FN FiveSeveN...not just for the King's Men anymore

[Marko Kloos]

Interesting. The slide rides on just one rail in the center, right? Any play? Had it apart yet?

Is it a rimfire or something we'll be able to handload for someday?

Like any self-respecting male, I've had it apart not a minute after taking it out of the box at home. The slide rides on a big center rail above the dust shield and two smaller rails at the rear corners of the frame. I've attached a picture of the field-stripped slide and barrel for anyone who's interested.

It's a centerfire, and reloadable, from what I hear.

 

[krept]

Is the front sight big because it was intended to be used with a can? I imagine with the small bore, it would be very quiet if you can get it subsonic and reliable.

 

[NMshooter]

I received a "warning" email about these, because as we all know now that they are available the streets will run with blood as hapless kevlar vests everywhere are turned into swiss cheese.

I hope you get more out of it than I got out of my Grendel P-30.

 

[geekWithA.45]

Nice gun!

The grip angle strikes me as rather severe and 90 degreesish. Did it take any getting used to?

 

[Wedge]

Nice!

Wish I had more money...I need to get the standard fare before I can start getting exotics

 

[Dan Forrester]

From alduro’s profile: “Occupation: Police Stuffâ€.

I think that’s pretty self explanatory. And yes, that was meant to be anti LE.

Dan

 

[orangeninja]

Don't get me wrong...there is lots of stuff that will penetrate body armor and be a hell of a lot more effective at it. SKS is such a weapon, HOWEVER the FN is the only one I know of that is ADVERTISING that it will penetrate body armor.

Personally, I believe FN is just asking to be sued by a dead cops wife. I am pro 2nd amendment, but advertising body armor piercing rounds as being a selling point is a little irresponsible.

Pro gun crowds have to be a little more politically savy if we wish to maintain the RKBA. Advertising cop killers just throws fuel on the fire.

Dark Tranquility:
we'll see how anti-LE you are next time your house gets robbed, car jacked, you get beat down, whatever.

 

[Kevlarman]

we'll see how anti-LE you are next time your house gets robbed, car jacked, you get beat down, whatever.

Not to be flaming or whatever, but are you insinuating that LE will be there to prevent the above said crimes 24/7? I'm sure we all know the average response times to 911.

But to get back on topic, that seriously is a sweet gun! Been in my dreams ever since I heard about them a few years ago. Do they make airsoft versions of these?

 

[Marko Kloos]

HOWEVER the FN is the only one I know of that is ADVERTISING that it will penetrate body armor.

Yep, they're advertising it as armor-piercing...to police agencies. The SS190 armor-piercing ammo is highly restricted. FN won't even sell it to individual officers, only to agencies on letterhead. The civilain-legal SS192 hollow-point ammo is classified by the ATF as non-armor piercing, because it lacks the steel core of the SS190. FN doesn't market the FiveseveN to civilians at all...they'd rather only sell to LE and military. They've merely conceded that it's legal if distributors ship FiveseveNs to dealers who sell them to regular citizens, but they won't sell them to Joe Sixpack directly.

On a side note, I still find it highly irksome that it's taken for granted that this weapon and the associated SS190 AP ammo should be "police only". Why does LE need a weapon that can punch through vests? Presumably because crooks are getting more high-tech and often wear body armor these days.

Well, lawks-a-lawdy, do criminals prey on police exclusively? Do they only hold up patrol officers on their beat? Do they only break into police stations? Do they only rob banks belonging to LE credit unions?

 

[Quintin Likely]

Back to the matter at hand, have you shot it yet, Marko? I've read that the muzzle report is akin to lighting off a .223; that's reason enough for it to be cool.

 

[Marko Kloos]

Nope...still waiting for ammo. It should be here Monday or Tuesday...seven boxes of SS192. I'll be hitting the range as soon as I have the ammo in my hands.

 

[GreenFurniture]

We've got some on the way and will keep a nice supply on hand!

Of course we're going to keep a hearty supply on hand because I'm looking for a P90 for demo.

 

[Gordon]

How heavy is the .22 bullet? How fast does it go? OOther than high cap , how does the performance differ from a .22 jet? Come back and see me when you get muzzle velocities above 2500fps! Oh wait my Ruger .17HMR single six hunter does that!

 

[Dees]

From what I've read, it fires a 31 grain bullet at 2100-2200 FPS.

 

[stevelyn]

I bet the 5.7 cartridge would make an interesting furbearer/varmint round loaded with Hornady V-Max or Speer TNT bullets and stuffed into a T/C Contender.

 

[beerslurpy]

JackDRipper thats not entirely accurate. Some guy on AR15.com used an old vest with some wet phonebooks in the middle and the regular pistol rounds (didnt test 7.62 tok) all got stopped while the 5.7 went right through and yawed.

I would bet a 7.62 tok case reloaded with AK rifle bullets would penetrate well tho. I think the round nose bullets just arent pointy enough to get through a soft vest.

 

[mini14jac]

I started drooling over the handgun and the carbine as soon as I read about them.
At the time, I didn't really think the ban would ever end.
[fist pumping] Yes![/fist pumping]

Whoopee! Load me up with 20 rd pistol mags, and 50rd carbine mags.

Get out and shoot that bad boy as soon as you get some ammo.

It may not be a "handsome" gun, but it sure looks a lot better without the goofy Euro trigger guard.

 

[Dave R]

From what I've read, it fires a 31 grain bullet at 2100-2200 FPS.

So...basically a .22 Hornet in a handgun, eh?

 

[Obiwan]

Yeah....a 20 shot .22 mag

Who wouldn't want one????

A local shop has them for $800 w/ 2 mags

 

[Dees]

Have you had a chance to fire this one yet?

 

[albanian]

"9mm ------ 3 1/2"
7.5x28 ----3 3/8""

Just like I have been saying, the 9mm is an awsome penetrator. With good JHPs, it is a good expander that would wreck havoc on flesh. I think 9mm is more versitile than .45acp but I wouldn't want to be hit with either.

The Tok round is all penetration and no expansion with ball ammo. I wouldn't want to stand behind a 1/4" steel plate when someone was shooting a CZ-52 at me because you never know if it is going to go through or not. I shot an old electric iron with the CZ-52 and it went right through it in some places. The point is thinner than the base so it would go through at the top but not the bottom. When you hit the same spot twice, it would go though.

The FN round would be great if you had to shoot through a car door or lightly built wall. I can see a use for it in the police or military. I think we should be allowed to own it but I can't see where I would want that much penetration in a pistol.

 

[KMKeller]

I had a chance to put 20 rounds through one of the early models of this weapon today. This one had the double loop trigger guard. I have to say I was pretty impressed. The weapon has negligible recoil and comes back to target remarkably fast. Firing a tight rapid fire group was as easy as it was with a .22, except with a much bigger bang. Sweet.

Marko, I think you'll like it. Were I not saving for a reloading setup, I'd run down and pick one up today.

 

[Fed168]

Second what Keller said. Recoil was almost minimal, although surprisingly quite loud.

My bug on it is the front sight. They could make it a tad thinner than it is.

 

[Obiwan]

Paging Mr. Kloos......

Gawrsh...I hope the muzzle blast didn't toss him into another dimension

How did it SHOOT man????

 

[Marko Kloos]

Heck, I don't know.

I returned the FiveseveN two weeks ago, before my ammo even got here. I really like the gun, but I couldn't live with its unfortunate tendency to disengage the magazine when the slide went into battery. The magazine would drop out of the magwell about a 1/4 inch, and the magazine disconnect would disable the trigger. It didn't do it every time, but it did it pretty reliably one or two times out of five.

It may not have done this trick with a cartridge buffering the impact, but I didn't want to wager $830 on that.