I'm new to the forum and new to reloading five seven ammo. I am having trouble finding brass and projectiles for the five seven. I have been able to find various powder loads. My question is to members of the forum who reload, where do you obtain your cases and projectiles and what projectiles do you load? I was told to use .22 cal bullets but which ones? I'm holding off buying the five seven dies until I get my questions answered. THanks in advance for anyones help.
five seven reloads
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11,215 Posts
Don't let the previous two posts discourage you about reloading. Although this round is not for the faint at heart, it can be reloaded successfully and safely.
I have reloaded and fired thousands of 5.7 cartridges in my PS90, PS90SRB and FiveseveN and just so long as you are very methodical you will be fine.
Brass is a problem because you can not purchase any virgin brass and most of what is available is found on the various forums in the for sale section, on Gunbroker.com or other auction houses. You have to look for it and act fast as brass usually sells as soon as it hits the airwaves. Most reloaders purchase a bunch of either SS197LF or SS197SR and shoot them then keep the cases for reloading purposes.
Projectiles are easy to find. You are looking for a .224 in the weight range of 30g to 55g. I would not go over 55g and use the 55g projectiles for sub-sonic loads. The best projectile is in the 40g range. Load tables can be found at my WWW (use at your own risk).
Dies are another thing altogether. I have tried the RCBS - what a waste of time and effort. I have tried the Lee dies and I do not like these either. I have found the Hornady dies to be the best but have had difficulty with crimping at first using the seat/crimp die so I use a modified Lee .223 crimping die with success. The problem with this round and crimping is due to shoulder movement on the case. The manufacturer does not crimp this round, they GLUE it to the case using a propriatary adheasive that is not available to the public. I have not tried the other manufacturers dies.
Powder is Ramshot True Blue. As usual, most if not all kabooms that I know of are due to operator error and double charges which are a danger no matter what round you reload. It is easy to double charge this round as the charge weight is usually less than 6.2g of powder which varies due to projectile weight. Be very very methodical.
If you wish additional information, PM me and I'll be glad to offer assistance if I can. You can also go to other forums in their reloading sections and do lots of reading and you will find that many people have successfully reloaded this round with NO PROBLEMS WHAT SO EVER.
I have reloaded and fired thousands of 5.7 cartridges in my PS90, PS90SRB and FiveseveN and just so long as you are very methodical you will be fine.
Brass is a problem because you can not purchase any virgin brass and most of what is available is found on the various forums in the for sale section, on Gunbroker.com or other auction houses. You have to look for it and act fast as brass usually sells as soon as it hits the airwaves. Most reloaders purchase a bunch of either SS197LF or SS197SR and shoot them then keep the cases for reloading purposes.
Projectiles are easy to find. You are looking for a .224 in the weight range of 30g to 55g. I would not go over 55g and use the 55g projectiles for sub-sonic loads. The best projectile is in the 40g range. Load tables can be found at my WWW (use at your own risk).
Dies are another thing altogether. I have tried the RCBS - what a waste of time and effort. I have tried the Lee dies and I do not like these either. I have found the Hornady dies to be the best but have had difficulty with crimping at first using the seat/crimp die so I use a modified Lee .223 crimping die with success. The problem with this round and crimping is due to shoulder movement on the case. The manufacturer does not crimp this round, they GLUE it to the case using a propriatary adheasive that is not available to the public. I have not tried the other manufacturers dies.
Powder is Ramshot True Blue. As usual, most if not all kabooms that I know of are due to operator error and double charges which are a danger no matter what round you reload. It is easy to double charge this round as the charge weight is usually less than 6.2g of powder which varies due to projectile weight. Be very very methodical.
If you wish additional information, PM me and I'll be glad to offer assistance if I can. You can also go to other forums in their reloading sections and do lots of reading and you will find that many people have successfully reloaded this round with NO PROBLEMS WHAT SO EVER.
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61 Posts
+1 Nicely Put.
definately agree with HK. I have also reloaded quite a bit for both my FsN and PS90 using data from HK as well as the Other Site. I am more carefull with these than with anything else I load.
One thing I have developed to ensure no double loads is that all rounds are upside down in the tray until they have powder in them. I know for sure what has a powder charge and what doesnt yet.
just kinda sucks that my reloading is on hold right now, only 1 more year to go lol
One thing I have developed to ensure no double loads is that all rounds are upside down in the tray until they have powder in them. I know for sure what has a powder charge and what doesnt yet.
just kinda sucks that my reloading is on hold right now, only 1 more year to go lol
I've been loading the 5.7 for about a year now and have had very good success. HK's advice is right on money.
I size and decap on a single stage Lee Classic Cast Iron press, trim on an RCBS TrimPro and prime, charge and seat on a Dillon 550B. I've had good results with .224 dia 36 gr Barnes Varmint Grenades, 40 gr Hornady V-Max and 55 gr Hornady FMJ-BT's. True Blue is the powder of choice and works well for all bullet weights I use and it meters extremely well.
I size and decap on a single stage Lee Classic Cast Iron press, trim on an RCBS TrimPro and prime, charge and seat on a Dillon 550B. I've had good results with .224 dia 36 gr Barnes Varmint Grenades, 40 gr Hornady V-Max and 55 gr Hornady FMJ-BT's. True Blue is the powder of choice and works well for all bullet weights I use and it meters extremely well.
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18 Posts
Re: five seven reloads powder
Howdy! I have loaded a few 5.7 rounds just to see if I could and I have a lot of AA No.5# to use, although I have heard of some trying Alliant's Blue Dot, but have not tried it myself. I did have some problems loading with the RCBS dies because of the decapper in the resizer would wreck the case, so I pulled the decapper out to resize the case only. Then simply used any spare die to use the decapper to remove the primer. The seat & crimp die worked just fine. I had about 20 to 25 rounds made up and they all worked just fine. My problem is finding a way to trim the cases to their proper length. I wish Lee would make a trimmer shell holder for the 5.7 round. Good luck, LM.jboraski said:
Lee does make a shell holder & case length gage for the 5.7 round. http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=266946 It works with their trimmer/lockstud. If you are going to be trimming hundreds of cases, you'll hate it, but it works well for limited runs.
i use the lee case length gage/lock stud with their zip trimmer. It works great, and I have had no problems with it.
As far as powders go, i can tell you that Ramshot True Blue, Accurate #5, #7, (#9 has been used, but i have no experience with it), HS6, and HS7 work really well.
There is a danger with over-loading this round, which is why a lot of people get scared. You need a scale that measures in 1/10gr increments and is accurate to within 1/10gr. When working up new loads, you need to go up in 1/10gr increments. Use 1/2gr too much and you could run into problems with case head seperation, or neck seperations.
Dont be afraid of this round. You just need to know what you are doing, and pay close attention to detail. A brass catcher is indispensible when working up hot loads, because u need to constantly check for warning signs when increasing your loads. Measure case head expansion with calibers. Check for pierced/leaking/blown out primers. If you do it right, it can be very rewarding. I am so glad I took up reloading. Now I have ammo that is FAR superior to the anemic factory ammunition at a significant discount.
As far as powders go, i can tell you that Ramshot True Blue, Accurate #5, #7, (#9 has been used, but i have no experience with it), HS6, and HS7 work really well.
There is a danger with over-loading this round, which is why a lot of people get scared. You need a scale that measures in 1/10gr increments and is accurate to within 1/10gr. When working up new loads, you need to go up in 1/10gr increments. Use 1/2gr too much and you could run into problems with case head seperation, or neck seperations.
Dont be afraid of this round. You just need to know what you are doing, and pay close attention to detail. A brass catcher is indispensible when working up hot loads, because u need to constantly check for warning signs when increasing your loads. Measure case head expansion with calibers. Check for pierced/leaking/blown out primers. If you do it right, it can be very rewarding. I am so glad I took up reloading. Now I have ammo that is FAR superior to the anemic factory ammunition at a significant discount.
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