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Ultimate PDW? - Panzer Arms AR57
Updated
12 months ago
The 5.7x28 has gained a huge following and just continues to grow as more find out about it, its accuracy, the ballistics, the ammo weight, and little to know, recoil. The ballistics from this little round are nothing less than impressive. Ammo cost was a serious issue, but it still is, the prices are coming down and availability is growing, there is now at least six different companies that are making it with over a dozen different loads from them. I think this cartridge is here to stay more and more companies are going to get on board and prices will continue to drop, making this much more viable option.
With all that said, there are still limited options for the guns, especially the rifles. The P90 is legendary for those that are familiar with the 5.7, but it's also way too high in cost and out of most people's price ranges. I did come upon an AR upper that would work with any AR lower from AR57, it uses the P90 mags and drops spent cartridges right out the mag, it is pretty cool, it is impressive. With so many SPRs and now again pistol AR lowers, I had to try the 12-inch upper because I've got an SPR here, and this makes I think an awesome PDW, personal defense weapon. I wanted to test this out and see how accurate it is compared to the 16-inch that I reviewed and have some serious fun with.
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I'm Drew Case from Beyond Seclusion, bringing you the reviews directly here to gun.deals where I only give you my honest opinion, and it is what it is.
Let's just test the ballistics to see what we can get from a 12-inch barrel, then let's make sure the optic is zeroed and test accuracy at 50 and 100 yards and see how far out we can go, and then finish with some rapid fire mag dumps.
Specs and Tech
AR57 ULT 12” Upper
- Fits on any AR lower
- 3.4 lbs empty mag
- 6 groove RH 1:8.5 FN twist
- Monobloc receiver (7075 T6 Aluminum)
- Milled to within .002 tolerance
- Threaded barrel ½ X 28
- Ejects down through Mag well
- 13 slot Pic rail over receiver
- Uses P-90 mags
- Bolt made from 8620 alloy
- No gas system, direct blow back
So, this is the AR57, this is their 12-inch, it comes with a buffer obviously, reading ‘warning, must install buffer’. If I remember right, with my other one when I did the 16-inch barrel, I actually forgot to do that and it actually cycled just fine, but we're not going to do that, we're going to put this in, I've got the perfect lower for this. Just fit and finish, it's outstanding, this thing is built like a tank. This here is for the mag, it uses the P90 mag, these things are awesome, it's top-loading.
One thing to note here is the bolt will just slide out, so if you're not paying attention you could drop this on your foot or just drop it. Muzzle brake, and then we have a non-reciprocating charging handle here on the right side, I’m going to pull that because I don't want to pop the bolt out, and we've got awesome rail here, we've got a QD mount here, Picatinny up here, up here, and then back here for the optics. When I did the 16-inch, if you put like a scope or something on you will have to have sort of a riser, and it can get a little tricky with a full-size optic. A red dot, no problem, anyway, we're going to have some serious fun with this.
This is what I'm getting for a sight picture while we're getting these groups.
That's not bad, that's not bad at all! Let's take a look at the last groups here.
We had that group, I made some adjustments, I started off, I think the first shot was here, and then the cold, cold, and then it warmed up, and we've got six, and then, for whatever reason, got two over here, could be flinches, but I'm going to do one click to the right and I'm going to call that good.
Let’s just see real quick what we get for accuracy using the different ammo.
Let's go take a look!
We'll see if I can remember these, so we started off with the AAC, the full metal jacket, and in its defense I forgot to dial all the way up to the six power I think I was on three, and then I had their V-Max, and then we've got the Federal, and then here was the Subsonic, and that's a really tight group, and then I have the Fiocchi, guys, that's awesome, and then there's the FN. Let's chronograph that and see what we get.
The owner of the AR57, he's got this prototype for the brass catcher, so we'll test that at the same time while we're doing rapid fire. I've got a torso down there and I'm about 30 feet so this is kind of a good PDW distance, let's just see how many we can actually put on target, and how fast and we do have a 20 round mag on here.
Let's go take a look! They weren't all in the red, but they were center mass for sure.
So, for center mass that's pretty good, out of the 20 shots that aren't essentially in a palm size, six shots that didn't make it out of palm size, I want to try that again. I was using the Subsonic ammo because I actually have a fair amount of that, and that's actually why they're shooting low, they shoot pretty low, even at 50, and they're all in here, it works perfect, you know, he 3D printed this, that's awesome, but those that want to not have them spill out the bottom, he'll just pop this in, he should have, I'm assuming this, probably up and going pretty soon. Let's try this again, see if we can get a little bit tighter group.
We got the cylic right up a little bit better, good quick finger, all the brass is in here, guys, anyway I'll take you up here and show you this.
Tends to climb, but I'm compensating and so I'm actually pushing down on it, but, guys, look at that, that's awesome, I mean that's awesome, and you figure in the ballistics of the 5.7, I think that's really impressive.
There you go, guys, for a PDW and those that aren't familiar with the personal defense weapon. Home defense gun, you know, this thing, little recoil, and when you look at the ballistics and the accuracy and how fast and how well you can keep stuff on target, yeah, there you go.
So we've been waiting over a week to actually get a day with little wind, we've got a little bit here, but I don't think enough that's going to really significantly impact our groups at 100 yards, so let's see what we can get here at 100 yards using the FN that group, I think the best for us.
Let's show you the field of view at a 100!
There you go, so that's what we're seeing at 100. Let's go take a look at those groups. Wow, okay, yeah, I had the bump fire, I'm not sure which one that was, but regardless flyer, we got two there, two there, one, one.
There you go, that is what it is, and just in case, that was the 100 yards!
Let's see what we can do here at 200, really don't have any wind right now!
Hit!
Hit!
There you go, guys, easy at 200!
There you have it, guys, it is what it is, you decide what you think. I hope you enjoyed the review. Until next time on gun. deals, happy shooting, remember educate our young people to shooting in gun safety, and be a safe and responsible gun owner.
