mags falling out of FNX-9 during firing

[Norrick]

I've read some opinions that the new retention system for the magazines are poorly designed. Last weekend at the range I sent about 300 rounds through the gun. I experienced three separate occurences of the magazine falling out.


The first time I inserted a loaded mag into the gun with the slide forward. I racked the slide, took my first shot and the mag dropped.

No big deal I figured, sometimes the top round exerts some force against the slide when its closed. I probably did not insert the magazine with enough force.

So every time the slide was forward when inserting a loaded magazine I made sure to slap it in hard and that resolved the problem.

The second and third time the issue occurred was when inserting a loaded mag with the slide locked back. What was worrysome to me was that the mag did not fall out until the 3rd or 4th shot. It didn't actually fall out as much as it sort of sloppily slid out. It was stuck about half an inch protruding out the bottom. The magazine inserts seemingly effortlessly with the slide locked back but apparently it is a good idea to slap it in hard regardless for this reason.

I did not experience any malfunctions while being deliberate with reloading, so to speak. All three incidents occurred while handling the firearm "casually" if there is such a thing.

As far as I'm considered it is a training issue, necessary due to the new design, which I won't call flawed, maybe just less than thoroughly thought out (I'm guessing the way its designed is a result of making the mag release ambidextrous in the simplest way possible). I don't think my gun is broken, its just something to be aware of.

Just thought I'd share my experience.

 

[Micahweeks]

I am a huge fan (dare I say the biggest?) of this pistol. I have vowed to switch to it permanently as a duty weapon if FN will make a compact version that can use full-size mags. But, you highlight a particular issue with the pistol that deserves some attention.

The mags work wonderfully when purposefully "slapped" in place, like you would do in a combat drill. But, because of the ambidextrous design of the mag release, the mag uses a small raised bump on the front of the mag to hold itself in place. This bump does not catch right when the mag is lightly inserted straight up. When casually inserting the mag, you can avoid the issue of falling mags by pushing the magazine baseplate forward. This will ensure that the raised bump slides into place. It isn't a problem when doing a combat reload since your palm tends to naturally drive the magazine up and forward.

 

[Mrgunsngear]

I'm a huge fan of the FNX line as well. I agree with the above statement. If you're slapping it into place and it's still falling out, you should call FNH. I have never experience this problem with my FNX9 and I've put thousands of rounds through it.

I'm sure you're probably not doing it, but you may also want to double check you grip to ensure you're not hitting the mag release. Happy shooting!

 

[wbw]

I haven't had that problem with my FNX-9. I could be wrong, but I thought it was the earlier examples of the gun that were having that problem. I purchased mine around Feb. of this year and so far so good.

 

[ElrodCod]

I had a FNX9 for one week & traded it off, largely due to the magazine issue, part of which is their high cost. The only thing keeping the magazine in the gun is that small bump on the front of it that's about 1/8" wide and about .050" high. If that gets damaged the mag is toast. They changed from the excellent FNP style mags in order to accomodate an ambidextrous mag release. Other factors being a very creepy SA trigger pull that couldn't be rectified without breaking the safety/decock lever to get into the gun and insufficient tension on the decock lever to prevent inadvertent decocking of the safety when using the gun "cocked & locked", IMO, the overall design of the gun is good but the build quality is lacking. Looking back, I should have bought a FNP9 & called it a day.