I just received my CDNN FN Hi-Power and after two trips to the range I figured I post a little review. Since this is not a target gun I will not be including accuracy or group sizes, per se.
The overall appearance of the gun is outstanding. The matte finish was very evenly applied throughout the frame and slide with no runs, gouges, or other imperfections. It has a very "businesslike" appearance.
The barrel is white metal. I don't know if it's carbon or stainless steel, or chrome-lined, but it has a good bore with crisp rifiling and a good crown. After shooting about 400 rounds it cleaned very easily making me wonder if it is chrome lined. The lug shows several machining marks but does not seem to affect lock-up at all. The chamber appears smooth and free of burrs.
The grips are black plastic and had no observable imperfections. I really didn't like the feel of the factory grips and I ordered a set of Navidrex Dymondwood palmswells from Brownells. They look great and the checkering is well executed, but the fit was not particularly tight and when the gun heats up, the grips tend to loosen a bit. I'm not sure if this is an issue with the grips or the frame. It's pretty annoying, though and I'll have to look into that later.
The sights are fixed with a dovetailed front post and generous rear notch. They are very servicable for a fighting gun. Point of impact was about 3" low at 30 feet with 115gr hardball. Windage was dead on.
The slide-to-barel fit is very snug with absolutely no perceptable movement when locked up. The slide-to-frame fit is good with a bit of lateral movement at the front and rear of the slide. It's not sloppy, just not ultra-tight.
The thumb safety clicks on and off positively. It's not 1911-ish, but among the few Hi Powers I've handled, it's above average.
The trigger was a bit of a surprise. Out of the box, it was just plain horrible! The weight was in the 8-9 lb range (using my SWAG trigger-finger scale) and had the grittiest take-up of any pistol I've ever handled. I took out the trigger assembly and treated it with Brownells moly action lube. After about 400 rounds the trigger has taken on a whole new personality. The take-up still has a noticible amount of grit, but it is about 1/3 of the original feel. The final pull has a little creep, but no more than a Kimber or SA 1911 out-of-the-box has. The pull weight is still heavy, but it has come down a bit and I'd guess it's around 6-7 pounds. For a fighting gun or utilitarian blaster, it's acceptable. I'll have it worked on eventually, but for now it will suffice. I had taken out the mag disconnect for a while, but it made the reset too weak for my liking and didn't do much to lighten the trigger. It did eliminate ALL the grit in the take-up, but staging past the grit to the final lettoff is a much better way for me to deal with the inital grit without sacrificaing the return strength by removing the mag disconnect. I put the mag disconnect back in (for now).
Accuracy? Well, after I figured out the POI, I was able to clear 8" steel squares on the dueling tree at 30 feet without any problem at all.
Reliability. I'll say that the jury is out on that because I've shot mostly reloads in non-factory (KRD 17-round military contract) magazines. Most of the shooting was done with 115gr FMJ reloads (my own). I have VERY limited experience with loading the 9mm and will not fault the gun for my shortcommings. The gun showed two distinct types of failures. It had failures to extract and failure to strip the round off of the top of the magazines. I had enough of these types of failures to cause some concerns so I switched to CCI Blazer ammo and the problems almost, but not completely, dissappeared. I will be ordering some Mec-Gar 13 or 15 round mags soon and will do a test with factory ammo to see where the problem lies. I'll post results.
Overall I'm very impressed with the gun. For the money ($399) it seems like a heck of a deal! If the new mags and factory ammo don't cure the reliability issues that will bother me a little bit. But since I planned on eventually sending it out to Novak, Yost, C&S, or the Action Works anyway, those issues would be addressed by a first-rate pistolsmith.
If you planned on getting one I'd recommend it. If you plan on using it for defense work, just make sure you test it thoroughly with the mags and ammo you intend on carrying.
The overall appearance of the gun is outstanding. The matte finish was very evenly applied throughout the frame and slide with no runs, gouges, or other imperfections. It has a very "businesslike" appearance.
The barrel is white metal. I don't know if it's carbon or stainless steel, or chrome-lined, but it has a good bore with crisp rifiling and a good crown. After shooting about 400 rounds it cleaned very easily making me wonder if it is chrome lined. The lug shows several machining marks but does not seem to affect lock-up at all. The chamber appears smooth and free of burrs.
The grips are black plastic and had no observable imperfections. I really didn't like the feel of the factory grips and I ordered a set of Navidrex Dymondwood palmswells from Brownells. They look great and the checkering is well executed, but the fit was not particularly tight and when the gun heats up, the grips tend to loosen a bit. I'm not sure if this is an issue with the grips or the frame. It's pretty annoying, though and I'll have to look into that later.
The sights are fixed with a dovetailed front post and generous rear notch. They are very servicable for a fighting gun. Point of impact was about 3" low at 30 feet with 115gr hardball. Windage was dead on.
The slide-to-barel fit is very snug with absolutely no perceptable movement when locked up. The slide-to-frame fit is good with a bit of lateral movement at the front and rear of the slide. It's not sloppy, just not ultra-tight.
The thumb safety clicks on and off positively. It's not 1911-ish, but among the few Hi Powers I've handled, it's above average.
The trigger was a bit of a surprise. Out of the box, it was just plain horrible! The weight was in the 8-9 lb range (using my SWAG trigger-finger scale) and had the grittiest take-up of any pistol I've ever handled. I took out the trigger assembly and treated it with Brownells moly action lube. After about 400 rounds the trigger has taken on a whole new personality. The take-up still has a noticible amount of grit, but it is about 1/3 of the original feel. The final pull has a little creep, but no more than a Kimber or SA 1911 out-of-the-box has. The pull weight is still heavy, but it has come down a bit and I'd guess it's around 6-7 pounds. For a fighting gun or utilitarian blaster, it's acceptable. I'll have it worked on eventually, but for now it will suffice. I had taken out the mag disconnect for a while, but it made the reset too weak for my liking and didn't do much to lighten the trigger. It did eliminate ALL the grit in the take-up, but staging past the grit to the final lettoff is a much better way for me to deal with the inital grit without sacrificaing the return strength by removing the mag disconnect. I put the mag disconnect back in (for now).
Accuracy? Well, after I figured out the POI, I was able to clear 8" steel squares on the dueling tree at 30 feet without any problem at all.
Reliability. I'll say that the jury is out on that because I've shot mostly reloads in non-factory (KRD 17-round military contract) magazines. Most of the shooting was done with 115gr FMJ reloads (my own). I have VERY limited experience with loading the 9mm and will not fault the gun for my shortcommings. The gun showed two distinct types of failures. It had failures to extract and failure to strip the round off of the top of the magazines. I had enough of these types of failures to cause some concerns so I switched to CCI Blazer ammo and the problems almost, but not completely, dissappeared. I will be ordering some Mec-Gar 13 or 15 round mags soon and will do a test with factory ammo to see where the problem lies. I'll post results.
Overall I'm very impressed with the gun. For the money ($399) it seems like a heck of a deal! If the new mags and factory ammo don't cure the reliability issues that will bother me a little bit. But since I planned on eventually sending it out to Novak, Yost, C&S, or the Action Works anyway, those issues would be addressed by a first-rate pistolsmith.
If you planned on getting one I'd recommend it. If you plan on using it for defense work, just make sure you test it thoroughly with the mags and ammo you intend on carrying.
