[chapmonkey]

I posted a thread many moons ago about my Five Seven having FTS/FTF/FTE issues. It can be viewed here: https://fnforum.net/forums/fn-five-seven/200073-failure-strike-i-want-cry.html

I replace the extractor, extractor spring, and cleaned the firing pin channel and every other part of the gun meticulously. I also cleaned the chamber with brake cleaner at the recommendation of a kindly forum member who PMd me. Alas, I had the same issues. Every few rounds (as little as 1 or as many as 5) the gun would have a light strike or no strike, and wouldn't eject the round when racking the slide. I would have to open the slide, tilt the gun back and wiggle it, which would release the stuck round and the next round that had been pushed out of the mag. A huge pain, as you could imagine. This was extremely common with SS198, less common with SS197.

Anywho, I finally decided to bite the bullet and send it off for warranty. I had heard negative experiences from people about long wait times with FN warranties, so I was reluctant to ship it off. But eventually I was sick of having a non-functional firearm (coincidentally my favorite one), so I did.

On Oct 11, I went through the customer portal from the FN America website and filled out the warranty info. I instantly received two emails, one that said:

Thank you for submitting your request. A Case #0000XXXX: "Failure to Strike Multiple Times Per Magazine" has been created and an FN America, LLC

Service Representative will respond to you shortly.



If you have any further questions, please contact Service Support at 800-635-1321.



Thank you,

Service Team FN America, LLC

and a second message that had a bunch of information about where to ship the firearm and the typical disclaimers and rules and warnings and blah blah blah. I was a little confused by this, so I called them the next day to make sure I didn't need anything else, and they said "nope, if you got both emails you are set! Just ship it to us and we'll take care of it."

Pretty painless so far...

On Oct 13th (a Saturday) I shipped it off. Regular ground shipping with FedEx's included insurance. I was in no hurry. It was supposed to get there about the 17th, which I assume it did. I had included 3 magazines, and explained in detail what it was doing.

On the 20th I checked the website and it was already updated. They had done an inspection on the gun, found the magazine safety I had disabled (oopsies) and done some repairs.

On the 26th I got a package with my Five Seven and all three magazines. Along with that was a letter detailing what was done:

Thank you for supporting FN products.
The FNA Service Center evaluated and serviced your Five seveN on 10/23/18 under good will.
Please see below for a list of the services rendered:

•

Prechecks/safety checks: FAIL, firearm fires without magazine inserted into firearm.

Magazine safety has been disabled. Firearm has been disassembled outside of factory.

Repairs will be done under good will.

•

Burr has formed on the firing channel in the slide. This is restricting the movement of

the firing pin.

•

Repaired magazine safety.
•

Deburred firing pin channel in slide.
•
Polished chamber.
•

FN SS198LF ammunition is not available for testing. This ammunition is also not

currently available for commercial purchase and is restricted to LE/Military purchase.
FNSS195LF is the civilian replacement for the SS198LF and will be used in testing.

•

Test fired with provided magazines. Test
fired with the following ammunition types:
-

20rds FN SS195LF

-
20rds FN SS197SR
-
20rds American Eagle 40gr FMJ
•
No malfunctions were recorded during test fire. All cartridges fed, chambered, fired,

extracted, and ejected.

•

Punched bore.

•

Function checked/safety checked

So props to them for ignoring the mag safety thing. I had done that mostly as a test to see if it was related to the issues. Or more accurately to better isolate the issue. The turnaround on the repair work was really quick, and after some horror stories I was very happy about that.

I have not yet tested it, hopefully I will do that tomorrow or Monday. I'll update then.

The one thing I was disappointed by is that they didn't test with the SS198, which was the biggest problem for me. I understand they restrict that to LEO, but it is not by law. I legally acquired the ammo from a reputable seller. I use the gun exclusively for fun, as it is not my PDW or EDC, the only reason I use the SS198 is because I prefer it, and I feel it is more consistent than the AE or SS197/195.

What sucks is they are basically saying "if SS198 doesn't work it's not our problem." They said to use SS195 instead, but then in the ammo warning sheet it says:

**Please be advised that some SS195 rounds of 5.7 ammunition may cause performance issues when used in the FN Five-seveN. Therefore, for optimal performance, we recommend commercial customers use the SS197SR or Federal AE5728A round.

So SS195 is not the same quality as SS198. Not to mention the fact that I spent a decent chunk of change on all my SS198 ammo lol

This is a weird thing to me, because FN makes lots of firearms for military and LE. Why would a cop's Five Seven get a different service than a commercial version? And what exactly would they do if a cop's Five Seven had the same issues that mine has?

Anywho, this is not meant as a negative review or anything, it's just a mild annoyance after a very pleasant warranty experience.

 

[HK SD9 Tactical]

Well...they did repair your gun as good will. They could have said no because of the modifications made to it.

The issue is FN restricts SS198, not any law. They will not test civilian firearms with SS198 due to the restrictions on the ammo.

I agree with you. I am retired military and I can not get SS198 from most dealers. So even though I have lots of SS198, I also roll some SS190s as well.

 

[BuckRogers2000]

Thanks for sharing. Please let us know how it shoots.

Myself, I wouldn't worry about their policy about SS198. I actually would prefer to stay subsonic but SS193 won't cycle in my Five-seveN. So, SS198 and my suppresor it is - when it's not attached to my PS90.

 

[chapmonkey]

Well I have news to report, and it is not all good.

My biggest fears were realized when I loaded up SS198 into a mag, rack the slide, hit the safety off, and "click." Gun no boom, me sad. The slide is about 2mm out of battery, so the firing pin is not reaching the round. Once again, I check the primer and the lightest little tap was present. I put it back in the mag, racked again, and it fired.

I went through a full mag of SS198, then a couple of SS197, and another full mag of SS198 and it worked flawlessly. I thought, "maybe I didn't chamber it right or it just needed to get loosened up." Glass half full.

But about halfway through the fifth mag, third of SS198, it did it again. Click, slide 2mm out of battery, very light or no mark on primer. I reinserted it into the mag, racked the slide, and it clicked AGAIN. Two light strike no-booms in a row. Mind-bending. So I inserted it once more, and it finally fired. I try to keep an eye on the battery but during firing it is fairly difficult to keep track of.

I went through about 5 or 6 mags of SS197 (I lost track), and about 5 mags of SS198. Throughout all of that, the SS197 had no light strikes/FTF (yay!), but the SS198 would have one per mag on average (boo!). Some mags of SS198 had no problems, but some had 2 or 3 failures (including of course one round that failed twice in a row).

From my last mag of SS198 I saved the two rounds that failed instead of reinserting them, just in case they might come in handy for some reason.

The ONLY thing I can note about the failed rounds is that they have a big gouge on the bottom of the case where the extractor hits. I don't understand why the extractor would be hanging up on the round to the degree that it would keep the gun out of battery, especially since I replaced both the extractor and spring. But that is presently my only theory, especially since FN looked at the gun and determined it was good.

The GOOD news, since I am in desperate need of it right now, is that they did seem to fix the problem it was having with the "commercial" rounds. However, I still cannot trust the gun for defensive use, because in the back of my mind it is always going to be capable of hanging up at any time.

Well...they did repair your gun as good will. They could have said no because of the modifications made to it.

Yeah for sure I was very happy about that. When I saw the first note that said "FAIL" in big letters my heart sank as I remembered I had neglected to reset the mag safety before shipping.

 

[ShipWreck]

What is interesting is that places that sell 198 (but restrict the ammo) will sell it to you if you are an EMS worker, prison guard, probation officer, etc. So, not necessarily an LEO.

 

[Old Zebra]

I'm retired military. When I purchased my Mil/LE Five-seveN, I asked about the difference between a commercial Five-seveN and a Mil/LE version. My LGS said the only difference was the price, that both versions were exactly the same. Can anyone confirm that? As to the ammo issue, I use only SS197 and SS198. No issues with either.

 

[ArmyLTC]

I'm retired military. When I purchased my Mil/LE Five-seveN, I asked about the difference between a commercial Five-seveN and a Mil/LE version. My LGS said the only difference was the price, that both versions were exactly the same. Can anyone confirm that?

Confirmed, kind of... As with most of the FN firearms with a commercial version and MIL/LE discount version, there are a few differences that may or may not matter.

The pistols are the same. Literally.
The model number will be different to designate MIL/LE vs commercial version.
The warranty may or may not be different.
Rebates/promotions often do not apply to the MIL/LE version but sometimes they do (as was the case with the recent Vortex Venom site promotion with the FNX-45T). You have to look at the promotion for qualifying model numbers.

 

[PursuitSS]

The only difference between the individual L.E. Version and the Commercial version of the FiveseveN is the price.

The only differences between the PS90 individual L.E. Version and the Commercial version is the L.E. version ships with a 50 rd Mag instead of a 30 rd. and the L.E. Version is a little cheaper. (It ​WAS a lot cheaper a few years ago) (I paid $799.00)

 

[Rule1234]

Did you have to pay for FedEx shipping or did FN send you a label??

 

[chapmonkey]

I paid for shipping it was like $20

 

[Rule1234]

$20 for shipping a handgun via Fed Ex??

 

[chapmonkey]

Yes. Is that a lot? It included the insurance and stuff.

 

[Rule1234]

Yes. Is that a lot? It included the insurance and stuff.

I have only known FedEx to ship a handgun by priority overnight, which costs a lot lot more than $20.
Did you notify them it was a handgun?

 

[chapmonkey]

I did notify them. I made sure they knew it was a pistol and that I had $1200 of insurance. If it got lost I didn't want any shenanigans. Although about the insurance, because it does ship priority they have a set market value that they pay. That part was a little confusing but she assured me it was standard practice.

She asked if I needed to overnight, I said no, and she said it would get there in 3 days priority, it being a Saturday. I said that sounds good and paid the $20.

When FN shipped it back it was sent FedEx 2 day shipping.

 

[Rule1234]

OK then, you got the best deal I have ever heard of on Fed Ex Shipping.

 

[winston91]

OK then, you got the best deal I have ever heard of on Fed Ex Shipping.

What he got was a dingbat of a Fedex worker, unbelievable the clerk was that clueless.

https://www.pewpewtactical.com/how-to-mail-guns/

"FedEx has policies for shipping firearms that are quite similar to those of UPS. FedEx ships firearms between FFL holders and from nonlicensees to FFL holders. You must select the “Direct Signature Required or Adult Signature Required Delivery Signature Option,” and firearms ship via FedEx’s Priority Overnight service"

 

[chapmonkey]

Perhaps, but she was reading directly off a prompt on her computer. When I told her what it was, she typed in the info into her computer and just followed the instructions.

One thing of note was that she asked if I was sending it back to the dealer. So perhaps there is an exception for that, as opposed to shipping it to a random person.

Also, I haven't been able to find any information on the FedEx site to confirm what that site says. Other people on forums have had the same experience as myself. So either there are a lot of dingbats, or the rules are not what pewpewtactical thinks they are. If I think about it I will try to get on the FedEx customer support thing and ask them directly tomorrow.

 

[winston91]

A non ffl cannot ship to a random person, they can only ship to an ffl. Here's what Gunbroker has to say, it sounds like she treated it like it was not a handgun. I have called Fedex a year or 2 ago and they told me handguns must ship overnight. Everything I find online confirms that, so I don't know why they let you or anyone else ship one ground, other than to conclude it was poor training for Fedex clerks. You lucked out and saved about $50.
https://support.gunbroker.com/hc/en-us/articles/222836508-Firearms-Shipping-Guide

FedEx Express:

• FedEx will only ship firearms via their Priority Overnight service.
• Ammunition must be shipped as hazardous goods via Ground in compliance with "Limited Quantity." Special labeling is required.

FedEx Ground:

• FedEx Ground will transport and deliver firearms (excluding handguns) as defined by the United States Gun Control Act of 1968 between areas served in the U.S.

 

[Rule1234]

For the OP please read page 140 of this document. It has been this way "forever"

https://www.fedex.com/content/dam/fedex/us-united-states/services/Service_Guide_2018.pdf

Firearms
A.
FedEx Express will transport and deliver firearms as defined by the United States
Gun Control Act of 1968, between areas served in the U.S., but only between:
1.
Licensed importers; licensed manufacturers; licensed dealers; licensed collectors;
law enforcement agencies of the U.S. or any department or agency thereof; and
law enforcement agencies of any state or any department, agency or political
subdivisions thereof; or
2.
Where not prohibited by local, state and federal law, from individuals to licensed
importers, licensed manufacturers or licensed dealers (and return of same).
B.
If your shipment contains firearms, select the Direct Signature Required or Adult
Signature Required Delivery Signature Option, depending on the requirements of your
shipment. See the Delivery Signature Options section for details. Firearms shipments
are not eligible for signature release or indirect delivery.
C.
Firearms must be shipped via FedEx Priority Overnight service. FedEx Express cannot
ship or deliver firearms C.O.D. Firearms shipments cannot be placed in a FedEx Express
Drop Box. Firearms shipments are not eligible to be held at Hold at Location facilities.
D.
Upon presenting the package for shipment, the person tendering the shipment to
FedEx Express is required to notify FedEx Express that the package contains a firearm.
The outside of the package must not be marked, labeled or otherwise identify that the
package contains a firearm.
E.
The shipper and recipient must be of legal age as identified by applicable law.
F.
The shipper and recipient are required to comply with all applicable government
regulations and laws, including those pertaining to labeling. The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can provide assistan

 

[chapmonkey]

That's fine and all, good for me (and good for FN who shipped it the same way), I'm actually more interested in why my gun is not firing SS198 properly.