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I finally acquired an original Johnson Spitfire carbine chambered in MMJ 5.7. This was what Col. Melvin M. Johnson (Designer of the WW2 era Johnson Light Machine Gun and the Johnson Rifle used by the ParaMarines in WW2) originally called his cartridge for conversion of the US 30 Carbine, but is now probably better known as the .22 Spitfire, or .22 Johnson, or 5.7... you get my drift. The articles on Wikipedia are interesting but don't tell the whole story - obviously. Great site called "The Johnson Rifle Site" has a lot more history and one of his sons was instrumental in the site's development. I've had a converted commercial carbine for years, but just got an original Johnson Arms. This is a very efficient cartridge that was apparently intended to have ballistics similar to the tried-and-true .22 Hornet, but in a cartridge optimized for an automatic or semi-automatic firearm - ballistics better than the FN 5.7 x 28mm, and WAAYYY cheaper and easier to reload. And "a helluva lotta fun" to shoot. Read a forum somewhere that started off "Was Johnson right after all?" and I wonder, especially now with all this PDW and appropriate cartridge talk having run it's course, he probably was... Your thoughts?
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