If you go to your local gun shop, odds are you won’t be able to find a Glock or an M&P to save your life. They’re just not in stock, so shooters are looking for alternatives. Despite my preference for DA/SA guns, I accept that most people want or like striker fired guns.
I’ve recently started recommending the FNS-9 to shooters looking for a full size 9mm pistol; one it’s readily available from retailers like GunUp and even more importantly than that, it’s a good gun.
The FNS-9 has been in use for over a year now by certain members of Team FNH, and has met all the reliability metrics you’d expect from a modern polymer striker fired service pistol. It’s accurate and reliable, which are the starting points for any pistol. It comes with pretty decent sights from the factory, and while I’d probably replace them they’re actually perfectly adequate for most of the intended uses of the pistol.
There are some really neat little touches on the gun as well, stuff that makes it stand out from the pack and why I’d recommend it in the same breath as an M&P or Glock and above the XD line of pistols. The first is the backstrap – like every other gun on the market you can change it out; and the arched backstrap is really magnificent. It fills the hollow area of the dominant palm nicely, which gives me better control of the gun in most applications.
The gun isn’t perfect, I don’t understand why there’s a safety on it, and the ambi mag release is too large. But that’s really about it, and the good features mean it’s a perfectly reasonable choice if you’re looking for a generic polymer striker fired 9mm handgun. Which it seems it what everyone is looking for these days, and because of that I’d definitely recommend the FNS-9 over an XDM, and put it in the same category as a Glock or M&P. For a first striker fired pistol, FNH USA did an excellent job with the FNS-9.