TN Lone Wolf

This cartridge interests me, but I don't recall ever seeing anything chambered in the round at my local store. Do any of you have anything chambered in it? What's your opinion of the round?

Nomercy448

I had a Five Seven for a short time, it's an incredibly fun pistol, and incredibly satisfying on tiny varmints. The cartridges are incredibly sexy, and I ALWAYS have loved loading pointed bullets into handguns. But in the end, it was a novelty for me, so we parted ways.

The coin you might flip for yourself, based on my n=1 experience, is this:

Not Good: Out of the Five Seven, the 5.7x28 was not much different at range than my 17HMR Taurus Tracker or 22H Raging Hornet for bullet weight and velocity, and it cost a lot more for the pistol and the ammo (brass is high cost/low availability too on reloads). I also hated digging through grass searching for the rather rare brass; not a big deal at the range, but in the field bunny hunting, it was a balancing act between lost time searching and lost component cost. 17HMR, 22WMR revolvers, or the 22H Raging Hornet are cheaper, ammo more widely available, and get nearly the same varmint killing power.

Bad: In a rifle, it's nothing special - basically a really expensive 22 Hornet. It's different, and I'm sure guys who have built rifles in the 5.7 are very happy with them, but a 223rem will run circles around it, so I guess I missed the point. Even the 17WSM supercedes the 5.7 in a rifle...

Good: On the other hand, the fact it meets and slightly exceeds these other cartridges in a pistol AND CAN BE RELOADED is an advantage. Brass cost and availability is still an issue, but if a guy wants a reloadable pistol cartridge for varmints, it's there.

Pretty decent Fox/bobcat fur friendliness though. Given a scope on top for a little extra range, and a sufficient supply of fox and bobcat to kill with it, maybe I would have kept mine.

I didn't buy the Five Seven for this purpose, but I feel obligated to mention my opinion on the 5.7 for it's designed intent: As a defensive pistol, I don't have a need to penetrate body armour, so I compare it to a 9mm Luger - in which comparison, the 5.7 only has about 50-60% of the energy of the 9mm, and only about 20-25% of the TKO stopping power. Not good for personal defense, in my book. If body armour were on my list of considerations for a defensive pistol, I suppose I might change my mind, but it's really hard for me to consider a cartridge with a 1.5 TKO to be a worthy defensive round (reminding, a 380acp has a 2.5 TKO).

TN Lone Wolf

My interest in the round is for the purpose of having a barrel for my T/C Encore handgun that fires a very low recoil, target practice round that doesn't use a lot of powder or expensive bullets. While some might suggest a 32 S&W or 38 Special barrel, I'd prefer a round that shoots flatter.

In your opinion, is the 5.7 a viable cartridge for this purpose, or do you think I would be better off with a 22 Hornet or even a 223 barrel?

super_hunt54

Well since you put in "inexpensive" then you won't be doing the 5,7. As Mercy pointed out, even reloading for it is pricey. I'd go with a .223 if you are wanting some good longer range hand gun practice. Negligible recoil, inexpensive even with factory ammo, should be pretty sporty at 100 yards with a TC barrel, if you reload, all the better.

cjclemens

I gotta agree with everyone else here. The 5.7x28 is way too expensive and under-powered to be more than a novelty. It's a really cool concept as a varmint round, but I'm not sure why they ever marketed it as a defensive round.

Here's the reality of the matter - 22 Hornet performs just as well, and hornet ammo is far more widely available. Furthermore, .223 outperforms both 5.7x28 and 22 Hornet with negligible recoil, and can be reloaded far cheaper than both.

For what its worth, I think Savage attempted to make one of their varmint rifles in 5.7x28, but couldn't get satisfactory accuracy from commercially available ammo, so they scrapped the idea. Overall, I think the 5.7x28 is a novel concept, but far from practical. I wouldn't get into it, unless I was looking for a project to tinker with.

Nomercy448

I tend to agree with you - if you're shooting a break action pistol, a revolver cartridge really doesn't make sense; a guy should capitalize upon the opportunity to run a little more barrel and a get lot more power out of rifle cartridges.

For plinking, the 5.7 would match what you're asking for - "a very low recoil, target practice round which doesn't use a lot of powder or expensive bullets." In a short barrel specialty pistol, you'll have less blast out of the 5.7 than you would a 223rem, or about the same as a 22 Hornet.

Again, the bad news is the brass is rare and pricey - and factory ammo similarly so - but the good news flip side is the brass will last a long, long, long time once you get it, as long as you don't lose it and don't abuse it. The 5.7 is kind to brass, and since you're shooting a single shot, you won't lose it like I did in my Five Seven.

The 5.7x28mm is not a wrong answer for your application, and it IS a viable different/unique option as a right answer, but personally, I'd skip the 5.7 and get a a 22Hornet, K-Hornet, or 223rem in your Encore - these would be a little more right.

TN Lone Wolf

I should point out, I have a factory 243 barrel that I run light bullets through for varminting and coyote hunting. The issue with it is it still takes 40+ grains of powder per round, so it could hardly be called a plinking round.

Nomercy448

27.3grn Varget under a 50grn V-Max or 55grn BTHP will shoot straight out of any .223rem which can be shot straight, for about 30cents per bang. Both d@mned good coyote medicine too.

A fun one you may consider - 357/44 Bain & Davis. 44mag necked down to a .357" bullet. I get 158 XTP's over 2000fps with W296, and 180grn pills over 1850fps with a 7.5" revolver. Throw it into a 12" or 14" Encore barrel and you pick up a lot of speed. I'm running between 22-26grn H110/W296 behind resized Speer Hotcor 180grn and Hornady 158 and 180 XTP's. Gets me about 35-40cents per shot (except for the HotCor's, which are a touch more). 125grn XTP's would torch my forcing cone and topstrap in a revolver, but in an Encore, you'd push around 2300 to 2400fps without torching issue. Just about as flat shooting as the 5.7, but heavy enough to take deer if you wanted, and just as cheap, but with more available and cheaper 44mag brass (one step neck down).

super_hunt54

<<< Can attest to the 50 VMAX being good yote slayers. As well as P-Dogs, Ground Hogs, Squirrel Heads, makes a dang mess out of rabbits, and if you have never seen a "feather storm", hit a crow at 45 yards with a 220 swift loaded hot with a 50gr VM!! Talk about "POOF"!!! Turned the dang thing inside out!!

TN Lone Wolf

After reading everyone's responses and especially after learning no one seems to make brass for the 5.7, I think I'll look at the 22 Hornet.