@44 AMP
What are your thoughts on the FK BRNO Field Pistol?
I had to go look that one up. In doing so, I did recall hearing a little bit about ti when it first came out half a dozen years ago...
The specs are impressive, and the price tag is flat out shocking!
At seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) MSRP, I won't be doing any hands on testing or be owning one, short of winning the lottery jackpot.
$75 for a box of ammo (coming soon..) doesn't endear it to me, either.
Ok, based only on the online data I found (mostly on Wiki, and therefore possibly not 100% accurate) it shapes up to be an interesting, powerful round in a decent package for an outrageously (and barking stupid IMHO) high price.
The gun is a beefed up CZ-75 design, an inch or so longer than the Colt Govt model and about half a pound heavier. Nothing wrong with that. The CZ75 design has proven itself robust, durable and functional for quite a while now.
15shot magazine. A plus for those considering it for duty/self defense use. A drawback in states with magazine capacity limits of less than 15 (of which there are several, today). Certainly they could make a 10rnd mag for it, if the demand were there...
The cartridge numbers are impressive. HOWEVER, paper numbers are not real world results. And, I noted in the comparison tables, that the velocities given for the rounds they compare it to, (9mm, 40, 10mm .357, .44mag etc) are not the highest velocities possible with those rounds. That is a common practice, to show the new round in the best possible light.
So, what is it, actually? Again, according to the Wiki data, its a .30 caliber, firing 95-103gr bullets at 1900-2000fps. Case length is 33mm which roughly matches magnum revolver rounds, and head size is the 10mm/,40 S&W size, which roughly splits the difference between the 9mm Luger and .45ACP sizes.
Listed pressure is slightly over 50,000 psi.
So, its a "smallbore" (.30) compared to most pistol rounds, its uber high pressure, and its very, very fast, shooting rather light weight bullets.
Remember that our formula for calculating energy is heavily weighted to velocity, so a light very fast bullet gives equal (or even higher) energy numbers than a heavier slower one. So while the numbers are large they don't tell us the actual performance in game, or humans. They show us potential, yes, but a LOT depends on what the actual bullets really do after they hit.
The .30 Luger, Mauser and Russian rounds are also fast (though not nearly as much as the 7.5 FK) but are not well thought of a good stoppers or game rounds due to the usual FMJ bullets they use.
Now, this new round, having the benefit of nearly a century of observed past performance to draw from, and the benefits of modern engineering and metalurgy OUGHT to be significantly better than the old cartridges it is compared with. On paper, it certainly is. In the game fields and on the street? there is no data yet available on which to base conclusions.
what boggles my little mind the most, is the price. Clearly this is not, and never was intended to be a mass market item.
which is also ok, if that's what the maker wants. But this isn't even close to something regular folks would, or could buy. the folks who buy quarter million dollar high performance sports cars, might buy a $7,500 pistol (if they were into pistols) but the rest of us are simply not likely to.
IF the price were half that, they'd probably sell a bunch. If it were a quarter of that, they'd sell boatloads..If it were 1/10 that ($750) they'd sell every one they could make faster than they could make them, provided there was ammo available....
I think they never intended to make or sell very many, its a technical exercise and the high price is so that they get some of what they spent on R&D back from the few guns they will sell.
So, my take is that its a "small" rifle round (,30 cal & 50K psi) in a beefed up service class pistol design at a price point that guarantees it will not be a mass market success. Terminal ballistics will depend on the quality and performance of the bullets used, which should be good, but we don't have enough real world results to know, yet.
I'd bet that recoil will be "snappy" though not terribly "heavy" the way pistols shooting much heavier bullets at high speeds are.
I expect accuracy to be adequate for the intended uses, though none of the tilt barrel lock up systems are as accurate as fixed barrel systems can be, if you're not shooting benchrest, it should be plenty good enough.
here's the kicker, keep an eye on it and see if the round gets licensed for other people to use. If it does, there is a CHANCE for commercial success, if not, its going to stay a niche item (in a very small niche) and will probably go out of production before too long.
You asked, and that's my take on it, so far.
