Submachine gun FN P90
Article on the Bison submachine gun revealed a great interest among site visitors with a FN P90 submachine gun. I think it would be quite reasonable to make a small review of this. weapons. Many compare this submachine gun with other samples that have a large-capacity store, but this is far from the main feature of this weapon, in my opinion, the ammunition used in this submachine gun is of much more interest. It is the ammunition that sets the basic characteristics of the weapon, the P90 submachine gun itself is only a means of realizing these characteristics, although quite interesting solutions are used in this means of realizing the capabilities of the cartridge. In general, one way or another, we will begin our acquaintance with a weapon from its patron.
The 5,7x28 cartridge was designed specifically for the Р90 submachine gun, that is, the designers approached the issue of creating a new weapon globally, deciding to make a sample that is not tied to common ammunition, and therefore their characteristics. Not one of the earlier cartridges was taken as a basis, because the result depended completely on the skills and abilities of the designers. This cartridge is not young, it appeared in the second half of the 80 of the last century, while its perspective was 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 5,8x21 caliber. The promise of the new patron was that he easily coped with the penetration of individual armor protection tools that older munitions could not cope with, if you do not take, of course, monstrous cartridges into account. First of all, the designers set a goal to create an ammunition that would replace the 9х19 in pistols and machine pistols, but as we can see this did not happen, and it is unlikely to happen. Many sources claim the incredible stopping power of the bullet of this cartridge, saying that such "how much" value as the stopping power of the bullet of the cartridge 9х19 is three times lower than that of the bullet of the cartridge 5,7х28. Should I believe this, provided that the bullet has less weight, smaller caliber and a higher speed, let everyone decide for themselves separately, but just in case, it is worth recalling the cartridge 7,62х25 and what exactly didn’t suit people in this cartridge 9x19. Even if we imagine that the movement of a bullet in a person’s body will be chaotic and unpredictable, it’s all the same where there is a guarantee that this bullet will start moving in this way and not otherwise, so personally I don’t believe in high stopping action of this ammunition would not dare. It is also often possible to find the statement that the cartridge 5,7х28 is based on the cartridge 5,56х45, and this information sometimes skips in quite authoritative editions, 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 just 2,1 grams with a steel core has an initial bullet velocity of 716 meters per second (hereinafter, for the P90 PP). The kinetic energy of a bullet is about 460 Joule. It is indicated with black paint on the tip or it 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 even less weight - 1,8 gram, but its speed is even reduced to 700 meters per second, apparently at higher speeds the bullet behaves unstably. The kinetic energy of the bullet is about 440 Joule. Such bullet speeds could not ensure the normal operation of the weapon with noiseless firing devices, or rather, the weapon worked normally, but the bullets whistled in the literal sense of the word. It was in order to make it possible to use PBS that bullets with a subsonic speed were developed, but since the bullet has a small weight, you can’t limit yourself to reducing the powder sample and you had to increase the weight of the projectile, so that it doesn’t leave bruises on impact but causes serious injuries. So the bullet weight of the subsonic cartridge became equal to 3,5 grams, but the speed of the bullet is 305 meters per second, that is, the kinetic energy of the bullet is somewhere around the 170 Joule. Such cartridges are marked with white paint on the pool. 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 designed for training firing. It is indicated by green paint at the tip of the bullet. There is also a fully lead bullet in the shell, the so-called low-bounce properties. But what her parameters are unknown, but it is known that an expansive bullet for the cartridge 5,7х28 was created on its base.
Well, it would be dishonest not to say about the results of the shooting of this cartridge. At a distance of 150 meters, the cartridge is guaranteed to break through the steel helmet, although it does not indicate which one. From 50 meters, there is a one hundred percent guarantee that a 48 bullet would break through Kevlar-based fabric layers. The results are really quite good, but as I said above, I don’t believe in the stopping effect of the bullets of these cartridges, but the fact that the means of individual armor penetrates, yes, this is good. We now turn directly to the weapon itself, that is, the P90 submachine gun.
The submachine gun itself is one of those few types of weapons that can boast of a large-capacity magazine while maintaining its normal size. The design of the weapon is such that in general, nothing supernatural weapons do not have, but here the shop submachine gun deserves attention. The fact is that almost all the firearm shops 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 facilitates the supply of ammunition in the chamber, for which the shutter simply pushes the cartridge from the back of the sleeve. In the case of the P90 submachine gun, everything happens in a similar way, but before the cartridge is fed into the chamber, the ammunition is rotated ninety degrees. On the one hand, the design of the store is quite standard. The box, made of transparent plastic, serves as the magazine's case; it is precisely because of this, it is possible to control the number of cartridges left for use. Inside the plastic case there is a feeder and its spring. The very same store is designed for a two-row arrangement of ammunition. It seems that everything is usually simple, but this store joins the weapon along its receiver, which allows the use of large-capacity stores without increasing the overall dimensions of the weapon. Thus, when attaching a magazine along a weapon, there is a problem that the cartridges in the magazine are located at an angle of ninety degrees relative to the barrel, respectively, in order for the cartridge to be fed into the chamber, it must first be turned to the correct position. This particular task is performed by a separate element of the store, which picks up the cartridge from the magazine when the shutter moves backwards, turns and allows the shutter to pick up the cartridge and send it to the chamber simply when moving forward. Naturally, such a construction is less reliable than that common even in ideal production, and in addition to everything in the design of both the machine pistol and the shop, plastic was widely used and, as if personally, did not convince me 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 performed manually.
The appearance of the weapon is also not quite 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, forearm or additional handle, instead of them plastic elements are used, through the holes in which the thumbs of the arrow pass. From the back of these handles of unusual shape rests the palm of the arrow. In other words, holding a weapon is no different from holding the same pistol grip and additional grip, but at the same time the weapon is much harder to knock out of the hands of the shooter, and the retention itself seems more convenient, although it is rather a matter of habit and personal preferences. On both sides of the weapon, a fuse-translator switch 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 fuse. The sights of the submachine gun are represented by a built-in collimator sight. In its place can be installed any other sights, however, this can be done in the case of installing an additional rack with three guides such as "picatinny." Also, open sights can be installed, but due to the small aiming line, the distance to use weapons 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 classical layout, and also made it possible to install a trunk of great length. Weapon automatics are based on the free gate, in other words, everything is usually and has already been worked out in many other samples. The shot is made from the closed shutter. The length of the weapon is 500 millimeters, while the barrel length is equal to 263 millimeters. Weight without ammunition - a little more than 2,5 kilogram, 900 fire rate per minute shots, which should be to compensate for not the biggest stopping power, effective range of use 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 these weapons instantly evaluate 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 moreover it is intended for high-class professionals, so it is not widely used. "Pulls" this weapon that it is quite popular in cinema and computer games, and production and development are mainly civilian options that have a longer barrel and are deprived of the possibility of automatic fire.
It is rather difficult to evaluate weapons, on the one hand, the sample is certainly interesting even to some extent promising, but when you ask yourself about the effectiveness and reliability of the weapon, it’s impossible to answer unequivocally. Not trustworthy design of the store, which is clearly losing in terms of durability to simple box stores without frills. Not the biggest stopping effect of bullets of ammunition, although with a rather high percentage of penetrability of personal protective equipment, also has its advantages and disadvantages, this and much more makes it doubt that the weapon is as good as it is considered. Certainly, in the military 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 absence of sloppiness, are there only many such armies? I think that this is the very reason for which it can be said that the weapon was ahead of its time and neither the ammunition nor the submachine gun itself had anything to do with it. Well, and about the specialty weapons so not only in the services of the first persons there are professionals who know which side to approach the weapon. In general, that we look at the Р90, when we have a simple and reliable Heather, with the cartridge 9х21, even if it is not so fashionable, but clearly not less effective.
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