Has anyone else tried reloading 5.7. I tried tumbling my brass and a good part of the coating came off. So that didn’t work. I next tried resizing and almost as much of the coating came off the same as the tumbling did. I quit there as I didn’t want to gum up the gun, I enjoy it too much. Has anyone else tried reloading for the 5.7 S&W and did you have the same problem?
5.7 reloading
- Thread starter BRayer
- Start date
Mark_Mark
Member
I have for the Ruger 5.7, and the coating doesn’t matter. Coating is for the FN sub-machine gun magazine cuz it rotates the bullet at a high speed.
Side Note: I no longer load 5.7 because
the tolerance is too tight and the cost of factory ammo is cheaper than 10 years ago
Yes, i've been reloading the 5.7 for many years. Tumbling removes some but not all of the coating.
Definitely affects most of the other platforms but not the M&P5.7. After loading, I used to spray them with lacquer and they would function pretty well in the FN, etc. but with the M&P I no longer have to worry about the condition of the coating.
Definitely affects most of the other platforms but not the M&P5.7. After loading, I used to spray them with lacquer and they would function pretty well in the FN, etc. but with the M&P I no longer have to worry about the condition of the coating.
David Sinko
Member
I loaded it for a time but eventually gave it up. I had always read that you were not supposed to tumble the brass because the media dust would accumulate inside the small bottlenecked case and dramatically raise pressure. I never tumbled them, as cleanliness was not an issue considering the shoulders would crack after a few loadings. As others have stated the coating seems to be necessary only for the carbine that spins the cartridge prior to feeding into the chamber. My brother has a carbine and has not found a suitable coating that will allow his reloads to feed in the carbine. If you can put up with the various aggravations it's a cheap cartridge to reload. True Blue powder is supposed to be the gold standard for this cartridge. Unfortunately it was impossible to find when I was loading it and everything else I tried caused erratic ignition of some sort, apparently due to position sensitivity.
T42L5
Member
For 5.7 brass, I just use an ultrasonic cleaner with dish soap. Haven’t had an issue with the coating coming off and the rounds work well in my FN 57.
I tried reloading 5.7 many years ago but gave up . Primer pocket enlargement. Not much case head allows swelling so pockets aren't tight. case stretch and pushing shoulder back weakens case until shoulder separation leaving fwd section in chamber. Coating wear once coating is gone case sticking gets bad and rips rims off. Low tolerance for even minor .1 powder variations. the difference between safe load and failure is really close. My favorite load was Barnes 36gr Varmint Grenade and True Blue. most of the brass was junk on the second loading. YMMV. Edit to add I would just clean brass with a Simple Green and warm water solution to preserve coating.
Really? The coating is what causes the 'delay' in the blowback of the FN, etc. With the coating damaged or removed there's less sticking.
Never had the neck separate and remain in the chamber. Before the S&W M&P5.7 I would scrap casings because repeated reloadings, pushing the shoulder back, would cause lengthwise splits in the neck and shoulder. The Tempo system of the M&P eliminates the shoulder movement but absolutely, now the problem is the tiny heads stretch and the primers get lose and, with the fully supported bolt face of the M&P, the extractor has to jump that tiny little rim. That's what I'm scrapping casings for now but thankfully after more reloadings than before.
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.223 brass likes to retain tumbling media, too. You have to be meticulous about tapping the media out of the cases.
