Originally Posted By: AMC
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
I've always been a ballistics sponge. Reading, learning, and shooting gel blocks and pigs to see what works, what doesnt. The 5.7 didn't pan out. It's not a .22 Magnum, but you couldn't really tell the difference. Yes it can kill. Yes it is low recoil. SWAT found that they had to dump 5 to 8 of these things into people to get a behavior change. It is what it is.
I consider myself a ballistics studier too. I read and study as well as shooting ballistics media and pork shoulder in my own testing; including testing the 5.7x28mm several years ago. My conclusions of it were mostly positive, especially when used with high performance loadings, nothing FN or federal offers currently.
While I wouldn't say the platform is dead, It is not going to catch on with any agency that follows the FBI standards for duty ammunition. Why? Because the 5.7 rarely penetrates to 12" or greater. 8-10" are usually what it does so if that is not enough for you, I don't recommend it.
As for it taking 5 to 8, 5.7x28 rounds to change someone's behavior, that takes about a half second with a full auto p-90 and similar descriptions were given with the Mp5 when it was popular. It is simply a delay in full auto rounds on target and NOT full auto human central nervous system. When adrenalin is high and operators want a threat stopped immediately, it can seem like a lifetime between a burst of rounds on target and the bad guy actually dropping. I can tell you that from personal experience in the sand box. It is one of the many reasons why full auto fire weapons are falling out of favor for any type of CQB. Compared to a semi auto: You blow through ammo quickly, the threats do no necessarily stop any faster, training often takes longer and if stateside, the crime scene looks bad and is harder to explain; especially to the anti-police news media we have today.
I digress, Back to the 5.7x28, it has a small niche and has a following similar to 10mm. Neither rounds (5.7 or 10mm) have a wide usage with government agencies but for different reasons. Both are fairly expensive and not the easiest to find. They are both carried and used mostly by civilians who enjoy hunting or concealed carry with something that is different and unique. I don't see a resurgence of either one coming around any time soon and I don't want to get shot with either one. Tried to find some photos of 10mm and 5.7x28 side by side but I couldn't find any.
The shallow penetration would be the biggest potential hang up with the 5.7. Im sure as any of you guys who hunt know, the penetration in a gel block will be about 20-30% deeper than in an animal. Give or take a little but thats been my experience.