An article about the Bizon submachine gun generated a lot of interest among site visitors with the FN P90 submachine gun. I think it would be perfectly reasonable to do a little review of this weapon. Many people compare this submachine gun with other models that have a large-capacity magazine, but this is far from the main feature of this weapon, in my opinion, the ammunition used in this submachine gun is of much greater interest. It is the ammunition that sets the main characteristics of the weapon, the P90 submachine gun itself is all just a means of realizing these characteristics, although quite interesting solutions have been applied in this means of realizing the capabilities of the cartridge. In general, one way or another, let's start our acquaintance with the weapon from its cartridge.
The cartridge 5, 7x28 was designed specifically for the P90 submachine gun, that is, the designers approached the issue of creating a new weapon globally, deciding to make a sample that was not tied to common ammunition, and therefore their characteristics. None of the earlier cartridges were taken as a basis, so the result depended entirely on the skills and abilities of the designers. This cartridge is not young, it appeared in the second half of the 80s of the last century, while its prospects were clear to everyone, and after a few years its Chinese counterpart appeared with a smaller weight of gunpowder and sleeve length, but also a small caliber 5, 8x21. The prospect of the new cartridge was that it easily coped with the penetration of personal body armor, which older ammunition could not cope with, unless, of course, take into account the monstrous cartridges. First of all, the designers set a goal to create ammunition that would replace the 9x19 in pistols and submachine guns, but as we can see this never happened, and it is unlikely to happen. Many sources claim the incredible stopping power of the bullet of this cartridge, saying that such a "how much" value as the stopping power of a 9x19 bullet is three times lower than that of a 5, 7x28 bullet. Is it worth believing this, provided that the bullet has less weight, a smaller caliber and a higher speed, let everyone decide for themselves separately, but just in case it is worth recalling cartridge 7, 62x25 and what exactly did not suit people in this cartridge in comparison with everything with the same 9x19. Even if we imagine that the movement of a bullet in the human body will be chaotic and unpredictable, it doesn't matter where is the guarantee that this bullet will start to move exactly this way, and not otherwise, so personally I do not believe in the high stopping effect of this ammunition, but try it myself would not risk it. You can also often find the statement that the 5, 7x28 cartridge was created on the basis of the 5, 56x45 cartridge, and this information sometimes slips through in fairly authoritative publications, everyone can also compare both cartridges. In addition to the P90 submachine gun, this ammunition is also used in the Five Seven pistol, which appeared a little later.
Despite its small distribution, this cartridge has a fairly wide range. The standard version of the cartridge with a bullet weighing only 2.1 grams with a steel core has an initial bullet speed of 716 meters per second (hereinafter for PP P90). The kinetic energy of a bullet is about 460 Joules. It is indicated by black paint at the tip or has no designation at all. There is also a cartridge with a tracer bullet, which completely repeats the characteristics of the main ammunition, indicated by red or red and black paint on the tip of the bullet. A cartridge with a bullet in which the core is made of aluminum is indicated by blue paint, the bullet of this cartridge has an even lower weight - 1, 8 grams, but its speed is even reduced to 700 meters per second, apparently at higher speeds the bullet behaves unstably. In this case, the kinetic energy of the bullet is equal to about 440 Joules. Such bullet velocities could not ensure the normal operation of weapons with silent firing devices, or rather, the weapon worked fine, but the bullets whistled in the literal sense of the word. It was in order to make it possible to use the PBS that bullets with a subsonic speed were developed, but since the bullet has a low weight, you will not be limited to one decrease in the powder load and you had to increase the weight of the projectile so that it does not leave bruises when hit, but causes serious injuries. So the weight of the bullet of the subsonic cartridge became equal to 3.5 grams, the speed of the bullet is 305 meters per second, that is, the kinetic energy of the bullet is somewhere around 170 Joules. Such cartridges are marked with white paint on the bullet. The so-called training cartridge is completely similar in its parameters and design to cartridges with a bullet with an aluminum core, this cartridge is intended for training shooting. Indicated by green paint on the tip of the bullet. There is also a fully sheathed lead bullet, the so-called reduced ricochet bullet. But what its parameters are unknown, but it is known that on its basis an expansive bullet was created for cartridge 5, 7x28.
Well, it would be dishonest not to tell about the results of firing with this cartridge. At a distance of 150 meters, the cartridge is guaranteed to pierce a steel helmet, although it is not indicated which one. From 50 meters, there is a 100% guarantee that the bullet will penetrate 48 layers of Kevlar-based fabric. The results are really good, but as I said above, I do not believe in the stopping effect of the bullets of these cartridges, and the fact that the means of individual body armor pierce is yes, it's good.
Let's turn now directly to the weapon itself, that is, the P90 submachine gun.
The submachine gun itself is one of the few weapons that can boast a large magazine capacity while maintaining normal dimensions. The design of the weapon is such that, in general, the weapon has nothing supernatural, but the magazine of the submachine gun deserves attention. The fact is that almost all firearms magazines that have become widespread are designed in such a way that the cartridges are located bullet forward towards the barrel of the weapon. This arrangement makes it easier to feed ammunition into the chamber, for which the bolt simply pushes the cartridge from the back of the sleeve. In the case of the P90 submachine gun, everything is the same, but before the cartridge is fed into the chamber, the ammunition turns ninety degrees. On the one hand, the design of the store is quite standard. The box, made of transparent plastic, serves as the body of the magazine, which is why it is possible to control the amount of cartridges remaining for use. The feeder and its spring are located inside the plastic case. The store itself is designed for a two-row arrangement of ammunition. Everything seems to be common and simple, but this magazine joins the weapon along its receiver, which allows the use of large-capacity magazines without increasing the overall dimensions of the weapon. Thus, when attaching the magazine along the weapon, the problem arises, which is that the cartridges in the magazine are located in relation to the barrel at an angle of ninety degrees, respectively, in order for the cartridge to be fed into the chamber, it must first be turned into the correct position. It is this task that is performed by a separate element of the magazine, which picks up the cartridge from the magazine when the bolt moves backward, turns and makes it possible for the bolt to pick up the cartridge and send it into the chamber just by moving forward. Naturally, such a design is less reliable than common ones, even with ideal production, and in addition to everything in the design of both the submachine gun itself and the store, plastic has found widespread use and, no matter how I am personally convinced of the opposite, but for now I remain with the opinion that high-quality steel is more reliable and durable. An interesting point is that charging the store does not require additional devices and is easily done manually.
The appearance of the weapon is also not entirely ordinary, and at first glance, one can easily decide that such a sample is absolutely inconvenient. The weapon does not have the usual pistol grip, forend or additional grip; instead, plastic elements are used, through the holes in which the shooter's thumbs pass. The shooter's palm rests on the back of these unusual shaped handles. In other words, holding a weapon is no different from holding the same pistol grip and an additional grip, but at the same time the weapon is much more difficult to knock out of the shooter's hands, and the holding itself seems more convenient, although this is more a matter of habit and personal preference. On both sides of the weapon, a safety switch-translator of fire modes is provided, while it is located under the trigger, which significantly speeds up the process of switching weapons from one mode to another and removing it from the safety catch. The sights of the submachine gun are represented by a built-in collimator sight. In its place, any other sighting devices can be installed, however, this can be done in the case of installing an additional rack with three picatinny rails. Open sights can also be installed, but due to the small aiming line, the range of weapon use is limited, and overall efficiency is reduced.
The layout of the weapon, despite the location of the store, bullpup. This made it possible to create a more stable sample when firing than those made in the classic layout, and also made it possible to install a long barrel. Weapon automation is based on a free shutter, in other words, everything is usually and has already been worked out in many other models. The shot is fired from a closed bolt. The length of the weapon is 500 millimeters, while the barrel length is 263 millimeters. The weight without cartridges is just over 2.5 kilograms, the rate of fire is 900 rounds per minute, which should be to compensate for not the greatest stopping effect, the effective range of use is up to 200 meters.
This weapon is in service with different countries, mainly where money for weapons and ammunition is not a pity and where people using this weapon instantly assess the enemy and determine the place where it is best to shoot with maximum efficiency. In other words, the weapon is somewhat specific in itself because of the ammunition, and it is also intended for high-class professionals, so it has not received wide distribution. "Pulls out" this weapon is that it is quite popular in cinematography and computer games, and it pays for the production and development of mainly civilian versions, which have a longer barrel and are deprived of the ability to conduct automatic fire.
It is quite difficult to assess a weapon, on the one hand, the sample is certainly interesting, even to some extent promising, but only when you ask yourself a question about the effectiveness and reliability of a weapon, you cannot answer unequivocally. An unreliable store design that clearly loses out in durability to simple box stores with no bells and whistles. Not the greatest stopping effect of ammunition bullets, although with a fairly high percentage of penetration of personal protective equipment, also have their advantages and disadvantages, this and much more makes it possible to doubt that the weapon is as good as it is believed. Of course, in the army environment, where the provision of weapons and their repair is adjusted to "five plus", such a model has the right to exist and will differ only in its best sides, the disadvantages will be compensated by the lack of slovenliness, but how many of these armies? I think this is the very reason why we can say that the weapon was ahead of its time and neither the ammunition nor the submachine gun itself has anything to do with it. Well, as for the specialty of weapons, it is not only in the security services of top officials that there are professionals who know which side to approach weapons from. In general, why should we look at the P90 when we have a simple and reliable Heather, with a 9x21 cartridge, albeit not so fashionable, but clearly no less effective.
