The Five-Seven (marketed as "Five-seveN") is a semi-automatic pistol manufactured by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FNH). Its name is derived from the unique ammunition it uses, and the company's initials "FN".
Overview
In 1935, the FN-made Browning Hi Power was revolutionary. The market quickly adopted this high-capacity 9mm pistol accordingly, and it has since been fielded by over 100 countries.
FN's newest contribution the handgun's evolution is named the Five-seveN®. This 20-round pistol fires a 5.7mm bullet that will defeat most body armor in military service around the world today. Essentially, the Five-seveN® represents a quantum leap forward in the handgun's suitablity for close engagements by delivering the type of performance that was previously confined to rifles or carbines. Elements of this performance include:High magazine capacity: The Five-seveN® comes standard with a 20-round magazine.
High stopping power: The Five-seveN® fires the 5.7x28mm SS190 Ball round which reliably penetrates Kevlar helmets and vests as well as CRISAT protection.
High hit probability: The Five-seveN's® extremely low recoil impulse results in virtually no muzzle climb, thereby facilitating fast and controllable follow-up shots.
Yet, the Five-seveN® is:
• Light and ergonomic: Weighing 30% less than most 9mm pistols, the smoothly-contoured Five-seveN® is comfortable to carry and quick to deploy.
• Fully safe: Due to its double-action firing mechanism, the Five-seveN® offers no inherent risk of accidental discharge during transportation. Furthermore, all of its safety devices are automatically reengaged following each firing cycle.
• The Five-seveN® fires the SS190 5.7x28mm ball round. This projectile will perforate any individual protection on today's battlefield including the PASGT kevlar helmet, 48 layers of kevlar body armor and the CRISAT target (titanium and kevlar). The SS190's conventional design allows it to be manufactured on existing production lines, and its lead-free composition eliminates range contamination.
The FN Five-seveN® USG single-action autoloading pistol sets a new benchmark for handgun performance. Firing the low-recoil, high-velocity 5.7x28mm cartridge, the Five-seveN features a textured, ergonomic polymer frame with checkered panels for enhanced grip. Operating controls are placed for easy access with a reversible magazine release and ambidextrous manual safety levers. The barrel is hammer-forged and hard chrome lined for enhanced accuracy and extended service life. Models are available with matte black, olive drab or flat dark earth frames. Sight options include adjustable three dot target sights or fixed C-More Systems™ day or night combat sights. All Five-seveN pistols come with three magazines, a locking device and a lockable fitted hard case.FN created the new 5.7x28mm cartridge for its FN P90 personal defense weapon to meet NATO requirements released in 2000. Subsequently, FN created the Five-Seven pistol as a side arm using the same cartridge.
Conventional side arms usually use the 9x19mm Parabellum, .45 ACP, and similar cartridges and are designed to injure or kill unarmored people or targets. However, FN argues that these bullets can not defeat a Kevlar vest, such as those in use by more than half the world's armed forces. FN claims that their newly designed 5.7x28mm cartridge allows the Five-Seven to pierce the older U.S. Army PASGT vest at 300 meters range, and a U.S. Army PASGT helmet at a range of 240 meters. However, these penetration statistics are for the military SS190 cartridge. Other available cartridge variants are not armor-piercing, according to the BATFE. These cartridges are loaded with heavier, expanding projectiles driven at lower velocities.
FN markets the SS190 variant of the 5.7 mm round as being able to penetrate and effectively incapacitate enemy personnel by injuring or killing them, but there has been controversy over these claims. Conventional hollow point bullets rely on expansion to create a large wound channel, but the Five-Seven's ammunition is designed to hit, travel a few inches, then tumble end over end without deforming. This means that the wound it creates would be as tall as the length of the projectile (more than 21 mm), supposedly creating a more grievous wound channel, but without the expansion of a hollow point or the fragmentation of a frangible bullet. As a result, FN claims the round—and the Five-Seven—are suitable for military use under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which prohibit use of expanding or fragmenting bullets in warfare.
The advantages of the pistol itself include its weight (the 5.7 mm round weighs half as much as a standard 9 mm round), its recoil (FN claims the 5.7 mm round produces roughly half the felt recoil of a 9 mm round), and its 20-round magazine. Despite its magazine capacity, the Five-Seven is a light pistol, weighing 726 g (1.6 pounds) loaded. It is also a full size semi-automatic handgun, despite its small caliber
The Five-Seven has not been widely adopted, due mostly to the high cost, rather unconventional concept and ammunition. Current users include several international special forces/counter-terrorist groups (including the French GIGN) and a large number of local police department SWAT teams (including some in the United States).
Over the past months the Five-seveN pistol has been the subject of misleading allegations. These allegations are misinforming the public in the United States and elsewhere. In this context FNH USA has issued this fact sheet. Among other things, the Five-seveN pistol has been mischaracterized by some as a new firearm which shoots armor-piercing ammunition. To be clear: armor piercing ammunition can be shot from any firearm; however, such ammunition has been illegal for commercial sale since 1986 1 and is only available to law enforcement and military. In this context, ALL FNH USA law enforcement and military ammunition is sold via a secure Customs Bonded Warehouse which delivers directly to the customers after due approval by BATFE. FNH USA is a responsible and law abiding firearms company conducting business in the United States that does not and cannot sell armor-piercing ammunition2 on the commercial market. There are no exceptions to this federal prohibition. The only FN 5.7x28mm ammunition available to civilians has been specifically declared by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to be non-armor-piercing. FNH USA is the business development, sales and manufacturing arm in the United States for FN Herstal. As a longtime worldwide leader in military, law enforcement and commercial firearms we take great pride in our reputation. In this context, we request that our Distributors adhere to the “Responsible Firearms Distributor Code of Practice” endorsed by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI) and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).3 We also support proactive joint law enforcement / industry cooperative efforts such as “Project Gunrunner”4 and “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy.”Five-seveN ® Pistol FACTS
• The Five-seveN pistol is a blowback operated semi-automatic pistol. The only existing model is full size. Due to cartridge dimensional constraints, no midsize or compact version has ever been designed.
• Classification: The Five-seveN pistol is a firearm approved for sporting use (Class II) by BATFE in 20037 and 2004.
• Distribution in the United States: Since 2003, FNH USA has sold the Five-seveN models to key commercial national U.S. distributors.
• Ammunition: The only 5.7x28mm cartridge commercially available for the Five-seveN handgun are of a sporting nature as per BATFE classification.
• The Five-seveN pistol and related 5.7x28mm sports ammunition are authorized for commercial sale in the State of California.
Five-seveN® Technical Specifications
Caliber: 5.7x28mm
Operating principle: Delayed blowback
Trigger mechanism: Double action only
Magazine capacity: 20 rounds
Overall length: 208mm (8.2 in)
Barrel length: 122.5mm (4.82 in)
Weight, unloaded: 618g (1.36 lb)
Weight, loaded: 744g (1.64 lb)
Blogger Review
by Mr. Completely
A friend of mine has loaned me his brand new FN Five-seveN semi-auto pistol for a review and range report. I haven't had a chance to get to the range with it yet, but that should happen this weekend.
The gun has a nice feel, and seems to come up on target very well for me. The heavily stippled grip surface is almost TOO rough, and on a high powered handgun would probably tend to tear your hand up a bit, but from folks I've talked to who have fired the Five-seveN, recoil is about on a par with a .22 long rifle. We'll see!
The magazine is a plastic double stack affair, holding TWENTY rounds, yet still fitting into the grip. That's kinda cool, as I suspect when it comes to stopping power this is something of a lightweight.
The basic gun has metal parts only where they absolutely HAVE to be metal, everything else is plastic. I'm old fashioned, I guess, as I prefer a little more steel in a handgun, but to be fair, they couldn't get it down to the 1.7 lb. weight they have without lots of plastic. (Oops, "Composite")
Speaking of ammunition, the 5.7 x 28 ammo is currently rather expensive, but FIOCCHI has signed an agreement with FN to start producing ammo both in European and american facilities. Hopefully this will help bring the price down.
The ballistics of the 5.7 round are interesting, although I don't have a lot of numbers yet. This round in a FN has a whole lot of velocity, so it should shoot really flat, and I would suspect that it's pretty dang accuarate, too!
Once I've gotten in a little range time, I'll post part two of this report. Guess I've gotta go to the range this weekend.
Well, I finally got out to the range to do a little shooting. I didn't have as much time as I'd have liked though, for a couple of reasons.
The CWSA range is located just off of the end of the Navy's runway where they practice their carrier landings with the EA6-B's. They are fun to watch, but I had other things to do and a short time schedule.
Whenever the Navy is in the pattern you can't be shooting, since they fly their short final just beyond the berm at the end of the pistol range. It was a matter of take three of four shots, then put the guns down and wait for the Navy for five minutes or so, then shoot some more, then wait some more. I always thought we should be able to charge the Navy extra for providing them with some realistic live fire training, but they didn't sem to see it that way.
Anyhow, I brought along the FN and some "Seein' Stars" targets. LouG met me at the range with his Ruger .22 and his S&W 586 with a red dot sight on it.
I loaded up a magazine for the FN and hung some targets, a "sighter" and a couple of e-Postal match targets. I only had one box of fifty rounds, so a lot of shooting was out of the question. Lou and I both shot some sight-in rounds, and adjusted the rear sight a bit to get it zero'ed.
The gun fits your hand well, and seems to come up onto target well. Recoil, in spite of what some say, IS more than a .22. The extreme light weight of the FN affects the perceived recoil a bit, but I'd say it's similar to a .22 magnum, maybe a little less. Very mild, no matter how you look at it!
The front sight is tall and rather wide, and the notch in the adjustable rear sight, at least for me, was too wide for the width of the front sight. There was just too much space on either side of the front sight when viewed in the rear sight notch. Maybe my arms are just too short?
After shooting up most of the ammo I came to the conclusion that between the sights and my lousy eyesight, I have no idea how accurate it actually is. It needs something like a red dot on it to be able to really find out what it can do. I suspect it's rather accurate, but I wasn't able to prove it, either way.
There is an accessory rail under the barrel, but it may or may not be solid enough to firmly hold a red dot sight mount bracket and have it maintain zero after a lot of shooting.
Taking the slide off to have a look inside is sort of a fiddly operation. Because of it's small size, the slide release button is hard to hold rearward so you can get the slide off. If your hands are cold it's even harder, and if you are wearing gloves, it can't be done. Once the slide is off, everything inside is easily accessible.
My evaluation? 5.7 x 28 is kind of an in "between" round. Lots of velocity, so it should shoot really flat, but not a whole lot of stopping power when it arrives. Ammunition is far too expensive to buy one of these FN's just as a plinker. There's lots of 9mm's that would do the job and be a lot cheaper to feed. In some ways the 5.7 x 28 round is more interesting than is the FN itself. The 5.7 might be interesting in something like a Thompson Contender for target work.
I see some similarities between the FN Five-seveN and the AMT Auto-Mag II in .22 Magnum. Ammo is too expensive to be a cheap and fun plinker, but too small to be a real "Stopper" as a defense weapon.
It's fun to shoot, but somehow it just didn't get me all pumped up over it. It fed flawlessly, even as a brand new gun, which speaks well for it, but I don't think I'd buy one for myself. I probably wouldn't shoot it much.
If they put a .22 long rifle barrel on it, and managed to get 25 or 30 rounds into the magazine, and got the price down a bit to be competitive with other .22 semi-autos, that might be another story.