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5.7x28 bolt gun

Dakota Arms made a few before they went out of business - so, Parkwest Arms ( that bought them out ) might still have a reamer. The FN factory blue tip V Max's only chrono 2250-ish - so - about the same as a 22 mag. But- it is a fun little round.
 
Dakota Arms made a few before they went out of business - so, Parkwest Arms ( that bought them out ) might still have a reamer. The FN factory blue tip V Max's only chrono 2250-ish - so - about the same as a 22 mag. But- it is a fun little round.
Even out of a longer barrel that’s all they were seeing?

I was thinking something nice and light to take on the tractor to pop woodchucks .
 
24" barrel - even worse than I remembered on the speed - only 2150 fps on the velocity. But it is a fun - no recoil- minimal noise cartridge.
 

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Wondering if anyone knows a gunsmith that could build a 5.7x28 bolt gun? Just be a fun rifle to have.

I do know savage said they were going to build a model 25 varminter but I did call the And they said it never came to fruition.
You know, I was just talking to one of the guys at the range this past weekend about this... I would MUCH rather have a bolt gun in 5.7x28 over a .17 HMR or .22 Magnum. I do have a few .17 HMR's and a .22 Mag, but I think the 5.7x28 is a much more capable round. And, being that it's centerfire, you can reload for it, so it would be cool to handload some Hornady 68gr BTHP subs in a 16.5" barrel...
 
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Build a 5.7x28 bolt gun. They are fun and you can reload for it.

It’s not that wild to reload for, I’ve realized thousands upon thousands of rounds for my bolt gun.

Any competent smith can throw one together, hell, I build one at home (minus the mag adapter) with almost all store bought parts. The mag adapter was made by a buddy, I reproduced one from delrin at the house. Not as pretty as his, but functions as intended.

Savage “supposedly” built 5 prototypes that all disappeared into the wind. I would imagine some years down the road they will show up on the open market, but that’s just a guess.

This is the 5.7x28. She has gone through a few changes, but mostly cosmetic.
IMG_0198.jpeg
 
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I had a local old school gunsmith (RIP Lee) build one for me in 2009. It was a 700 action, Shilen barrel, HSP stock. It shot great, and I saw a pretty good velocity bump with the 21" barrel. Lee wasn't interested in making it a repeater, so I just single loaded it. Ultimately I got tired of the cartridge and had him rechamber the gun to .223 with a new bolt, I sold the modified bolt, reamer, and gauges to a guy who wanted to build his own. I was just thinking about trying again the other day. With the 5.7 AR mags from CMMG, an AR mag Ruger American, a new barrel and a bushed bolt I think it would be pretty easy. A Howa Mini would also be a good candidate from a size standpoint. If someone made one with a proportionally sized action and good mags, I'd happily play around with it again.
 
FN blue tip is notoriously slow. If you want velocity, you have to reload for it (which sucks).

223 is the easy button. If you dont want the noise, theres a 22TCU bolt gun.


There's your modern 22 Hornet with easy to find factory ammo.

I've seen this cartridge hand loaded with 35 and 40gr V-Max.
It makes a very nice critter killer.
 
It’s not that wild to reload for, I’ve realized thousands upon thousands of rounds for my bolt gun.
Now that I think about it, I believe everyone read complaining was reloading for handguns.
Pressure and extraction issues related to the coated/lubed cases maybe? Don't remember.
 
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Build a 5.7x28 bolt gun. They are fun and you can reload for it.

It’s not that wild to reload for, I’ve realized thousands upon thousands of rounds for my bolt gun.

Any competent smith can throw one together, hell, I build one at home (minus the mag adapter) with almost all store bought parts. The mag adapter was made by a buddy, I reproduced one from delrin at the house. Not as pretty as his, but functions as intended.

Savage “supposedly” built 5 prototypes that all disappeared into the wind. I would imagine some years down the road they will show up on the open market, but that’s just a guess.

This is the 5.7x28. She has gone through a few changes, but mostly cosmetic. View attachment 8452094
I have local high end gun shop who does a lot of business with a well known precsion rifle company. Said company has a gunsmith with has built one or 2. But my dealer won’t give me the smiths name.
The smith actually traded a 5.7 bolt gun for something he had in the shop.
 
Get a 22 Hornet or 221 Fireball.
Both are available in the discontinued CZ-527.
Or, get a Howa mini in 223 and either set the barrel back or rebarrel to 221 Fireball.
Even possibly better is the 20 VarTarg.
You can thank me later.
22K hornet for the win or 221fireball.
I worked with a guy that had one of the 5.7 pistols and was pretty fun to shoot but not ideal for reloading due to the coating on the brass.
Probably not an issue in a bolt gun but brass and ammo availability might be problematic.
 
22K hornet for the win or 221fireball.
I worked with a guy that had one of the 5.7 pistols and was pretty fun to shoot but not ideal for reloading due to the coating on the brass.
Probably not an issue in a bolt gun but brass and ammo availability might be problematic.
With more and more companies releasing weapons chambered in 5.7 ammo is more abundant than ever imo.

As far as the coating on the brass goes it is a pain to reload it as it’s not like normal reloading. But jay wolf from elite ammunition actually has pretty good handle on how to do it. He has a video telling you what to do.

I honestly feel that any one who is a competent reloader would be able to do it no problem. Just a little different process than normal is all
 
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Now that I think about it, I believe everyone read complaining was reloading for handguns.
Pressure and extraction issues related to the coated/lubed cases maybe? Don't remember.
The delayed blowback system can be finicky. If you pay attention , and know what you’re doing, it just reloading. You just have to be more consistent and correct with powder loads.

The delayed blowback systems are hard on brass as well. I guesstimate you’d probably get 2-3 loadings just because of the way it moves brass around. The bolt gun, I’m on 4/5 loadings with some brass and it is going good. I do lose an occasional neck while resizing, BUT most of my brass is usually 1x fired from a different system and beat on some.

The only downside that I have seen so far, is there is zero manufacturers putting out virgin brass. One guy tried it some years ago but never got into it big, and no longer does it.

Less than 5 grains of autocomp powder under a 40g bullet gets me close to 2300fps.
I have local high end gun shop who does a lot of business with a well known precsion rifle company. Said company has a gunsmith with has built one or 2. But my dealer won’t give me the smiths name.
The smith actually traded a 5.7 bolt gun for something he had in the shop.
if your in the northeast, I probably know who your taking about and who he traded with. If your high end guy has one made from a Remington model 7 in a manners compact stock, then I know who built it too. Talk to him almost daily, and if so, he used my factory ptg bolt to make his dimensional correct.
 
I just picked up a case (1,000) of FN SS197SR for about $0.50/rd shipped. Compared to the $1/rd it used to be, I’m happy with that price. It’s about the same $ as LC 5.56 these days.

Also really enjoying my new toy… The radial delayed blowback design of the M&P 5.7 pistol is pretty genius. Recoil is very mild and the impulse is smooth. Pretty damn accurate, too. Hitting 5” gongs @ 50 yards with ease once I got the 507K dialed in. Haven’t tried it @ 100 yet. Might do that this weekend.

IMG_8355.jpeg
 
I have owned four different CZ 527 rifles. 22 Hornet, 17 Hornet, 204, and 221 Fireball.

While I love the 527, the action is not as smooth as a Rem700 when you have bullets feeding from the mag. It’s smooth without feeding, however, which is sort of sneaky when considering buying.

Anyway, I sold the 221 Fireball because it’s impossible to find CZ mags in that caliber. I had bought it to replace my 17 Hornet, as 17 cals are more difficult to clean, cheap borescopes don’t fit them, and the Hornet case is rimmed and is tougher to feed.

Sold the 204 to my bro, as I have a 204 Tikka instead to support my Rem 204. Still own both Hornets.

New CZ Hornet mags were still available when I last checked last month for $40.

The 17 Hornet is effective on pdogs out to 300yds on calm days. Both Hornets are blown around a lot by the wind, but the 22 Hornet fairs worst in that regard.

I really like both calibers.

I’ve attached Strelok ballistic outputs for both. Ignore the drop as the guns were zeroed differently in the past and I didn’t notice when taking screengrabs (have moved to all 100yd zeros for my CF guns).

The “Add vertical deflection of crosswind to results” is enabled, so that’s why even at the zero, there’s still a vertical deflection.
 

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