Today I want to talk about my all time favorite gun. YEP!! ALLTIME! The tri-rail version of the FN PS-90 in 5.7x28mm. It is a bull-pup design that is short, handy, lightweight, fully ambidextrous, user friendly, low recoil, high capacity and accurate kick-ass little piece of loveliness.
The ammo: She is chambered for the 5.7x28mm cartr
idge. I call it “half an m16 round.” I use the FN brand 40 grain V-max bullet. There are several other choices and some specialty companies making some fancy stuff too. I just want to discuss the Vmax as it is what I always use. First, the stuff shoots VERY straight. It is an accurate little thing out to the ranges it was meant for. I don’t know what they publish for specs, I just know what I get out of her. Out to 200 the thing is deadly. I’ve had people say it is a 22 magnum. No, it isn’t. I’m not gonna get into the whole debate and info is either very left or very right on the net with the haters and the lovers tearing each other’s guts out online as usual. Let’s just say it is powerful enough for 200 US law enforcement agencies and some spec ops use as well as in service in over 40 foreign military. Apparently it will kill something. The rifle holds 50 of these shells and the recoil is negligible. With the 40grain V-max your chances of collateral damage due to over penetration or after a miss is minimized due to the round more often than not fragments after a hit. Supposedly it won’t smash through the next five rooms of your house. Which obviously is good from the home defense side.
The rifle: Did I say it’s my all time favorite gun? What can I say the girl is beautifully made and incredibly reliable and accurate. Lefty? Doesn’t matter she’s the same on both sides. 2 charging handles and safety works either way. She ejects out the bottom so no hot brass in your face. I got the tri-rail model and there’s enough rail for all your goodies.
With a top mounted 50 round magazine fully loaded it’s still light and very fast on target. I’ve got 3 Uzi’s and 3 MP5’s. I look at the PS90 in this class of guns. It’s called a PDW (personal defense weapon) but one could conceivably say sub-machine gun or a carbine rifle. Whatever, it is semantics. I say for the record there’s not an Uzi or mp5 or mac10 or grease gun or 30 carbine or Beretta storm or anything else in the world in that class of weapons I would choose before the PS90 if I was going into “harm’s way” and only 1 weapon period for all combat roles before the PS90. A good M4 is still in my opinion the BEST all around rifle available. This PS90 only looses a bit of ground due to the power advantage an M4 has. Otherwise this review would say “best rifle ever”.
The mags: The mag is interesting in that the cartridges sit sideways and get turned straight on a rotating follower in the mag. They make a quarter turn and get fed in straight. The mag holds 50 rounds, with 30’s and 10’s available for all the people who got screwed by ridiculous mag capacity laws. They are made out of some high impact plastic and are very tough. Good springs and perfectly reliable. For every 1 factory FN mag you buy you get a free Asian military contract mag. The Asian ones work perfectly and aside from a slight difference in the texture of the body you will have a hard time telling which are which. So I bought 10 and got 20 for about $300. That’s 1000rds I can load up.
Let’s face it if you ever needed even half of that you may want to consider advancing the opposite direction. I’ve been in 53 engagements in the sand and the most ammo I ever expended in 1 day was about 225 rounds. I have read people saying the mag change was slow. It is not, that is not true. Just train with it and you’ll see. I could have easily gotten through the whole desert with one of these. The very few times I engaged past its effective range I could have jumped on a 50 cal.
Accessories: Ok if you’ve read some of my other posts you probably already know I get off on high-powered lights and EoTech holosights. No different here – I put an EoTech on top. It’s the short, smaller one that uses the N batteries. As usual it is flawless, fast and dead nuts accurate. I chose a Streamlight TLR-1 LED version to go on the left side rail. It has a toggle switch and I have big hands so instead of fully using the front grip I keep my left thumb out and on the lights switch when I fire. On the right rail I have a backup TLR-3 from Streamlight. Not as powerful but good enough. I have had batteries quit on me at inopportune times so I like to keep a small backup light on the gun. It only adds 3 oz of weight so you’ll never notice it. Last another Chinese green laser. I realize these things may be cheap but they do hold a zero and do work. I used a barrel clamp mount and I tape up the external adjustment knobs and the thing works well. These things are bright and are roughly $45 on eBay. To summarize, I believe a light is the most important item you can have short of a clean loaded weapon you are intimately familiar with. You don’t want to shoot something you didn’t want too. That’s the bottom line with accessories.
Wrapping up: OK you can see I love this thing. It is my first line of home defense. I will choose it before anything – period – on my own property. If I have time to get it I will every time. I have handguns all over but if I can make the bedroom its PS90 time. With this girl shouldered and ready to fire it’s also closer to me than my hands outstretched with a pistol. So turning tight corners is a breeze. I think with the frangible ammo this is the VERY best choice available for me as far as defensive purposes go. From a sporting standpoint it’s a blast to shoot. Women and young new shooters love it. Not loud, not heavy, barely any recoil and the holosight makes hitting your target very hard NOT to do. I love this gun. I will ask to be buried with it but will understand if a buddy steals it from my “forever box”.
As always thanks for reading and train often.
By: Cary Kieffer
Cary Kieffer
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I can understand your gun feelings BUT No reason to be burried with the ps90 I am sure you would rather know it was protecting another after your gone..just my thoughts..plus from what I have read those cheeper mags will ware after 3 hundred rounds causing stovepiping and damage the incomming case by the bolt..also wjth the fn mags the two rollers in the mags are not as clean from molding..either clean them up or I understand there are replacement rollers that are solid and five dollars for two. An aftermarket trigger will feel much better..and polish the trigger rod where ever it will rub against the inner stock..