Time to catch up a little .... Presenting the FNH 5.7

It's been a long while since I last posted and there's some members of the firearms family that I haven't yet introduced.  Now that hunting season is well behind us, it's time to get back to my anti-zombie collection.

I finally broke down and picked up an FN Herstal Five-Seven pistol.  While there were still some obvious holes in my collection -- most notably a gaping hole in my safe where an AR-15 should rest, not to mention the notoriously absent shotgun -- I couldn't resist going back for another handgun.  I was sort of obssessed by the unique quality of the Five Seven's 5.7 x 28 mm cartridge, not to mention it's 20 round per standard magazine capacity and it's reputation for long range accuracy that have many referring to it as a "hand carbine."  How unique is the 5.7 x 28 mm cartridge?  Well, aside from this pistol, there is only one other standard production firearm that shoots' this round -- FN Herstal's strikingly bizarre-looking PS90, a 50 round assault carbine.  (Note:  You can also buy an upper specially made to shoot this cartridge through an AR-15, but that's a blog for another day.)

I opted for this pistol in two tone -- black and flat dark earth.  It came standard out of the case with 3 20 round magazines.

It's a fairly large sized handgun -- slightly bigger than my M&P 9mm.  That being said, it's mostly polymer, so it weighs next to nothing.  Below is a pic that includes a shot of the 5.7 x 28mm round. It's the little round with the blue tip.  To help you understand the petite size of this high powered round, that's a 230 grain .45 ACP round sitting next to it.



There's quite a loyal following with the Five Seven.  If you read up a little bit, you'll find an entire subculture that loves this little pistol.  There are several available rounds out there that can defeat most types of soft body armor.  For me, I don't plan on needing to defeat body armor, but I do think it's cool that it shoots virtually a flat trajectory out to 100 meters.  That's crazy range for a handgun.

During the first range trip, with the standard 3 dot combat sights (which are not set up for accurate target shooting), I was able to put 14 of 20 rounds into a 9" target at 25 meters.  I don't think I could duplicate that type of accuracy at that distance with any of my other handguns, particularly the first time out.  I shot 100 rounds without any failures or other issues. It's a really fun little gun to shoot. It sits perfectly in the hand and with very little recoil, will spit out rounds on target as fast you as you can squeeze the trigger.  As for the trigger itself, it's good out of the box, but not on par with my Apex trigger in my M&P 9mm or the crisp 1911 trigger in my Kimber .45.  I guess I'm a little spoiled by those guns, but the Five Seven definitely doesn't suck.  I'm pleased with this acquisition.