PS90 Pretty Fun

[barnbwt]

Now, if I could just go and buy the rounds at that price, perhaps. Having to wait days and compete with a bunch of imbeciles directly just to buy a commodity rubs me the wrong way . It's like shopping at an outdoor market in Tangier full of shovey, unwashed jerks who keep trying to cut in line

"Five-point-seven for sale! Free sheep with purchase!"

TCB

 

[Trent]

Why buy 1 when a dozen will do?

 

[Welding Rod]

Who said I only bought one?

Nice collection there!

 

[Trent]

Who said I only bought one?

Nice collection there!

LOL I was just messing with you. The photo is real, from when I first stocked PS90's in my gun shop back in 2008. Unfortunately, they didn't sell as well as I was hoping, and the change in the US/Euro price point meant that when I *did* sell them I had to sell them at a loss.

I sold 4, and when I moved and closed down the shop in 2009, I kept 8 of them. 2 for me (one tri rail one 2nd gen optics), one for my wife, and one for each of my five kids.

Figured "what the heck", I'd already spent the money. Rather enjoy them than sell them for a loss. Figure they'll come back up in price someday and my kids might need the gas money after I kick them out of the nest.

 

[Trent]

Also; they are GREAT shooting guns. Try it out sometime at 200 yards. Put the dot at the top of the black on an NRA 200 yard smallbore target and they drop right in to the middle.

Also gotta aim a smidge left to compensate for spin drift. (I found both of those out after shooting this group)



That was shot prone, BTW.

They'll definitely get the lead to the right place out to 200.

300 yards is a bit of a stretch though. They start dropping like sputnik somewhere between 200 and 300.

 

[4thPointOfContact]

Well, it is designed as a PDW and meant to replace a 9mm pistol or sub-gun for military users. Anyone over 200meters away you're supposed to be running away from, not engaging. Most 9mm subguns top out at around 100-150 meters, so a P/PS90 looks pretty good in comparison.

 

[Welding Rod]

I already shot mine at 200. I wanted to see if I might use it at our next high power event for fun. My results were almost as good as yours. I was having a bit of a time though with the 3.5 MOA red dot, which also happens to be very bright. It is the factory FN / C-Moore sight. I like the sight, just not the hot ticket at 200 where it covers much of the target.

Just for fun, I plan to shoot one at 200 with a 14x scope to see what kind of mechanical accuracy it is capable of.

I am rapidly coming to enjoy shooting the 5.7 simply because it ISN'T reload friendly. I am so tired of loading ammo for the matches I shoot in. With the 5.7 I just shoot factory ammo that I have no intention of reloading. I really like that. When bought by the case it really doesn't seem that expensive when considering I am putting Hornady V-max bullets down range rather than a cheap fmj... And I am saving hours at reloading bench.

I put 450 rounds of SS197SR 5.7 down range in the last 2 weeks or so, no malfunctions and it seems quite accurate both in the PS90 and Five Seven pistol.

 

[Welding Rod]

Palmetto State Armory - $23.99 a box for SS197 in stock now: http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/catalog/product/view/id/59/category/47/

Shot the PS90 / factory red dot combo in a high power match today. Course was shot on reduced targets (SR1) at 100 yards. Course of fire was 10 rounds slow fire prone, 10 rounds rapid fire prone, 10 rounds rapid fire sitting, and 10 rounds slow fire off hand. All was done without a sling... which is quite uncommon in HP matches, but I couldn't figure a way to really use one to any benefit with the PS design.

I shot a 368-5X / 400. I'll take it. I could have probably done a little better but I have the sight zero'd at 200 yards so I had to hold the dot off (low) which probably cost me some points. I had planned to shoot the PS in the 200 yard Garand event and decided at the last minute to shoot it in the 100 yard bolt action event instead, and shot a Mini 14 I inherited in the Garand event.

Anyhow it was a good time. Due to the ergonomics of the PS, I found I could rest my left elbow on top of my gun belt when shooting off hand which was pretty nice.

 

[Welding Rod]

I fired both my PS90s a day or two ago at 50 yards. Ammo was SS197SR. Gun stocks were sand bagged on a secure bench. One wore the factory FN / C-Moore red dot sight (which I like quite a bit for its auto intensity setting) with the mount screws Loc-Tited, the other had the factory rail (irons zeroed and screws verified for tightness) with a Leupold MKIV 4.5-14x scope, adjusted for no parallax at 50 yards.

My results with the PS90s was essentially the same with both guns. Five shot groups at 50 yards went about 1.4 to 1.75 inches, with an average of about group size of about 1.6", or approximately 3.2 MOA.

I think think this is acceptable for these guns given the short ranges at which there terminal ballistics make them suitable.

I am very confident I am shooting extremely close to the mechanical accuracy capabilities on the guns.

I would like to try some 198 ammo for comparison.

Thought someone might be interested.

 

[gbran]

 

[Trent]

I fired both my PS90s a day or two ago at 50 yards. Ammo was SS197SR. Gun stocks were sand bagged on a secure bench. One wore the factory FN / C-Moore red dot sight (which I like quite a bit for its auto intensity setting) with the mount screws Loc-Tited, the other had the factory rail (irons zeroed and screws verified for tightness) with a Leupold MKIV 4.5-14x scope, adjusted for no parallax at 50 yards.

My results with the PS90s was essentially the same with both guns. Five shot groups at 50 yards went about 1.4 to 1.75 inches, with an average of about group size of about 1.6", or approximately 3.2 MOA.

I think think this is acceptable for these guns given the short ranges at which there terminal ballistics make them suitable.

I am very confident I am shooting extremely close to the mechanical accuracy capabilities on the guns.

I would like to try some 198 ammo for comparison.

Thought someone might be interested.

Try again with AE. My experience has been that it's slightly more accurate in the PS90.

Last match I shot at 200 yards with the PS90, I held a sub 5" group. Given I was shooting prone without any hope of using a sling or bipod , I probably induced a little error in to there. Would say that AE is good for sub 2 MOA, at least out to 200 yards.

 

[Trent]

Factory ammo reference groups @ 50 yards (baseline comparisons for my own load development)



Another 197SR session where the ammo just didn't group for crap.



AE has some higher velocity spread than 197SR but that really doesn't seem to affect things until > 200 yds; then they begin stringing out pretty good.

Overall AE will cluster much tighter than 197SR. I'm pretty sure this is partly due to FN *gluing* the frigging 197SR 40 grain projectiles in place, whereas AE doesn't.

Some of the velocity spread of AE is due to bullet setback on chambering, BTW. Since the projectiles aren't glued in to place and the nose is somewhat rounder than 197, I *have* had the occasional jam where bullets are set back severely. I'm pretty sure that they get set back to varying degrees when they do NOT jam, too, based on very inconsistent chrono readings during testing.

(I don't like AE but you can't argue with the way it shoots, when it actually DOES shoot, and doesn't jam the action up.)

 

[Welding Rod]

Thanks for the tip Trent, I'll try the AE.

 

[Trent]

If they used a pointier tip bullet for that AE ammo it'd be just about perfect. You'll see when you get it; the noses are pretty rounded, for FMJ. Not "pinprick" pointy like the 197SR Hornady v-max pills.

I'm still trying to find the 'penultimate' accuracy handload, trials will continue this fall with some new powders.

 

[Welding Rod]

These things are really easy to shoot. I won our carbine match today at 50 yards. Course of fire was 5 rounds standing, 5 kneeling, reload, 10 prone. All in 60 seconds total. Perform that sequence twice. Score was 193-10V / 200.

Prone is super easy as the front fore grip rests on the left hand, and the hand on the ground. Hard to get more stable that that... Even if you had a sling. Easy to shoot kneeling and standing too.

I love the FN/Cmore STS red dot, which evidently is going out of production. The field of view is incredible and the auto adjust intensity always seems right.


Edit: whoops, just realized I already reported the part below in a previous post...

I also had the high score in our 100 yard bolt action side match 2 weeks ago with the PS90, which was shot in a regular high power format, just on a short course and only 10 rounds for the slow prone. Did a 368-5X / 400. There was only 5 shooters in that event though and everyone just completed the 50 round 200 yard Garand main event so everyone's offhand arm was tired... Except mine... I shot a Mini 14 which of corse didn't count for record score but it was fun and had the side benefit of keeping my arm fresh. Of course the PS90 didn't count for record score either, but again it was quite fun to shoot and it holds its own.

 

[barnbwt]

Man, I really need to get one of these...stupid fuel pump . Seeing as these guns are apparently quite suited to competition, it begs the question; why don't we see more of them?

TCB