Smith & Wesson M&P 5.7
Can A Pistol Identify As A Rifle?
Smith & Wesson M&P 5.7 Gear List
Optics: Vortex Defender-CCW
Holster: Muddy River Tactical IWB Kydex
Mag Pouch: Muddy River Tactical Mag Holster
Ammo: Federal 5.7 x 28 40-grain JHP
Light: Streamlight TLR-7A
The Smith and Wesson M&P 5.7 is a fistful of engineering brilliance. This lightweight combat handgun packs unprecedented capacity and revolutionary innovation, as well as superb ergonomics and refined human engineering, into a preternaturally thin lightweight chassis. The Smith and Wesson M&P 5.7 is a glimpse into the future.
Transballisticism
There was a time in America not so long ago when we tended to define ourselves by what we had accomplished. By contrast, nowadays the single most important aspect of American identity seems to be who we choose to sleep with. If you think I am going to tiptoe through that cultural minefield in this venue you have lost your mind. However, one interesting aspect of this newfound preoccupation with gender fluidity is the apparent capacity to self-actualize ourselves into whatever we might aspire to become.
I admittedly don’t get out much, but as near as I can tell, this means one can identify as most anything one wishes these days independent of any pesky pre-existing anatomical distractions. I would therefore personally like to identify as Superman. I have long coveted the capacity to bench press a locomotive. As I don’t hail from a distant star system and being exposed to mutating gamma radiation sounds icky, I would simply like to announce that I am now Superman. Shaving cream ads and lucrative product endorsements will most surely follow.
In the gun world, Smith and Wesson’s M&P pistol has followed a similarly woke path. Previously the M&P pistol was, well, simply a very nice pistol. It was chambered in such traditional family-friendly calibers as 9mm Para, .40 S&W, .45ACP and 10mm Auto. However, nowadays the M&P also seems to identify as a rifle. This remarkable transformation is due to the gun’s radical 5.7x28mm chambering combined with its unique Tempo gas-operated action.
Unlike nearly anything on the market, the S&W M&P 5.7 offers
a combination of high-capacity and low recoil in a concealable
package — nearly “a pistol, which identifies as a rifle!”
Origin Story
There has been a fair amount of misinformation floating about the Interweb on the nature and capabilities of the adorable little 5.7x28mm round. Some sources claim these zippy little bullets are lethal on an apocalyptic scale, while others assert they are good only for recreational plinking and harvesting tree rats, if that. Reality is somewhere in between.
To best understand what this unconventional cartridge does, we need to explore where it came from. First introduced in 1990, the 5.7x28mm round was FN’s answer to a NATO tender to replace the near-centenarian 9mm Parabellum. On an Information Age battlefield populated with combatants sporting body armor, the NATO brain trust wanted a Personal Defense Weapon focus on penetration. Terminal performance was a consideration, but it wasn’t the primary one. The FN 5.7x28mm round performed beautifully in that regard.
FN produces lots of different loads for this chambering, some of which are available to us mere mortal civilians while others are not. Their restricted SS190 armor-piercing round will reliably penetrate a Level IIIA Kevlar vest or ballistic helmet at 200 meters when fired from a carbine-length barrel. Most civilian rounds push either hollow point or polymer-tipped bullets ranging between 27 and 40 grains to around 2,300 feet per second. Federal and Fiocchi have both ramped up to bring us these rounds en masse. Where previously they were prohibitively expensive, I’m told things will be getting better soon.
There are some boutique ammo suppliers producing some amazing loads for the 5.7x28mm. Elite Ammunition offers custom bullets turned out of hardened copper rods resembling miniaturized versions of the hypervelocity darts fired from modern main battle tanks. This stuff is expensive, but it does some truly amazing things downrange.
The 5.7 incorporates a partially rotating Tempo Barrel System
so you don’t need a snuffer equipped with a Linear Inertial
Decoupler (LID) like other tilt-lock designs.
The 5.7 slide features an RMSc cut for the optic (shown below with Vortex
Defender-CCW) of your choice, plus standard three-dot white sights.
The S&W Treatment
While FN was developing the 5.7x28mm cartridge, they were also contriving a pair of radically advanced firearms to launch it. Their polymer-framed Five-seveN pistol and P90 Personal Defense Weapon broke the mold for modern combat guns. However, they were both expensive and a little bit weird. S&W has Americanized the concept into something that seems at once both radical and oddly familiar.
The Smith and Wesson M&P 5.7 feeds from flush-fitting magazines for an extraordinary 22+1 capacity in a chassis that’s nonetheless unnaturally thin. The grip seems long-ish compared to more conventional 9mm fare, but it still facilitates easy concealed carry. The gun comes with a spare magazine and a robust polymer magazine loader to help get those last few rounds in place. The magazine release is a readily reversible button.
The most fascinating aspect of the design is the Tempo gas-operated action. This thing is undeniably strange, but it is a good kind of strange. The weapon fires from the locked breech, and most of the 5″ barrel is fixed in place. The near end, however, incorporates a novel rotating locking system that doesn’t cam open until the bullet has passed the gas port. The end result is both smooth and reliable. The fact the majority of the barrel remains fixed in place also lets you use a sound suppressor without having to fret with a Nielsen device for reliable operation. A Nielsen device, also known as a LID or Linear Inertial Decoupler, is a nifty piston contraption built into modern sound suppressors to ensure reliable operation on Browning-inspired tilting-lock centerfire handguns. The Smith and Wesson M&P 5.7 has no need of such.
The Smith and Wesson M&P 5.7 features a bilateral slide stop and is available either with or without a manual safety. There is a flat-faced target trigger with a built-in safety tab in the trigger face. The dust cover is naturally cut for accessories, and the slide comes from the factory milled to accept an optic. The footprint accommodates an RMSc red dot without an adaptor.
The gun is ignited via an internal hammer linked to a superb single-action trigger. The slide sports aggressive cocking grooves and the sights are adorned with three white dots. There are also generous slots cut in the slide up front to decrease reciprocating mass and spunk up lock time. The top of the slide is grooved to minimize glare.
The S&W M&P 5.7 slide stripped, showing the fascinating
barrel-within-a-barrel Tempo system that keeps the breech
locked until the bullet passes the gas port.
Packing 22+1 rounds into the long but thin grip, Will found the 5.7
carried like a more traditional 9mm, especially when you consider
two magazines can hold nearly an entire box of ammo!
How Does She Run?
Wow. Just wow. The Smith and Wesson M&P 5.7 feels about like a souped-up .22 on the range. The gun’s placid recoil is simply delightful. The long snout and aggressively stippled grip conspire to neutralize muzzle flip, so follow up shots are both fast and fun.
The gun was reliable with everything I fed it, though there was some inevitable blowback when running a sound suppressor. This is the case with any sound-suppressed handgun and is the reason we wear eye protection. The divine single-action trigger sports a nearly weightless take-up and a nice crisp abbreviated break. Twenty-three rounds onboard last about forever and magazine changes are totally sweet. Running this thing is cool enough to make Ru Paul look like John Wick.
The slide features aggressive grip serrations and lightening cuts
even though recoil is almost an afterthought. The 5" 1-in-9 twist
barrel comes with a thread protector if you don’t want a muzzle device.
So What’s It Good For?
That’s a great question. The 5.7x28mm offers some pretty unconventional ballistics compared to more traditional centerfire pistol rounds. When properly stoked it really does produce unrivalled penetration. While some might denigrate the round’s stopping power, I suspect they have never been chased by somebody wielding 23 of them. The trim nature of the chassis does make the gun easy to conceal. I packed it underneath my scrubs at work for a couple weeks and can attest it is no more onerous than any other service-size concealed carry firearm. The svelte lateral dimensions actually make it more comfortable than most.
The 5.7x28mm round has been in common use long enough some folks have actually been shot with it. On 22 April 1997, 140 Peruvian commandos executed Operation Chavín de Huántar to end a protracted 126-day siege of the Japanese embassy in Lima, Peru. The Peruvian special operators killed all 14 Tupac Amaru terrorists for the loss of one hostage and two of their own. They successfully rescued 24 hostages. Many of the Peruvian assaulters were armed with sound-suppressed FN P90s. Three of the terrorists, all of whom were wearing Level IIIA vests, were neutralized immediately with 5.7x28mm fire from P90 weapons. Two were instantly incapacitated with a single round, while the third caught three.
As always, shot placement is everything, but the Smith and Wesson M&P 5.7 brings some unique capabilities to the table. In a world of bland sameness at your local gun emporium, the M&P 5.7 features radically advanced engineering and long gun-grade magazine capacity. It is also accurate and fun to run. Additionally, with an MSRP of $699, the M&P 5.7 is within financial reach of us normal folk.
The M&P 5.7 rides the line between handgun portability and rifle performance. So, if your sense of ballistic bigotry will allow you to embrace downrange diversity, the genre-bending M&P 5.7 puts proper power in your pocket. None of this actually means anything, of course, but substance holds little sway in the American cultural conversation these days. Regardless, the M&P 5.7 really is the revolutionary defensive pistol identifying as something altogether different.
