According to the 7th ed of Cartridges of the World, the 5.7mm Johnson or .22 Spitfire, was introduced in 1963 for the Johnson Guns version of the US M1 Carbine, and was later manufactured by Plainfield, in New Jersey. They list loads for the 40gr. bullet up to 3000fps. That would put it in the same class as the .218 Bee, and just a shade better than the .22 Hornet. You could equal the performance of the 5.7mm with the .22K-Hornet. I am somewhat prejudiced against the K-Hornet as I have never seen one that shot as well as the original .22 Hornet.
I keep a .22 Hornet around, mostly for nostalgic reasons, as I've not gone chuck hunting for 25 years. The cartridge was quite popular among varminters, until the late '70s. Now it is most often found in the collections of a few old farts. A lot of the earlier guns were various small actions rebarreled using the excellent quality Springfield or Winchester .22 rimfire barrels. Since these barrels have .221 bores, .221 jacketed bullets were once offered by all of the major component makers.
If you are looking for something just a shade better than the .22 Hornet, you might consider the wildcat .17 Hornet. I've been considering having a Ruger #1 rebarreled to .17 Hornet for many years, but it always seems to be on the other end of my priority list.
