[BHPshooter]

I've posted this over at the FNHiPower board, but it's been sort of slow lately, and it tends to get pretty "technical" over there.

Anyway, I was taking my FEG FP9 down about a week ago, and since it requires so much oil to keep it from rusting, I was going to make sure there wasn't a pool of it in the firing pin channel. So, I removed the firing pin retaining plate, and noticed something else come out. :confused: ***? I don't remember anything else being in there. Well, it turns out that it was a piece of the retaining plate. :mad:

This part is one of the weaker parts of the design, and can crack in some circumstances... but this didn't crack, it kind of... crumbled. It has progressed with a little bit more dry-firing. The break looks like the part was made from pot metal. :mad: :cuss:

Upon further investigation, the channel that the retaining plate rides in is machined too big for the plate, by almost 50%. That's bad. So the break could be from the plate being battered every time the hammer hits it, or it could be from the (obviously) poor quality part.

Or both, for that matter.

So, I'm going to order a Browning retaining plate, so I won't have to worry about poor quality parts. But if that doesn't fix the problem, what else can I do? I'm not the first owner, so a warranty is certainly out of the question, and I really don't want to send a mediocre-quality FEG to a gunsmith to have it worked over.

Assuming that the repair works fine, and the pistol is still completely reliable, I'm going to get rid of it. No more FEGs for me... at least not without an in-depth inspection. :(

Your thoughts? Please? Pretty Please?

Wes

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. Try the FN-made plate and let's hope it solves the problem. If it's a little tighter, but not quite tight enough, the edges might can be peened to take up the slack. It that doesn't work and you're willing to spend the money, I think a gunsmith could make you an oversized slide stop to fit your gun, but I'll bet it would be fairly costly.

Best.

[mete]

From your description it sounds like the part was made of an MIM part and a poor one at that. I hope the Browning one works for you. If you had one made it would have to be made from good hea treated steel since it sees impact.

[BHPshooter]

I think a gunsmith could make you an oversized slide stop to fit your gun, but I'll bet it would be fairly costly.

I was afraid of that. Hopefully a new part of higher quality will work out.

Knock on wood.

Wes

[Tropical Z]

Rusting in Utah? hhhmmmmmm
I never had that problem with my FP-9 but i need to examine its internals and see whats happening.

[JohnKSa]

it sounds like the part was made of an MIM part
Just guessing, but I'll bet that FEG in Hungary WISHES it could use MIM technology. Probably a cast part from poor metal.

[Pumpkinheaver]

JohnKsa, you took the words right out of my mouth!

[Master Blaster]

It could also be a forged or barstock part that was incorrectly heat treated making it very brittle.

Does FEG have a US distributer?

You could call them, this may be a problem that has cropped up before and maybe they made a correct part for these guns or even replace your slide?????

[BHPshooter]

Rusting in Utah?

Yeah, weird huh? It really aggrevates me because it has such a nice, deep-blue finish, but the rust won't come off with anything but a steel brush.

I will try to find the number for the FEG distributer, and see what they have to say. :)

Wes

[Sunray]

I think you'll find most parts are made by investment casting these days. All Ruger parts are. Trigger, sears etc. So are all the parts used by the CF. At least the parts I got for my HP from a Weapons Tech I knew. Try some 0000 steel wool and oil on the rust.