FN 5.7x28 cop killer controversy: PS90 and Five-seven vs IIIA armor

Key points: FN 5 7x28 cop

• From the PS90's 10.4-inch barrel, a 27-grain lead-free 5.7x28 load penetrated Level IIIA soft armor at four to five yards; the same load from the Five-seven pistol was stopped.
• No civilian load fired from the Five-seven pistol got through the vest, and SS190 armor-piercing ammunition was not tested because of its cost.
• In gel, the 40-grain SS197 V-Max from the PS90 penetrated about as deep as a 55-grain 5.56 load from a 16-inch barrel, with a much smaller wound channel.
• SS190 was designed to defeat the NATO CRISAT target, 1.6 mm of titanium over 20 layers of Kevlar, at about 200 meters, to arm support troops against a Soviet breakthrough.
• The host puts the cartridge's limited military adoption down to money: post-Cold War budget cuts, the cost of a new logistics chain and FN's NATO standardization dispute with HK's 4.6x30.
• ATF's January 2005 technical statement ruled the SS196 sporting load not armor-piercing under federal law, making the issue projectile-specific rather than caliber-wide.
• Federal ban bills came in 2005, 2007 and 2010, revived by the 2009 Fort Hood shooting; the host argues officers should work as if they have no armor on.

About this Ballistics Focu video

FN 5.7x28 cop killer claims, tested: a former police officer fires a PS90 SBR and an FN Five-seven MkII into Level IIIA soft armor and ballistic gel, then traces the cartridge from its Cold War PDW origins and the SS190 armor-piercing load to the 2005–2010 federal ban bills. From the PS90, a 27-grain lead-free load went through IIIA armor; nothing fired from the pistol did.

Transcript: FN 5 7x28