FNP .45 Tactical problems

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  • dboz

    Marksman
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    25   0   0
    Dec 26, 2009
    293
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    Greenwood
    Does anyone own an FNP .45 Tactical? I just got mine back from FN and am having some problems. Here is my story.

    I bought the Tactical for use with my HEMS II suppressor, brand new, from the Indy 1500. I had put about 12 rounds of WWB 230 grain through it, experiencing multiple Failure to Feed and Failure to Eject issues, when tragedy struck. I pulled the trigger again and the magazine spring and floor plate blew off of the bottom of the magazine. The body of the magazine was retained in the grip. The safety on the right side of the gun blew off and was found about 10 feet away. Upon further inspection, I found that the trigger would not drop the hammer, only the decocking lever would. The .45 case was blown out at the base, causing the whole ordeal. (On a side note, I have never been so happy to count ALL 10 of my fingers)

    I sent the gun back to FN, who informed me that it could not be fixed and that they were sending me another new one. Since getting this new one, I have had multiple problems with it. I have put 100 rounds of 230 grain ball, from S&B, Federal, and Winchester, through it with the suppressor on. Half of the rounds Stovepiped, with the other half of the rounds Failing to Eject entirely. Roughly half of the round failed to feed correctly, but they all fired. I own six of the 15 round magaines and the story was the same with all of them. My father owns an FNP 45 with the smaller mags, and those magazines produced the same results. I fired the last few rounds without the suppressor, and the firearm did not have as many problems, but I don't condsider it "cured" by any means.

    I was not sure if this was a question for the "Handguns" forum or not, but I figured I would start here. Any thoughts, advice, or stories of similiar problems with this handgun would be appreciated. I can not get in touch with anyone at FN, but I have left several messages and hopefully they call me back.

    Thanks in advance.:):
     

    Dave Doehrman

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    Aug 17, 2010
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    18
    Fort Wayne
    Does anyone own an FNP .45 Tactical? Any thoughts, advice, or stories of similiar problems with this handgun would be appreciated. I can not get in touch with anyone at FN, but I have left several messages and hopefully they call me back.

    I don't think you have an FNP problem. Sounds like it could be a problem with the piston / Nielsen device. I have the FNP 45 Tactical and a standard FNP 45 and have fired both with my Silencerco Osprey attached (at least 1,000 rounds) and have never had an issue.

    TacWithCan.jpg


    I do have tons of carbon built up on the internals and the magazines have carbon built up halfway down the sides. Just sounds to me like you may have the wrong spring installed for your application.
     
    Last edited:

    poisonspyder

    Marksman
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    9   0   0
    Jan 22, 2011
    277
    18
    Durango
    i have heard many rumers about the winchester white box ammo causing issues with this gun. there are lots of reasons listed but i have yet to have that problem with mine. i do not have a suppressor for it yet but i love my fn tac pistol. i have had two ftf in the last 1500 rounds or so and i consider that fine and due to the cheap tula crap i loaded it with a few times.

    you must have some bad luck. if you want to come down to spencer i would be happy to swap out uppers and do some testing with you to get it figured out. i would bet it is your suppressor adapter and maybe a bad batch of the ww box stuff. i have shot around 500 rounds of the wwb and not a problem with the ammo for me.

    fn is a top notch company they should help you out. i would call and ask for a manager, with a blow up of a firearm i would think they would be on this like .......
     

    ISP3435

    Plinker
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    Dec 27, 2011
    26
    3
    Fnp 45 tactical problem.

    I just got a fnp 45 tactical for Christmas. It will fire, but stove pipes every single time. I have tried Hornady 185 grain critical defense, and federal 230 grain fmj. I have tried all three mags and I have cleaned it using different levels of lubrication. I have tried to call FNH for the past three hours and only get a busy signal. Very disappointed. Oh, and I am definitely not limp wristing the thing.
     

    dboz

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    Dec 26, 2009
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    Greenwood
    ISP3435- Since I had those problems with my FN, I decided to run a few more boxes of ammo through it before I gave up on the pistol all together. I am happy to report that it now runs very reliably after approximately 300'ish rounds (with AND without the suppressor). Ammo was Federal and S&B 230gr Ball.

    I went shooting with friends over the holiday, and they had FTEs with the suppressor. After explaining that they were "limp wristing" it (they were new to shooting handguns) the problems went away.

    My advice, put a few more rounds down range. I could not find anyone on the internet, on this forum and others, that said they had a break in period before it would run reliably, but that is exactly what my problem was.

    And :welcome:to INGO.
     

    Dave Doehrman

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    6   0   0
    Aug 17, 2010
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    18
    Fort Wayne
    ISP3435- Since I had those problems with my FN, I decided to run a few more boxes of ammo through it before I gave up on the pistol all together. I am happy to report that it now runs very reliably after approximately 300'ish rounds (with AND without the suppressor). Ammo was Federal and S&B 230gr Ball.

    Glad it worked out for you. I have the FNP45 and the FNP45 Tactical and never had any break in period or issues with either weapon - right out of the box. I do use S&B 230gr ammo for practice and plinking. I carry with Speer Gold Dot 230gr GDHP. I have never had any issues with any FN I own and have never had to call them or send anything in.
     

    dleach1988

    Plinker
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    0   0   0
    Dec 15, 2011
    53
    6
    I also own a FNP .45 tactical. and it has been nothing but reliable. Not one jam yet after about 700 rounds, but the only ammo I've used was magtech, and federal. like someone else said, I've heard and read from multiple places that the FNP .45 doesn't like WWB.
     
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    thompbarn

    Plinker
    Rating - 85.7%
    6   1   0
    Jun 9, 2010
    104
    16
    The FNP Tacticals had a known issue with magazines that caused FTF. After learning of this I called FNP, and they exchanged all my mags. Since then, no problems. WWB was especially an issue.
     

    ISP3435

    Plinker
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    Dec 27, 2011
    26
    3
    I finally got through to the service department, and sent it in. On the web they say they will send u the service number and password, so you can check on it. They never did. After a month or so, I called and got put on hold 3 times for about 15 minutes until it would hang up on me. Finally got through and they said it was still waiting on a gun smith. I got it back today (6 weeks gone) and shot 25 rounds through it. It cycled correctly only twice! I can not believe this how this company operates! On a positive note, the customer service people that I spoke with were nice, but come on!
     

    dboz

    Marksman
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    Dec 26, 2009
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    Greenwood
    I would expect better from a company like FN. I hope they quit jerking you around and do it right this time. Good Luck.
     

    BudP

    Plinker
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    0   0   0
    Feb 20, 2012
    4
    1
    Another Blowup!

    A blowup similar to that described by dboz also happened to me with my FNP-45 Tactical on the very day I picked it up. Had fired about 50-60 rounds with nary a problem, then BOOM - mag blown apart and out of the gun, safety/decockers on both sides blown off (never found) lower frame bulged outside right-side slide stop, mag catch broken off and ejected, extractor broken, receiver fractured at trigger opening, and takedown lever broken. After accounting for all 10 fingers with only minor bruising, began trying to figure what happened. Best I can figure, the gun fired with the slide out of battery - indicating to me the disconnector wasn't "timed" correctly. Never happy to see this happen to anyone, but was glad when I saw this thread indicating mine wasn't a first - it's happened before. The Tactical is back to FNH - they've had it a week and responded with "we received it, but we're very busy". It was also heartwarming to see that they sent dboz a new one, as mine is likely not repairable.

    Bud
    Berryton, KS
     

    Funtogun

    Plinker
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    Mar 17, 2012
    12
    1
    There appears to be a trend here. I saw one last week in Tulsa...same thing. Was using WWB 230gr.
     

    BudP

    Plinker
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    Feb 20, 2012
    4
    1
    Followup on my "kaboom":

    After TWO MONTHS the FN repair folks finally sent me a new one, having realized mine wasn't repairable.

    They also convinced me that my thought about the gun firing out of battery wasn't likely, because of the geometry of the hammer, firing pin, and shape of the rear of the slide. That pretty much leaves only the ammo and the much-discussed (in another thread) "unsupported case head" as the likely culprits.

    Despite the strong opinions stated elsewhere about the unimportance of the case head not being fully supported in the FNP's chamber because of the relatively low pressure of the 45ACP, which I tended to agree with previously, after having one go kaboom in my hand I've reconsidered. While I agree not having the case HEAD supported isn't particularly important, I now strongly believe it is important for the case WALL to be supported! (Duh!) From measurements taken on the blown case from my first gun, the feed ramp met the case wall 0.310" forward of the case base/breech face. The case head is 0.165" thick, and allowing another 0.075" for the radius to the case wall (on this particular cartridge), 0.240" would be the "safe" amount of unsupported case head. Since there was an additional 0.070" of thin case wall unsupported, the case gave way resulting in the destroyed pistol.

    The barrel of the replacement FNP 45 Tactical I received is slightly better at 0.302" unsupported, but that still leaves more than 0.060" of case sidewall unsupported. The several pictures shown in other threads of FNP feed ramps leads me to believe they're all this way. It doesn't seem to be a particular concern to FN, or anyone else that hasn't had one go "kaboom" in their hand as yet. But given the choice of having steel around the weak points of a cartridge or not having steel, I'll go with having it every time. To me, this amount of unsupported case head/sidewall is unacceptable.

    The comparison photos showing an FNP feed ramp next to a FireDragon replacement was convincing enough for me to order one of the FireDragons, which will give me the comfort I'd never have with the FNP barrel after having the incident with the almost-identical first one.

    Bud
     

    ISP3435

    Plinker
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    Dec 27, 2011
    26
    3
    Forgot to update this. I got it back, racked it hundreds of times, shot it about 300 times, and left the slide locked to the rear for months. After that, it actually ran great. But i did ultimately sell it to finance something else.
     

    ISP3435

    Plinker
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    Dec 27, 2011
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    Forgot to mention, it ran well with a suppressor on it too. I just didnt like the lack of holsters and it having a safety.
     
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