No experience other than hoisting one at the gun store. Heavier than I expected ( around 20 oz.), but that is a plus for me. My opinion...lots of fast little bullets with near zero recoil. Some military folks seem to like the caliber ok becuse they use it in the P90 submachinegun that the FN compliments, but I think they get nastier ammo (armor piercing included) than us civilians are allowed to have. Other than being single action, to me, this is the ultimate spray and pray pistol so far, but for over a grand I can think of a whole bunch of guns I'd rather have. And ammo availability and cost may be a pain too, because this gun won't be easy to keep full being so easy to shoot lots of rounds real fast! You didn't mention what you were planning to use it for. That might help a bit.
Best regards,
Eli

The buzz from owners on the net is generally positive... Those who have 'em, like 'em... Seems to me that one of these days a major manufacturer will announce production of an easily concealable gun about 3/4 of the size of the FN all around with, like, a 12 to 14 rd. double-stack capacity of 5.7x28's and sales will go through the roof. I predict it'll be in the SIZE catagory of the popular single-stack Kahr 9mm's and the Walther PPS (or maybe even slightly smaller) and will compete directly with them in the ballpark $500 range. The round has proven to be effective. It has stopping power but with very low recoil. IMHO it just needs a more accessible platform to become hugely popular. Then the ammo cost will go down to a competitive level too. It's gonna happen.

OK, quick and dirty: It's fun to shoot, draws a crowd at the range, low recoil and flat trajectory but the problem is the report is loud and very sharp. In a home defense situation you probably wouldn't have time to pull on ear protection which would be distractingly painful even for an experienced shooter. This, for me, is the deal breaker. Try one before you buy one.
Problems with the ammo include it's expensive, hard to get sometimes, and rather difficult to reload. Starting out I could only get my hands on flake powder. Bad, use spherical and even then you are dealing with precise weights. The start load is 5.6 gr and the max load is 6.3 gr. Get the picture?
Another problem with the ammo is that the original concept required armor piercing rounds. Class 2 for police and class 3 for the military. But civilians can't get (or use) AP at all. Target penetration is an issue unless you are a cop or soldier.
Yes, the pistol and the PS 90 Carbine are doing very well with special forces, swat squads, etc. throughout the world but again, that is with AP rounds and full auto use with the PS 90.
The manual is sort of hinkey about single action carry too. Buried deep in the text is the warning not to carry the pistol with a round in the chamber. Looks like the weapon didn't do very well in the drop tests.
I paid $1100 for mine and the bottom line is that it is not worth two 9mm pistols costing $500 ea.

I would suggest going and checking out the FN Forum website....

I very much agree with Shipwreck, look around and get as much information as possible. It's hard to tell whether someone is sitting there in the sales dept of the Glock Building telling you how bad Colts are. When they are available you can often rent a pistol at a commercial gun range just not usually the newest ones. You can also check the resale websites to see how soon it takes for a new model (of anything) to show up on the used market especially at a reduced price. Also you can do like I did, buy one and then decide whether that was a good idea. Please share your results.

Had mine a month...great firearm but yes very expensive.Paid $1k Love it ot hate it. Ammo is reasonably priced at Cheaper than Dirt. Only drawback for me is my local indoor range won't allow it...have heard that from others...so check first if planning to Go Boom indoors. Lightweight for 20 rds...sights lign up well and grip is perfect for my small hand.The location of the safety which some complain about seems to be correctly placed in my opinion...just different
YES I would buy it again! Rolltide

Civilians are only able to purchase target load ammo for the 5.7, Law Enforcement can opt for the better ammunition. This is primarily the reason I won't get one but when I become a cop, I may pick one up

I got one about a year ago & love it! It's currently over at Elite Ammunition being 'accurized' {trigger job + other stuff}. It's fun to shoot, very little recoil, but I've heard that ammo is hard to get at times but I've just had mine a short time & bought enough ammo to last awhile so I haven't had this issue. I bought my ammo at a gun show, the 197 was $16 a box {50} & 195 was $20 or 21 {50}. Elite Ammo has some specialty rounds they sell but there expensive. Factory ammo is around 2000 ft. sec/ I believe Elite's is around 2600. I also hang out at the FiveseveNForum.com • Index page site, a lot of good info there on 5.7's. I have this, a Glock 21c & just bought a Sig P220 Combat. I bought a complete AR-15 lower & plan on getting a 5.7 upper so I can shoot the round in a rifle. I don't care for the looks of the FN 5.7 carbine {the P-90} nor the feel of it. Plus it's expensive... Thank you Riverratmike for sharing the noise factor in a home defense situation! I didn't think of this! Oh, I'm having the trigger job done cuz I didn't care for the slack in the trigger plus it jammed a couple of times & they polish stuff so this is less likely to happen... I'd buy it again, but shoot it at the range first so you know you like it! I always seem to buy before I try! Late night spur of the moment decisions! Oh yeah, with the 5.7 in a AR-15 format the 5.7 mag is on top {50 round mag} just like on the 5.7 carbine. You can hollow out a regular AR-15 mag, insert it in the mag well & it'll catch all the empty 5.7 brass... Bill