The popularity of the 9mm carbine has really taken off in the past few years. Where pistol caliber carbines were once a bit of an oddity, the 9mm in an AR platform has become quite popular. One of the newest rifles pairing the AR with 9mm is the FX-9.
Developed by Freedom Ordnance, the FX-9 has many of the features that a 9mm rifle buyer would be interested in. Let’s go over a few of them now.
With a few exceptions, there are two basic pistol caliber AR-style carbines on the market: those that feed from Colt pattern magazines and those that feed from Glock pattern magazines. The Colt guns have been around a lot longer — back to the 1980s. While newer, Glock feeders have become extremely popular as they allow a shooter to use the same mags in both his or her pistol and rifle.
The FX-9 uses Glock pattern magazines, and it ships with one 33-round magazine. Although the company does not state who makes the magazine, from the photos it would appear the magazine is provided by SGM Tactical. If you are not familiar, SGM Tactical makes a number of extended magazines for the Glock line of pistols. Generally, they get good reviews and come in at a much lower price point than the OEM Glock magazines.
The good news about this gun: it has a last-round bolt hold open. That’s not always the case with 9mm AR rifles.
Freedom Ordnance uses a threaded 16” barrel with a birdcage-style muzzle device. The thread pattern is ½”-28 which is fairly common for suppressors and other devices. Around the barrel is a 13” aluminum handguard that uses M-LOK attachment points for the addition of accessories. An M-LOK compatible 3” length of Picatinny rail comes with the gun.
Many AR aftermarket parts will work with the FX-9. This includes things like drop-in triggers. Even so, the company was able to reduce the size of the upper and lower to help keep weight down. Blow-back guns can be a little heavier than gas-operated guns. However, the FX-9 has a weight of only 6.1 pounds.
If you find yourself enamored with the FX-9, you will find that they are affordable. Where many 9x19mm AR carbines are selling in excess of $1,000, this gun stands out with a suggested retail price of only $799. Even better, I’ve seen these guns offered as low as $599 online. Assuming these guns run well, that sounds like a pretty good bargain to me.
I just got mine yesterday, and took it out to the farm today. Only put 20 rounds through it, but I already love this rifle! Very solid feel, shoots great, and nice low recoil. Love the fact that it has last round hold bolt open.
Looks like a wonderful addition to anyone’s collection. Not having been in the market for an AR style 9mm before, I wanted to mention that Kel Tec makes a Sub 2000 chambered for the 9×19 round and the gun also folds in two. It also comes in a version designed for the Glock mags and sounds like a Ruger 10/22 when it is shot. I shall be looking for my FX-9.
I bought one last Saturday on the 25 picked it up on the 29 march it has rained since. This AR is very well but together the parts all clean well Machine everything fits nice. Got some flip up sights. Was looking at a CZ but went to this. I hate a kel tec sub gen 2 that is full of mcarbo parts shoots great . Except this to be the same
This is a fantastic carbine started out with a kel tec to see if I even wanted a carbine after one trip yes I wanted one so I got all of mcarbo gear to shoot even better I have had it for 2 years and love it. Then got into competition with it then got a CZ scorpion evo and love it in competitions but got this freedom ordnance fx 9 wish this was around first I have switch to it 100% of the time
I’ve had mine for roughly 2 years and still love it. It remains my home defense carbine. I use three different brands of mags and they all work very well. I do not use any SGM mags, personal choice. I’ve put a couple thousand rounds through it with no malfunctions attributed to the rifle. I had some dirty mags and as soon as I cleaned them up, they ran fine. One thing I did that made it even sweeter is I changed out two of the buffer steel weights for tungsten weights. It is very soft shooting. I also added a Kaw Valley linear comp and that reduced the noise level noticeably. I load 147 grain copper plated rounds at 1050 fps and it loves the heavier bullet.
I absolutely love my FX9 (16″ barrel)… Especially the customer service!
Purchased as ‘used’, it came with an OEM Glock 33 round mag and a ProMag 50 round drum.
Within a couple days I loaded up the mags (and a few of my own) and went to the range.
The drum mag was useless, and the stick mags were giving me trouble as well. Both failure to feed and light firing pin strike issues.
After contacting Michele at Freedom Ordnance via email, she not only responded right away, but sent me the prepaid shipping label. (Mind you, this was well after hours and she was on her own time)
Less than 48 hours after they received my gun and the 33 round stick mag, I got an email explaining the work that was done and a link to a YT video, showing them testing my gun with my mag.
A few days latter, I signed for the package and this weapon has gone ‘bang’ with every pull of the trigger since then.
As for accuracy? I mounted a Red Dot and can shoot tight groups consistently at 50 yards. Probably longer, but it’s the longest available at my range.
Yeah…I think it’s safe to say I would recommend this gun to others.