FNH SLP... Worth the $$?

[Armor Snail]

Hey everyone. SLP owners, this is mainly for you.

I shot one for the first time the other day. It was the most wonderful experience. Love at first shot. The weight, the LOP, the feel and texture of the grip. Everything was perfect.

I'm feeling like I want one. Wait... Scratch that. I NEED one. Is it really worth $1100 though. The idea of spending $1100 on a 12G shotgun in general doesn't necessarily bother me. Nice wingshooting O/U, upland SxS. No problem.

The fact that this would be a 99% HD gun. 3 gun may be in my near future though. That is what really has me on the fence about it.

I know I could buy almost 3 CZ 712 Utility autoloaders for the price. If I settle though I'm sure I'll regret it.

What can you SLP owners share with me?

 

[oneounceload]

If I settle though I'm sure I'll regret it.

Think you just answered your own question

 

[Armor Snail]

Oh I know I want it.

My concerns are reliability, availability of parts if necessary.

What is FNs customer service like if there is an issue.

I know low power buck and slugs won't cycle. As the one I shot wouldn't cycle low recoil slugs.

Is there any other competition I should be looking at in the price range?

 

[rule303]

It is nearly the same shotgun as the Winchester SX3 and Browning. FN owns Browning and Winchester, as well as marketing guns under the FNH brand. I would have no worries about parts or service if you ever should happen to need it. The price is in line for what you would would pay, or maybe a little less than any of the other big mfgs.

 

[Tony617]

I have an 18" SLP and I really like shooting it. I have put on the tactical rail and have a TLR-1s light on it and I have also added a Mesa Tactical 6 round side saddle.

I only shoot full power 9'pellet 00 buckshot and slugs. Full power is 1325FPS or faster. It also has a few chokes and the chokes need to be installed at all times when firing and cleaning the shotgun. I take a choke wrench in my range bag an tighten the choke every 30 rounds. With the choke grease I bought I can fire 30 rounds and choke is still tight.

I did have an issue with a screw missing on the rear sight rail. I called FNHUSA and they sent me all 4 screws even though I only had one screw missing. I did put blue locktite on 4 rail screws so I hopefully don't lose one again.

 

[buckhorn_cortez]

I know low power buck and slugs won't cycle. As the one I shot wouldn't cycle low recoil slugs.

It will if it's broken in and setup correctly. I've used mine with 1-oz #8 shot trap loads and it cycles those. If you get an SLP and want to turn it into a gun that runs even better, send it to Sure Cycle and have the Sure Cycle system installed and then have them do a reliability tune-up.

My SLP would put 5 hulls in the air simultaneously prior to the having Sure Cycle work over the gun. After the installation of the Sure Cycle system and the tune up, it will put 6 hulls in the air simultaneously and maybe more - I just can't pull the trigger any faster.

I like the gun because it is soft shooting, easy to control and works every time. I have had no trouble getting things from FN from an additional owner's manual to a 28-inch barrel.

 

[Limey46]

The problem at the heart of the SLP is its interchangable gas cylinder system. You can set the gun up to run hot slug/buckshot loads reliably, OR you can set it up to run light target/birdshot loads reliably. You can't set it up to do both, and changing from one setup to the other requires disassembly of the gun.

I ran a 21" SLP in weekly practical shotgun matches, birdshot loads only, for almost a year before giving up and buying a Benelli. I loved the SLP's weight, balance, recoil characteristics, and sight plane, but try as I might -- and I tried everything, including Sure Cycle, ultra-careful ammo selection, and every other tweak you can imagine -- I just couldn't get it to function 100% reliably.

Given the same job in the same matches with the same ammo, my Benelli M2 has NEVER failed to function. Thousands of rounds without a single hiccup.

 

[PabloJ]

The problem at the heart of the SLP is its interchangable gas cylinder system. You can set the gun up to run hot slug/buckshot loads reliably, OR you can set it up to run light target/birdshot loads reliably. You can't set it up to do both, and changing from one setup to the other requires disassembly of the gun.

I ran a 21" SLP in weekly practical shotgun matches, birdshot loads only, for almost a year before giving up and buying a Benelli. I loved the SLP's weight, balance, recoil characteristics, and sight plane, but try as I might -- and I tried everything, including Sure Cycle, ultra-careful ammo selection, and every other tweak you can imagine -- I just couldn't get it to function 100% reliably.

Given the same job in the same matches with the same ammo, my Benelli M2 has NEVER failed to function. Thousands of rounds without a single hiccup.

If I was interested in the bolt spring return system I would take a hard took at Stoeger M3000/M3500 and see if there are magazine extensions available. I mean, is Benelli THREE times better or lasts THREE times longer?

 

[Panzerschwein]

I have watched the Nutnfancy review on YouTube concerning this gun, and it was excellent in that review. To me it has everything I would want in an auto-loading tactical shotgun, and not much I wouldn't want.

I'd git it! Like you said yourself, the only thing you are looking forward to if you don't get the gun you really want is...

REGRET.

 

[Dean1818]

The versa max has excellent reviews......

(and keeps an American working....)

 

[Armor Snail]

The guy shipping it to my ffl gets paid. He works for FN here. Plenty of folks still fed.

 

[Limey46]

Reply to PabloJ...I don't have enough experience with the Stoeger to comment on its quality. What I do know after several years of weekly practical shotgun matches, averaging about 75 rounds rounds per match with lots of rapid loading and ultra-fast shooting in all kinds of conditions and attitudes -- stuff that really tests a gun -- is this: the only conventional semi-auto shotgun that you can take out of the box and run reliably, all the time, is the Benelli M2.

Yes, some other guns are contenders. The Mossberg 590 works if you give it hot enough ammo. The Remington 1100 (the old standby) will do the job just fine if you maintain and tweak it with enough tender loving care, but it's a little delicate for what we do and sooner or later something will break and it'll stop you dead in the middle of a match, so you always need at least two of them. The Benelli M4 is pretty much failure-proof, but it's even more expensive than an M2 and you're stuck with its short barrel and ghost sights (or an optic). That's also true of the Mossberg, by the way. On the SLP, I've said my piece. I'll add that my experience doesn't seem to be unusual. Three other members of my practical shotgun gang are also former SLP owners. Then there are the Saigas, etc, but that's a whole other story. And yes, the Versa max looks promising, but so far I have no experience with it.

I think value for money is subjective. If you buy a $500 gun that costs you another $300 in extra parts, only to find out five or six frustrating matches later that no, it's never going to work under competition pressure and now you need another new gun, is that a bargain? It's sad, watching new shooters out there yanking on stuck bolts with the clock ticking, finding out that cheap might not be so smart.

I hope I'm not offending anyone here. I'm trying to offer real-life experience. I've been doing this practical shotgun thing thirty years now, and I've identified the two most important things to say about it. The first is that when you go to the line, it's really, really nice to know and trust that your gun is NOT going to let you down. The second is that it really, really sucks when you don't know that.

 

[Armor Snail]

Thank you for the replies.
I have glanced at the M2 online.
I'll have to look at one in person and hopefully shoot one too.
Although it is a few hundred more than the SLP.

Limey you said when you had yours it ran well with regular buck and slugs right?

I imagine I would like to use the same #4 buck I'm used to.

 

[Limey46]

Reply to Armor Snail...I shot my SLP with slugs and buckshot only enough to make sure it functioned with such loads, which it did just fine with the heavy duty gas cylinder installed. With that cylinder installed it wouldn't function with birdshot loads.

 

[BruiseLee]

I don't own an SLP, I've never even shot one. I can say my Benelli M1 Super 90 is the most reliable semi-auto firearm I own, and that includes my Glocks. It is the only weapon I own that has never malfunctioned, and I've shot everything from birdshot to OO buck to slug out of it. All this, and I bought it used around 1990? All my friends who have shot it want one.

 

[Limey46]

That makes two of us with Benellis that have never malfunctioned. Mine too swallows any kind load I feed it in any kind of order, and mine too was used -- well used -- when I bought it two years and six thousand rounds ago.

 

[StealthyBlagga]

The FN SLP was a contender maybe 5 years ago, but the plethora of better alternatives makes it a poor choice now. I've seen many many SLPs malfunctioning in 3-Gun competition. As others have said, it is an imperfect design. My first choice now would be the Versa Max (if you want a soft shooter) or the Beretta 1301 (if you want a light gas gun). The Benellis are always good choices, but a bit more pricey, hard on the shoulder, and don't work well with light ammo and/or side saddles etc. hanging off them.

 

[Fishbed77]

The versa max has excellent reviews......

(and keeps an American working....)

Well, since the FN SLP is made in Columbia, South Carolina, it keeps Americans working.

And since those workers are in South Carolina, instead of New York, they are of the hard-working non-union variety.

 

[buckhorn_cortez]

The problem at the heart of the SLP is its interchangable gas cylinder system. You can set the gun up to run hot slug/buckshot loads reliably, OR you can set it up to run light target/birdshot loads reliably. You can't set it up to do both, and changing from one setup to the other requires disassembly of the gun.

I ran a 21" SLP in weekly practical shotgun matches, birdshot loads only, for almost a year before giving up and buying a Benelli. I loved the SLP's weight, balance, recoil characteristics, and sight plane, but try as I might -- and I tried everything, including Sure Cycle, ultra-careful ammo selection, and every other tweak you can imagine -- I just couldn't get it to function 100% reliably.

Odd. I run the heavy gas piston and mine will shoot 1 oz trap loads to 3-inch Brenneke slugs with no problems. I had SRM Performance do their gas piston modification when I took the gun to them for the Sure Cycle system. They will do the piston modification separately for $35 per gas piston. The modification it is part of their reliability tune up.

I have about 1,000 rounds through mine with a variety of loads and from a number of different manufacturers with zero malfunctions.

...and changing from one setup to the other requires disassembly of the gun.

You take the end cap off of the forearm, remove the forearm, take off the gas piston, put the other gas piston in place, put on the forearm and then the end cap. Takes all of 2-3 minutes to change the gas piston and NO tools other than your fingers. Hardly a complete disassembly of the gun.

I'm not sure why you'd be constantly changing gas pistons. If you know what type of shells you're going to be shooting, then you put the gas piston in that is correct for the loads you're using.

However, as I've stated - the SRM Performance modified gas pistons will run an extremely wide variety of loads. In my gun, the heavy gas piston will balk at 7/8 ounce, trap loads - but will run everything from 1 oz on up.

I literally never change the gas piston and leave the heavy piston in place for everything.

 

[KYamateur]

I had the SLP in 18.5 inch and shot it to death and it worked perfectly and showed almost no wear. I traded it in on a 22 inch version. I put a Burris Fastfire III on it but because of work And kids I have only fired about 50 rounds through it. I emailed FN when I first got the 18.5 and they told me if I was running buckshot, slugs, or birdshot in 2 3/4 shells to keep the light piston in. It worked. I shot over 5,000 rounds. They told me to shoot minimum 1 1/8 3dr shells. That is exactly what WalMart sells in the federal value packs. They are the meanest built semi autos i have seen. I have had Remington and Benelli m4. The Benelli is nice but doesn't shoot as well as the slp. I don't like inertia guns compared to gas. It won't cycle laying down. FN customer service is top notch. I'm getting ready to list the Mark I SLP on gunbroker. PM if interested. It is like new with everything. It is the one that has only been shot about 50 rounds. I only have limited time to shoot and 1911s have become my hobby now. The Mossberg copy is kind of hit or miss, but fine if you aren't relying on it for self defense.

 

[Mainsail]

I've shot everything in my 18" SLP that I could buy- never changed the piston- and never have had a failure. I put the tri-rail on mine and it's the first gun in the safe for home intruders.

A good friend shot mine and went out and bought one of his own. He got the tactical model with the pistol grip (mine is the one without) and was very pleased. He passed away from cancer recently and left the gun to me- so now I have two of them. I figured I'd sell one.... but which? They both shoulder perfectly, they both have actions that are as smooth as glass, his has a bunch of extra combs and butt-stocks...

 

[2zulu1]

I haven't had any issues with mine and all I shoot is LE buck and slugs. I practice and train with real world ammunition, the kind that one would shoot in critical situations ........ and the FNH SLP's robust construction means it can be handed down to my son when I'm no longer here.

With a C MORE on top I'm shooting pop cans @25yds with Federal full power OO buck, wad enclosed, even skinny kids and their parents, who never fired a shot gun, can do this w/o busting up their shoulders.

Built like a tank and it'll handle full power loads on a steady diet, after all, it's a Self Loading Police shotgun.