Description
High Performance, Heavy Duty Striker for FN FNS or 509 series pistols. Designed to be a trigger upgrade without having to replace the entire trigger system.
There are two issues with the factory trigger: the gritty feel, and the reported failures due to it being a MIM part. Most of the grit has nothing to do with the trigger or linkage, but is the striker rubbing inside the unpolished slide channel as you pull through the first stage of the trigger pull, further is the sears sliding on each other, as you pull through the second stage. This High Performance striker is machined from billet 17/4PH stainless steel, and is not simply a duplicate of the FN design, but has upgraded sear geometry, polished contact surfaces, a Teflon insert, and Nickel Boron low friction coating. The result is:
- A much smoother trigger pull, due to Teflon bearing surface, and without having to polish or make any other permanent changes to your pistol.
- Less creep in the second stage – 30% reduction versus factory.
- A sharper break – 33% reduction versus factory.
- A reduction in pull force, without light-weighting the springs, due to the low friction NiB coating, giving over 1lb reduction in pull versus factory.
- A huge improvement in trigger performance WITHOUT having to replace the entire trigger assembly. This is a much cheaper option that delivers the benefits of a trigger job with only a few minutes to install, and no risk of damaging your frame by removing pins that the factory did not want removed.
The benefit of heavy duty comes from the fact that this is 17/4PH Solid Billet Steel, rather than MIM. In MIM, you mix metal powder with a little bit of plastic, so when you heat it, you can pump it into a mold. When the plastic cools, it locks the metal in place. You then take that part and put it in a high temperature oven that burns out the plastic, and fuses the metal. This is a very inexpensive way to make parts that would be difficult to machine. Problem is that if the metal powder is not evenly distributed, or has clumps, you can end up with micro-voids inside your finished part, that can act as stress concentrators or crack initiation sites. Further, since you are spending money for every bit of metal you add, the lowest cost option has the least amount of material. Billet, on the other hand, is solid. The hot roll process to produce it kneads the steel so it is almost impossible to get an internal void. Further, since you are starting with solid, you are spending money to remove metal, so the lowest cost option has the MOST amount of metal in the part, and is thus likely more robust.
In short, this striker is a heavy duty drop-in trigger job, without having to do a complete disassembly of the lower. It is a single part, switched out in the slide in under 5 minutes. The attached pull force chart shows the benefits in creep, sharpness of break, and reduction of pull force:
Todd Popovich (verified owner) –
Just what the doctor ordered. Get one. You won’t be disappointed
My FN509C Tactical came with a 7.5 lb pull gritty trigger what I consider to be a long reset. Hated it. Put an Apex curved trigger in the gun 1st. That helped some. Next I polished the OEM Striker, striker block, striker block spring, striker spring, and the bore in the slide for the striker. That helped a little more but a lot of gritty feeling was still present. Next I purchased an Apex HD Striker and it got even a little better but that striker didn’t always function. 10% of the time the I could not pulll the trigger all the way such that the stirker would release. Not acceptable. So I took the Apex striker out of the gun.
Next I got a “new style” FN Stirker and that felt the worse than the OEM striker that came with the gun. So out that striker came.
Was about to just live with the apex trigger, polished OEM parts and the original OEM striker and then I came across this striker and decided to give it a try.
Well I am glad I did because after I installed this striker there is absolutely no grittiness in the trigger what so ever. Wish I found out about this striker first cause I would have saved some money. I have tried every striker I know of for the 509 (the two OEM FN strikers, the Apex and this one) and this one is by far the best. In my opinion you can’t go wrong with this striker I highly recommend it.
So if you have a 509 and want to get rid of the grittiness, shorten up the reset and reduce the god aweful 7.5 lb trigger pull. My recommendation is an apex trigger, polish the above mentioned items AND get this striker. Trigger pull is 4.5 lbs now and no grittiness what so ever.
Todd Popovich (verified owner) –
This striker is fantastic. This striker along with an apex trigger upgrade made the FN509CT trigger/striker operation as smooth as butter.
Leon Wilson –
I installed it in a fns longslide for competition use with a apex action enhancement kit. Super easy to install, took me less then five minutes to swap out. I do notice a difference between my original and the shooting sight striker. However, I need to get some wear/break in time on it. I’m sure it’ll be even better then.