I long ago decided I was NOT a 1911 guy. I went through a couple of periods where I bout several 1911s and I tried to convert myself, it never took. A few years ago I decided 9mm was fine for defense given the excellent bonded hollow point ammo that is now available. I am also a fan of 5.7x28. 90% of the time my daily carry is either an FN Five seveN or a Glock 19.

Long story short, for work related reasons, a few weeks back I was in a position where I had to purchase a 45ACP full sized pistol. In the end it was between the HK45 Tactical or the FNX-45...

Though I honestly think the HK has a slightly better fit and finish, and better ergonomics (I don't love the location of safety on the FNX, it is a bit of a hot spot for me), the FNX just has so many more features. It has 50% more firepower, a removable plate for an RMR, a durable and functional $120 case, tall suppressor night sights, and comes with one extra very expensive magazine. This actually made the decision pretty easy. So the FDE FNX 45 Tac below came home with me.

It turns out this gun can shoot! Recoil pushes back at you a little, but I can get on target for follow up shots surprisingly quickly. Not as fast as my Five seveN, but not unlike many of my of my compact to mid-size 9MMs.


Here is a typical 10 shot group at 10 yards with AE ammo.





Since the FNX is cut for a Red Dot, Last week I decided I wanted to give that feature a try!

This is the first Defensive Pistol I have mounted a red dot on. I have a few 22lr target pistols set up with red dots, and plenty of rifles of all calibers, but no defensive pistols...until now! I picked up a Trijicon RM06 in FDE. I found it on another forum. A couple of months old, not used. Got what I thought was a good deal on it.






I have done a fair amount of pistol shooting in my day and I have grown very used to training with iron sights. I am pretty good with them too. Though I have a nice revolver collection and have some traditional tastes when it comes to firearms, I am also a modern guy too and I like to try out the latest and greatest.

Turns out I AM SOLD ON THE RED DOT ON A DEFENSIVE PISTOL! Some people complain on the forums that is hard to pick up the dot, or they lose the dot. I don't see how that can happen if you train to use Iron sights. When you bring up your gun and line up the iron sights, the red dot is just sitting on top of the sights. It is always right there when you bring your sights up. So I don't have this problem at all. In fact it is faster than lining up the irons, because you don't need to align the red dot with anything other than your target.

That said, it is surprisingly easy to bring the red dot right back on target. Here are 25 rounds rapid fire with the red dot at 10 yards. Sure I could have done that with the irons, but NOT as quickly or easily.





This gun is too large to carry. Especially with all the accessories. Add a Surefire X300 Ultra and a suppressor, you might as well grab an SBR. I am really glad I experimented with the red dot on a defensive pistol. I have decided I am going to send my FDE Glock 19 in to have the slide milled for an RMR. I will not hesitate to carry the G19 with a red dot for sure. In fact I will probably wind up carrying it more because of the red dot. That's how fast it is and that's a testament to how much I like the red dot set up on a defensive pistol.

That's a nice looking FN :D

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/10/31/fnx-45-tactical/

Slight relevance. Just adding on to the OP's info.