Fn 5.7

[CDR_Glock]

Supersuby recommended this gun to me. I saw one preowned for $950.

How does this gun shoot? What was the original purpose for this? Is this a gun designed for concealed carry (I'm guessing no). Reliability? Accuracy? Fun to shoot? Recoil? How do you use this? For hunting? Home defense?

What is a good price on a new one? Used one?

[knifezoid]

I see them usually in the $1000 range new, so $950 may only be a
good deal if it comes with extras like mags/accessories.

I did not shoot one so can't comment on that. It does have 20 and
30 round mags which is pretty sweet. I think you can have them
where you are, but check cause it'd suck to get mags that you can't
use.

Ammo is about as much as 45ACP, just keep that in mind.

[sickboy]

I have one and really like it. The round is small, but fast and seems to pack a lot of punch in a small package. I have heard criticism, but also praise. It is very fun to shoot. Snappy, but shoots well. When it comes down to it, 20 rounds and 2 more mags with another 40 is just sexy. Its big, but light. I do not cc it, but I keep it with 3 full mags in my work bag. I payed $1100 new for mine. I will never sell it, but would sell others.

sickboy

[Stabber]

http://www.fivesevenammo.com/shop/

http://www.fivesevenammo.com/shop/page19.html

[Komitadjie]

It's a very good gun, and an absolutely PLEASURE to shoot. I've had a chance to put about ~40 rounds downrange with one, although I haven't had the inclination to cough up the cash for a thousand-dollar gun with only one ammo manufacturer. The pistol handles great, and who else can brag of a fully-enclosed 20-round magazine?

That being said, it's original purpose was to be a sidearm that could penetrate body armour like a rifle. As I recall, it's capable of penetrating a standard ballistic helmet (don't recall which one was used, but it was a widely-deployed one) from 100m. That ammunition is very hard to find, when it was imported here they forced them to use a polymer-tip varmint projectile in the commercially available loadings. You CAN find (if you're willing to cough up the price tag) some of the correct ammunition for it still around, a case gets brought in by someone from time to time.

Looking at the Brassfetcher page, I would personally think it a rather poor carry gun for SD uses. The penetration on the civil-available rounds is rather poor, and does not make it to the 12" minimum depth.

Brassfetcher Link

It's a great, fun pistol to shoot, but for a SD arm (unless you EXPECT them to be wearing body armour, in which case I'd question your choice of a pistol in place of a rifle to begin with) I'd probably shy away from it. Ammunition is also rather expensive, although no worse than .357 Sig and some of the other boutique calibres.

[supersuby]

I love mine and would never sell it. Great gun and fun to shoot. A bit big for edc and the rounds can be expensive and hard to find. But you can't go wrong with a 20rd handgun that's rounds are meant for armor piercing Plus it's an FN

If i remember correct they would go thru the Cristat helmets and i believe it was something like 48 layers of kevlar at a certain distance. Been a while since i researched them

[FriskyDingo]

Honestly I think its an ideal sidearm. 5.7 is kinda like .22 win mag in power, which is to say it should perform very much like a light 9mm. The commercially available ammo is high speed but the ballistic tips make it useless on armored targets, so don't expect it to defeat kevlar unless you're using the (now banned) 90's ammo. You think regular 5.7 is expensive... I've seen guys asking 20$ a shot for that stuff... I also don't like the safety on it, seems very cheap.

What I like about the gun far outweighs the negatives. It's super light, has godly magazine capacity, recoil and muzzle flip are non-existant, super accurate even over distance due to the fast moving round, comfortable and even tho it seems plasticy, they're pretty much indestructable. They seem to have extraodinary reliability too. Replacement for the good old Sig or Glock? Maybe... if the ammo were cheaper. If you reloaded 5.7 or maybe had a PS90 having a Five-seveN would be perfect.

[Ken Brock]

I've fired one as well as the full auto P90

I wasn't a fan of either one. One big reason was availability of ammo (as well as cost)

our department had 2 of the P90s for a short while until a new sheriff came in and traded them for Benelli Entry guns

one of the Captains at my department carries one and thinks it's the best thing since ribbed condoms

the original idea behind the 5.7 was to make a Personal Defense Weapon for the military who aren't frontline (cooks, clerks) and people with cramped quarters (pilots, tankers)

the problem was the military didn't bite so they started marketing towards law enforcement and civilian market

[Komitadjie]

Be really careful trying to reload it, Dingo. It can be done, but apparently it is a VERY sensitive round with regard to variation in powder charge. Unless you feel very confident in your practices and routinely scale your pistol loads down to a tenth-grain, it's probably better not to.

YMMV, of course, I'm only parroting what I've heard and the entries in my loading manual on the topic. I really wish the ammo was more available, along with a few better projectile options. I'd really like to see that cartridge be able to perform like it should, without the politicos getting in the way again!

[McGyver]

I've never shot one, never handled one, never even seen one up close (within drooling range) but I did see a guy shooting one 2 lanes over from me at a range one day. 2 liter bottles at 200 yards were easy hits for this guy. I can't think of any other pistol that can come close. I would imagine it would take many hundreds of rounds to develop that kind of proficiency as well, maybe thousands. But considering that this guy was driving a car with a little pony on a yellow sheild on the hood, I think his ammo budget was a bit better off than mine.

[FriskyDingo]

Be really careful trying to reload it, Dingo. It can be done, but apparently it is a VERY sensitive round with regard to variation in powder charge. Unless you feel very confident in your practices and routinely scale your pistol loads down to a tenth-grain, it's probably better not to.

YMMV, of course, I'm only parroting what I've heard and the entries in my loading manual on the topic. I really wish the ammo was more available, along with a few better projectile options. I'd really like to see that cartridge be able to perform like it should, without the politicos getting in the way again!

Yeah that's about what I've heard, the round is super sensitive to pressure changes and whatnot. I've only JUST started reloading and don't even really know where to get 5.7 dies, let alone a good recipie to cook up some 5.7 ammunition.

More research needed.

[Komitadjie]

Dies are available from several manufacturers, I've seen RCBS ones down at our local shop, actually. It uses standard .224 projectiles, despite the 5.7mm designation, which are very widely available.

If you are VERY careful and very consistent, it's entirely possible. Weigh each charge to within a tenth-grain, and start at the low end of the load table for sure. Also, watch your seating depth closely. The specific projectile involved is also important with regard to bearing area, etc. Again, as long as you are consistent, you should be able to do it.

It's just not a nice, forgiving round like a .38 or .45.