FN 502 .22 LR Handgun Review

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Fabrique Nationale Herstal, colloquially known as FNH or simply “FN” is a well-known, historic arms and munitions company located in Herstal, Belgium. FNH has produced some of the finest firearms in the world, including what many would consider the most elegant and finest example of 9mm handguns in existence, the Browning Hi-Power. That said, FN is far from a "one hit wonder", producing the famed FAL (Fusil Automatique Léger or Light Automatic Rifle) affectionately known as "the right arm of the free world", to the Minimi/M249 SAW and the MAG-58/M240B General Purpose Machine Gun.

FNH seems to not miss when it comes to producing and endorsing top flight, high-end firearms across the board.With this said, how does the .22 LR FN 502 pistol rank against not only the FNH breed, but also such well-established and proven semi-automatic .22 LR handguns on the market? Does the FN 502 live up to the FN name? To find out I purchased the review gun seen here locally at full retail. I did not contact FN America and they do not even know about this review.

The FN 502 handgun is a double-stack, scaled-down, hammer fired .22 LR variant of FN's insanely popular 509 handgun. Being hammer fired, however, it would be best described as a hybrid variant somewhere between the FNP/FNX and the striker fired 509. The handgun is immediately noted as FN, with its styling ques, features, and finishes that mirror its centerfire brethren. The 502 comes feature heavy, with a threaded barrel, optics cut slide, forward cocking serrations, suppressor height sights and fully ambidextrous controls. It includes several optics plates (with attached suppressor height rear sights), thread protector and two magazines with different capabilities.

The first magazine is offered in the standard, and oh so boring, 10-round capacity that everyone is used too with .22 caliber rimfire pistols. The second however, is a 15-round double-stack, offering the user capacities closer to that of its centerfire counterparts. Being so used to traditional magazine capacities, and noting the fact that .22 Long Rifle ammunition is a rimmed cartridge, my first thought and concern with the 15 rounder was "reliability". When taking it home, there were visions of stovepipes, failure to feed, double-feeds and I expected the 15-round magazine would ultimately be relegated to some deep, dark corner of the safe where a broken SCCY CPX-2 lives.

Overview

Upon initial inspection, I noted German proof marks very similar to those found on SIG Sauer's Mosquito, GSG Firefly and GSG 1911 .22 handguns. My initial assumption is the FN 502 was produced by the same company and affiliates with Umarex Germany, and was produced for FN to FN specifications. This is somewhat typical, as this company (or companies) produces several .22 handguns for other companies with mixed success.

Upon disassembly, it was pleasant to see that the barrel assembly was not "fixed" into the frame like many strictly blowback handguns. The barrel assembly, guide rod and recoil spring are separate, and housed in the slide. In fact the 502 disassembles and reassembles just like its 509 counterpart, offering an assembly closer to that of Browning's tilt barrel locking, recoil operation system. This is a nice design change over the typical "modeled after" handgun offerings from the Umarex based German manufacturer.

Fit and finish is quite nice, smooth and uniform. It mirrors what a person expects from FNH, both inside and out. The frame has three types of textures which grips to the user’s hands quite well. With a nicely textured front and back strap, along with sharply pebbled sides and a sandpaper type finish for thumb and supporting hand, you will not lose traction, even in high heat or cold weather wearing gloves. This was well thought out and a nice carryover from the FN 509/FNX handguns.

The trigger pull I would rate as “good” overall, but I feel could use some improvement considering the $559.00 MSRP of the 502 handgun. The single-action trigger pull is a crisp and decent 5.5-6 pounds but suffers from the same "light switch" feeling break found on FN’s Five-Seven pistol. This takes some getting used to and unfortunately, we all know dry firing is not the healthiest for rimfire handguns. This equates to range time and rounds down range to smooth out the trigger.

The 502 has great ergonomics and points quite naturally. For those familiar, it points much like the famed Ruger Mk series of rimfire pistols and has a grip angle similar to that of a 1911. The 502 just feels good in the hand and that seems universal. Even with the heavy Silencer Co Sparrow .22 suppressor, the 502 feels quite nicely balanced in the hand, still pointing well and naturally. For a suppressor host, the 502 in terms of aesthetics, fit, feel and finish does not disappoint. With or without a suppressor, it is a nice, lightweight, quite ergonomic little rimfire handgun with great capacity from the factory.

Range Time

The initial range trip was overall positive. Just getting used to the handgun, it shot well, accurately, reliably and offered everything that one would expect from an FN handgun. Initially being purchased as a strict suppressor host, needless to say very limited shots were performed without the use of my Silencer Co suppressor. With a mixed bag of ammunition ranging from CCI Standard Velocity Standard Velocity round nose, to Federal 36-grain High Velocity hollow point, the unsuppressed 502 shot quite accurately at 10 to 15 yards.

I did note that it shot around an inch high and right, grouping all rounds in the upper right quadrant of a Dirty Bird target. This unfortunately was exacerbated with the introduction of my Sparrow rimfire sound suppressor. The point of impact shot to 6 inches high and an inch right with most standard and high velocity loads at 10 yards. With Winchester Suppressor Ready, CCI Quiet 40-grain and other subsonic offerings, the POI (point of impact) was substantially closer to that of unsuppressed, but correction and compensation were still needed.

Accuracy is what I would consider "good" overall, and while I wish I could say “great”, the 502 just doesn't have it to give. It will never shoot with a Volquartzen or Walther .22 LR target pistol and if one is expecting that level of accuracy, the 502 simply isn't your handgun. Even with Eley Tenex .22 LR 40-grain Match and Eley Benchrest Gold 40-grain, the 502 shot quite respectable 2 inch groups at 15 yards and 3-3.5 inch groups at 25 yards using iron sights. Reliability has been great and consistent from the first range trip to now, with the 502 even shockingly giving a genuine attempt to cycle Winchester Suppressor Ready and CCI Clean 22 Suppressor 40-50% of the time. Not bad for a blow-back .22 LR handgun in my opinion.

Out of 2,500 rounds of varying ammunition, there have been only seven malfunctions, with three of those being "stuck cases" using standard and high velocity ammunition. This is with no cleaning of the handgun, just simply lubricating it and minimal maintenance. Another shocker was the 15-round magazine. Only one of the seven malfunctions were from the 15-round double stack magazine, all the others were from the (what I considered) "safe bet" 10-round magazine. Overall, I am quite happy with this performance. While I would never advocate for the use of a .22 LR for self-defense purposes, with proper ammunition designed for defensive use the 502 could perform this task if required, especially considering the 15-round capacity.

Pros

The 502 definitely offers the user a lot. It has a number of options and gives the user a variety of accessories. Not only does it make a great suppressor host, it also makes for a nice and user friendly handgun for general purpose and training use. For those who train with and carry the FNP/FNX or 509 series of handgun, the 502 is a great training tool for high volume shooting. It offers nice texturing on the frame, nice ambidextrous controls, the sight picture is great and quite reminiscent of the 509 Tactical iron sights.

The fact that the 502 is currently the only factory optics cut rimfire handgun on the market makes it a must have for those using micro red dots on their carry pistols and looking for a rimfire trainer. The 502 offers numerous optics plates, which are well made and come with corresponding suppressor height night sights (meaning the 502 comes with numerous sets of rear sights, which is value added). Fit and finish is great and likely the best I've seen on any Umarex produced rimfire handgun to date. There is a lot to like about the 502 from FN.

Cons

Unfortunately, while there is a lot to like, there is some quite concerning flaws with the handgun, some of which go from annoying to downright unnecessary and sloppy on the quality control and design aspect. While the optics cut option on the 502 is nice, attractive, a great selling point and one of the reasons I purchased the 502, the design and execution is somewhat lacking. While it is likely due to lack of real-estate, the rear iron sight is incorporated into the optics cut cover, along with the optics plates (as stated before).

While this doesn't seem like an issue and certainly didn't seem like one to myself upon initial purchasing, the constant cycling of the slide does cause the optics plate screws to loosen quite quickly. The problem with this is, the slide being constructed from machined aircraft grade aluminum versus the material of the retaining screws (being steel) does not lend well to heavy torque values and can lead to stripping quite easily. 

While a small amount of Loctite or Permatex thread locker may assist in preventing this, the fact that the slides internals are quite exposed under this plate makes use of thread lockers potentially problematic and concerning for the user. My guess is, FN and Umarex may have designed the handgun to be used largely with an optic, meaning the optic plate and iron sights would be relegated to secondary use. Either way, those who will be using this with irons will be required to note this and pay constant attention to this, as accuracy will suffer.

One unacceptable flaw with my 502 is the fact that the trigger pin keeps walking out under continuous use. Out of 2,500 rounds, I have had to conduct preventative maintenance on the trigger pin to keep it from walking out of the receiver no less than half a dozen times. The trigger pin isn't a "solid" pin like one would expect, but a “roll pin”. Unfortunately, when this trigger pin walks in this manner, it not only causes the trigger to break inconsistently, but also blocks the user from taking the handgun apart, as it blocks the takedown lever located on the left side of the frame.

This absolutely should not happen, period, especially not with a rimfire handgun with a street price of $515 and MSRP of $559. This is a design flaw that I expect to see as a recall from FN in the future, as the handgun cannot function without a trigger pin (should it walk completely out). The 502 is too nice of a handgun to be limited by this. It is to the point that on range trips I carry a small brass gunsmithing hammer, a roll pin punch and corresponding Allen key to keep the handgun running and accurate.

Overview

The 502 is a nice handgun. It has a great finish, nicely optioned, great accessory base and the 100% ambidextrous controls make for a much more usable handgun, giving an advantage over most other offerings on the market. It makes a great suppressor host, well-balanced and nicely laid out. Accuracy overall is good, with an overall good trigger, both of which could be better. A couple of things that are quite impressive is the reliability with varying types of .22 Long Rifle and the function of the 15-round magazine.

Umarex and FN definitely did their homework here, great job. For the "first ever optics cut" rimfire, overall a good job. There is some room for improvement and I believe hydraulic pressed, threaded steel inserts for the optics cut slide would be a great addition. This would ensure steel on steel contact, allowing for higher torque values and remedy the constant loosening of the cover (which the rear sights are part of). It would also be nice to see a solid, single piece trigger pin over a roll pin. Even if produced from aluminum, a properly fit and machined trigger pin would alleviate the "walking" experienced with this 502. We all know that roll pins are far less precise and can even be less concentric than that of a dedicated pin, especially when placed in a polymer frame.

Overall I would rate the 502 as a good handgun, mostly due to being option rich and a good overall shooter. Would I consider it great like typical FN products? No, I can't. While I do not necessarily regret purchasing the FN 502 and do want to like the handgun overall, I wouldn’t purchase the handgun again. I do believe it has a lot of potential, but it is not one of FN's best products. Unfortunately, for an MSRP of $559.00, it’s a hard sell with the other options on the market knowing what I know now.

FN 502 Specifications:

• Manufacturer: Umarex/FNH, produced in Germany https://FNAmerica.com/
• Firearm type: Rimfire, semi-automatic handgun
• Operation: Blowback, Single-Action-Only (SAO)
• Caliber: .22 Long Rifle
• Magazine Capacity: 10 or 15 rounds
• Weight: 23.7 ounces
• Barrel length: 4.6 inches
• Overall length: 7.6 inches
• Barrel twist rate: 1-16 inch Right Hand
• Trigger pull: 6 pounds measured using Lyman trigger scale 
• MSRP: $559.00

About the Author: Michelle Hamilton has a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice/Homeland Security, is a serious student of wound ballistics, military history, small arms design and manufacturing and is a competitive shooter. If you have any thoughts or comments on this article, we’d love to hear them. Email us at FirearmsNews@Outdoorsg.com.

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