FMK 9C1 G2

Yes, I have a few. I am a big fan of these pistols. Been shooting them a lot lately. They dont get talked about much. Sometimes there seems to be a break in period yes but mine were fine. Originally they were designed as just DAO pistols. When they first offered the Fast Action triggers (glock style) there were some problems. They fixed that with the 316 trigger and then refined it a little more with the 804.

They dont get talked about much and when they do it seems to just be negative similar to what happened to the S&W Sigma line but the FMK are supprsingly well built and accurate. They had some issues with the magazines for a period but they did a little design work and cleared that up. They are advertised as a 14rd magazine and will hold 14 but are better as a 13rd mag. The 14th round is really tight and can overcompress the magazine spring. The mags themselves are shorter than a Hi-power or Beretta 92 compact magazine and there is only so much room in there.

Ergos are fantastic and with a little work my DAOs have the absolute sweetest DAO pulls on any of my pistols. You can even set the break on the DAO if you know what you are doing so no need for a trigger overtravel stop. The extractors can be a little tight so its good to keep them clean. That has been redesigned as well. Im not a huge fan of the Glock SAO style triggers but thats a personal preference.

The company itself is top notch IMO. I had a good discussion with one of the designers and he was great. Customer service goes out of their way to help any issues or needs you might have (very nice lady named Page I think). They are an extremely pro RKBA company and are manufactured out of CA (behind enemy lines) so I try and support them whenever I can.

The pistols themselves... Carbon Steel Slides and Stainless Barrels (even the black ones). The polymer frames are very rugged. Something I found strange was polymer barrel locking blocks (never seen that), Polymer Slide catch (never seen that either) and Polymer Magazine catch (similar to Glock). Supprisingly the barrel locking block shows zero wear after well over 3,000 rounds and the Slide catch has held up as well.

New versions take Glock sights so you basically have unlimited options there. The major Components ... Slide, Barrel, Frame are very strong to the point that I cant see them ever wearing out. These were once made in 40S&W but the whole exit from 40 kind of ended that. Smaller parts have help up fine so far but like anything else Im sure I may have to replace something here or there eventually. The feed angle is pretty high on these so I have no had any issues with JHP. They are also pretty light but the standard Slide comes in around 12.7 ounces so they put the weight where it matters (Sigma compacts are 11.4ish oz).

I was interested until I got to the "polymer locking blocks." At that point, Im out.
That said, its a good looking pistol thats just a bit different from all the other Glock clones, so I wish you luck with them.

starling said:

Yes, I have a few. I am a big fan of these pistols. Been shooting them a lot lately. They dont get talked about much. Sometimes there seems to be a break in period yes but mine were fine. Originally they were designed as just DAO pistols. When they first offered the Fast Action triggers (glock style) there were some problems. They fixed that with the 316 trigger and then refined it a little more with the 804.

They dont get talked about much and when they do it seems to just be negative similar to what happened to the S&W Sigma line but the FMK are supprsingly well built and accurate. They had some issues with the magazines for a period but they did a little design work and cleared that up. They are advertised as a 14rd magazine and will hold 14 but are better as a 13rd mag. The 14th round is really tight and can overcompress the magazine spring. The mags themselves are shorter than a Hi-power or Beretta 92 compact magazine and there is only so much room in there.

Ergos are fantastic and with a little work my DAOs have the absolute sweetest DAO pulls on any of my pistols. You can even set the break on the DAO if you know what you are doing so no need for a trigger overtravel stop. The extractors can be a little tight so its good to keep them clean. That has been redesigned as well. Im not a huge fan of the Glock SAO style triggers but thats a personal preference.

The company itself is top notch IMO. I had a good discussion with one of the designers and he was great. Customer service goes out of their way to help any issues or needs you might have (very nice lady named Page I think). They are an extremely pro RKBA company and are manufactured out of CA (behind enemy lines) so I try and support them whenever I can.

The pistols themselves... Carbon Steel Slides and Stainless Barrels (even the black ones). The polymer frames are very rugged. Something I found strange was polymer barrel locking blocks (never seen that), Polymer Slide catch (never seen that either) and Polymer Magazine catch (similar to Glock). Supprisingly the barrel locking block shows zero wear after well over 3,000 rounds and the Slide catch has held up as well.

New versions take Glock sights so you basically have unlimited options there. The major Components ... Slide, Barrel, Frame are very strong to the point that I cant see them ever wearing out. These were once made in 40S&W but the whole exit from 40 kind of ended that. Smaller parts have help up fine so far but like anything else Im sure I may have to replace something here or there eventually. The feed angle is pretty high on these so I have no had any issues with JHP. They are also pretty light but the standard Slide comes in around 12.7 ounces so they put the weight where it matters (Sigma compacts are 11.4ish oz).

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Nice review.

NIGHTLORD40K said:

I was interested until I got to the "polymer locking blocks." At that point, Im out.
That said, its a good looking pistol thats just a bit different from all the other Glock clones, so I wish you luck with them.

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Thanks, Yes I was pretty supprised as well. That being said my locking blocks still look new. I Check them every few hundred rounds. The pistols are extremely easy to dissasemble. The big draw for me was the original true DAO trigger version as I like the idea of a magazine fed DAO revolver with the simplicity of use, low parts count, and low bore axis of a striker fired pistol. They fit the hand extrmely well and the rubber backstrap they use does seem to have the effect they claim. Kind of feels like shooting a warm 380acp. The way they designed the frame really allows for a high grip and the large indentations up the side of the grip along the magwell really lock the hand in well.

The plastic Magazine catch bothers me the most. Thats a no-no with steel magazines IMO in terms of wear. It really needs a steel re-enforecment plate molded into the polymer as on the Sigmas (or even Hi-points). So far its holding up fine though and I am intentionally running it pretty hard through one of mine as a testing pistol. They do offer a Steel slide release now which is nice. They continue to make little improvements here and there like most companies.

Other than Standard maintenance (clean, Lube, Inspection) the only thing I have besides polish the trigger contact points (very easy) was to get rid of the magazine safety feature and get the magazines dropping free. This is only on the DAO version. SAO version with the 804 trigger (Glock style) all drop free and dont have the mag safety. Other than that I just threw some innexpensive OEM Glock Adjustable rear sights on them to dial them in for accuracy testing. So many options with Glock sights I have not decided on a front sight yet. Kinda leaning towards a set of Big Dots but might try the Meprolight bullseye front sight.

Not sure I would call these a Glock clone like many seem to do. In the original DAO design it was kind of its own thing. The SA Glock style trigger was something that came a little later when they were listening to customers freaking out over a DAO trigger system. Being consumer minded they went back and made some changes in the system to give those people what they wanted and offer both now. The slides finishes I have run into are Black Oxide, Parkerized (I think), or Ceracoated. The Black oxide wears pretty easily but touchup with Oxphoblue gel on a cuetip blends in perfectly.

They are budget priced so comparing them to a Glock is kind of silly IMO. Mine all ranger between $180 and $250 which puts them in Hi-point/ Taurus/ Sccy type category. Prices seem to be all over on FMKs though. Helps to look around. I tend to compare them to a Sigma or Sd series. FMK has far better trigger, better frame, and beefier slide. Sigma has a little better build quality of small parts (mainly the mag catch) and magazine design as well as tooling. FMK has visable tool marks internally in some areas but its cosmetic and doesnt cause any issues. The slide rails on the frame (both front and rear) are pretty beefy so no issue there. Glock compatability from what I can tell is ZERO outside the sights and most few leather holsters Ive tried (Not sure about kydex).

Anyone interested in one of these make sure you get the Newer magazines with the orange/red follower. The earlier white follower magazines used the old Mec-gar style plus 2 followers from the 90s style magazines and they are not the most stable design. The orange/red style are quite a bit better early mags have been fine but a lot of the reviews I read and watched seemed to stem from those two areas. Magazine quality is good but not quite mecgar. The spring, follower, base, locking plate are all top notch but the Tubes dont measure up to Mecgar IMO (which is #1 in my book). The tubes are heat treated (from what I can tell) and solid but I would put them inbetween Mecgar and promag in terms of consistency.

Accuracy wise is a shooter thing but I shoot these as well as Glocks or Sigmas (which I am pretty accurate with). The FMK Elite model (only have one) in my hands are more accurate. Seems to be a slightly tighter barrel lock up (at the rear) on all those I handled. Not so tight to impact reliability so far but I suppose its possible if you run your pistols dry and dirty. I dont have any reliability problems but I have never tried 100gr Lite 9mm loads in them. The heavy slides on the FMKs might cause some issues there. I shoot mainly 115-147gr brass case standard and nato loads....no issues. No light primer strikes on the DAO. The hits are nice and hard even on Euro Ammo (geco, S&B etc.)

5-SHOTS said:

Nice review.

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I appreciate that 5-Shots. Just trying to put out good first hand knowledge (be it long winded). I currently own 3 of these along with a couple uppers. My experience has been good and trouble free However.... these are budget priced pistols from a small company thats pretty new all things considered. I would not be supprised if some pistols need a break in period or slight tuning. So far so good but even some of my higher end pistols needed a tweak here or there. I also keep my firearms clean ,lubed well, and dont drag them through the mud, run over them with cars, or intentionally try to make them fail. Im sure I could induce a failure or some sort if I really wanted to. I can do that with any firearm.

Also... the Gen 1 (hooked trigger guards) had quite a few changes made to them for the Gen 2s. Gen2 is deiffinitly a better and more refined pistol all the way around. I wish FMK would have went with Mecgar for the tube manufacturing/design but there was a timing problem involved from what I was told. My gut feeling is that we wont see a Gen 3 unless its just cosmetics. The design has been vetted. Small changes here and there sure but nothing major needs to be done. They are solid pistols. I have done enough reliability testing on mine that I am comfortable useing it as a CCW and thats a small group. I kind of equate them to a mag fed, double stack, DOA revolver..modernized 13+1 S&W Model 10.