From this photo gallery: http://www.startribune.com/galleries/96433464.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUss
fourth from last photo, showing some guns displayed on a table. What is that handgun on the lower right? It’s hard to tell from the photo but it seems to have a magazine for very long cartridges, almost like magnums of some caliber.
That is a FN Five seveN which shoots a 5.7mm X 28mm round. It holds 20 shots. The odd looking rifle above it is the FN P90 which shoots the same round.
The cartridge it fires is actually remarkably small. Of that group of three rounds to the right it looks like a 5.7x28 (the round used by the Five-seveN and the PS90, the long-barreled civilian version of the P90), a 5.56 NATO, and a 7.62x51 NATO round.
Ah, so it isn’t that the round is that long, it’s that it’s that narrow. So the magazine and the grip it fits into aren’t as huge as I took them for. Thanks!
ETA: interesting round; it’s not really like a traditional handgun round, almost like a mini-assault rifle round or carbine ammo. How does it compare ballistically?
Reading confirms that the 5.7 was specifically developed for personal defense, but that is counterintuitive to me - it is a fast, light bullet. Thoughts?
The original round developed in that caliber, the SS190, was developed specifically to penetrate body armor. Handgun caliber rounds typically have a very difficult time doing that because they are large, slow rounds. The SS190 is a small, fast round with little mass, and with the steel core it penetrated body armor quite well.
That particular round is no longer sold in the United States except to law enforcement agencies unless you can get some from existing stocks already owned by civilians. They now sell a different round without the steel core, the SS195/197 for civilian consumption. It’s still a very adequate round, unfortunately, as exhibited by the shootings at Fort Hood. Ironically, the performance is enhanced in the civilian-legal rifle (an interesting little bullpup design) due to the longer barrel.
Ultimately, though, it’s likely to continue to be a niche round. The weapons that fire them are expensive, the rounds are expensive, and other than the ability to carry 20-round pistol or 50-round rifle magazines they don’t really do anything better than existing rounds that would justify the cost.
It’s an interesting round, and everything airman doors said is entirely correct.
I like the guns, Ive shot both the ps90 and fnfiveseven, but ballistically they’re inferior to the .223 and 9mm (respectively) unless you’re using em for very specific purposes (penetrating body armor, need for compact self defense weapons like tank and airplane operators).
(never mind)
I’ve had the occasion to fire a FiveseveN and a (military model - army friends) P90 on two occasions. Both are briliantly fun guns to shoot with, although I’m told maintenance can be a real pain with the P90. The rate of fire and lack of recoil is what drew me to the FiveseveN, for the record.
Isn’t that the gun/ammo used by the Army/Muslim terrorist in the Ft. Hood killings? I believe the magazine can hold upwards of 20 rounds, quite a few for a handgun.
Yes. See post 6.
You also get to feel like a member of SG:1 - I believe the P90 is the weapon they carry on the show.
Maintence is piss easy with the fs2000, and my understanding is tat it’s about the same for the p90.
Only after like season 4, right?
Before that they used mp5ks, i think.
From the link,
CMC fnord!
Wiki’d Personal defense weapon, and learned there’s now a class of firearms I wasn’t previously aware of.
I’m out of town, visiting family, using my iPad to post and browse the web, so I don’t click through on a lot of links…
Thanks for the clarification, crow.
aye, I didn’t know about them until I looked into buying a ps90. But then I saw the fs2000… I think Jack oniells term for it is “big honking space gun”. (Yes, I’m a stargate fan.)
If you want to play with that round, there are AR15 uppers available. They use the same PS90, or P90 magazines. Even eject out the bottom like the P/PS90 does.