Starting with the polymer frame, the takedown lever is on the forward left side of the frame. Disassembly is simple. Clear the pistol, remove the magazine, lock the slide back, push the lever down 45 degrees, and ease off the slide. Then remove the dual and captive recoil-spring system. The barrel drops down and out to the rear.

The compact 15-round and full-size 16-round magazines are easy to load.

The single-sided, longitudinally grooved slide catch stop is to the rear of this lever, with ambidextrous and similarly grooved decocking levers trailing at the top rear of the frame. All three are recessed into the frame to one degree or another, forestalling inadvertent operation while still permitting efficient use. The dustcover has 1913-type rail grooves, but at this time ITI's X-2 is the only light that will fit the pistols.

Both front- and backstraps have molded checkering, and on either side of the frame a very bashful thumb swell is delineated with grooving, which also serves to outline the frame stippling. The triggerguard is rounded, with slightly molded checkering on its face. The curved trigger is smooth-faced and has a molded-in trigger-overtravel bump (effective only in single-action mode).

The grooved magazine catch is at the bottom rear of the triggerguard. Neither the instruction book nor the FNH USA website indicates that it's reversible. The catch is held by a curved spring accessible through the magazine well. A rounded external hammer is used with both.

The ITI Model X-2 fits the FNP pistols' rails.

The previously mentioned changeable backstraps are flat and arched and are installed via tongue-and-groove mating of backstrap to frame and secured in place by a single slotted screw. (They're a snug fit, so use more caution than mallet.) Users of 1911s can easily make the leap here and see that the FN inserts achieve the same effects as do the flat and arched mainspring housings of the 1911--the grip circumference is decreased (or not) and the grip angle changed as well.

The tastefully sculpted slide has white-dot-bearing front and rear sights. Both are low mounted but still large enough and snag-free, riding in dovetail cuts for windage adjustment or sight replacement.

Bob George, left, and Bill Cassidy, center, enjoyed shooting both FNP pistols, while John Lysak observed the pistols' functioning.

The external extractor, at the right rear of the large ejection port, also serves as a loaded-chamber indicator. Eleven diagonal grasping grooves are at the rear of the slide. Trigger-pull weight on both guns ran in the acceptable-for-government-work range of just over 12 pounds double action and slightly over five pounds single action. Neither were what anyone would call target-grade triggers, but then these pistols are not directed to be used against paper targets.

John Lysak, Bob George, Bill Cassidy and I put a few hundred rounds of assorted 9mm ammo into the backstop. Not having or wanting to shoot poor-quality 9mm, the best I could do to try and stump the FNP design was to fire a wide range of standard and Plus-P JRN and JHP loads. I could have skipped this exercise, though, as the guns shot everything without fail. John and I did the table-top target work, with our five-shot groups averaging three to five inches.

Target results ranged from three to five inches.

In the beginning here, I said the FNP 9 and the FNP 9M are both traditional and yet modern, and I think the review bears this out. I also don't see them as wall-mounted displays or "safe queens." No, these two pistols will spend their lives in holsters, glove or tackle boxes and drawers (of the wooden sort)--simple, inexpensive and effective tools for self-defense.