FN Five-SeveN Handgun in 5.7 x 28 Pt. 1
The FN Five-SeveN Handgun in 5.7 x 28A friend of mine has loaned me his brand new FN Five-seveN semi-auto pistol for a review and range report. I haven't had a chance to get to the range with it yet, but that should happen this weekend.
The gun has a nice feel, and seems to come up on target very well for me. The heavily stippled grip surface is almost TOO rough, and on a high powered handgun would probably tend to tear your hand up a bit, but from folks I've talked to who have fired the Five-seveN, recoil is about on a par with a .22 long rifle. We'll see!
The magazine is a plastic double stack affair, holding TWENTY rounds, yet still fitting into the grip. That's kinda cool, as I suspect when it comes to stopping power this is something of a lightweight.
The basic gun has metal parts only where they absolutely HAVE to be metal, everything else is plastic. I'm old fashioned, I guess, as I prefer a little more steel in a handgun, but to be fair, they couldn't get it down to the 1.7 lb. weight they have without lots of plastic. (Oops, "Composite")
Speaking of ammunition, the 5.7 x 28 ammo is currently rather expensive, but FIOCCHI has signed an agreement with FN to start producing ammo both in European and american facilities. Hopefully this will help bring the price down.
The ballistics of the 5.7 round are interesting, although I don't have a lot of numbers yet. This round in a FN has a whole lot of velocity, so it should shoot really flat, and I would suspect that it's pretty dang accuarate, too!
Once I've gotten in a little range time, I'll post part two of this report. Guess I've gotta go to the range this weekend.
Oh well, if I hafta..........
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17 Comments:
I'm betting that all that velocity and a little bitty FMJ bullet will not stop for most common LEO body armor...
I've read that the 5.7 round produces wounds similar to the .22 Magnum hollowpoint, except it will do this whether or not you are wearing a vest. Since I've never fired the 5.7 I have no idea if this is accurate.
James
I love my little Five seveN. It's a blast to shoot, but the ammo is expensive and difficult to find.
Even though it is a little easier to find ammo now for the 5.7 there are big differences in the power out put from the choices of ammo you find out thier. My experience with the different ammunition's is one will eject the spent shell 6 feet away and others will spit the fired casing as far as 25 feet away. It wasn't a noticable difference in recoil either. About the same as a 22 mag. Twenty round in a hand gun goes on forever to by the way lol.
I just did shoot for first time my FN Five-Seven USG. Experience was exciting, the five-seven did incredible, in first place recoil was almost null but at the same time I did trust this handgun from the first shoot, it was really accurate (even when I'm a very inexperienced and horrible shooter), it feels very powerful and it's really good to know that you have 20 bullets in the magazine. At 15 yards I only failed 2 shoots out of about 60 (again, I'm a horrible shooter). I think (in my limited experience) that this is an excellent handgun. Downside ammunition is really expensive (I paid $35.00 for a box of 50 SS-195LF). I would recommend it as an excellent, reliable and very powerfull handgun.
I have the shot the early IOM and the the USG with the IOM producing the best groups of 1.378" at 25 yds. with the SS192 the aftermarket stuff is readily available here in the peoples republic of NJ. the dies cost the same as anything else,,,$28.00 Great little gun but its NO 45 ACP...
C812Q
While I'm sort of doubtful about the caliber's usefulness in self-defense, i think that the gun could be a very effective varmint pistol.
If the 5.7 rounds are constructed in a frangible way. i.e. thin jacketed varmit type. These bullets would probably be extremely deadly at the velocities they are moving at. I would suspect that in some balistics gelitain this round will probably fragment and leave a cone shaped path of destruction in the 5-7" range. That means when a person is hit with this round its going to cone out and shread up everything in its path. If thats not stopping power I don't know what is. I sure as heck wouldn't want to get hit with one.
The military SS190 rounds are designed to tumble end over end once they penetrate...My guess is that a small 5.7 round bouncing around instide of you could be as effective as a 9mm or .40sw if placed right.
Interesting gel tests. http://www.brassfetcher.com/FN%20SS195%20lead-free%20FMJ.html
"In actual shooting into gelatin according to my friend, Ed Sanow, the bullet track was very similar to that of 9 mm +P+ 115 gr. JHP, a proven fight stopper at 92%. The bullet seems to tumble quickly releasing its energy in a short distance. When I shot a 4-1/2 pounds, 3-1/2 inch thick pork shoulder through the bone, I found that AP ammunition completely penetrated the shoulder and exited the shoulder just barely, sticking out of the fat. The bone, however, was shattered and bone fragments were thrown out into the wound channel making the diameter of the pulped meat wound channel over two inches. Quite impressive I thought and it would seem to verify that the round can be effectively used against non-armored targets. Testing it on a military Kevlar vest established it went through three layers of material (front, back and another front to put it another way). Again quite impressive. Anyone wearing the vest clearly would have been hit by the projectiles and seriously injured. Interestingly recovered bullets showed only rifling marks, no expansion or other distortion."
As stated from:
http://www.defensereview.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=2
After reading this and shooting it myself I believe the it would be a very good weapon for personal defense.
Been reading about the FN Five0Seven USG, their advertisement in the March 2008issue of the American and they say if you buy any FN 5-7 you will get free 200 rounds of SS197SR ammo. I do not recall reading aboutthis round, any info? Tommy
in california ss195lf & ss197 are 20.99 at bass pro shops
I bought one a 5.7 about two months ago. After taking it to the range I enjoy shooting it far FAR more than my Glock 22 (40 cal).
After doing some research I found an aftermarket producer for the 5.7 ammo called Elite Ammunition. They produce all kinds of ammo for the 5.7 that include tracer, Quiet sub sonic rounds, Super high Velocity rounds (2400 FPS I believe), Varmit grenade rounds, and personal defense rounds and Even stronger ammunition that they restrict to Officers/Military. I have not fired any of their ammunition personally yet but they do offer video of every type of ammunition being fired at a seires of metal plates. You cn find there website easily by googeling them or ask any questions at 57forum.com under the elite ammunition section. (also a great 57 resorce in gneral)
I have a CCW were I live in Arizona and have carried my glock 22 loaded with Black Talons, in a Comp-tac IWB holster for about a year now. After fireing this weapon and seeing what the Personal defense rounds from Elite Ammunition can do, I ordered a Concealment holster for my 5.7 and will be using that for my daily CCW.
I bought my 5.7 in march of 2009, I took it out the first time and shot it extremely well. Since then, I carry it every day (we own a gun shop). Tim/Montana
5.7 rules ! Sportsmansguide.com is one of the cheapest places to get ammo. Elite Ammo is ridiculously expensive... 45.00 for 50 rounds... OUCH!
Check your ballistics reports if you think this is a 22 Mag.... This thing will shoot through your kevlar and then tumble about 2 inches in... leaving a 3 to 4 inch pocket of decimation. Haters need to read up, this gun will get you wherever you try to hide.
My partner and I just shot a couple of hundred rounds at the range with this weapon. We were both very impressed with all of it's features especially the recoil and manageablity of this weapon in your hand. My partner being a female enjoyed shooting it more than her 9mm due to the light weight and low recoil. The weapon is deadly accurate and very well designed. I placed my order and hope to see it here in just a few more days.
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