Haakon Valravn, on 28 April 2012 - 07:19 PM, said:
Yes, the P90 is select-fire. Safe, Fire, Auto. In Auto it has a two-stage-ish trigger where the first 'stage' gets you semi-auto and the second gets you full-auto, much like the military Steyr AUG (the FN F2000 operates identically). Because the round is puny, it has to fired cyclically in order to be effective. Ditto the MP7.
Details:
here.
I wouldn't call something that hits like 5.56x45mm at 200m. within it's intended operational range of 100m. "puny". Particularly if using some of Elite Ammunition's little toys which create wound channels only matchable by magnum level traditional handgun rounds.
Given that I actually own a Five-Seven handgun and a PS90 semi-auto carbine, and experience in the use of it's P90 cousin I'm pretty aware of what the round can and can't do. The "5.7 is .22WMR" silliness is just that, silliness. Like any other SMG, it's a weapon for when the use of an automatic weapon with an intermediate or full rifle cartridge is not suitable.
Likewise, I own an M-4gery and have used actual M-4 carbines, and their handling characteristics in close quarters are inferior to the P90. In addition, the M-4 fires a cartridge designed for a much longer barreled weapon. Due to it's ridiculously short barrel for a 5.56x45mm weapon, it nullifies most of the ballistic advantages of the more powerful cartridge and reduces the projectile's overall effectiveness.
All of that said, a firearm is no different than any other weapon, within reason both can kill anything they're designed to kill, but it's up to the weapon system's operator to do their part.
So what's next, the inane 9mm vs. .45/.40/Machismo Magnum .900 or the equally inane 5.56x45mm vs. 7.62x39?
Edited by Charles Martel, 28 April 2012 - 10:31 PM.