harmon rabb
Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2009
- Messages
- 2,699
A while back, in a fit of apparently having too much money in my bank account, I ordered an AT92C (turkish clone of the Beretta 92), FNX, and 5906 at the same time from CDNN. I had made a quick previous range trip, but didn't get to spend much time. Today I took all three out for a nice long extended range trip, put 150 rounds through each.
Not much point in posting target pics because my shooting today was just mediocre. I kept my shots with each inside of a 6 inch target at 7yds. Not my finest day, but not awful I guess.
Anyway, thought I'd report back, especially on the AT92C as I have seen very little written by actual owners of the AT92C's. The AT92C was fantastic. Zero malfunctions with the stock mag, and zero malfunctions with the cheap free mags CDNN sent with it (which was surprising, I expected them to not work at all. still would not trust them for anything but range use). All controls worked very smoothly, and the trigger was very decent in both SA and DA. Being a 9mm, it is of course comfortable to fire. In short, it does not look, feel, or shoot like some cheap clone. It's as good as the real thing. I actually enjoyed it the most of the guns I bought out today, and I'd say that if you want one, pick one up without any fear.
Now on to the 5906. When I had first received it, the decocker/safety was VERY stiff, but once I had cleaned and oiled the gun, it smoothed out. At the range today, it really smoothed out, and now works as easily as the decocker of the AT92 did. Zero malfunctions with the stock mag, zero malfunctions with the mec gar mags. Recoil was pretty low due to the 17lb weight of the gun (yes, that's a slight exaggeration).. but the most surprising thing was how good the trigger was. I always heard bad things about the 3rd gen smith triggers... but, um, that doesn't apply to mine. SA is pretty light, and the travel is very, very short. The reset is also very, very short. DA was surprisingly good and not too long. I was able to shoot the 5906 better in DA than I was the other guns today. Good gun, better than I expected, not sure what else to say about it. Still surprised that, apparently at one time, Smith knew how to design a trigger for a semi-auto that doesn't suck.
Ok.. now onto the FNX. Here is where things got ugly today. Having read about the FNX issue with firing in DA when hot, I decided to get the gun nice and hot, then try to shoot it repeatedly in DA, to see what happens. Mother of god.
It WILL fire in DA... but it's extremely difficult to make it do so. It's not even a matter of the drastically increased pressure at the end of the stroke. It's that you need to apply that pressure for about 2 full seconds before the frakkin hammer will drop. 
Totally, absolutely, positively unacceptable. Will call FNX next week and get it repaired.
In SA, everything works fine and the gun is a delight. Feels great in the hand and is very light, recoil is super soft. In fact, it was even softer than the 5906, despite weighing probably half (or less than half) of what the 5906 weighs. The aggressive checkering that feels crappy when just dry firing felt completely fine at the range when you're actually shooting the gun, so I'm now a little less angry at FN for changing the checking over what the FNP had. The big arse front sight is nice and easy to see in the dimly lit range too.
I'd be happy with the FNX if DA worked properly..
Not much point in posting target pics because my shooting today was just mediocre. I kept my shots with each inside of a 6 inch target at 7yds. Not my finest day, but not awful I guess.
Anyway, thought I'd report back, especially on the AT92C as I have seen very little written by actual owners of the AT92C's. The AT92C was fantastic. Zero malfunctions with the stock mag, and zero malfunctions with the cheap free mags CDNN sent with it (which was surprising, I expected them to not work at all. still would not trust them for anything but range use). All controls worked very smoothly, and the trigger was very decent in both SA and DA. Being a 9mm, it is of course comfortable to fire. In short, it does not look, feel, or shoot like some cheap clone. It's as good as the real thing. I actually enjoyed it the most of the guns I bought out today, and I'd say that if you want one, pick one up without any fear.
Now on to the 5906. When I had first received it, the decocker/safety was VERY stiff, but once I had cleaned and oiled the gun, it smoothed out. At the range today, it really smoothed out, and now works as easily as the decocker of the AT92 did. Zero malfunctions with the stock mag, zero malfunctions with the mec gar mags. Recoil was pretty low due to the 17lb weight of the gun (yes, that's a slight exaggeration).. but the most surprising thing was how good the trigger was. I always heard bad things about the 3rd gen smith triggers... but, um, that doesn't apply to mine. SA is pretty light, and the travel is very, very short. The reset is also very, very short. DA was surprisingly good and not too long. I was able to shoot the 5906 better in DA than I was the other guns today. Good gun, better than I expected, not sure what else to say about it. Still surprised that, apparently at one time, Smith knew how to design a trigger for a semi-auto that doesn't suck.
Ok.. now onto the FNX. Here is where things got ugly today. Having read about the FNX issue with firing in DA when hot, I decided to get the gun nice and hot, then try to shoot it repeatedly in DA, to see what happens. Mother of god.
It WILL fire in DA... but it's extremely difficult to make it do so. It's not even a matter of the drastically increased pressure at the end of the stroke. It's that you need to apply that pressure for about 2 full seconds before the frakkin hammer will drop. Totally, absolutely, positively unacceptable. Will call FNX next week and get it repaired. In SA, everything works fine and the gun is a delight. Feels great in the hand and is very light, recoil is super soft. In fact, it was even softer than the 5906, despite weighing probably half (or less than half) of what the 5906 weighs. The aggressive checkering that feels crappy when just dry firing felt completely fine at the range when you're actually shooting the gun, so I'm now a little less angry at FN for changing the checking over what the FNP had. The big arse front sight is nice and easy to see in the dimly lit range too.
I'd be happy with the FNX if DA worked properly..
