will there be a R57 (5.7x28mm rounds)?

[guncats]

the 5.7 has more or less the same power as 9mm, it is powerful enough to use the lock-breech design and will generate some good penetration + tumbling, even from a 3" barrel.
A single stack mag will probably hold 8rd of 5.7 instead of 6rd of 9mm. If the mag has the same width as the 9mm mag, the rounds can off-set a little so it might even hold 10rd. The 5.7's case is tapered which will enhance reliability a lot.

Is it possible? It seems that the grip area (front to back) will have to be lengthened a bit and so is the mag, barrel/breech face/extractor/ejector will be different, but that shouldn't be too much work for the adaptation...

The only 5.7mm handgun currently available is already around $1k, a R57 with a $1300 price tag will not be that much more $$.

[DDGator]

No.   

[Richard S]

Besides, I have enough trouble finding 9mm ammo.   

[dddonkey]

Besides, I have enough trouble finding 9mm ammo.   

LOL, so true!

[tracker]

I am not looking for any more calibers; there is quite enough at present.

[guncats]

the 5.7 is not really more expensive than the 9mm. The blue-tip FN stuff is $23 per box of 50 (which is the premium round for that caliber), while 9mm gold-dot is $22 per box of 20.

on the other hand, I can not find any ballistic data on 5.7 launched from a 3" barrel, at least not yet.

[tracker]

Unless you have a source I don't know about, the issue is availability, not price.

http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/index.php/cName/pistol-ammo-fn-57

[guncats]

didn't know they are still that scarce, 5.7 is available on gunbroker all the time. My local range has two types (FNH blue-tip and American Eagle FMJ) of 57 in stock. Though they also have 7 different types of standard 9mm in stock, none is 124gr so my R9 doesn't like any of them. They do have 124gr golddot short-barrel but that is +P ammo so I can't shoot it either. Finding suitable 9mm for the R9 is not necessarily easier.

For a light duty high $$ pocket pistol such as the R57, one can just buy 500rd of ammo when purchasing the pistol and call it good.

[Richard S]

For those who may not have seen it, here is FN Herstal's offering in the 5x28mm cartridge:

http://web.archive.org/web/20011003224904/http://www.fnmfg.com/products/fivesevn/fivesevn.htm

The caliber might have been adopted by NATO as a standard replacement for the 9x19mm but for the objection of Germany and others who favored Heckler & Koch's 4.6x30mm.

http://web.archive.org/web/20061016074936/http://www.global-defence.com/2006/Utilities/article.php?id=40

As I've noted previously on the Forum, I'm a proponent of the "bigger rock" school of thought in civilian personal defense handguns. As such, my personal opinion is that the 5.7x28mm cartridge would be too fast and hot a cartridge for civilian personal defense use, likely to result in through-and-through shots posing a danger in non-battleground situations. By way of example, the round has been reported to produce 14" of penetration in ballistic gelatin when fired from a pistol.


http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=5.7x28+ballistics+chart+from+pistol&qs=HS&form=QBIR&pq=5.7x28+&sc=8-7&sp=3&sk=HS2#view=detail&id=91A76404D294F9AA0B00960D38BE97F4C07CEBB6&selectedIndex=2

All of this is just my personal opinion. Reasonable minds may differ.

[guncats]

5.7mm FMJ might have over-penetration problem (meanwhile 9mm FMJ will definitely cause over penetration), how about the more common blue-tip a-max stuff? A 3" barrel probably won't generate enough velocity to give "explosive results", but it might still expend-like-hell and give ok penetration. A bit difficult to predict what the different rounds can do without some actual 3" barrel test data, though.

[C0untZer0]

I have to say I think this is a neat idea.

I am worried about the bullet tumbling / keyholing, but even then, the actual ballistics might still be awesome (who knows?) man would that be an interesting little gun!