Free For All Friday 10-31-2014: That FN pistol…
I wasn’t able to get my costume repaired (yes, repaired. long story) in time for Halloween. As a result, my hastily thrown together costume today is “Random Dude from The Walking Dead Before He Got Turned Into a Zombie”. It’s not even 8:30 and I’m so hopped up on Halloween candy that I’m sure I’m going to get mistaken for a tweaker.
The time change is this weekend as well. We get an extra hour of sleep the first day then what feels like an extra hour until our bodies get used to it. Fun fact: the number of heart attacks in this country goes well below average on the days following this particular time change. They go up following the change where we lose an hour. Sleep is important, kids, and keeping a consistent sleep schedule is good for your health.
With the time change comes two other important things:
- Change the batteries in your smoke alarms whether they need it or not. If you have a gun safe with a digital lock, change the battery on that as well.
- Take your guns out, clean them and lube them whether they need it or not.
Both are important maintenance guidelines. We have one question this week!
I heard a lot of fuss about the FN 57 and the 5.7 round. I’ve gone into some gun stores and gotten some less than friendly reactions. Others seem to think its the best thing since sliced bread. I spend a lot of time in the mountains with my kids and am looking at it as a good self defense weapon against cougars. Whats your take on it? Also, if not a 57 what should I be looking for to guard against animals that might be trouble in the mountains? -Daniel L.
It seems like the gun world is filled with polarizing subjects. Whether it’s 9mm vs .45 or revolver vs. semi-auto, gunners will passionately argue their chosen alliance until the cows come home…then leave…then come home again. There’s also a certain percentage that can safely referred to as “Luddites”. These are people that just automatically dislike any new technology or paradigms. I can’t really blame gun people for being that way because, when you think about it, we’re betting our lives on our guns. I personally wouldn’t want to bet on unproven technology in these kinds of cases. That being said, the only way for an unproven tech to become proven is for people to try it out.
The FN Five-seveN is one of those “unproven” techs that are surprisingly polarizing at the same time. I put quotes around “unproven” because there are already a few (40+) military & police organizations internationally that have adopted it successfully and they sing their praises of it constantly. It’s an almost entirely polymer pistol that shoots a very unique round: the 5.7×28. The philosophy of the round is a small bullet with a hefty amount of power behind it. The cartridge looks like a tiny AR-15 round and the bullet itself is very similar in size to the 5.56 round.
People seem to either love it or hate it. The bright side is, there’s enough info on it to make good judgments concerning ideal usage. From a self-defense standpoint, this gun follows the same philosophy as the AR-15’s round: tiny bullet that tumbles when it hits. This creates a pretty nasty wound channel. What we’re looking for, however, is what amounts to a hunting round if you’re using it for that kind of defense. In that case, most people would say that a 5.56 or .223 is usable to hunt mountain lion but it’s on the low end and shot placement is important. Considering that the 5.7 isn’t a rifle round by any stretch, it’s not going to have the punch that a 5.56 has and might not give you the power necessary to down an attacking cougar. So, for self defense, I would go with a 5.7 in a heartbeat. When it comes to animal defense, I don’t know if I would go that direction. Data says it should work but I can’t help but feel like something a bit beefier would be preferable. Either a 9mm pistol or .357 revolver would be a safe, no question approach. If nothing else, the difficulty in finding ammo for the Five-seveN pistol is a big enough negative to move it down the list of potential gun purchases.
Thanks for the questions!
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