5.7x28 Anyone in the PNW loading these?

[Helocat]

Yes aware of the fivesevenforum.com board and the loading info over there. Just looking to speak with anyone local in the PNW who is loading this pesky little round. I really don't want to kaboom my PS90. I love to reload and it's driving me crazy to not be loading this little dude.

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[gmerkt]

I had an experience with those. An acquaintance owned an FN pistol chambered in that round. He was a hand loader but was having trouble with these. He asked for my help. He supplied all the fixins. With what he gave me, I could never obtain what I considered satisfactory pull (neck tension) on seated bullets using conventional techniques. This was at an early moment in the market for this cartridge so no so-called factory crimp die was yet available but was sorely needed.

I'm not a big fan of the factory crimp die. It works by crushing the case into the shank of the bullet. This is not my favored method of obtaining bullet tension. Having said this, we as hand loaders have to realize that ammunition factories set up machines to work with the materials they specifically use. The results aren't always compatible with what hand loaders try to replicate later with materials available to them. Consequently, the factory crimp die sometimes is needed to make hand loaded cartridges work.

There are other issues with hand loading the 5.7x28 but they didn't present themselves to me in my limited experience.

My own opinion is that this cartridge is a poor candidate for hand loading. Fired cases tend to go far. Components are small and fiddly. More than ordinary care is required to load it. I understand the desire to do it "just because." Again, my opinion, but is this really a gun that typically sees a lot of range use?

 

[mr.revolverguy]

This article will give you just about everything you need to know about loading the 5.7. I highly suggest reading once or twice before going down this road. Journey Of Reloading The 5.7x28mm

 

[BWH]

I used to reload for .22 hornet. I would put this metric mini mouse right in the same class.
I could forsee a lot of case crush/collapse in the sizing stage....but I have been wrong before!

 

[gmerkt]

This article will give you just about everything you need to know about loading the 5.7. I highly suggest reading once or twice before going down this road. Journey Of Reloading The 5.7x28mm

Just for my own edification, I read the linked article. It validates my own opinions about reloading this cartridge. Crimped/glued in primers, special chemical coating on the exterior of the case, glued-in bullets, those are all red flags. High pressure cartridge in a blow-back action, that really says it all.

The author of the article faults Redding for making a sizing die that only adjusts down so far. He says, to correct would require grinding down the face of the die to achieve sufficient depth for proper resizing. Never mind what cartridge, I've known that to be needed before. Once in a while dies from the factory won't do the job you want them to, they need modification.

The author mentions gas cutting on the face of the rifle bolt from failed primers. This is bad news, you want to avoid blown primers and the pitted bolt faces that result. Blowing or piercing primers is not an accepted way to determine upper limits of powder charges.

 

[Helocat]

• Agreed. All the special needs make it a PITA for loading. I am going to keep learning about it and hoarding my spent brass in case factory loads become difficult to get. My best bet right now is to lay in a 5 to 10k of new factory rounds and just use it as needed. gmerkt, you're correct its not a big shooter for me at the range. The PS90 is more of the fun of having one of these funky things. I do not see using it in place of other more common chambered weapons for a specific purpose.

Been considering the custom 5.7x28 dies from C4HD. Environment Test

 

[MrElectric03]

I'd really like to but need to buy a gun to shoot them first. Haven't found the right deal yet, I always end up buying something else.

 

[jnynetwk]

I'm not a reloader but I found this thread interesting because I've had a few of the factory Federal rounds lose the bullet in the magazine of my FN Five Seven. Given the ~1500 rounds I've put through the gun it is a tiny % but I've never had what seemed to be a failure to feed only to rack the slide and have the bullet fall out with gunpowder all over the place and the casing still in the magazine. It was very odd but sounds like what you guys are talking about with crimping/lack thereof.