The FN 509 is a full-size striker-fired 9mm built for duty and home defense. It has an MSRP of $639, and FN built it from the pistol it submitted to the US Army's Modular Handgun System trials, a platform it says was tested for more than a million rounds.

Seventeen rounds sit behind a 4.0-inch cold hammer-forged stainless barrel with a recessed target crown, and the chamber and feed ramp are polished. Two magazines, two interchangeable backstraps, a soft case and a lock come in the box. The slide stop lever and the magazine release are fully ambidextrous. Fixed three-dot luminescent sights are fitted, there is no optic cut on this version, and FN gives the trigger as a 5.5 to 7.7 lb range, which is heavy at the top end.

If you're cross-shopping, the FN 509 Tactical is the same pistol set up for a dot and a suppressor, a 4.5-inch threaded barrel at 27.9 oz with FN's plate-based optic mounts, for an MSRP of $989. A Walther PDP Full Size holds 18 rounds on that same barrel length and arrives optic-cut with a 5.6 lb trigger, at an MSRP of $699, so the FN's price advantage closes as soon as a milled slide is added to it.