My FFL dealer got in a few AR Five Seven uppers and I picked one up since I had a built a few CMMG lowers before the election and now was the time to complete it.  First the of all, no magazine is included with the Five Seven upper so if you buy one be sure to get a mag while you are still at your gun shop.  Installation was easy.  All that you need to do is change the buffer to the heavier one supplied with the upper and lock the takedown pins back in.

Workmanship looks great.  No rough machining anywhere.  The railed handguards look perfectly aligned and the finish had no blemishes. The 16"barrel is from ER Shaw.  There are no sights supplied so you will need to mount either a scope or picatinny attaching iron sights.  I emailed the manufacturer and they promptly responded and suggested the Troy BUIS system.  I had a cheap red dot scope so i mounted that on and took her to the range.

The mags are standard p90 mags so inserting and removing the mags are not as quick as your standard AR15 type rifle.  There are two release latches on the sides of the upper that have to be pulled rearward for the magazine to be removed.  When loading the mag into (or should i say onto) the rifle, you put it front to back and push down on the rear until it locks in place.  This brings up an interesting quirk.  If you mount a scope, make sure it does not extend beyond the front of the upper receiver or else you will not be able to change mags.  Red dots, ACOGs and Reflex type scopes would work well for this rifle I think.

Firing, the downward ejection is through the magwell and very positive.  Shells dont drop, they are flung downward so i imagine you could shoot the rifle inverted and shower brass on yourself. I couldnt test that idea though due to range rules.  The rifle is blowback operated so no messy DI gas system to clean.  Recoil as expected was mild; even milder than a standard 5.56 AR.  There was no real kick but instead it felt like the Five Seven just shuttered every time i pulled the trigger.  The bold hold open feature will lock the bolt back and release it normally if you need to do it manually such as for range cease fire periods.  However it will not lock the bolt back when you fire the magazine dry due to the lower magwell being empty.  Thats to be expected.

Accuracy?  Sorry the red dot I had mounted will go back to the factory for repairs because the adjustment knobs wouldnt move the dot anywhere.  Reliability however was perfect and I will take it out to shoot as soon as i get some other sight on it.

If you can live with the non-traditional magazine placement, you will like this upper. Thumbs up for me!

Interesting. I've been a bit intrigued by these; thanks for the write up.

I must be living under a rock; first I've heard of the upper.

Howzabout taking some picks of the guts?

Link

The company's website has some neat pics.

http://www.57center.com/

How "rugged" is it? I've talked to others who have shot AR 5.7 uppers and they told me they felt somewhat flimsy.

Feels more rugged than my other AR uppers.  The five seven upper and railed handguard is made from a single block of forged aluminum.  I dont feel any "give" in it.  The upper to lower fit was perfect and their was no slop.  Friend said it was kind of a tight fit on his Rock River AR.

As requested here are pics of the AR Five Seven.  Guts and all.  First the profile:


Top view with mag removed.  The solid one piece bolt is on the floor.


View of the breech. No gas tube here.


The bolt itself


Top view with bolt locked back and magazine out


Top view looking from the front sight base towards the receiver


View from the 4 o'clock position.  The buttstock was donated from a SIG556!

Thanks for the pics.  Approx how much are those uppers?  I saw one on gunbroker for $600+ recently.

I paid that much for one before the elections.  Now.... who knows what they sell for.

They even have a supressed PDW version now!  wish we had class 3 here.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2008/11/30/sneak-peek-of-suppressed-full-auto-ar57/

Awesome Rifle!!!   If I lived in a free state, I would SBR the thing.

Thanks for the post, I have been looking at getting one of these soon.

The pistol model is even cooooler...

how many shells can an empty ar15 mag hold?

now only if there were some relaoding support for this 5.7 cartridge...i.e. cases, LEE dies

FN Has a great idea with the PS90....and now luckily it has been brought to an AR
GRAVITY ALWAYS WINS....its been around the block a few times, and isnt going anywhere anytime soon that I know of.
Great Idea to have the rnds feed from the top and ejected down.  Let gravity help instead of fighting it.
And the Mags are a stroke of genius, whoever figured out how to get the bullets to rotate 90 degrees is a smart man


There is only 1 down fall to the AR 5.7 Platform
THE MAGS ARE $60 A PEICE

Ill stick with my .223 mags for $10 a piece.......
But if you want something unique the 5.7 AR is definitely that

Awesome review, thanks!



Does the bolt lock back on an empty mag, and does the bolt release function as normal?

I want one!
Too bad the price of ammo is so high. Then again with the price of 5.56mm so high, 5.7 doesn't look that bad.

With all due respect, whomever told you that is full of shit. For those on the board who know me, I'm a stickler for QUALITY, and the AR57 does, IMO, defines the word exactly. The uppers are class 3 anodized with TEFLON, machined from 7075, and the bolt/barrel's are nicely parkerized. These uppers perform as good as they look bar none!

Earlier this morning I tried out the new AR57 50rd magazines, and they too are of high quality. I fired 500 rounds through several of these magazines with no issues whatsoever. In fact, I have never experienced any malfunctions, not even the slightest, with the AR57. When the PS90 was first introduced, I picked one up, but was discouraged that FN wouldn't sell any spare parts for it. After numerous attempts, I decided to sell it. At least with the AR57, I can purchase as many replacement parts as I wish, and still enjoy shooting the 5.7 round with the same type of magazines holding 50 rounds.

For anyone wanting something a little different for their AR platform, (And enjoyable to shoot) they are definitely worth checking out!