cluttonfred
Member
I ran across some discussion of the .22 Spitfire/5.7mm Johnson, basically a .30 Carbine case necked down to take a .224 bullet.
When you look at the excessive blast and flash and wasted energy of the 5.56x45mm from a short barrel, and the questionable effectiveness of the 5.7x28mm in the FN P90 PDW, I wonder if Johnson was on to something?
For home defense, police and military PDW use, something like the .22 Spitfire seems right on the money. Call it the 5.7x33mm. It neatly splits the difference between the 5.56x45mm and 5.7x28mm in terms of bullet weight, velocity and energy, throwing a 50 gr (3.2 g) bullet at 2,700 ft/s (820 m/s) for 810 ft·lbf (1,100 J). So it's right on par with the .30 carbine but much flatter-shooting for greater effective range.
Personally, I'd love to see a new design for a cheap and rugged little carbine, something like a modernized and simplified M1 Carbine. If it sparked enough interest maybe it would not only keep interest in the .30 Carbine round alive but also revive the fortunes of the .22 Spitfire?
Cheers,
Matthew
When you look at the excessive blast and flash and wasted energy of the 5.56x45mm from a short barrel, and the questionable effectiveness of the 5.7x28mm in the FN P90 PDW, I wonder if Johnson was on to something?
For home defense, police and military PDW use, something like the .22 Spitfire seems right on the money. Call it the 5.7x33mm. It neatly splits the difference between the 5.56x45mm and 5.7x28mm in terms of bullet weight, velocity and energy, throwing a 50 gr (3.2 g) bullet at 2,700 ft/s (820 m/s) for 810 ft·lbf (1,100 J). So it's right on par with the .30 carbine but much flatter-shooting for greater effective range.
Personally, I'd love to see a new design for a cheap and rugged little carbine, something like a modernized and simplified M1 Carbine. If it sparked enough interest maybe it would not only keep interest in the .30 Carbine round alive but also revive the fortunes of the .22 Spitfire?
Cheers,
Matthew