Which 5.7x28mm Product Lines Are Most Common?
Current observed prices are in the 30-day price summary at the top of this page, recomputed from tracked retailer listings. The table below lists common product lines by bullet type, weight, and intended use. It is a reference list, not a ranking.
| Product Line | Type | Grain | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal American Eagle (AE5728A) | Total Metal Jacket (TMJ) | 40gr | Range / Practice |
| Fiocchi | FMJ | 40gr | Range / Practice |
| FN SS197SR | V-Max (polymer tip) | 40gr | Range / Varmint |
| FN SS195LF | Lead-free hollow point | 27gr | Range / Practice |
| Speer Gold Dot (25728GD) | Bonded hollow point | 40gr | Personal Protection |
| Hornady Critical Defense | FTX (polymer tip) | 40gr | Personal Protection |
What Is 5.7x28mm?
The 5.7×28mm was designed by FN Herstal of Belgium in the late 1980s. NATO had asked for a cartridge for a new class of compact weapon — the personal defense weapon, or PDW — that would outperform the 9mm against protected targets while staying small enough for a pistol-sized magazine. FN filed its patent application in 1989 and revealed the cartridge publicly in 1990 together with the P90, a compact bullpup PDW. The Five-seveN pistol followed in 1998.
Key dimensions: the bullet is .224 inch (5.7mm) in diameter — the same nominal diameter as a .223 Remington bullet — the bottlenecked case is about 1.138 inches (28.9mm) long, and the loaded overall length is about 1.594 inches (40.5mm). C.I.P. lists a maximum pressure of 345 MPa. The cartridge became a NATO standard under STANAG 4509 in 2021.
In the United States the cartridge was standardized by SAAMI in August 2024, on a proposal by Fiocchi of America with FN America. The SAAMI reference load is a 40-grain bullet at 1,750 feet per second from a 5-inch test barrel, with a maximum average pressure of 48,500 psi. SAAMI lists it as a centerfire pistol cartridge, which is why IronScout groups it with the handgun calibers even though the P90 and PS90 are long guns.
Do not confuse 5.7x28mm with other ".22-caliber" cartridges. It shares a bullet diameter with .223 Remington / 5.56 NATO and with rimfire rounds such as the .22 WMR, but the case is different and none of these interchange. The cartridge a firearm takes is the one stamped on it. "5.7mm Johnson" (.22 Spitfire) is an unrelated, obsolete carbine cartridge.
Firearms Chambered in 5.7x28mm
- FN P90 and PS90 — the original PDW (1990) and its civilian semi-automatic carbine (2005), both fed from a 50-round top-mounted magazine.
- FN Five-seveN — the pistol introduced in 1998, now in its MK3 generation.
- Ruger-57 — a full-size pistol introduced in December 2019.
- Smith & Wesson M&P 5.7, KelTec P50 and R50, CMMG Banshee, and AR-pattern uppers sold as "AR-57" — further pistols, carbines and PDW-style rifles from several makers.
Because the case is small, full-size pistol magazines for the cartridge commonly hold 20 rounds, and the P90 and PS90 magazine holds 50.
Common 5.7x28mm Loads
5.7x28mm is a narrow market with a small set of manufacturers, and most loads use bullets between 27 and 40 grains.
- FN SS190 — the original military and law-enforcement load with a steel-tipped penetrator. It is restricted to military and law-enforcement sales and is not part of the civilian retail market.
- FN SS197SR — the common civilian FN load, a 40-grain Hornady V-Max polymer-tip bullet.
- FN SS195LF — a lighter lead-free hollow-point load.
- Federal American Eagle AE5728A — a 40-grain total metal jacket practice load, sold in 50-round boxes and larger cases. It has been in production since 2012.
- Fiocchi — 40-grain FMJ practice loads. Fiocchi of America has loaded 5.7x28mm in the United States since 2006.
- Speer Gold Dot Personal Protection — a 40-grain bonded hollow point that Speer designed for this cartridge, with a published muzzle velocity of 1,800 fps.
- Hornady Critical Defense — a 40-grain FTX polymer-tip load, sold in 25-round boxes.
Velocity depends heavily on barrel length. Manufacturer velocities are usually measured from a pistol-length barrel; the same load is faster from a 16-inch carbine barrel or the P90.
How 5.7x28mm Prices Compare
The 30-day summary at the top of this page shows the observed price distribution for 5.7x28mm right now — the median, the quartiles, and how many retailers and listings stand behind them. Practice FMJ/TMJ loads and personal-protection hollow points are listed together in that summary, so expect defensive loads to sit toward the upper end of the observed range and range loads toward the lower end.
Box sizes vary from 25 and 50 rounds to 500-round cases and canned packs, so box prices are not comparable with each other. Cost per round is the comparable figure; the search button at the top of this page sorts current listings by it. When a caliber has fewer tracked listings, a single retailer's sale can move the summary more than it would for 9mm — check the retailer and listing counts beside the figures. See how to buy ammo online and why the same ammo has different prices for what changes between offers.
5.7x28mm Brands
- Federal — American Eagle TMJ practice loads.
- Fiocchi — FMJ practice loads made in the United States.
- Speer — Gold Dot bonded hollow points.
- Hornady — Critical Defense FTX loads, and the V-Max bullet used in FN's SS197SR.
- FN Herstal — the cartridge's designer, which also sells its own SS197SR and SS195LF loads.
Where to Compare 5.7x28mm Prices
IronScout tracks in-stock listings across the retailers it covers and recomputes the 30-day summary daily. Set a free price alert to be notified when a listing crosses a price you choose.
Related Calibers
- 9mm — The service-pistol cartridge the 5.7x28mm was designed to supplement in PDWs.
- 5.56 NATO / .223 Remington — The rifle cartridge with the same nominal bullet diameter. Not interchangeable.
- .22 WMR — A rimfire magnum with a similar bullet weight class, fired from a much smaller case.