What The Heck Does The 5.7x28 Do That .22 WMR Doesn't?

[GWS]

I was bored a couple weeks ago when I decided to check out 5.7x18
so I dropped a bunch of dough on a Ruger 57 and ammo and after my first range session my reaction was a resounding...

"Meh!"
For me 5.7 is a novelty round like .22TCM but without the belchfire thunder that the TCM does so well
I'm bored again, so now I seek controversy I say 5.7x28 won't be saved by Ruger and it will go the way of the z Dodo
I have no issue with the Ruger itself, It's accurate and 20 round mags are fun but YEOW! $25/box ammo is the cheapest I've ever found and $30+ seems to be the norm IF you can find the ammo (btw, Limitless America has the most and the $25/box price SS has some with $30 being their cheapest. After that its all the way to Kelso where Gator has some for $32)
And that expensive ammo is what will kill the 5.7x28.
Frankly I'm amazed its lasted this long

So anyway, I'm taking both the Kel-Tec PM30 and the Ruger 57 next time to do a side by side to determine which is more fun to shoot but right now, I'm definitely leaning 22WMR

Read More

 

[JeremyK]

The 5.7 cures cancer and makes your Johnson four feet long.

 

[jnynetwk]

I have a Five-seven which is a fun range toy. It is great for my wife and new shooters to shoot because it has pretty tame recoil. I just picked up the CMMG 5.7 upper and put it on an AR lower I had lying around. Haven't had a chance to shoot it because my local range is closed but I think it will be fun. True ammo prices aren't great. I haven't bought any since the pandemic but I last purchased 5.7 ammo late last year and paid 38 cents a round ($19/box) from outdoorlimited.com for Federal 5.7. I've also found decent deals at sgammo.com but they are often out. I also tend buy ammo a case at a time which sometimes helps shave a few cents off the round cost.

Is it better or worse than TCM? No clue, I've never shot TCM. But owning a Five-seven was on my bucket list so I'm glad to have it and its fun.

 

[GWS]

The 5.7 cures cancer and makes your Johnson four feet long.

That's great about cancer but why on earth would I want my Johnson shrunk? (Ba dump-bump)

 

[Xaevian]

Five-seveN has way cooler marketing and creative spelling. Only the dopest operator uses Five-seveN and wears 5.11 in the 7-11 on 9/11, yo.

 

[GWS]

I have a Five-seven which is a fun range toy. It is great for my wife and new shooters to shoot because it has pretty tame recoil. I just picked up the CMMG 5.7 upper and put it on an AR lower I had lying around. Haven't had a chance to shoot it because my local range is closed but I think it will be fun. True ammo prices aren't great. I haven't bought any since the pandemic but I last purchased 5.7 ammo late last year and paid 38 cents a round ($19/box) from outdoorlimited.com for Federal 5.7. I've also found decent deals at sgammo.com but they are often out. I also tend buy ammo a case at a time which sometimes helps shave a few cents off the round cost.

Is it better or worse than TCM? No clue, I've never shot TCM. But owning a Five-seven was on my bucket list so I'm glad to have it and its fun.

That CMMG upper sounds interesting Where did you score that? What modification did you need to do to the lower receiver to accommodate the 5.7?
The

 

[spookshack]

5.7 Conversions

Top notch ballistics in a bite-size package. 5.7x28mm has taken the PDW world by storm. Build your own with a CMMG 5.7 B

cmmg.com

 

[Certaindeaf]

?
Goes fast out of a handgun. The wmr is pretty pathetic out of a pistol. Might as well use a .22 LR.

 

[Kruel J]

5.7 and .22WMR is a pretty drastic comparison.

 

[The Heretic]

What can 5.7x28 do that .22 WMR doesn't?

1) Better ballistics.
2) It can be reloaded (yes, it can).
3) Since it is a centerfire, it is more reliable than a rimfire - a crucial consideration in self-defense.
4) It can be found in mil-spec firearms, such as the Five Seven and the P90/PS90.
5) You can shoot it from a bullpup rifle that uses a 50 round mag.
6) You can get it with better projectiles.

 

[The Heretic]

Q: How many LEOs or military orgs use the .22 WMR in defensive weapons?

 

[OldTengu]

 

[slimmer13]

Watching the unscientific Demolition Ranch videos, the 5.7 seems pretty meh in all of them.

 

[The Heretic]

 

[MrMillspecer]

Hornady makes Critical Defence in .22 mag. The powder used is optimized for short barrel and low flash. I would have liked to see the test above with that. Its 45 grain.

22 mag for the win.

 

[Boboclown]

The 5.7 is for pdw use. A lot to do with armor penetration, which we can't get. Plus it is better out of a pistol.

 

[The Heretic]

Watching the unscientific Demolition Ranch videos, the 5.7 seems pretty meh in all of them.

The 5.7x28 is very much a niche cartridge and the guns that shoot it are niche guns.

But if you have a need to fill that niche in your self-defense armory, they do it well. IMO

For quite a while I didn't think much of it, but then I had a close family member develop physical problems with recoil due to a medical condition, that can't be solved with training/experience. So reconsidered it and purchased a PS90 and Five Seven for that person - it worked well and solved that problem.

There is another physical problem that this person, myself and to a lesser degree another person all share - physical conditioning - i.e., simply not being in shape. For the first person it is due to their medical condition. For myself it is due to age (sedentary work in an office, heart and lung medical conditions, etc.) and somewhat for the third person too. So I purchased matching Five Sevens and PS90s for each of us.

The niche it fills for us (besides recoil, which is only an issue for the one person with a specific medical condition that affects muscle strength and therefore grip strength/etc.) is the number of rounds of ammo that we can carry in a loadout and that the firearms have capacity for. The 5.7x28 ammo is very light and small - lighter than 9mm, much lighter than 40 and 45 and 5.56x45. The PS90 has a 50 rd mag, the Five Seven has a 20 rd flush mag (30rd with a CMMG extension). This makes for a light loadout in a GHB with a lot of rounds that can be sent downrange and because of the light recoil, those rounds can be sent quickly with accuracy. Also, the 5.7x28 has an effective range of 200 yards, the 9mm/40/45, much less.

Is the 5.56x45 more lethal? Most definitely. But 200 rounds of 5.56x45 ammo also weighs 2X+ more than 200 rounds of 5.7x25 ammo (5.5# vs. 2.5#). The Five Seven pistol is also much lighter than most 9mm pistols of similar capacity - about a pound lighter than my SIG 226 in 9mm. Add it all up, and that equates to about 3 pounds of more ammo/food/water that a person can carry. It also makes a difference when you have a "senior citizen" with a heart/lung condition that cannot walk very far without a rifle, ammo, food and water, much less with it. Even more so for a much younger person in my family with a much more serious medical condition.

So, for my family, the 5.7x28 fills a niche. Once home (or in a secure place), I have much much more powerful firearms that are better suited for a static defense. Meanwhile, while out and about my BOL working in the garden/etc., the PS90 and the Five Seven fill the role for what they were designed for; behind the lines rear echelon defense while occupied with non-defense tasks - then if attacked, use those firearms to retreat to cover where more effective firearms are stored and can be employed more effectively.

As is usually the case, YMMV

 

[The Heretic]

Hornady makes Critical Defence in .22 mag. The powder used is optimized for short barrel and low flash. I would have liked to see the test above with that. Its 45 grain.

22 mag for the win.

Feel free to reproduce the tests if you have a chrono and a PMR-30

 

[MrMillspecer]

Feel free to reproduce the tests if you have a chrono and a PMR-30

My only .22 mag is a Ruger single six with a 6.5" barrel. The gel test was good enough for me . Plus it put fibers into the torso unlike the 5.7 with similar ammo. Good enough for me.

Plus the .22mag is a good old fashioned American round.

 

[The Heretic]

My only .22 mag is a Ruger single six with a 6.5" barrel. The gel test was good enough for me . Plus it put fibers into the torso unlike the 5.7 with similar ammo. Good enough for me.

Plus the .22mag is a good old fashioned American round.

It is a good rimfire round, it is better than .22 LR, but for self-defense, I prefer the Five Seven and PS90 over a single action revolver shooting a rimfire.