During the Cold War, NATO member countries found themselves in situations where they needed to use each other’s ammunition. Standards were developed for use in 7.62 and 5.56 weapons, but the members of the NATO Arms Committee wanted something else. They wanted a replacement for the 9×19 that would have greater range and velocity, would armor-piercing and would allow soldiers and policemen to carry almost twice as many rounds they could with current weapons.
FN Herstal developed a round and some weapons to meet the new goals. The first two 5.7×28 mm products, the FN90 Personal Defense Weapon and the FN FiveSeveN pistol didn’t make a big splash in America because ammo for them was expensive and hard to find. But those two products found homes with agencies in over 40 countries and even here by the Secret Service and a couple of police departments. My son bought one of those original pistols and we all agreed it was fun to shoot, but he paid a pretty penny for it, even at wholesale. When we could find ammo it was more than a dollar a round. Because of the lackluster marketing performance, FN dropped the pistol from their lineup and for all practical purposes the transition from 9mm to 5.7x28mm was over in America. Tisas PX-5.7 Left Side View
Tisas PX-5.7 Right Side View
But, like embers in a slow-burning campfire, a flicker here and there and the next thing you know enough European agencies were happy with the round that some American gunmakers decided to weigh in. The first I became aware of was Ruger. I reached out to Ruger and got a sample. That was in October 2020. Other writers were reviewing it so I used my sample to do an article on mounting a red dot sight on a defensive pistol. I liked the gun so much I bought it.
The next 5.7 pistol I reviewed was the one from Smith & Wesson. Then there was one from PSA. What I discovered when reviewing and shooting all these 5.7x28mm pistols was it was not inconceivable that I might someday carry a 5.7x28mm as my carry gun. I liked the fast cartridge with the flat trajectory. I liked the low recoil. I liked the accuracy and I liked the fact I could carry twice as many rounds as in a typical 9mm.
Since I like 5.7x28mm round and I like Tisas when I saw the new Tisa PX-5.7 with a $400 price tag I picked one up for T&E. Okay, to be honest, I bought it to go with my other 5.7 pistols with the thought of doing a published review sort of in the back of my mind.
Before we get into the details of the pistol, let’s talk ballistics a minute. I’ve studied several charts on 5.7x28mm ammo by several makers. Although the speed of the cartridge is faster than the 9mm, the muzzle energy is much less due to the lighter weight of the bullet. The NATO military people are apparently fine with that as they don’t like over penetration. The shape of the projectile lends itself to tumbling then it hits the target.
Right away you’re telling yourself the 9mm hits harder, why not just use it? I can think of three reasons. 1) Harder hitting means harder recoil, 2) harder hitting means possibility of over penetration and 3) Harder hitting may mean collateral damage as bullets fly further than necessary and harder than necessary. Hard to believe the designers of the round were thinking of all of that when developing what they hoped to be an armor-piercing round. Perhaps they weren’t and those are just side benefits of the round’s development.
As a non-engineer I find myself looking at the 5.57×28 round and comparing it to the 5.56mm M193 Ball ammo designed for the M4 rifle. The pointy end of those cartridges is almost the same. It’s the big blob of powder in the enlarged case of the 5.56 round that makes it so much more powerful. Think about it. The rifle is designed to take out a 170 lb. warrior as far as 300 yards away. Take that same pointy end and apply it to taking out a 170 lb. intruder in your bedroom hallway and you don’t need all that power in an enlarged case. You need enough powder to propel a 40-grain bullet at approximately 200 fps for maybe five to ten yards. That same gun makes a lot of noise and produces loud flashes which will likely scare the crap out of the target before it gets hit. Add to the overall effect the fact that the gun didn’t try to jump out of your hand when you fired it and is ready to go again and again and again if needed. You’ve got a pretty good argument for trusting a 5.57x28mm pistol for your home and personal security, don’t you think?
The Tisas PX-5.7 has a black polymer frame with ambidextrous slide stop and reversable magazine release button. There is no external safety lever as the safety is built into the trigger. Wide slide serrations exist front and rear. The grip is lightly stippled. One thing about the 5.7 grips is they are longer than typical handgun grips by virtue of the 5.7x28mm cartridge being a long bottleneck round. The grips on these pistols are narrower than a typical 9mm and this is why they fit so well. The Tisas front sight has a green fiber optic insert. The rear sight is all black with a square notch and serrations on the back. It is drift adjustable. The ejection port is extra long and wide. A loaded chamber indicator in the form of button is just to the rear of the ejection port. The gun shipped with two 20-round magazines.
How does the Tisas 5.7 compare to the others I’ve evaluated? Let’s start out by comparing weight, capacity and trigger pull.
Gun | Weight | Trigger Pull | Capacity | Barrel Length | Length | Height | Width | Cost |
FN Five-seveN | 21 oz | 7 lbs. | 20 | 4.8″ | 8.2″ | 5.7″ | 1.4″ | $1,400 |
Ruger 57 | 24.5 oz. | 4 lbs. | 20 | 4.94″ | 8.65″ | 5.6″ | 1.2″ | $900 |
S&W 57 | 26.7 oz. | 5 lbs. | 22 | 5″ | 8.5″ | 5.25″ | 1.1″ | $700 |
PSA Rock | 25 oz. | 6 lbs. | 23 | 4.7″ | 8″ | 5.4″ | 1.3″ | $300 |
Tisas 57 | 27.9 oz. | 7 lbs. | 20 | 4.8″ | 8.5″ | 5.5″ | 1.2″ | $400 |
There’s not a lot of difference in size and weight, is there? Two things the chart doesn’t show are the sights and grip. Those are two items that affect how well the shooter shoots the gun. Nothing like a good range trip to determine the accuracy and overall shootability of the gun that is subject of this review. I have the added advantage of being able to shoot all the competitive guns in this class so that’s what I did. Two of us did the shooting for this evaluation. The goal was not just to evaluate the Tisas PX5.7 but to gain an appreciation for the caliber and products we have in the US for the caliber. Of course we would pay special attention to how the Tisas gun performed. We had 40 grain ammunition from Federal, Fiocchi and Gold Dot. We put the five handguns on the bench in the order shown in the comparison chart above. We primarily fired at three-inch targets at a range of seven yards. There were differing trigger pulls and differing sight pictures, but all five of the pistols performed quite well. There were a few flyers here and there but the majority of our shots put holes in the little three-inch targets and smiles on our faces. One thing I particularly appreciated was how the $400 gun performed right up there with the more expensive guns.
This has been my experience with Tisas products across the board. My first was a PX9 Zigana, a 9mm duty pistol used by police and military around the globe. I’ve since added several 1911s for my own collection, plus a couple I’ve given away and most recently this 5.7x28mm that’s a match for any 5.7 pistol on the market.
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