My Experience - so far...
Sounds like this mag release/spring/hang-up problem continues. I recently purchased an FNX45, (not tactical), manufactured in October 2012. I had an FNP45 w/ no manual safety which I got rid of. I've had no instances of the magazines running into a wall when inserting. The function of the FNX45 mag release was terrible - out of the box. The function of the mag release, on the FNP45 I had, was flawless from new until I got rid of it. I could not see anything about the mag release on the FNP being different than on the FNX, but I don't know that to be fact. The problem that I noticed was that when pushing the mag release from either side, it felt "sticky", and it felt like the button might not move back to center when released. Then, I stored the gun in an unheated room, and when I picked up the gun next time, cold, the mag release button was too "sticky" to be functional. I pushed a magazine up into the mag well, hard, racked the slide, and mag fell out! That got my attention. For anyone who hasn't figured it out, when you push your magazine up the mag well, the tab on the front of your magazine pushes the mag release toward the right side of the gun, and as the tab clears the mag release bar, the mag release button/bar must re-center, or your magazine is not locked into the mag well. So this thing must work freely. Sitting around pushing the button back and forth for hours, didn't help. Lubricating the mag release bar and spring - did not help, if anything it made problem even worse. I pulled the spring and with needle nose pliers I played with the angles on the two ends of the spring where the spring terminates. A few times in and out of the gun, some trial and error playing with the angles on the ends of the spring, and it has seemed to function fine for several days and regardless of temperature. Some other things I noticed - when the spring is removed, and the mag button/bar is inserted back into the frame, it really is a tight fit - very tight. I'm guessing this fit is very effective at keeping dirt out of the gun. The mag release button/bar only needs to move a short distance, and return to center. It must return to center every time, when pressed, or when a magazine is inserted. For whatever reason, I've found that the "acid test" seems to be inserting a full magazine into the gun with a round already chambered. The spring must be free to function, or it won't. The fit of the button/bar in the frame is too tight, any further resistance encountered by the spring can equal non-functional. Getting rid of all lubrication in the area with the exception of a light film on the metal bar from a very lightly oiled towel to protect metal is the limit. When the mag release button is pushed from either direction, you can see a coil from one side of the spring must overlap the opposing coil on the other side of the spring. When you pull the spring, notice that on each diagonal side of the spring, where the spring terminates, this area appears to be angled in relation to the rest of the spring. On mine, the angle was too extreme, so I started bending it back toward the rest of the spring - I did it a little at a time, and each time I re-inserted the spring, things seemed a little smoother. I continued doing that until I was happy with the function. I personally think this design, in order to have full-time ambidextrous mag-release, is a bad idea. The expectations of the spring, in a space that is too small, unfortunately will make this area of the gun prone to be an area that needs to be adjusted sometimes. At a minimum, I will always be conscious of this area of the gun, and it will get frequent function testing to be sure. FN would make this gun better if they just used a reliable reversible mag release. I'm disappointed in FN for sending guns out of it's factory with flawed function in this critical area - change is necessary. I will say that the FNP 45 never gave me any cause for concern in all matters of the mag release - and before the challenges I've encountered with this FNX, I would have thought it was a reliable design too. It clearly is not - FN could compromise it's reputation for producing perfectly made/functioning firearms if they don't address it on this, of all it's pistols. By the way, the FNX I bought was one of 40 identical guns that were provided by FN to a police dept for testing and evaluation (pistol trials). The reason I had the opportunity to buy this FNX (w/ night sights!) is because said police dept chose Glock instead. I have a hunch I may know one reason they made the choice they did. By the way, all of the FNX guns from this group that were provided for testing and evaluation, had the same crappy mag release function! FN seriously needs to wake up in quality control when they are sending out all of their guns - poor quality control probably cost them a good contract.
