The FN 509.
The new FN 509 has been chosen by Brink’s, Incorporated, to be the sidearm for the company’s armed security personnel.
The announcement was made right on the heels of the 509’s unveiling to the public earlier this month.
“We are proud to announce the contract with Brink’s, Incorporated,” said Mark Cherpes, President and CEO for FN America, LLC. “Like FN, Brink’s has a long and honored history. Brink’s is one of the most iconic private security firms in the world.
“The decision to purchase the FN 509 is an important achievement for our organization,” added Cherpes. “It is validation of the hard work that our team put into designing, producing and supporting this pistol.”
The 509 was originally designed to compete in the Army’s Modular Handguns System trials. After the Army chose Sig for the MHS, FN refined the 509 for the consumer and law enforcement markets. It appears those refinements are already paying dividends.
SEE ALSO: Born for Combat, Refined for EDC: First Look at the New FN 509 9mm – Full Review
A Brink’s van. (Photo: Wikipedia)
Brink’s is the first major private security company to adopt the FN 509. The first order of pistols will begin shipping in early June.
A little bit more about the FN 509, it’s a striker-fired polymer service pistol chambered in 9mm. It comes with fixed 3-dot luminescent sights, external extractor, loaded chamber indicator, front and rear cocking serrations, a 4″ cold hammer-forged stainless steel barrel, enhanced grip texture with interchangeable backstraps, a MIL-STD-1913 mounting rail, fully ambidextrous slide stop lever and mag release, two 17 round magazine (or two 10 round mags, depending on your home state), and an FN logo soft pistol case.
Overall, it’s a compact package with full-sized capacity. Retail price on the gun is $649. For more information, check out Jon Hodoway’s complete review.
To purchase an FN 509, visit GunsAmerica.
FN appears to make a good semi auto handgun. I owned one once, however I thought the grip was too long for conceal carry, causing printing , therefore traded it.
The last I knew of brinks had S&W M&P .40’s. I bet we’ll be seeing trade ins on the market later on this year.
Too bad companies that arm their employees expect one platform to work for everyone. Why not leave it to each individual? Give a stipend and have them prove ability with quarterly reviews. Makes more sense than expecting cookie cutter pistols to work for non cookie cut employees. Just a question. How many of you would prefer having a pistol that is chambered for a specific round on a platform that you have not had experience with? Versus being able to carry a pistol that you are comfortable with, has proven itself to you, and you have had extensive training with? Not saying Brinks employees even know or care about the paperweight tied to their hip. (With exception to those that have previous military/leo training).
This is a huge deal for FN. Brink’s guards have carried Smith and Wesson firearms for over a 140 years. The Smith and Wesson M&P series in .40SW and 9mm have been in service for over 10 years. The Smith and Wesson M&P series have proven to be extremely reliable, durable, and accurate. The M&P series was selected as the Brink’s duty weapon in an extremely intensive test of S&W, Glock, H&K, Sig, and Ruger products.
In response to James M’s comment about individual weapons;
Letting individual security officers choose and carry their own weapon might work for a very small security company in states where that is permitted, however, for a company the size of Brink’s, this model simply won’t work. Brink’s has to arm, train, and equip (duty belts, holsters, magazine pouches, extra magazines, duty and training ammo, and uniforms) 10,000+ guards in North America alone! The logistics of maintaining 10,000 + pistols alone is mind boggling. To be able to issue out 10,000+ pistols a day, you must have spares, so really have closer to 11,000 pistols in inventory as well as 50,000 to 60,000 extra magazines. If the standard issue is (3) 15 round magazines per guard, that’s 450,000 rounds in duty magazines alone. Then you have to add in 2-3 Million rounds a year for training and state qualifications. Don’t forget you also need a large inventory spare parts like barrels, sights, triggers, pins, and springs. That means you probably have 11,000 duty belts, magazine pouches, and holsters in circulation. When dealing with such large numbers, standardization is the only way to insure that everyone will be trained and equipped the same way every day.
Because when you have to arm and train 10,000+ personnel as well as maintain 10,000+
Because when you have arm and train 10,000+ personnel as well as maintain and account for 10,000+ handguns it gets complicated fast.
Dr. N