Although originally developed for close-quarter personal defense, the 5.7x28mm platforms are becoming increasingly popular for both practical protection purposes and their high fun factor on the range. Fiocchi fills both needs with several ammunition options.
by Patrick Sweeney
The 5.7×28 cartridge now has a long history. It may seem new to some, but it dates to the very early 1990s. The idea was to re-invent the wheel (sorry, FN…blame it on NATO) and create a personal defense weapon, or PDW. That is, a tool for defense for troops who were not necessarily on the front lines — truck drivers, radiomen (now women as well), artillery crews, HQ staff, and the like. That the M1 carbine had been around by that time for almost half a century mattered for naught. It had to be new. And so, the 5.7×28 cartridge was born.
Today, it serves much the same purpose. It is a useful cartridge for those who are unwilling or unable to handle a full-power cartridge such as the 9mm or the sledgehammer .45ACP. And in that role, it punches above its weight class.
Fiocchi has entered the market with several offerings of the 5.7, and in Combo Packs: Target & Defense, and Combo Pack: Target & Training.
Both packs contain two 150-round boxes of 40-grain FMJ for practice, training, warm-up, or just fun-as-all-get-out plinking. The Target & Defense combo contains two fifty-round boxes of 40-grain tipped hollow point, for, obviously, defensive use. With both projectiles weighing the same, your point of impact is not going to shift. So, your practice will be spot-on in point of impact and group size.
The Target & Training combo, in addition to the 40-grain FMJ mentioned, has two 50-round boxes of 62-grain subsonic loading of the 5.7×28. If you are going to be shooting suppressed, then the subsonic load is just the thing should you wish to introduce a new shooter to the 5.7. The reduced felt recoil and lessened noise will be less likely to make shooting un-fun for them. And you.
Each Combo Pack has a total of four hundred rounds of 5.7×28, ready for a day at the rage, and split between practice and defense, or practice and even more fun practice. If you don’t want the Combo Pack, then Fiocchi understands. They offer their Range Dynamics Bulk Pack, which is 150 rounds of your selected load, or the standard 50-round boxes of each. Regardless of how ambitious your range day plans are, Fiocchi has you covered.
There will be detractors of the 5.7. In short, they will argue something like this: “The .22 WMR is just an expensive .22 LR, and the 5.7 is just a bumped-up .22 WMR. Not even up to being a mouse gun.”
Well, they are wrong.
The .22 LR, out of a pistol, delivers its 40-grain lead bullet at less than 1,000 fps. A pistol in .22 WMR can be counted on to deliver its 40-grain jacketed bullet in the mid-1,300 fps region. The Fiocchi 40-grain JHP is crowding hard against the 1,700 fps marker. Those 400-700 fps matter, and they make a difference.
The standard 5.7 load for those of us not in the military is a 40-grain FMJ. This is lighter than, and slower than, a bullet from a .223/5.56, but you must keep in mind that a handgun isn’t a rifle. You can’t holster and carry concealed a rifle…unless you are taller than 99% of the US population. Even then, it won’t be easy. It is a common misconception that a rifle FMJ over-penetrates walls and obstacles. In fact, just the opposite. Inside a room, a 5.7 40-grain FMJ striking a wall is just barely going to make it into the next room. And it won’t leave that one. This quick-to-yaw aspect at close range is what makes it effective as a defensive choice.
Now, if a 40-grain lead-core bullet is not what you feel is the best option, then Fiocchi offers their Hyperformance Defense 35-grain bullet. This is a copper jacket with a frangible copper core. The jacket ensures reliable feeding, and the frangible core ensures rapid terminal expansion and limited obstacle penetration.
As the in-between choice, the Fiocchi 40-grain JHP — their tipped hollow point— offers penetration and expansion.
When it comes to a pistol for the 5.7, you are now spoiled for choice. The original, the FN FiveseveN, exudes the quality you’d expect from a firearm from FN. And with a twenty-round magazine (thirty with an optional extension) you have plenty of ammunition on hand with which to solve your problem. It is, though, a tad, shall we say, portly. It is a big grip to get your hands around. There are other options smaller in circumference. The Ruger 5.7 is smaller in grip size, holds just as many rounds, and can be had for half the price of the FN FiveseveN. If twenty isn’t enough, then Samson offers +5 and +15 extensions for the Ruger.
Smith & Wesson ups the ante with their M&P 5.7, which not only holds 22 rounds in a magazine, but comes with an extended, threaded barrel as a standard feature and at a price lower than the others so you can buy enough Fiocchi ammo for the next range trip or two.
If you simply want the most savings to buy as much Fiocchi 5.7 ammunition as possible, then the Tisas PX-5.7 from SDS Imports will do that for you. At half the price of the Ruger, the PX-5.7 will give your ammunition budget a respite, and more practice means better skills.
Which brings us back to the 5.7x28mm and the offerings Fiocchi has for you.
Fiocchi was founded in Lecco, Italy a week or so after Custer headed off for his last patrol in 1876. Lecco is on the shore of one of the arms of Lake Como, a beautiful part of Italy, and an area with a long history of arms, armor, and then ammunition manufacture. They now have two plants here in the good old USA — in Missouri and Arkansas — so maintaining supplies to us ammunition-hungry Americans is not a problem. The 5.7×28 ammunition is loaded to the same high quality as the rest of the Fiocchi line. How high quality? Their shotshells have been used to garner medals in multiple world cup and Olympic competitions.
Shooting the 5.7 Fiocchi ammunition is fun and rewarding, and I had an opportunity to refresh my acquaintance with Fiocchi ammunition just last week. The occasion wasn’t for accuracy testing (I’ve done plenty of that) but to pound steel at speed and to plink at plates at absurd distances. The low recoil of the 5.7 (especially the subsonic load) makes shooting at speed easy and fun. And in case you feel the need or have the opportunity, the 5.7 does not drop very much at distance. Once I learned the holdover (again, not much), tagging a steel plate at 200 yards was a cinch.
- Fiocchi Delivers Options for 5.7 Fans - August 9, 2024
