The .45ACP vs the FiveSeven for home defense ?

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Alan, if you think about it a moment, it makes perfect sense ; if you need to defend your family against an attack, would you rather have a little stick or a big stick ?
'nuf said
 
The 5.7 is a capable handgun for HD with either the SS192, SS195 or SS197 all of which you can buy with ease in most places. Heck it is even in stock whereas most handgun ammo is not. Prices are equal to or better than most handgun ammo these days as well.

The FiveseveN has alot going for it as a HD handgun. Reliable to a fault, easy as pie to shoot, very fast follow up shots and ballistic that will do the job. The .45 also has a ton of benefits going for it as well.

I use a 1911 for HD handgun and a PS90 with SS197s as my HD long gun. If I had my pick I would grab the PS90 without a doubt.

Ignore the talking heads calling the FiveseveN a .22 handgun, they do not know what they are talking about.
 
Ignore the ".22" guys. The 5.7 works fine. When has FN ever let us down. One of the most reliable guns out there due to how thin the round is.

It's not really fair to compare a .45 to a 5.7. Two complety different guns.

The 5.7 has its niche: Less overpenetration, round is desighned for indoor use and less chances of hitting a friendly in another room. Sure it is good at penetrating heavy clothing and even light armor, but that deosn't last for long. A couple walls or a sofa stop it dead. Very accurate, good range.

Its best to use the hollowpoints for defense and the blue tips for sporting. I believe its SS195 that is the defensive hollowpoint. Its been a while since I bought ammo for my P90.


I'd skip the 5.7 pistol because its a good choice for some instances but not as well rounded as a Glock 23 or 21sf.

Besides a PS90 with an Aimpoint in a Tros. low mount is a far better home defense gun.....er, rifle. I also use my P90 for home defense.
 
Yes the SS195 is the HP and the SS197 is the "Sporting" round. I have a C-More rail sigh ton my PS90. I had a mini ACOG on a TROS but the C-More seems to work better for me.

I agree on all of your other points.
 
I can see no benefit to the Five-seveN. It shoots a round that's about at the .22 magnum level. Its most effective loads will probably overpenetrate radically and leave small holes in your target, who is unlikely to be wearing body armor. It's ridiculously expensive, there is no cheap practice ammo for it, and it's pretty much the size of the service 1911 anyway.
 
Google .45 ACP and see why it was developed and what it was designed for.

They're all tools. Decide which one is best for your anticipated use.

I like the .45 ACP, but that's just me. Ultimately, you have to decide. Personally, I think that training and accuracy will be the most important criteria.

GB7
 
I say .45 as the 5.7 will poke a .22-size hole in your target and the wall behind him and whoever is on the other side of that wall where the 45 is slower-moving and heavier so more energy will be dumped into your target, with a bigger hole and less danger of over penetration to boot.
 
Would someone be kind enough to post a link that demonstrates how the 5.7 over penetrates, and a link to cheap .45 practice ammo. :scrutiny:
 
Compared to a 9mm Hydro shock... the blue tip 5.7x28mm (SS197SR) opens about the same amount and fragments. Get your facts straight before making a fool of yourself.. I have been studying this gun for a long time. The Lead Free round SS195LF is still available and DOES YAW inside of the target. Again.. learn before you speak.

Also.. for all you people who are afraid of this gun because of its rep...
The Five-seveN has never been used by a criminal to either confront a police officer or kill one. The Brady Campaign labeling the Five-SeveN as "cop-killer" is both irresponsible and unfounded.

Like I said before. the Five-seveN can be compared to a high powered 9mm slug with smaller entry but more devastating effect. If you want to put a hole you can stick your arm in get a .45 Talon round. If you want a gun you can have lots of fun with and know at 55 yards that your bullet is going to hit it's target... then get a five-seven.
 
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The 5.7x28 and the .45 ACP work differently.

The difference is a lot like hunting with a .30-06 vs. a .45-70. Either one will bring down big game.

One does it with a small, high-velocity bullet. The other does it with a large, low-velocity bullet.

For rifle hunting, a flat trajectory matters. For pistol self-defense, it doesn't.

I'd opt for the .45ACP for self-defense because I WANT the bullet to drop faster and penetrate fewer walls. I live in town.

However, small, fast bullets do work. It's well-proven by a century of hunting.

I am definitely someone who does not buy the "9mm is just as good as .45" line. Elk hunters will tell you that there's a marked difference between .30 caliber 150 and 180 grain bullets, even if the 180 is going slower. There's no way that a 230 grain .45 isn't a better stopper than anything you can load in a 9mm, assuming each has a similar bullet design. Just NO WAY. Too many years of people actually bringing home meat with different bullets back this up.

However, the 5.7 is a different animal from the 9mm or .45, and just like the .30-06 and the .45-70 do the same thing using different means, the 5.7 is an effective round despite its smaller size.
 
I would go with the .45ACP. But if you want a small fast bullet get a Tokarev or a CZ52 and reload with .224 55 gr. bullets @ over 2000 fps. Yes I know thay shoot 7.62x25. The .224 bullets uses a sabeth.
 
I like this guy, he speaks with knowledge. I am not trying to say a Five-seveN is better then the .45 ACP. I am just trying to tell the half of you where you are wrong in what you say about the gun. I own one and have tested it EXTENSIVELY. I love it and I would take it over a 9mm any day. The .45 ACP is by far a better people round. Even if the target has a vest on... you are breaking ribs or collar bones. I just wanted to correct the misconceptions written all over the internet by anti-gun thumb suckers.

oh and.... 5.7x28mm = .224

Good game.
 
The 5.7 deos not have overpenatration problems. In fact it lacks penetration. Some companies are loading hotter 5.7 rounds now to fix that.

Usually it has 10-13" penatration in gelatin vs. 12-14 for .45acp. Luckilly it works well on human targets because it zips right through our ribcage/sternum plenty well to reach vital orgins. This round cuts through a hard layer like a L2 vest or our sternum well but slows extremely quick in anything gooey like gelatin, or our vital guts. I find it very hard to believe, from my testing, that this round could hit center mass on someone and still have enough energy to accidentally kill anyone else.

Its a very small, light round. It loses energy very quickly. 9mm will go farther through a house like building than 5.7

Its not a replacement to .40 or .45. A fair fight would be 9mm vs 5.7.

.22 magnum:scrutiny:, yeah, uh huh, ok. You just keep on believing that. 5.56 nato also is .223. In fact 5.56 bullets can be loaded into the 5.7 case. Unfortunatly that defeats the whole point to the 5.7. and its rounds need to be light.

5.7x28mm was desighned for the p90 as a superior PDW weapon system than the HK Mp5 9mm. FN succeeded in that.
 
"I say .45 as the 5.7 will poke a .22-size hole in your target and the wall behind him and whoever is on the other side of that wall where the 45 is slower-moving and heavier so more energy will be dumped into your target, with a bigger hole and less danger of over penetration to boot."

:rolleyes:

Ah the internet myths continue.


"I can see no benefit to the Five-seveN. It shoots a round that's about at the .22 magnum level. Its most effective loads will probably overpenetrate radically and leave small holes in your target, who is unlikely to be wearing body armor. It's ridiculously expensive, there is no cheap practice ammo for it, and it's pretty much the size of the service 1911 anyway."

.22 magnum level hmmmmmm......well maybe except that's only when you compare the short barrel performance of the FiveseveN to a full length .22 Magnum rifle barrel performance.

It will not over penetrate, it will enter the body and rumble and tumble it's way around the inside of the body.

Shall I give a list of the links where you can find all the SS195 and SS197 ammo you want in stock today for $20 per 50 rounds? You right about it not being cheap practice ammo, it's top of the line service ammo, you know like the kind you would carry in the gun. If you can find handgun ammo in stock good luck finding top of the line service ammo for that price point. The FiveseveN itself is in the $850 range, same as HKs and Sigs. I really do not see that as being "ridiculously expensive". It there is a knock on it is that clips :D are hard to find for it.

I sold my Fiveseven because I prefer the 1911 platform but to pass untruths about it and to spread internet myths is pointless. It is a fine handgun.
 
Its the 45 for me!

I shoot flying pancake rounds that flatten out to an inch and a quarter! Full stop ammo is the way to go!
 
I have never shot any firearm chambered in the 5.7, I have complete ignorance of this round.
I have shot a deer with a 223 and a 45, the 45 worked pretty well at 25 yards. So did the 223 at 90 yards- but - were not talking about a 223.

Someone on this forum once posted "getting shot in the head across the street with a .22 would surely ruin your day". I concur:evil:

Two 22 rounds connecting do more than damage than 10 .45 rounds missing. Even one lowly .22 round does pretty much bad.

I only carry what I have practiced with since I was a kid - a 1911 style pistol in .45. It is what is around the house for those pesky social situations that need to be resolved (never happened yet - whew) but I ONLY would use the pistol to fight my way back to the shotgun.
Then I would trump any pistol and most rifle rounds with the same weapon of choice the Brinks wagon bank guards used, because it works very good at this task. Nothing else is a better tool for these types of situations than a shotgun IMHO.
In 12ga of course:neener:
 
Hard to compare these two. The .45 literally has a bullet twice the size of the 5.7x28.
 
I say .45 as the 5.7 will poke a .22-size hole in your target and the wall behind him and whoever is on the other side of that wall where the 45 is slower-moving and heavier so more energy will be dumped into your target, with a bigger hole and less danger of over penetration to boot.
Click to expand...

The reality is the rounds that tumble or fragment are mostly under 10 inches in ballistics gel (vs 12 to 14 inches for most .45acp hollow points). The rounds that are designed to reach maximum penetration act just like a 22mag bullet and do not tumble at all, and those are only in the mid 11 inches of penetration. The .45acp will out penetrate the 5.7 in ballistics gel.

The .22 mag outperforms the 5.7 round when we are talking max penetration depth. Sure the .22 mag doesn't have tumbling on its side, but i would still pick it over the 5.7.

The other problem is the weapon systems. The five seven pistol is large, expensive, and its a PITA to find ammo on shelves at LOCAL places that isn't crazy expensive. Why go through all of the expense of owning the pistol when you can get better performance with a 9mm round (in both penetration and permanent cavity size) and be able to choose from 1,000 different pistols? Not to mention you could buy a XD/glock/insert firearm that fits your hand here/etc for likely half of what a five seven is.

If the pistol matched 9mm performance in penetration, cost about 600$, had similarly priced ammo and ammo availability (compared to the 9mm), was available in smaller platforms, etc it might be a viable alternative to a 9mm pistol. The reality is it has none of those things, thus its not really in the same league as a 9mm pistol like a glock or xd.
 
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