Reloading 5.7 X 28 issues?

[Alibiiv]

I have a friend who just bought a Ruger 5.7 X 28, found ammunition to be a little scarce to find, but.....he did get a fair amount when he found it. I was reading on another forum that the round is a bear to reload for, and is very finicky. Would like to hear from anyone who has loaded or is loading for this cartridge to find out what their experiences have been.

 

[falconew]

I got a friend that reloads it. First off you can't tumble the cases. That takes the lacquer off the case. If it's off or chipped off enough it will not load right. There are coatings you can use but not the same as factory. That's pretty much all I hear him complain about. The rest is just powder & bullet.

 

[Alibiiv]

I got a friend that reloads it. First off you can't tumble the cases. That takes the lacquer off the case. If it's off or chipped off enough it will not load right. There are coatings you can use but not the same as factory. That's pretty much all I hear him complain about. The rest is just powder & bullet.

Thanks for the information. That is what I read on another forum, something about a coating on the brass. I don't know much about the cartridge, figured I ask because I suspect he'll probably ask me to reload from him sooner or later.

 

[swe123]

Check out.

FiveseveNForum.com - Index page

 

[mtwarych]

I tried to reload for my son's 5.7X28. You need to know if you are loading for a pistol or a rifle. A non-comercial load that shoots well out of a pistol will blow up the rifle. I used True Blue to reload for the pistol only. To get the pistol to function well I was getting brass back that pretty much had the shoulders completely blown out. The brass is very hard to process and like stated before, you can't tumble the brass due to whatever the coating is on the brass. To bypass that particular problem we would use simple green and warm water in a left over 8lb powder bottle to get all the grime off the brass. If you get off on shiny clean brass, this round is not for you. Due to the type of slug we were using, it was very important to crimp the reloads. Needless to say, if the shoulders are comletely blown off the case, trimming the brass was needed after every load. Trying to trim the little tiny cases was just no fun at all. Mind you, I like to reload and take pride in my work.

I tried everything I could think of, much less all of the forum reading I could do and never found a successful, well functioning reloading recipe. I have been reloading since 1979 and I have loaded for every firearm my family and I own. I'm not a beginner but I just couldn't figure the 5.7X28 out. I am certain the biggest problem I was facing was not having access to the powders used by the commercial manufacturers and just couldn't find the right powder/bullet combo. It finally came down to my son selling his FN because it was just too expensive to shoot. We like to shoot a lot of rounds and the 5.7 was just too expensive to feed.

This whole nightmare happened about 8 or 10 years ago so I really don't know what is available for reloading the round but if I had to do it all over again, I would just say no.

Sorry for the bad news but it is the honest truth.

 

[Alibiiv]

I tried to reload for my son's 5.7X28. You need to know if you are loading for a pistol or a rifle. A non-comercial load that shoots well out of a pistol will blow up the rifle. I used True Blue to reload for the pistol only. To get the pistol to function well I was getting brass back that pretty much had the shoulders completely blown out. The brass is very hard to process and like stated before, you can't tumble the brass due to whatever the coating is on the brass. To bypass that particular problem we would use simple green and warm water in a left over 8lb powder bottle to get all the grime off the brass. If you get off on shiny clean brass, this round is not for you. Due to the type of slug we were using, it was very important to crimp the reloads. Needless to say, if the shoulders are comletely blown off the case, trimming the brass was needed after every load. Trying to trim the little tiny cases was just no fun at all. Mind you, I like to reload and take pride in my work.

I tried everything I could think of, much less all of the forum reading I could do and never found a successful, well functioning reloading recipe. I have been reloading since 1979 and I have loaded for every firearm my family and I own. I'm not a beginner but I just couldn't figure the 5.7X28 out. I am certain the biggest problem I was facing was not having access to the powders used by the commercial manufacturers and just couldn't find the right powder/bullet combo. It finally came down to my son selling his FN because it was just too expensive to shoot. We like to shoot a lot of rounds and the 5.7 was just too expensive to feed.

This whole nightmare happened about 8 or 10 years ago so I really don't know what is available for reloading the round but if I had to do it all over again, I would just say no.

Sorry for the bad news but it is the honest truth.

Please do not apologize for telling me what you have told me. This is the kind of feedback that I was looking for. Now.....I will tell my friend to go easy with the5.7 X 28 ammo, because the ammo is a real bear to reload. I don't need the aggravation. One trick that I have used to get some really grimmy stuff off my case necks when I cannot get it clean with the media is to chuck a piece of wooden dowel into the drill press. From there I will sand the dowel down until the wooden dowel will slide into the case neck. I them push the casing up onto the dowel and clean the case with NevrDull. It doesn't take much to do this and works fine. I am about to invest in a pin tumbler, not certain about which one I will select. I'm thing perhaps the Frankford arsenal one might be a good choice for me. I reload for a number of cartridges, usually not more than a hundred at a time. Started reloading in 1961, was fortunate to have a really good mentor!!