Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 5.7 X 28...thinking about it

What say you?

I am seriously considering getting this caliber up and running. I reload and know of its quirks but I am fine with it.

Pistols I am considering are the ruger and the psa offerings.

Yes, its going to be carried.

Nothing against the FN it is just to expensive for what it is. If it was cheaper then heck yeah.

I am more than likely going to end up with one....just curious about others interests.

Would you consider this caliber, why and why not?

Very flat shooting, but the ammo is too damned expensive..

Smith & Wesson also has a 5.7 out now. You might check that out too.

I've had a 5.7 FN for several years now. As a hand loader of some 64 yrs. experience, I didn't think it would be very tough to load as long as I went slowly and carefully. I gave up after learning a few things. First of all, when you fire factory ammo, the case shoulder moves forward alot. Not good for a very fussy, high pressure load. The loading data warns you to increase loads .1 of a grain at a time. It really does go critical very quickly.
Factory 27 gr. ammo doesn't shoot anywhere near the zero for the much more common 40 gr. stuff.
That's the bad side. One the good side, I can shoot my FN much better than anything else I have shot in that weight range. It is a very powerful, deadly load. Even the 40 gr. stuff which "only" clocks 1740 fps. blows up my 2.5 gal. water jugs quite well. The 27 gr. ammo is even better. It clocks almost 2100 fps. Recoil really is 40% of the 9mm's recoil.
I really like mine. E

Thank you Montana I forgot about that.
That makes 3 to look at.

Oheremicus,

When things did go right how much life could you get out of a piece of brass?

I am only going to load 35 to 40 grain bullets with mid range powder drops.

I have a Ruger 5.7 and a select-fire P90. I use them both for hunting down vermin at night.

You have to push the shoulder back since both of those guns use a rinky-dink floating barrel setup to "sort-of" delay the action opening. It doesn't work very well, hence the shoulder blowing forward.
It appears the Smith and Wesson may be a real locked breach setup, but I don't have one yet, and that might eliminate the premature case backing up problem.

The cases also have some sort of lacquer coating on them to ease extraction. When I size the cases, regardless of lube, some of that coating gets stripped off, but loaded rounds still function fine with the partial missing coating. I haven't tried reloading them more than once, since a lot of the coating will be gone on the second sizing.

Tony

Fun to shoot. I recently picked up a Ruger 57. Low recoil. Accurate. Other than ammo prices right now, what’s not to like?

Definitely a hot number. Wear some hearing protection.

Thank you to all who are offering advice.

Yes, Tony, I have read about the "coating" and its purpose and how it is needed. I have also read about the blow back system and how case stretch is a big issue if you want to reload for it.
Did you have to trim every time you sized or just initially on the first go around?
I understand every weapon is a universe unto itself so one may cause more or less brass prep than another of the same make.

I hope the Smith offering will be of a locked breach.


BSA, I hear you on ammo cost hence the attempt to reload.

I haven't needed to trim the cases. The first thing I did before loading anything, was make a cartridge gauge so I knew where the shoulder needed to be pushed back to.
Then I just set the size die up so the cases were in the same position in the gauge as the factory ammo. I used a depth mic on the gauge to get it dead-on.

A little trivia for you....the 5.7x28 is the only cartridge that I know of that can be chambered by using two common drill bits. Punch a 1/4" hole first which is the neck size, then come in behind it with a 5/16" bit for the body.

You never know when you might be in a survival situation and really need that tidbit of knowledge.

Tony

I want the Smith. Started looking today.

Are they out yet? It looks like it would be pretty sweet.

Don't forget the $100 rebate

https://www.swrebates.com/SW/#/home

Thank you Tony, that is the route I will go with a gauge go/no go. Did not think of that.
And that "tid bit" is way cool on the drill bits.

I read and watched vids on the Smith and it referred to it as a "tempo" (hope i got that right) gas system.

It has a port in the barrel and the barrel has baffles/fins machined into it.
The barrel is covered by a shroud and as the gas fills the shroud the barrel turns on its axis. If you are familiar with the berretta PX4 partial rotating barrel design then you have the concept used by Smith....to a point.

This will be a definite purchase.

Comparing to the FN, Ruger and PSA they are ALL blow back....the Smith is not, and looks to be brass friendly.

Has anyone seen the m&p in stock anywhere?

That’s good to know and pretty cool.

Gunbroker is the only place I’ve seen one.

picked up the Ruger last fall and also got the reloading dies for it....plus picked up some brass to load for it...

then its winter and it hasn't even been shot. or reloaded for...

When I saw how much the shoulder moved forward after firing and learned just how touchy they are to even .1 a grain increase in powder, I quit trying to load them. The case length issue is enough to cause a head separation with even a milder load.
And, too, the milder loads shoot 5-6 inches below the full power ones. E