I've seen it. I disagree. So do a lot of other people. Stores can't keep Five-seveNs or PS90's on the shelf (unless they overprice them). And there are good reasons why. Ballistics. Just because someone posts popular videos on youtube doesn't mean they are experts on, well, anything. Look at the ballistic testing that's been done and you will likely be amazed. And I don't just mean ballistics gel or clay (although those are eye-opening as well). I mean pigs and other animals. But let me repost something a "real" expert wrote a while back.
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I see a lot of links to "experts" who profess to know what is an effective round, and so, sitting here it suddenly dawned on me that "I" am an expert as well! I've been a CCRN for 20 years. I've worked in some of the "busiest" Level One Trauma centers as well as some of the equally "busy" backwater county Emergency Rooms and seen my share of GSW's (gunshot wounds) come through the door so and I suspect I have far more REAL experience with what bullets "do" than all the armchair supposed experts. What I have to say will not I suspect be well-received by the bigger is better crowd.
I've seen a LOT of people shot with the .45 ACP and 9mm simply WALK IN THE DOOR with no outwardly ill effect. I've seen people shot with the lowly .22LR come in by ambulance, in shock, near death.
I was an avid ballistics enthusiast for many years prior to entering the medical field and I felt (as most ballistics enthusiasts do), that large-bore, high-powered handgun rounds were THE thing to carry...and in fact this is true, but this refers to carrying calibers such as top-loaded .357 magnums, .41/.44 magnums and up. Perhaps hot loaded .45 ACP and 9mm with the right bullet and the right load (meaning hand load) can do the dance, but 20 years of SEEING FIRST-HAND what standard loads do has left me a bit "cold" on the subject.
First, human tissue does not react like ballistic gelatin regardless of what any "expert" claims. When a bullet enters and passes through a human, the tissue does not "fracture," nor does it remain "blown out" or in receipt of some mythical "crush cavity." What human tissue DOES is slough off bullet impacts with amazingly efficiency! I'm talking about low-powered bullets here of course. The whole "permanent crush cavity" thing is absolutely hysterical...I've SEEN probably thousands of bullet wounds created by low-powered handguns such as the 9mm, .38 spl, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP, and NONE had "permanently crushed ballistic tracks!" NONE. The human body...TISSUE simply does not respond that way. Additionally, human skin stretches like a latex balloon and so does the underlying tissue...basically, subsonic bullets of ALL calibers kill by damaging or destroying necessary arteries/vessels/nerve tissue as they pass by, NOT by any mythical crush cavity, temporary, permanent, or otherwise.
Why am I going on such a tirade about this? Because the ONE caliber I have observed to be amazingly LETHAL is the lowly .22 Long Rifle. And I'm not talking about .22's fired from long barrels here....SHORT, pistol barrels provide all the impetus the .22LR needs to do amazing things FAR beyond what it should be able to do based upon paper statistics.
The 5.7x28 fits in the exact same category, only MAGNIFIED! A .22LR at 1200 fps impact will tumble wildly, and follow any "superhighway" it connects too...meaning veins, or sections between sinew and bone. The 5.7x28 will do the same. The .22LR generally starts out life with about 100 lb-ft. of KE depending on loading and barrel length yet the impact RESULT is far, FAR beyond what this number would suggest. The 5.7x28 starts out at close to twice the speed...meaning violent tumbling in tissue complete with fragmentation. If a bullet passes clean through a person it's carrying MOST of the kinetic energy with it. The REASON the 5.56x45 is so deadly is quite because the bullet was originally a "varmint" caliber not considered adequate for taking dangerous animals, YET when it comes to big, bad HUMANS, a varmint round does an amazing job! The 5.7x28 may impact with a mere 300 lb-ft of KE, yet the tumbling effect of the bullet when it comes to dumping all KE into the target CANNOT be ignored....well, it can by the "bigger is better" crowd, but only to their folly.
Anyway, after a couple of years dealing with GSW's of all calibers I realized that a .22LR is probably the IDEAL "carry gun"....and no, I don't expect to convince ANYONE of this, but it is based upon my actual experience. The 5.7x28 brings all that and DOUBLE to the table. Approximately 2.5-3X the KE, same lightweight bullet albeit constructed to penetrate, and it's not hard at all to see why the U.S. Secret Service carries the Five-Seven. Clearly others recognize the lethality of the cartridge!
The .40 S&W was supposed to be the Cat's meow...now thanks to government regulatory interference the .45 ACP is back in favor, yet none of the major police agencies choose it...why?
Having seen my share (and a few dozen other people's) of people shot by everything from the .22 up to .30'06 I know the rationale and the reason for the 5.7x28 becoming the standard...it gets the job done in a hurry!
Does this mean I think it is "better" than everything else...of course not! A high-powered rifle round from a rifle barrel is destructive of human tissue to a degree that simply must be seen to appreciated....UNLIKE TV, people shot with such rounds lose whatever future they might have had, and the same would be true of those hit by any "real" magnum handgun round.
I wish we could contrive some new, more accurate method of measuring ballistic effectiveness because as it stands people tend to shake out in the small bullet at high speed category, or the giant bullet walking out the barrel crowd. The fact is...VELOCITY is everything when it comes to bone fragmentation and tissue destruction. A bullet capable of punching through a Kevlar vest and plate will do the same to bone, and it will tumble and fragment dumping every shred of KE into the recipient.
I tend to think KE is THE "Gold Standard" based upon observed results, and truth be told a hit from a high-velocity, high-KE bullets are quite destructive, while large, slow bullets have no effect beyond that tissue they immediately contact.
The Five-Seven is THE carry solution. With the right ammo (Elite for those who cannot reload), it will punch through sheet steel with ease and tumble into flesh which makes it useful for anyone who contemplates a running gunfight on the road. "Penetrator" ammo will easily punch through door sheet steel that would stop magnum rounds designed to expand.
Several years ago I had the opportunity to test a variety of handgun loads on car doors and to my utter surprise the vaunted .44 magnum loaded with expanding point ammo had a hard time punching clean through...the Five-Seven punches through almost without saying.
