

FN 9MM 509 SERIES
We put thousands of rounds downrange during a series of instructor-led drills. After a product briefing, Kennedy and Sevigny ran the group through a fast-paced live-fire training program using the 509 LS Edge. I was one of a handful of individuals who traveled to the Georgia coast to meet with Kennedy, Sevigny and the rest of the FN team for an extensive hands-on experience. This was not the case with me and the 509 LS Edge. (Michael Anschuetz / FN America LLC photo)īecause of deadlines and limited resources, gunwriters seldom get to put as many rounds through a firearm as they would like. Themes of speed and control are evident throughout the 509 LS Edge to include an oversized, knurled magazine-release button, tactile texturing and interchangeable backstraps. This puts it comfortably between the Glock 17 MOS and G34 MOS ($720) in terms of size. The LS Edge has a 5-inch barrel and an overall length of 8.2 inches. The slide’s Graphite-color Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) finish contrasts slightly with the black polymer frame, and it’s a handsome look. The first feature a person sees on the 509 LS Edge is the long, scalloped slide with several milling cuts. The result is an impressive handgun that is immediately recognizable as something different. Their unique perspectives meant that the design was balanced and didn’t become too tactical or too racy. Some might call him the “Tom Brady of handgun shooting.” (Michael Anschuetz / FN America LLC photo)įN’s engineers spent two years developing the 509 LS Edge with constant input from Kennedy and Sevigny. He is one of the most successful competitive shooters ever, with 253 major championship wins including 13 USPSA national titles. Sevigny comes from another perspective altogether. Kennedy knows what it means to trust your life to a firearm. His path took him into Special Forces, which resulted in numerous combat deployments as part of the elite Crisis Response Force (CRF).
FN 9MM 509 PROFESSIONAL
Kennedy is a retired professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter who joined the Army on 9/11. A suppressor-height, fiber-optic front sight paired with a no-dot black rear sight compliment FN’s trademarked “Low-Profile Optics-Mounting System.” (Michael Anschuetz / FN America LLC photo) Alongside the engineers, for example, FN hired one warrior and one competitor: U.S. To FN’s credit, they relied on input from armed professionals to develop and refine the features of the 509 LS Edge.
FN 9MM 509 PRO
The 509 LS Edge rivals the SIG Sauer XFive Legion ($999), HK VP9L OR ($949), and Walther Q5 Match Steel Frame Pro ($1,649).įirearm engineers and product managers are not typically experienced endusers of the guns they are designing. With a list price of $1,499, the LS Edge commands a premium, but as I found out through recent training, many believe it’s worth it. Until the 2021 launch of the 509 LS Edge, the one pistol missing from FN’s lineup was a gun suited equally for duty use or competitive pursuits. FN developed the polymer-framed, striker-fired semiauto into a family that include full-size, compact, tactical and midsize versions. Since appearing on the July 2017 cover of Guns & Ammo, FN’s flagship handgun line has been the 509. FN 509 LS Edge pistol (Michael Anschuetz / FN America LLC photo) In 1981, FN built a manufacturing facility in Columbia, South Carolina, which led to a commercial expansion that included handguns. subsidiary in the 1980s to produce M240 and M249 belt-fed machineguns under contract for the U.S. One of the best examples of this emerging hybrid breed of production handguns is the new FN 509 LS Edge, a pistol that’s certain to make waves.įN is one of the oldest names in firearm manufacturing, having manufactured iconic battle-tested small arms from the P.35 to the FAL.

Custom companies may have driven the change, but major gun manufacturers are adapting as well. As a result, fighting handguns have increasingly adopted those performance-based features. More than two decades of constant warfare, much of it at close quarters, has driven significant innovations in the firearms industry. Lightened slides, electro-optics and features such as flared magazine wells used to be exclusive to race guns for competition. The lines between handguns used for defense and competition are sometimes blurred.
