P90

Lore & Background

Designed in conjunction with the FN 5.7×28mm NATO ammunition, development of the weapon began in 1986, and production commenced in 1990, when it was known as the Project 9.0 (from which the '90' in its name is derived), whereupon the 5.7×28mm ammunition was redesigned and shortened. A modified version of the P90 with a magazine adapted to use the new ammunition was introduced in 1993, and the Five-seven pistol was subsequently introduced as a companion weapon using the same 5.7×28mm ammunition. The P90 is currently in service with military and police forces in over 40 nations, such as Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Greece, India, Malaysia, Poland, and the United States. In the United States, the P90 is in use with over 200 law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service.

In Their Own Story

The server was quiet. Round fourteen, mid-round, and the P90 sat in his hands with all fifty rounds still in the top-fed magazine. He could hear the T's footsteps on the metal catwalk above Dust II, two of them, maybe three, pushing B. He hadn't bought a rifle. He hadn't needed to. He flicked the crosshair to the corner of the passage, let the flashbang tick out its two-second fuse, and fired.

The P90 screamed. Not the measured, deliberate crack of a rifle, but a continuous, grinding roar, fifty small impacts stitching a line across the concrete wall and into the space where a man's head should have been. The first body hit the floor before the magazine was half empty. The second never made it around the corner. He cycled the empty magazine, heard the dry click, and walked back to the site with the spent mag still warm in his grip, the smell of cordite hanging in the dry, sun-bleached air. The round ended. The scoreboard updated. And somewhere in the lobby, a teammate typed a single letter: *K.*

Reader's Guide

The P90 is a selective fire, straight blowback-operated weapon with a cyclic rate of fire of around 850–1,100 rounds per minute. It is chambered for FN's 5.7×28mm ammunition. The weapon is grasped by means of a thumbhole in the frame that acts as a pistol grip, as well as an oversized trigger guard that acts as a foregrip for the shooter's support hand. The P90 fires from a closed bolt for maximum accuracy, and its design makes extensive use of polymers for reduced weight and cost. Overall, the weapon is relatively lightweight, weighing 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) empty, or 3 kg (6.6 lb) with a loaded 50-round magazine. The P90 is notable for being fully ambidextrous. When fired, the P90 ejects spent cartridge casings downward through a chute located behind the grip, so spent cases are kept out of the shooter's line of sight.

Did You Know?

• The P90 was designed to have a length no greater than a man's shoulder width, to allow it to be easily carried and maneuvered in tight spaces.
• The P90's name is derived from its development codename 'Project 9.0'.
• A semi-automatic version with a longer barrel has been offered to civilian users since 2005 as the PS90.