The FN Five-seveN MKII is the only model currently in production, the price is staggering at a street price of around $1,300

This is probably due to the law of supply and demand, FN sells every one they produce and it is at times hard to find

It comes in a lockable hard case and with three magazines

The 5.7 pistol has been the subject of tremendous controversy over the years, in fact there was recently a bill introduced into the U.S. House to outlaw the pistol and the cartridge.

LINK

On the "flip side", many are of the opinion that the cartridge is nothing more than a glorified .22 Magnum. As with most things, I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The slide IS steel, but is covered by a polymer cover

It's a hammer fired single action Pistol with an average factory Trigger pull of 5-6 lbs. Elite Ammunition offers a "short reach" replacement Trigger. In addition, Elite Ammunition offers a Trigger job that results in a crisp 3.5 lb Trigger pull.

The Pistol is extremely lightweight, it weighs just 28 ounces FULL LOADED with 21 rounds of 5.7x28 SS198LF ammunition.



The Pistol has a Loaded Chamber Indicator, it's located on the upper left side of the slide.

It has an ambidextrous safety. Because of position of the safety, it WILL require extensive practice to be able to deactivate it under stress

The magazine release can be changed from the left side to the right side of the Pistol.

When you press the magazine release the magazine SHOOTS out of the Pistol, I've never seen any Pistol that ejects the magazine so violently

The magazine holds twenty rounds in a double stack magazine that has metal reinforcing molded into the magazine, ten round mags are available for those behind enemy lines

It does have a magazine safety, but it's easily deactivated if you wish

Takedown is very easy, simply slightly retract the slide and push the takedown latch to the rear and then allow the slide to move forward and off of the frame.

The length of the frame is somewhat long because of the cartridge length, but it does feel comfortable to me

Recoil is extremely light.

Accuracy is nothing short of outstanding, my eyes are well beyond precision shooting but my 28 year old son was ringing the hell out of a 12"x12" steel hanging plate at 100 yards.

It has a picatinny rail for lights or lasers

Reliability of the 5.7 is right up there with the very best

Now on the controversy surrounding the cartridge, this is from a posting by 2ndAmVA on another Forum in reference to the Shooting at Fort Hood by Hasan...

The FN 5.7 pistol is constantly maligned or underestimated in many gun forums and articles, often by people who have never experienced shooting the pistol. Subjective comparisons with the .22 magnum or categorization as a sub-par .223 round create confusion about the effectiveness of the FN 5

Using SS192 and SS197SR ammunition (common commercial 5.7x28 ammo), several 20-30 round magazines and an FN 5.7 (shooter also had a .357 revolver but did not use it), Hassan killed 13 and wounded 32

1. 11 people were shot center-of-mass (COM), one was shot in the stomach and one was shot in the head. All 13 died. All 11 victims who were shot COM did not survive.
2. 3 of the 13 people who died, tried to charge Hassan, but he stopped them with COM shots.
3. The 32 people who were wounded were hit in the arms, legs, hips and shoulders. None of the wounded survivors were shot COM.

The following conclusions can be drawn:
1. The FN 5.7 is a very lethal round CQB because all 11 victims who were shot COM died. No survivors for those hit COM.
2. The FN 5.7 is a real stopper, because 3 tried to charge Hassan at close range and were stopped by COM shots.
3. One of the fatalities was shot in the stomach, and died. The fragmentation of the SS197R round can create a hail of metal shards that can cause serious internal organ damage and bleeding in the stomach.
4. None of the 32 people who were hit in the extremities, hips and shoulders were able to muster a counter-attack because the FN 5.7 must have shattered or broken bones. The high rate of wounded vicitms to fatalities was the direct result of the shooting ability of Hassan (or lack thereof), and not because the 5.7x28 round is not lethal.
5. Sgt. Kimberly Munley (base civilian police), one of the first responders, was immediately disabled with 5.7x28 bullet shrapnels to her wrist and a second 5.7x28 bullet broke her femur. The light 5.7x28 commercial ammo showed that it can shatter large bones due to its velocity
6. According to medical personnel, there was so much blood in the room that it was difficult to get to the victims because the floor became very slippery. One can conclude that the commercial 5.7x28 rounds can fragment or tumble, causing immense blood loss.
7. It took five bullets (which I assume was a 9 mm) from Sgt Mark Todd to stop Hasan. And he survived his wounds (no available info on where he was hit, except that one of the bullets paralyzed Hasan).

In conclusion:
1. The FN 5.7 is definitely a very lethal round. 100% fatality for COM shots.
2. The FN 5.7 is a man-stopper. Three military men tried to charge Hasan, and all three were stopped.
2. The FN 5.7 is a very incapacitating round, if extremities are hit, because it is powerful enough to break the femur (which is the largest bone in the body)
3. The fragmentation or tumbling effect of commercial ammo can cause a lot of blood loss.

The FN 5.7 is a very effective weapon. It is as effective as, or arguably more effective, than any military or civilian pistols in the market.

It is unfortunate that the jihadist Hassan used this weapon against U.S. soldiers.

The ONLY FN manufactured round I will recommend for the 5.7 is FN SS198LF (OVER 2,000 fps). This box is marked "Law Enforcement Only" but it's readily available to anyone and is manufactured by FN in Belgium

I cannot recommend FN SS197 (Blue Tip) or Federal American Eagle for anything other than practice (and malfunction drills) both of the rounds are actually manufactured by Fiocchi in Ozark, MO

There are several GREAT offerings from other manufacturers notably Elite Ammunition

A few last ramblings..

This is my daily carry Pistol

It's IS a "fugly" Pistol

The factory adjustable sights can have tritium inserts installed by several companies

You are either going to love it or hate it, I've carried mine on duty and I trust my life and my families life to the Pistol and the cartridge, the round I carry in the 5.7 is Elite Ammunition S4M

Because of the accuracy and LIGHT recoil you can quickly shred the center of a target, either paper or otherwise

When cleaning it scrub the chamber with Carburetor Cleaner, the cartridge leaves over time a buildup of lacquer from the coating on the cartridge casing



 

You adapt to it, when I draw it my Trigger finger swipes it off.

Yes the price IS way out of line, but it is basically the only game in town.

As an example, the Simmerling LM-4 .45 is ridiculously overpriced at almost $4,000.00, but if you want a 5 shot .45 that small they are also the only game in town.

By the time I have tritium inserts installed and have the Elite action/trigger job performed I'm going to out slightly over a total (with the cost of the 5.7) of $2,000.00

Is it worth it, only the person who has carried and used one can answer that question.

You can at times pick up the earlier USG model for around $950-$1,000

And don't buy into the BS that the 5.7 is nothing more than a glorified .22 Magnum, I wouldn't mind having a PMR30 but I wouldn't trust my ass to it.

Nice write up.

I wish I could shoot groups like you shoot but my eyes aren't up to it any longer.

From Skokie, IL 8/28/2008

Sgt. Timothy Gramins now carries 145 rounds of ammunition, every day, without fail. Why? Because he was involved in a shootout where the bad guy just Would Not Stop, even though he was hit 17 times(!) with .45 ACP bullets(!) From a full-sized Glock 21! In general it would be hard to carry much more gun than a Glock 21. Now, part of the internet gun banter is that “.45 ACP won’t just kill a man, it’ll also kill his soul”… or, another is to say “.45: because why shoot twice?” But in Sgt. Gramins’ case, he had to fire magazine after magazine at this attacker, and he scored 17 hits, and at least six of those hits would have been fatal: the attacker was hit in the heart, both lungs, the liver, the diaphragm, and a kidney. You cannot fault Sgt. Gramins’ shot placement! And you can’t fault his choice of weapon or caliber; .45 ACP is about as good as it gets in handguns. But the simple fact of the matter is, the perpetrator simply Would Not Stop. All in all, Sgt. Gramins fired 33 rounds, hitting 17 times. The attacker fired a total of 21 rounds from two different handguns. Gramins finally took the attacker down with three shots to the head – but even then, the attacker was still alive when taken to the emergency room. He would (probably) have died from any of those six shots before the head shots, but the big question is: when? Certainly not immediately, and those shots didn’t take him out of the fight – he continued to fire at Sgt. Gramins, and could have potentially killed the officer, even though he would (likely) have eventually died from his injuries. Again, it’s not about killing, it’s about STOPPING, and in this case the perpetrator simply would not stop, even though he’d been hit with lots of big .45 ACP bullets.
 
Even the vaunted .45 acp couldn't end the gunfight.

Article in Police Magazine on gunfight

Agreed, that is why a handgun should only be a reactive weapon....you use it to shoot your way to a primary weapon.

But, personally I DO trust the caliber, whether it's "just" SS198 or the much hotter Elite S4M or Elite T6B

I carry older (2 yrs old) Elite S4M in my FN Five-seveN. The newer loads (using Elite's brass instead of FN brass) isn't clocking as fast.

In addition, either S4M or T6B WILL penetrate Level IIIA body armor.

And as an FYI, I started out in Law Enforcement carrying a .357 Magnum, then a Colt .45 Gold Cup, then a Glock 17, then a Glock 22, then back to a Glock 17, finally an FN Five-seveN

The one I trusted the least?

The Glock 22 .40 and it was stoked with Cor-Bon 135 gr hollow points.

Too many times!

I am a member of the light, fast bullet "camp".

But, I'm not a "Jello Junkie", I've never been attacked by a block of Jello.

I believe in real world bullet performance, the 9mm round I always carried was the Winchester 9mm 127 gr +P+

Jello tests don't rate it very high but its performance on the street is stellar.

As too street performance of the 5.7x28 round, they're out there, just not real easy to find. The Mexican Drug Cartels have killed quite a few people with the round.

I believe that considering the "total package" of the Five-seveN pistol it suits MY needs the best...

Concealable (using the fivesevenreddot Kydex holster)
LOW recoil
Very controllable
VERY FAST follow up shots
High capacity (21 rounds)
Damn accurate
Extremely reliable
I love the safety location (intuitive once you practice with it)
100 yard handgun (minor consideration)
Reasonably priced practice ammo ($17.99 box of 50 SS197 from PSA)

Elite has a "short reach trigger" for $43.99

From what I understand, it's not that difficult.



I know that MANY of the parts do not interchange. From what I've read, they "beefed up" the slide and frame in the MKII. (NEVER attempt to interchange slides from one model to another)! They will go on, taking them off is a whole different situation.

As to "upgrading", many Five-seveN owners prefer the USG.

It will be later this evening, but I will post dimensions.

Height - 5 5/8"

Length - 8 1/8"

1 3/16" and that is the witdth of the two vertical projections at the very rear of the cocking ridges. The rest of the slide is closer to 1"

All that being said....

There is a report that a yet as unnamed MAJOR manufacturer is progressing with a new 5.7x28 polymer framed pistol in both a hammer fired and striker fired version.

That is all that I know at this time.

Jay of Elite Ammunition states that FN cannot produce a "compact model" because of functioning issues.