. Does it have a threaded barrel?

[marks]

I picked up the FNP-45 (not the tac variation) and agree, that it, for me, is quite possibly the best, most well-rounded pistol, for all purposes. Congrats on picking one up, and, thank you for your service.

[VincentC]

RichG, thanks for reminding me. I did mean to mention the threaded barrel in my post, but I completely forgot, not so good of a review. It is the tactical verison with the 5.3" threaded barrel and the only issue is that the thread protector does tend to loosen as you shoot. If you dont mind tightening it every now and then its not a problem. I shot through the three mags it come with full 15rds each and it loosened a couple threads

[nicholasivanclark]

I have the non tactical version as well. I love it it is a great handgun and my OP well made. It isn't for a small handed fellow but as long as you have average and above hands it is a great buy. I bought a couple extra 15 rounders so I have 3 15 and 2 14 lots of fire power. I wish I would have got the tactical. Congrats and thanks as well for your service.

[sean79]

Nice. I've been looking for an FNP-45 to check out up here in McKean County. Is Elk County Ammo. the store you're talking about in St. Marys?

When I called, they didn't have the "regular" FNP-45 - only the tactical. I think I'll still make the hour+ trip down there sometime to check it out. Even though I don't want the tactical version, I'm thinking the grips and ergonomics should be the same as the regular one. The size of the grips (and the size of the pistol overall) is my only concern.

Like you said, it looks great on paper (and my brother in WY loves his 9mm), but I want to put my hands on one before making a decision.

[nicholasivanclark]

Nice. I've been looking for an FNP-45 to check out up here in McKean County. Is Elk County Ammo. the store you're talking about in St. Marys?

When I called, they didn't have the "regular" FNP-45 - only the tactical. I think I'll still make the hour+ trip down there sometime to check it out. Even though I don't want the tactical version, I'm thinking the grips and ergonomics should be the same as the regular one. The size of the grips (and the size of the pistol overall) is my only concern.

Like you said, it looks great on paper (and my brother in WY loves his 9mm), but I want to put my hands on one before making a decision.

Yeah I'm sorry about that I never made it up to Bradford. It is like a 4 hour drive and the guy must have backed out of selling to me because I never heard from him again. The tactical will give you the same feel for the gun just not going to have the upgrades.

[sean79]

No worries, nicholasivanclark. I'm hoping to do the St. Marys detour after work sometime - maybe even this week. Glad to hear there are no other major differences in the design/feel of the pistols. I'm still kind of tossed between the FNP-45 and the XD-45, maybe getting one in my hands will help me decide.

[VincentC]

thats the place, Elk County Ammo and Arms, its a great store. I even asked them why they have this pistol in stock and no one else within 4 hours has it, "we like to keep interesting pieces on hand, for reason such as yours" they def have my business when ever im out that way.

[PhillyGunslinger]

That is a nice gun ! I think with all doublestack 45 ACP magazines there are little quirks until they are broken in. The thing is the weight of the rounds and it sometimes acts goofy until it's accustomed to the ammo being used. I had a quirk with one of the mags for my Glock 21 sf. I would put 12 rounds in and the 13th wouldn't go. I had to unload and try again. Well here I had to hold the mag straight when loading. If I tilted it to the left or right, the rounds would come out of stagger, but only on this one mag.
I don't think 45 ACP's were made to have double stack mags if you know what I mean.
Maybe that's why for years we only seen 45's with single stacks ?
No I know thats not true but those fat shells do put a lot of strain on a double stack mag ! It was with 45's that I was getting dents on the casings just from loading up !