FNH 5.7 USG Stopping Power?

[yuri gagarin]

I carry my Springfiield XD .45 and my wife has her Beretta Model 21 in .22LR with the tip up barrel, but we are both interested in the FNH 5.7 USG. Does anyone know what kind of stopping power to expect from the 5.7? The 20 round magazine that still fully fits into the grip is a plus. Is it used by any military or police agency? Usually if its good enough for them, its good enough for me.

[Fatman]

IIRC pistols in 5.7 were originally meant as 'companions' to the P90 for the military, specifically vehicle drivers and support units.  The 5.7 round was designed to pierce body armor, but the civvy rounds lack that design. Basically, the ballistics on a 5.7 (again going on memory, someone correct me if I'm wrong) is in the .22 WMR range.

Your 'stopping power' will be determined by shot placement, but of course the larger calibers should do more damage given equally good shot placement.

[Rastus]

The 5.7 from the pistol barrel way outperforms the 22 Mag from a short barrel.  The 22 Mag is built on rifle powders and doesn't get the velocity the 5.7 gets (1,900 +/- FPS) from the short barrel.  It is light, but large for carry.  We have one in the home since the hi velocity and the bullet design combined is less penetrating than a 9mm, 40, 38, .357 or 45 which makes it safer for the children behind the walls.

It's easy for a woman to rack the slide in a 5.7 which is another plus.  The safety is in a funky place, but if you keep your finger off the trigger it's in a great place where the finger should rest if not on the trigger...handy I think. 

It's light and effective. 

[twyacht]

and very expensive, and over time, may become the next 41 magnum....

But as posted very effective. Shot placement will always be key, however, throw in a Presidential/Congressional/UN gun "act"/"ban" or otherwise ridiculous piece of legislation, and that expensive ammo, will become even more so.

Just my .02cents....

Still a great SD round.

[Rastus]

50 rounds for $20...not bad compared to Critical Defense or DPX w/20 or 25 rounds at more $$$$$.  The rounds got a bad rap with early high cost and people overlooked the 50 round count versus 20 or 25 in self-defense packaging (not including Gold Dots).  Now, to practice it costs the same....so you can't cheap out on that.

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

Low recoil, and high capacity, both of these are good things. High dollar gun, boutique caliber, limited choices of ammo, (relatively) expensive to practice with, and not much selection of good SD rounds? These are the down sides. I agree that a weapon broadly adopted by LEOs and the military sets my my baseline for realibilty in a pinch. They have a lot of money for performance tests and will (hopefully) sh!tcan any weapon that doen't work.  I guess I look at it like any other civilian app for a military weapon. Will it work for what I want to do with it? In this case the answer is no. The P-90 assault carbine, the platform the cartridge was built around, is designed to provide accurate, high volume, low recoil fire from a full auto carbine against an armored target. That doesn't check any boxes in my "what do I think I might ask this gun to do" list. They wanted a companion pistol (an afterthought, that would use the same ammo). Fair enough. But..... Even if I did kick in doors for a living with a P-90 or went through the Stargate to PX whatever to fight the Goua'ld, I'd still rather have a .45 on my hip. I just see this as a small round that goes really fast and makes a small hole with a lot of penetration. Add to this that neither the gun nor ammo are cheap. Me, barring specific circumstances that made low recoil key, would buy a 9mm, .40, .45 or .357 from any of the usual suspects. Just my .02.
FQ13

[bulldog75]

FQ pretty well named most of the calibers that are use by the military and leos. .40 is the hot one now. .45 will knock the tarnation out of a man. If you truly want a home defense firearm, rack a pump shotgun in the dark at a intruder. Your wife will probally be mad at you because she will be cleaning up brown stains on the carpet.