Has anybody here had any experience with this round?A necked down .30 carbine,ballistics look like it would make a heck of a predator round,possibly with very little fur damage.

The .22 Spitfire is an American wildcat rifle cartridge developed by Col. Melvin M. Johnson. It was originally named the MMJ 5.7mm You are talking 2850 with a 40 gr billet. To me you have to get over 3500 to have a predator round. You shoot coyotes with that, you best have good tracking snow. There are much better fur guns out there. Look at the 17s and 20 center fires that are pushing 4000 fps or over. Then you don't track much.

I believe this was also known as a 5.7 Johnson. It was a popular conversion to M-1 Carbines back in the 60's.

I own a .204 and a .223,I don't shoot across valleys here in heavy timber of northern Michigan.Our shots are close to fairly close,not very excited over the exit holes Ive gotten with the 2 calibers mentioned.Looking at something along the lines of the .22 hornet,was watching a documentary on Johnson and the spitfire was mentioned,I remember seeing one once in a gunshop in the early '80's but not since.

I would GUESS that built on the carbine platform they likely weren't very accurate. Because the value of carbines has climbed significantly, anyone that has one is likely looking to convert it back to a 30.

I have no idea what you call close, but I would get a shotgun if I was shooting everything under 60 yard. At close range a shotgun is hard to beat on fur out items.

If they were under 60 yards I'd use a shotgun.Now I'm thinking maybe something along the lines of a .222 might be what I'm looking for.

I've killed quite a few coyotes , fox and raccoons with my .222 it was a favorite coyote calling rifle of mine for many year's .

The 52 or 53 gr match bullets were a 2" exit hole at the worst

I've got a T/C Encore that I could buy a barrel for if I can find one.Ive heard a lot of good things about the .222.