Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles 5.7x28

anybody reload the 5.7?
getting an upper with a new purchase along with 1500 brass and bullets. mostly 40g bullets.
there is minimal info in the lyman 49th with the same "it's hard to load" theme.
any first hand info will welcome.(can't spell appreciated )
the upper is an AR57 and has a 16 inch barrel.
thanks in advance for info
tom

Ramshot has online data.

Let us know how the AR57 shoots, I've been curious about them, too.

I wasn't aware that new brass was availiable for the 5.7X28. Is this once fired brass ?
If it is, be aware that the shoulder of such brass may well be blown out quite abit. When I compared the fired brass from my FN pistol, I was really surprised by how much the shoulder had moved forward. On the order of .25 inches or more.
I have not reloaded the round for a rifle. In my handgun, using new brass from factory ammo, I was able to get some really accurate loads. Without going anywhere near maximum pressures using Ramshot Data, and Sierra 40 gr. Hornet bullets, I got far more penetration than either of the FN factory loads, but not as much explosive effect. E

yes Oheemicus, it is once fired I assume. I let myself go wild and bought off of gunbroker. got a 458 socom and an ar57 upper with a billet lower and tons of extra's including the 5.7 brass. the 57 upper is 16 inch and is going to be a learning experience. from what I can gather it is not something you want to slap together. with 1500 brass to load I think it will be a long winter project.
I had never really paid attention to the 57 but I always liked the hornet for ground squirrels and think this will be fun for that.
I bought the package really for the 458 socom. being a 45-70 nut I really like the 458 socom. have never really liked the AR platform until just lately. might have been late 60's experience that had me disliking it.
will post my attempts with the 5.7.

I am reluctant the reload my empties because of the potential for a head separation.
On the other hand, it comes in a really accurate, and very light pistol. And, as I've said, alot more impressive in performance than I thought it would be. If you want explosive effect, use the V-Max bullets. If it's penetration you want, use the hornet soft points. With the right loads, she'll group under .5 inches at 15 yds.
Saw one for sale yesterday, hardly used, like new, $1400.
I suspect you'll have alot of fun with your new setup. E

if that movement, scares you, and I listened to it, I'd likely have never loaded 95% of the surplus brass I bought in other rounds over the years.

check the brass iwth a feeler, and size it only to the chamber this time.

Could be the same with brand new brass if you had some, with a sloppy chamber....

because the fiveseveN pistol is blow back design the cartridge is partially ejected while under high pressure. this is what causes the stretching from all I have been able to read on the gun. continual setting back of the shoulder will weaken the shoulder area and cause splits but head separation is only likely after several loadings. from what I have read 2 to 3 loadings are common with some intrepid souls going many more. the reason that FN put the coating on their shells was to delay the ejection until pressures drop thereby mitigating the stretch in the short guns.
going to be interesting reloading with a whole set of new rules.

I have one of the 22 TCM pistols. It is similar to the 5.7x28 but runs in a 1911, with a locked breech. I would be fun in a light carbine.

continual stretching and sizing is what happens to any FL sized and fired round, just to different degrees.

Not that I have one or read about them, but I'd find it hard to believe you could not get a few loadings out of a round.

If you couldn't, the round would not work for my uses. Only factory ammo I've shot in many years have been shotgun and rimfire.

yeah, I would think a partial FL resize would work on it the same as anything else. Check the head space on a fired case, then set the sizer die so it only bumps the shoulder back .001-.002", and you should be good.

Rost and tex I think you are right though from my reading on this round in the pistol no one has addressed the partial resize. I find that strange as it has been a standard practice forever. like I said I bought the package for the 458 socom but am really looking forward to the 5.7 challenge.
I had a 32-20 once that I had to play with the shoulder setback (if you can call it a shoulder on the 32-20). I guess this is what makes reloading fun after 50 years, something new.

The 5.7 is a fun little round. I have reloaded (550B) over 1K and never got the 'hard to reload' comments. And its comical to hear the non-owners call it nearly identical to the 22WMR. Buy your brass for a reputable online source. I would not buy from Gunbroker since you really do not know the number of firings, however, I have sold 5.7 brass once on GB properly listed with the number of firing (4-5) and regardless, it sold fast. I limit pistol firings to 4 or 5 but I would think the rifle platform would offer a few more

fivesevenforum.com has lots of good information with several 'stickies' to read.

What is the velocity of the 31 grain bullets?

Rost, I've loaded lots of once fired brass as well. That includes some semi auto rifles like those made by Remington, Browning and a Colt AR-15. I've never seen the shoulder of a case blown out that much.
That and the fact that the facory ammo is loaded pretty light. And then the Accurate Arms/Ramshot data for this round is very clear that this round goes critical very easily. Ever see any data that advises one to increase one's loads by .1 of grain at a time ? I've seen data that said to sure and use exactly the components exactly as listed, but not anything like increasing powder charges at .1 grain intervals. They also have much different data listed for the longer bullets of the same weight.
I've been reloading ammo since 1958. I've never blown up a gun or even damaged one with reloads. This round, however, makes me very cautious because I've known lots who weren't very cautious. E

Ive a bit of loading too, under my belt.

Stretching can be controlled, its not voodoo or even rocket science. YOu learn that going through so many ARs and rounds a year, at one point wiht another family we were involved in a number of ARs and making sure that they all ran right and all loaded ammo was around 100K rounds a year...

In a small case, the ONLY way I'll increase powder is .1 at a time.

in 223 the ONLY way I'll increase is .2 at a time.

YMMV, I'm comfortable with whats worked for us for years and won for years and with zero of the so called blow ups or damaged guns.

heck I've even had some ammo piezo pressure tested due to concerns, to find it was just fine for what it was....

I would not be scare of a 5.7 either. I don't have a use for one, but would not bother me.

You have to understand a LOT of things in loading though, length of bullet, length of bearing surface, rifling you are using, any coatings, case capacity, chamber, ogive, lead angle and so on...

Folks that don't pay attention and substitute components on the fly can be asking for trouble if they are not backing off each time they change anything, including a primer etc....

isn't the 22 magnum about the same velocity? Why not one of those keltec PMR30's?

5.7 is a fair amount faster and with better bullets. Better yet, get both.

this is the kind of info I was looking for when I started this post. especially first hand knowledge.
like I said I started reloading 50+ years ago with the 45-70
and I will be the first to admit I have only scratched the ballistic surface. I haven't fired a factory round in 30 years(except 22 and hornady leverevolution).
I have joined the 5.7 forum and there is a lot of good info there.
I am so looking forward to working on this round along with the 458 socom. both are new to me though I have been working with the 458 for 3 months. new cartridges mean a new firearm! love the way that works.
the comparison to 22wm falls apart because of bullets. a better ballistic comparison is the 22 k hornet. no slouch there for vermin and varmints, 2 and 4 legged.
cant wait for it to get here. uppers coming to the house ups so I can drop the 57 on a lower and get rolling before the new lower arrives.
the 1500 brass coming with it are 1 fired and not cleaned so the coating should be good. I have a length gauge so that will be the first check.
enough rambling tonight. just got in from fishing high mtn stream for brookies and am pumped. probably caught 50 and kept 30. biggest was 10.5 inches. what a rush. time to go fry some
tom

Hey Jeff, long time......
Damn, 41k posts, when I invited you here years ago I never figured it'd turn into a full time life job for you:-)

This thread caught my eye. I don't reload but I had an "experience" with my FiveSeven and some handloads I purchased during the ammo shortage a few years back. I'd recently purchased this gun and couldn't buy a round for it. I walked in a pretty good shop and they had a, as in one, box of 5.7x28mm handload's on the shelf.
I scarfed them right up and headed out to shoot my new gun in.....

Well, 6 rounds later here's what I had.




So anyway, after a little clean-up, you know, blood, underwear, shells, all the pieces of what use to be my new over priced handgun, I put it all in a bag and headed to a very good reload shop I know of. We took some of the un-used rounds apart and found them to considerably vary in powder weight. Nothing was "hot" but they just had too wide of a weight range according to the professional guy doing the weighing. We'll never know what was in the round that destroyed my gun but no one questioned the problem was ammo failure. I do know that the first five rounds were not ejecting properly, not a clue as to why they weren't but the sixth round was the magic one.

So back to the "good" shop I'd purchased the reloads from to have a little talk. He took one look at what was left of my FiveSeven and took full responsibility of replacement of the gun and laser, it was a good shop with a responsible owner. He didn't buy me a new one gun, he shipped it back to FN and bless their soul's they replaced it.

Now I don't have ANY experience nor opinion when it comes to reloading these rounds..but FN did. Included with my brand new replacement gun was a letter, a very explicit letter regarding their opinion of reloaded rounds in this gun...Just to keep it short, I'll say they didn't think it was the best idea.

So - you bought someone else's handloads and fired them in your gun? That violates one of the primary rules about ammunition - don't use someone else's handloads.

I frequently see people selling their reloads, or grampa's reloads they found in the attic, and am always amazed when people buy it. IMO it's absolutely foolish to buy stuff like that, but you know that now of course.

All of that has nothing to do with the 5.7 caliber; any reloaded round can be dangerous.