Was the 5.7 MMJ Carbine ever used....

[Rapidrob 0]

Was the Johnson 5.7 Carbine ever used by a police force or in a "Banana War"  in South America? Was it ever used by the CIA or any other  Gov'mt agency?

[eb in oregon 0]

Ed has stated in the past that there were some local sales to law enforcement, but only a small few. As for it being used in a combat situation in South America, used by the CIA (sort of defeat the purpose if admitted to), or any other government agency, well, who knows? I sort of doubt it, but you never know. And as Ed has stated in the past Johnson Arms produced only 200 "new" carbines in total, and modified no more than 50 for others, so the numbers are small. There were those made by IAI and Iver Johnson, but those numbers were pretty small too. The biggest issue was ammunition. No major manufacturer ever made the cartridge and supply has always been spotty. The cost of custom ammunition is alarming so just about everybody that has one reloads for it. It was before it's time unfortunately as it is a swell little cartridge and far superior to the newer 5.7x28 cartridge.

[Ed Johnson 0]

We believe that an informal group of Cuban patriots had a NYC dealer send us a small quantity of M1 Carbines for conversion to 5.7mm and that they found their way into combat by a small anti-Castro force led by a man named Anthony Cuesta, who was caught and imprisoned for many years. A friend, now deceased, told me that the Spitfires saw some action, but I have no paper trail connecting all this. An article in a recent issue of Firearms News (July 2021, vol. 75, issue 13) by Jim Dickson makes brief reference to the subject.  

[eb in oregon 0]

On 9/8/2021 at 1:05 PM, Ed Johnson said:

We believe that an informal group of Cuban patriots had a NYC dealer send us a small quantity of M1 Carbines for conversion to 5.7mm and that they found their way into combat by a small anti-Castro force led by a man named Anthony Cuesta, who was caught and imprisoned for many years. A friend, now deceased, told me that the Spitfires saw some action, but I have no paper trail connecting all this. An article in a recent issue of Firearms News (July 2021, vol. 75, issue 13) by Jim Dickson makes brief reference to the subject.  

This is rather tardy, but I'm thinking that using a small number of firearms (with only the ammunition one can reasonably carry going into battle) of a different caliber than the main invasion force will be using seems a silly idea. While the 5.7MMJ had superior ballistics than the .30 Carbine, when your ammo runs out you better be able to pick up another rifle from a dead guy and use it.

[Ed Johnson 0]

I don't disagree with your statement. It is possible that the 5.7 Spitfires were never used, per your reasoning. It is also possible that they were used for more of a specialty item because of the superior ballistics within 100 yards, which would be similar to the AR-15/M-16 in explosive performance. We will probably never know for sure. ej