Thoughts on the Five-seveN (FN7)?

[jstep]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-seveN

Shoots a 5.7 x 28mm rifle style round

The round is supposed to be lighter than a 9mm with about half the recoil. In wide use by the US Secret Service, CIA, FBI, British Special Forces and other military/tactical groups.

Interesting handgun no doubt.

[The Pilgrim]

I kind of think they're interesting, if just to be different. Thay say the recoil is very light, plus it has the 20 round magazine. I'd have to move to one of the forty-nine states where they aren't banned to buy one, though.

[jstep]

Wonder how accurate it is...you'd think it'd be more accurate.

[jhgreasemonkey]

I want to try one but they dont allow them in my local indoor shooting range and I dont know anyone that has one. I guess the penetration and possible richocette from the high velocity is why they dont allow them at the range??

[HorseSoldier]

I know a couple guys who have then and think highly of them as range guns. Recoil is supposed to be minimal, accuracy is supposed to be good as well.

I've thought about giving one a shot, my main reservation being simply that I have not had a chance to shoot one yet, and it's kind of a hefty investment on a "maybe" kind of gun. Might really like it, but $900-ish plus scarce/relatively expensive ammo is keeping me from taking the plunge to date.

Lot of debate on its terminal ballistics as far as self-defense use goes (run a search here and you'll find some of them). There are those who think it does the job nicely and those who think it doesn't. My personal take is that I'd like to see some more real world data before making a call on that aspect of the weapon.

I want to try one but they dont allow them in my local indoor shooting range and I dont know anyone that has one. I guess the penetration and possible richocette from the high velocity is why they dont allow them at the range??

Probably worried about damage to their backstop material, either legitimately or because the Five-Seven shoots "armor piercing" bullets (but not if you're a civilian . . .).

[BigJimP]

I've shot one that belonged to a friend - but I was not too impressed with it. But I really prefer a 5" 1911 style gun. The FN was reasonably accurate. The deal killer to me is the cost of the ammunition - and it makes it really expensive to just play with at the range - when a good high end 9mm is probably more fun to shoot.

[RSublime4Life]

Hows the recoil?

[newerguy]

I don't expect so see any information on exactly how the Secret Service or and special ops. folks deploy the 5.7, but I'd guess that it's in submachine guns, fielded by a portion of a team that also has other weapons. One 5.7mm hit probably doesn't match one 9mm, .40, or 357 SIG hit. Four 5.7mm hits probably top one pistol round. if you've got a guy in body armor, the 5.7mm probably beats other pistol rounds. If you have a team shooting at a threat, and you have two guys shooting .357 SIGs, and one guy with ammor peircing 5.7mm ammo, all of your bases are covered. That said, if you said this thing beats a .22 Magnum by 25%, I'd be currious to see how it performs in a regular jacketed configuration. I'm not sure velociy beats weight, but if you're getting close to 2,000 fps with a 33 gr. bullet, I don't know. That's a lot of velocity.

[MDman]

first off ive never shot one and this is from what ive herd or read. the recoil is supose to be comperable to a .22 and acuracy is supose to be great. However their not supose to be great stopers because of the small bullet. although i have seen some good videos (discovery channel I think) on what happens to a big piece of meat when it gets shot.

[OldShooter]

If you are looking for an inexpensive small bore handgun with a high velocity round, there's always the CZ52, 7.62x25 at 1600 fps, $139 at various dealers.

[ShipWreck]

You can get extensions and have 30 round mags for the gun. That's pretty kewl.

I have a PS90- and I love it. And, with ammo prices increasing - AR15 ammo is now about the same cost as ammo for the PS90 (assuming U buy the ammo online).

Anyway - I can justify the costs for a rifle. While I wouldn't mind the handgun. The ammo costs, when compared to what I pay for 9mm, is just WAY too great.

But, we have some Five Seven owners at our PS90 site, if ya wanna come ask some of them any questions.

I suppose if the Five Seven was around the $500 mark, I'd probably have one already. But at its price point, its just too much for me.

[ledavatar]

I've heard much about the FN Five-Seven and loved everything about it, until I handled one in a gunshop. I don't get the point of the polymer coating on the slide - it felt like a cheap plastic toy gun, and the grips are way too wide. It felt like I was handling a doublestack Para Warthog or HK Mark 23. If you have small hands and feel uncomfortable with big grip frames then you may not like this gun.

BTW I was told that handgun is one of the few ones banned in NYC.

[chrisandclauida2]

this round in its as designed form is an answer to one question. the p 90 and 5-7 were designed as personal defence weapons for non front line troops. [i think the hand gun is an after thought] it is a small weapon that can be worn all the time that will defeat body armor at 200 yards. it does this perfectly.

the civilian ammo leaves much to be desired. i think that it basically makes it a cool but expensive combo. if the military ammo was available i would seriously consider buying but now I'm on the fence. i love the design of the p-90 but without the original ammo it is kinda underpowered

[old_ironsights]

IMNSHO, buying a CZ-52 or Tokarev in 7.625x25 and using surplus ammo is a viable alternative (and a hellva lot cheaper).

85 gr @ 1544fsp, effective range of 175-200m for the 7.62x25
vs.
32 gr @ 2350fps, effective range of 200m for the 5.7x28

[OldShooter]

Nice looking grips on the CZ. Mine is dark blued with the original grips and a Hogue slip on I added. Fun at little expense.

I haven't held an FN but it looks large for it's caliber

[Jason_G]

It would be a fun plinking pistol and I'd love to have one as a toy, but to be honest, I'm not so sure I would trust it for SD or HD. The velocity is great, but man that sure is a little bullet... I just don't know how comfortable I'd be with it for protection. I dunno....

Jason

[Sturmgewehre]

I have one and it's an impressive pistol.

It's very accurate and the recoil is something like a .22 Mag. It's VERY light fully loaded with 20 rounds, it feels empty. It's also quite well made.

[Travis Beck]

I shot a rented Five-SeveN today at my local range. The ammo was $24 for 50 rounds, but what the hell, I wanted to play. I did the shooting at 25 yards (they make you use the rifle range with this baby because of what the ammo does to the pistol backstop) from a seated, more or less supported position. Ammo was the 40-grain polymer-tipped bullet.

Recoil is not bad. The muzzle flash, however, is rather distracting at first. Accuracy was pretty good. Head shots and center-of-mass on a standard silly target were pretty easy to make. I think I only had three flyers out of fifty rounds (although I did manage to shoot the metal clip off the target rod. I haven't done that in years but I was getting cute with head shots at 25 yards.)

Overall impression: It's a fun toy. I'm not exactly sure what the proper role for the pistol is and I'm sure not gonna drop a grand on one. But I don't regret the rental expense, either.

[Sturmgewehre]

Travis, most range operators/owners are completely ignorant about the ballistics of the 5.7x28mm round. It doesn't do any more damage to the backstop than any other round. Hell, it does far LESS than than most and certainly far less than a .44 Mag, .50 AE, .454, .460, or even .357 mag.

It does about the same damage to a backstop as a .22 Mag actually, or a 17HMR.

[Mike P. Wagner]

Thoughts on the Five-seveN (FN7)?

That's easy - I want one!


Mike

[44 AMP]

Expensive and not attractive looking (to me), other than just to have as a new toy, I have to ask why? Even in military trim (with ammo we are not allowed to buy) I just wonder why?

With so many people badmouthing the effectiveness of the 5.56mm fired out of a carbine, here is a smaller cased round, fired out of a pistol. I admit I am not familiar with the ballistics of the 5.7mm, but if a bigger round fired from a longer barrel isn't performing as well as desired, how can the pistol?

Penetrate vests at 200 yards? How does your average REMF manage to hit a man at 200 yards with a pistol? Pretty optimistic if you ask me.

Sorry, not the gun for me. I'll spend my money on other toys. If you want one, by all means, enjoy. Just not my thing. Now, if the pistol proved to be varmint rifle accurate, then maybe... but service pistol accurate (or a little better, no, not for me, thanks.

[Hornett]

It does about the same damage to a backstop as a .22 Mag actually, or a 17HMR.

As far as ballistics goes, it is a 22 mag. I don't mean to start a flame war or anything but I just don't "get it" when it comes to this new .22 round. It is just a bit more velocity than a 22 mag and a less than a plain 'ol .223. The bullet design is steel in the front and aluminum in the back to cause instability and more damage, but couldn't you use that bullet in a .223?

[Tomac]

I picked up one as a companion piece to my PS90's. I really like the large mag capacity, low recoil & flat trajectory (for the first time I'm getting consistent hits at 100yds w/o much holdover). I like it enough that it now serves nightstand duty.
Tomac

[Silvanus]

If the caliber is more effective than a 9mm or something similar, there is obviously a reason to use the pistol(even though nobody uses a pistol at the long ranges that are mentioned, so I guess most other calibers are just as effective). But with all the short 5.56mm carbines nowadays, I don't know why so many police and some military units want the P90. I'd like to know what they expect from the weapon and what it's purpose is.

[Sturmgewehre]

The bullet design is steel in the front and aluminum in the back to cause instability and more damage, but couldn't you use that bullet in a .223?

Just as soon as you get a .223 handgun as small and light as the FiveseveN, let us know. It was designed, with the use of restricted ammo, to defeat soft armor. As a civilian firearm, it's something of a novelty given the ammo restriction, but still a fun gun to learn about and to play with.