Smith & Wesson's - Rotating, Reciprocating, Gas Burping Pistol

05/07/2023 – In the process of writing and illustrating this article, it dawned on me that the images that follow will be the last pictures taken with a Nikon. A non event for anyone but me, this marks the end of a fifty plus year relationship with a brand. So the current camera will join the first, second and third generation camera bodies, with boxes of lenses and gadgetry, in their retirement home in the basement.

The replacement Sony A7 II; mature as a Sony model, new product as a purchase and new to me. It does not have all of the Sony line up video bells and whistles, but I don’t shoot video. It does have a full frame sensor, it has more than twice the resolution of the Nikon, a much improved image sensor, 5 way image stabilization, a much enhanced auto focus scheme, and some heavily evolved firmware that offers extensive control.

The A7 II has all things important to my application and it was available at a crazy sale price. Yes, there is a Sony A7 III and IV, and an A9 Series. The lists of their respective features are impressive, but superfluous to me, and clearly not worth the $3000 to $4000 difference. I’m just not that good and I’d like to remain on speaking terms with my struggling bank account.

So Sony and me are bonding, surely if slowly, at least until 1:30 AM this monring. At the moment, my hands don’t find the familiar camera form, or placement of dials. levers and buttons. Menu trees lead to different branches, and the conditioning that lets my brain see how an image in the viewfinder will look on a web page has been reset. The process is starting all over again.

Change is ever more difficult, but ever more essential. Somewhere in the back of my mind, Jim Morrison is singing “The End”. But then some change is to the good and worth adapting.

S&W sets the TEMPO for 5.7x28mm pistols. Yes, it is different

Gas operated, not delayed blow back

The 5.7×28 cartridge relies on velocity to give its small, and often lightweight, 22 caliber bullet lethality. Bullet inertia is low, wet measured case capacity is a modest 12.2 grains, so gas pressure persistence is… brief, but high pressure for a pistol at approximately 50,000 psi.

Rather than design a pistol with the inconsistencies of a fixed barrel, delayed blow back design and Swiss cheese slide doing a balancing act with a recoil spring, Smith and Wesson went to a locking breech, gas operated system. Yes, I did get dizzy writing that ostensibly run on sentence.

The S&W M&P 5.7 has a slide with relief slots to reduce weight, an outer barrel shroud that remains fixed in position and provides an attaching point for muzzle devices, and a rotating inner lightweight barrel with aft locking lugs and a gas port.

While the circumferential rings on the barrel keep the barrel aligned within the shroud, the face of the front set of rings catches the pressure and gas volume from the port and drives the barrel back to rotate and release the slide.

The lugs on the top of the barrel retain the slide until the bullet passes the gas port located at the near muzzle end of the the barrel. The bottom lug causes the barrel to rotate in the camming surface at the rear of the shroud, releasing the slide and allowing it to cycle.

Taking it from the top; The front end of the slide is slotted to reduce reciprocating mass to accommodate the 5.7x28mm cartridge. The sights are steel and the top surface is ribbed to cut friction. The two pan head screws just forward of the rear sight anchor the optical sight mount cover.

The M&P 5.7 mag release can be assembled in left or right side operation. A version with a thumb safety is available as SKU: 13347. Deep, near vertical slide serrations provide excellent gripping surfaces as does the heavily stippled grip frame.

A lower rail provides a sure mounting surface to attach any device its owner might imagine. The muzzle thread protector, on and off with a 12 point box end 9/16″ wrench, covers 1/2″x28 device accepting threads. The trigger is flat face with hinged drop safety.

The 5.7x28mm cartridge….

Pictured L-R for context: 223 Remington, 22 Hornet, 5.7x28mm, 9mm Luger.

Technically, the 5.7x28mm is a fancy schmancy cartridge . We know this because it has NATO and CIP listings, but no SAAMI.

The NATO listing,  5.7 mm x 28 Ammunition (STANAG AOP-4509), is part of “NATO STANDARD AEP-97 MULTI-CALIBRE MANUAL OF PROOF AND INSPECTION (M-CMOPI) FOR NATO SMALL ARMS AMMUNITION”, a 752 page work of bureaucratic artistry, intended to assure dimensional and performance uniformity anywhere in the world it is purchased and/or sold.

The 1993 CIP listing, revised 2002,  for the 5,7×28… yes, that is a comma and not a decimal point, shows the cartridge is of Belgium origin. Why two standards listings? It’s a bit like the 5.56 NATO versus the 223 Remington. The former represents public sector nomenclature and specifications. The latter, in this case, represents private sector nomenclature and specifications.

Why were the other cartridges selected for comparison? Just visual reference. I figured, within that group, people are bound to be familiar with one of them. Performance wise, the 5.7x28mm is not comparable to the 223 Remington, it is comparable to the 22 Hornet in a short barreled firearm and, I am told by fans of the 5.7x28mm, that it is flatter shooting than the 9mm Luger. At least that is the statement made before they discount all of the other physics associated with ballistics in hopes of winning a “Which cartridge is better?” debate.

Smith & Wesson M&P 5.7 performance

I shot two types of ammunition with the M&P, 27 grain lead free FN and Federal American Eagle 40 grain. Over the chronograph they clocked 2,192 fps and 1,676 fps respectively.  The first is aluminum core, the second is lead core.

The M&P 5.7 handled both loads without a hiccup, even mixed in magazines. The pistol loaded properly from an open slide, or racking from a closed slide. There were no failures to extract and eject or chamber rounds. The trigger pull is light, the break is as clean.

Recoil is minor, muzzle jump is minimal, it does have a bit of bark. I did not mount an optical sight, I just used the metallic, open sight three dot system as supplied. Subsequently, shooting distance was kept to 10 yards where 5 shot groups easily stayed centrally inside of a standard 3.5″x2.5″ playing card, so shave 3/4″ off those dimensions.

Mounting a silencer did not impede function at all, so the shroud taking the weigh instead of the actual barrel is a good call. The round is supersonic, so it is not a near silent round and the cycling of mechanical parts, as is the case with any auto loader, brings is own symphony of sounds.

Exterior Ballistics based on chronograph readings…

Best Zero Results – 40 Grain Federal
Near-Zero – yards.		14		Mid Range – yards.		70
Far-Zero – yards.		118		Max Ordinate – “		+3.0
Point Blank – yards.		125

Best Zero : Range 0 – 100 yards
Yards		0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100
Velocity – fps		1676	1612	1551	1492	1436	1382	1330	1282	1238	1197	1160
Energy – ft.-lbs.		249	231	214	198	183	170	157	146	136	127	119
Momentum – lbs-sec		10	9	9	9	8	8	8	7	7	7	7
Path – “		-1.50	-0.43	0.51	1.31	1.95	2.42	2.70	2.79	2.67	2.33	1.74
Drift – “		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Time Of Flight – sec.		0.00	0.02	0.04	0.06	0.08	0.10	0.12	0.14	0.17	0.19	0.22

 

Best Zero Results – 27 grain FN
Near-Zero – yards.		18		Mid Range – yards.		88
Far-Zero – yards.		147		Max Ordinate – “		+3.0
Point Blank – yards.		155

Best Zero : Range 0 – 100 yards
Yards		0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100
Velocity – fps		2192	2113	2036	1961	1888	1816	1746	1677	1611	1548	1488
Energy – ft.-lbs.		320	297	276	256	237	220	203	187	173	160	147
Momentum – lbs-sec		9	9	9	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	6
Path – “		-1.50	-0.63	0.15	0.86	1.47	1.99	2.40	2.70	2.87	2.91	2.81
Drift – “		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Time Of Flight – sec.		0.00	0.01	0.03	0.04	0.06	0.08	0.09	0.11	0.13	0.15	0.17

Hmm… did not see that coming, lightweight, low SD bullet outdistancing and carrying more energy than the 40 grain at 100 yards. These are best zero with bullets +/- 3″ trajectory from line of sight. Good pistol numbers.

For context; the 9mm Lugar

Best Zero Results – 9mm Luger 124 Grain
Near-Zero – yards.		10		Mid Range – yards.		53
Far-Zero – yards.		94		Max Ordinate – “		+3.0
Point Blank – yards.		100

Best Zero : Range 0 – 100 yards
Yards		0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100
Velocity – fps		1100	1083	1067	1053	1039	1025	1013	1001	990	979	969
Energy – ft.-lbs.		395	383	372	362	352	343	335	327	320	313	306
Momentum – lbs-sec		23	23	22	22	22	22	21	21	21	21	20
Path – “		-1.50	-0.01	1.19	2.08	2.65	2.91	2.83	2.41	1.65	0.54	-0.94
Drift – “		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Time Of Flight – sec.		0.00	0.03	0.06	0.08	0.11	0.14	0.17	0.20	0.23	0.26	0.29

Summary

The originator of this cartridge, FN, describes the cartridge as offering a longer effective range than a 9mm Luger. The 5.7x28mm is also credited with having 30% less recoil and more effective at incapacitating due to the bullet’s tendency to tumble in mass. The ammunition is light in weight, so an easier carry. Certain types of 5.7x28mm can defeat basic body armor, due to its small diameter and pointed tip. Okay…

The thing is, a cartridge may start off for a very specific application, then find a home in civilian defensive and sporting applications. Some examples? Sure. The 30-06 Springfield, 308 Winchester, 45-70 Government, the 223 Remington have all been a mainstay of hunters and the 9mm Luger and 45 Auto have been a mainstay of home defense firearms and concealed carry.

For me, I think the M&P 5.7 would make a terrific small game, varmint, garden pest and… tractor pistol. It’s accurate, has decent range, light in weight, and not unpleasant to shoot. It’s range could definitely put the challenge back into small game hunting. It would also be great for building marksmanship skills, shooting at a distance. The price makes it affordable, and Smith & Wesson quality make it a lasting investment.