PSA 5.7 Rock Review

Lately, I have been diving deep into the 5.7x28mm shooting world and it just so happens that more and more companies are dropping guns featuring this round.

For the longest time, FN was the sole producer of pistols for the round making the FN Five-Seven. Since then Ruger has released the Ruger 5.7 and now Palmetto State Armory has followed suit with their PSA 5.7 Rock.

When you think of features on a pistol you might be thinking of optics mounting or a threaded barrel. Well, you’re right in this case but the grip and sights are also major features that impact user experience and usability.

Palmetto has really rallied around the PSA Dagger frame design and for good reason. The frame is extremely comfortable and has great ergonomics.

The grip has a nice texture to it and if you have held the Dagger it’s nearly the same. I really like the grip texture of this gun.

The grip frame on the PSA Rock 5.7 is fairly thin but feels really good in your hand.

Aiming is always key when shooting, duh. But sights often time get overlooked for other aesthetics or even features that are just more interesting.

The basic sights on the Rock 5.7 are three white dot sights with a standard configuration of two rear white dots and a single front dot.

You can purchase the PSA Rock 5.7 pre-cut with an optics cut into the slide or even with the optic already mounted.

So if you don’t plan to mount an optic immediately you can scoop up this model but do price out the Rock with a red dot mounted already because the pricing is extremely reasonable.

It doesn’t hurt anything not to have a cover it’s just not as aesthetically pleasing. Fortunately for me, I had a pistol optic already picked out for the gun.

I’ve been shooting 5.7 guns for a little while now and I’ve got to say. Shooting them suppressed is the way.

So when you’re shopping for your Rock 5.7 go ahead and get the threaded barrel, even if you don’t already have a suppressor.

Two reasons you should buy the threaded barrel model:

First, even if you don’t have a suppressor you might change your mind down the road and then you only need the suppressor and not a whole new barrel.

Second, it doesn’t add that much cost and it comes with a thread protector so even if you aren’t ready to suppress your threads stay safe and it adds marginal length and cost.

You can literally get a gun with a threaded barrel and optic for $100 more.

Pistols aren’t typically known for their magazine capacity but the 5.7x28mm makes the possibilities a bit different.

The magazine will hold 23, yes twenty-three, rounds. That is borderline rifle magazine capacity in a compact and accurate pistol package.

You can’t talk about the Rock pistol without mentioning the insane amount of rounds this pistol can pack.

The only downside to the magazine is it is proprietary and not compatible with either the Ruger or FN pistols. Their magazines are also proprietary and not compatible with other pistols.

The Rock 5.7 comes with two magazines from Palmetto and some packages have many more magazines.

The Rock has some of the same controls as the Dagger and is extremely easy to use and manipulate. I’ll dive into them individually.

No manual safety on these bad boys! Very much like the Dagger and the Glock pistols, these have no thumb safeties.

I’ve searched through all the available models and at the time of writing this article there are no thumb safety models.

The magazine release is skinny and narrow but does the job it was created to do.

The magazine release works well but when reinserting the magazine lightly the magazine release catches the magazine slightly.

Tapping or slamming it home works well for me and the catching is minor and almost not worth mentioning since this happens on tons of firearms.

When it comes to slide stops I can be rather picky. I want them to be just the right size and have good ledges to catch my finger on to make them easy to maneuver.

The Rock has a unique slide stop/release lever and I like the overall size and the ledge that PSA has milled into this. The only complaint I have is I wish the frame did not have molding around the lever.

It’s not a deal breaker and is likely mostly for aesthetics purposes but I prefer for my finger to go straight to the lever.

It is a bit stiff from the factory but over time I think it will break in. It’s very easy to push into the lock position but pulling down is a little stiff even with no magazine in the gun.

Most people will probably have no issue with this design and it might be nitpicking but that is my only critique of the slide stop/release.

I feel like I need to preface this part of the review because I was extremely hard on the PSA Dagger trigger (which I still stand behind) and since this gun so similarly resembles the Daggers design I want to start with a clean slate.

I’m a huge fan of Palmetto State Armory guns but I don’t think triggers are their specialty.

The Rock trigger out of the box has been take up and is extremely smooth to the wall.

Once you reach the wall the break is very crisp with the only caveat being the trigger weight is extremely heavy.

The break is clean and the rest is just back to the wall and about halfway to full extension.

I like this trigger a lot better than the Dagger trigger but if I could reduce the trigger weight be just a hair I’d be elated with it.

Personally, I’m throwing my 5.7 Rock in my Concord range bag because I need room for all my range accessories.

The Prime is also a great bag for the 5.7 Rock if you don’t need to carry a ton of accessories to go with the gun.

With so many slide options, you can really personalize the PSA 5.7 Rock pistol to your heart’s content.

I really like the available slide options and features, especially for the price point.

If you are searching for an affordable and feature packed 5.7 pistol it’s going to be hard to beat the value of this pistol.

Shooting the Rock 5.7 is what will sell you on the 5.7x28mm round and the Rock overall.

I started this 5.7×28 quest with the desire to acquire and shoot all of the 5.7 pistols available on the market today.

So far I have gotten to the FN Five-Seven, Ruger 5.7, and now the PSA Rock.

They all shoot well but for the money, the PSA 5.7 Rock is probably my favorite.

It’s hard to say if the pistol design plays into how flat and consistent this gun shoots or if the round is just extremely forgiving while still being powerful.

I loved putting multiple shots on target that felt so natural and easy. I can’t speak highly enough about shooting this gun.

The only downside of this gun may be the ammo price. Read on…

Sadly, 5.7 ammo is still somewhat expensive and can approach $1 /round depending on what you buy.

There is some much more reasonably priced ammo that hovers between .40¢ per round.

Here are some solid options.

Palmetto State Armory: 5.7x28mm Ammo

Brownells: 5.7x28mm Ammo

Grab-A-Gun: American Eagle

Brownells: Speer Gold Dot

Brownells: Hyper Performance 5.7X28MM

Lucky Gunner: 5.7x28 Defense Ammo

My final thoughts are pretty simple. This is a lot of gun for the money and packs a big value for anyone shopping for a 5.7 pistol.

The number of available custom options is almost overwhelming so making this gun your own won’t be a problem.

Shooting the gun is great I love how flat shooting it is and with the Primary Arms pistol red dot on top it really takes the gun to the next level.

Here are some of the most asked questions about the 5.7 Rock.

The PSA Rock is between $499-$599 depending on what configuration you purchase. There are many options and even custom cut and cerakoted slides available.

The Rock caliber is in the name 5.7 and is short for 5.7x28mm. This caliber was made by FN and originally designed and released in the early 1990s.

They don’t currently but they do make a 5.7 upper that goes on a standard AR-15 lower.

The PSA 5.7 has a standard capacity of 23 rounds.