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FNX-45 High Power Caliber Conversions - Woods Defense Gun

18842 Views 54 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  Tagger13
I am interested in the FNX platform for a woods defense gun. I have heard a lot of good things about the gun. I intend on using it for woods defense for 4 legged and 2 legged critters (Sasquatch).

I would like a round with more power than the 45 ACP. The 460 Rowland and the 40 Super conversions have caught my eye and I think it would be awesome if everything worked properly with this platform. I was really excited about everything until I made a phone call to EFK Fire Dragon today about one of their 40 Super Barrels.

The lady I spoke with on the phone told me that they don't have any 40 Super barrels in stock and that they rarely produce them because there is a very low demand for them and they end up sitting on the shelf for a year before they sell. They don't have any plans on making them anytime soon. She is keeping a list of people who are interested, so if you are interested give them a shout so we can get some made up.

I then started asking her about other options and asked if they ever made any 460 Rowland barrels and she said that they used to but they stopped. Why, I asked. She said because the round was really hard on their test guns and test shooters. It would crack the polymer frames and the shooters complained about the recoil.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't really see the gun kicking so bad that the recoil is unbearable. It's less power than a 44 mag with a comp - I would think it would be kinda mild; somewhere around a standard 45 acp maybe? Maybe they didn't have them setup with comps or buffers? Nevertheless this report scares me pretty badly that I would crack the FNX frame or cause some other damage. I was thinking about a conversion kit from 460 Rowland.com

I am also considering the Glock 20 in 10mm and the Glock 21 converted to 460 Rowland or 40 Super. There are a few cons with the Glock IMO though which make me like the FNX more: The glock has a worse trigger, lower capacity with the G21, and a huge grip.


Questions:
I was wondering if anybody had any positive or negative experiences with such conversions?
Any other suggestions on conversions or other platforms which may be good for what I'm after?
Anybody know where I may be able to find a 40 Super barrel for sale?
If you do have this conversion, was it hard to get it to function reliably? What did you have to modify/do to get it to work properly? What ammo were you using?
Are the EFK barrels quality?

Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!
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Woods defense gun

Sorry for the lack of updates, i've been tied up with a few other projects.

Here's a little range report:
Since last post I've put about 300rds of .460R through the FNX-45/460R without any issues. It was a mix of different offerings from Underwood and .460rowland.com. Also ran 100 rds of .45 super (255g hard cast Underwood) without any issues. Recoil is very similar to the .460R loads when using .45 super. For both the .460R and .45 Super I run it with the compensator installed and the heavier recoil spring supplied by .460R. I enjoy using the compensator when shooting .45 acp, but it can be picky with lower power factory loads. Blazer .45 acp 230g FMJ seems to run reliably with the compensator installed, using the OEM recoil spring/guide rod. In this configuration recoil is very similar to a full size 9mm and makes the gun hard to put down at the range. The accuracy across all three loads is excellent and I've been able to get a few 5 Inch groups at 100 yrds using the .460R loads. Point of impact is a bit high at these distances so you must compensate by holding a few inches low on the target.

Hunting
I had the opportunity to take a Whitetail 130lb Doe in December using this gun. I employed the .460R.com 240g "Magnum" JHP. It was extremely effective and dropped it immediately at 25 yrds. It penetrated all the way through, leaving an exit wound about the size of a half dollar.

Comparison to Glock 20 10mm
In my opinion the FNX-45/450R using .460R loads has a good bit more recoil than 10mm, even when compared to the hot 10mm underwood and buffalo bore offerings. I compared them side by side at the range and there was a very noticeable difference between them.

Thanks for reading, I'll do my best to respond to any questions in a timely manner
Not to be a sarcastic ass but my daughter has a German Shepard that weighs just a bit less than the 130lb Whitetail. If you really want to test your plastic gun out (I own a FNX 45 Tactical) come up to Alaska and see how you feel with an underpowered round in your hand while you are ****ting yourself because you just disturbed a mother black bear's cubs. While Brown bears are bigger they will usually bite and swipe you until they think you are dead.... a female black bear will disembowel you and feed your still living body to herself and her cubs. You might be surprised how different it is in big woods rather than shooting through your chronograph from a bench, and the much vaunted concept of extra rounds in a Rowland conversion or the various 10mm semiautos out there don't matter at all when she bursts from the woods at a full speed charge only 17 yards away. The two times it happened to my hunting partner and I we were both glad that we carry our rifles with a round in the chamber, cocked and off safe.... you can not afford to lose even a part of a second.
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