Are .22 Jets normally good shooters?

[wreckhog]

Was taking the guests out to breakfast this am. Stopped at this semi professional yard sale (every other weekend, glass cases and price tags, typically $$$ than normal for a yard sale) all of 2 miles from the house. He had a few toys. I walked out with a H&R profiled barrel (had sights and was intact, but no forearm) for $80 and a complete Mossberg 320B Boy Scout .22 single shot for $100. Both aged, but with little if any use. Had a plan to build the Jet, but only if they shoot well. The Mossberg on the other hand, is squirrel hunting in the am.

[gcrank1]

Seems I recall that it was a problematic cartridge, but someone with real world experience may disagree. The good thing is that it should be rechamberable to a number of easy to live with .22CF calibers. The only caveat there will be the limiting factor of the twist for the bullet weights you can use.
OR
Wouldnt surprise me if someone on this forum would like a Jet unaltered and you could buy another barrel in a caliber you would prefer (if a Jet isnt really for you, that is).

[quickdtoo]

The Jet was a problem in the S&W Model 53 revolver it was introduced for.

Tim

http://www.reloadbench.com/cartridges/p22rj.html

22 Remington Jet

Historical Notes

The 22 Remington Jet, also known as the 22 Centerfire Magnum, was introduced jointly by Remington and Smith & Wesson. The former developed the cartridge, the latter the revolver. The first news of this cartridge leaked out in 1959, but production revolvers and ammunition were not available until 1961. The S&W Model 53 revolver is the only revolver even to chamber this cartridge, and it was discontinued in 1971. The .22 Jet grew out of popular wildcat handgun cartridges such as the .22 Kay-Chuk and others based on the .22 Hornet case. However, the 22 Jet is actually based on a necked down 357 Magnum case. Marlin once offered the Model 62 lever action rifle for the .22 Jet and the H&R Topper and Thompson/Center Contender also offered it for a time.

General Comments

The .22 Jet is strictly a hunting number intended to provide high velocity and flat trajectory in the field. The M53 revolver will also fire regular .22 long rifle  ammunition by use of a supplemental steel cartridge chamber inserts and an adjustable firing pin. This cartridge has ample performance for small game at ranges out to 100 yards, for those  who can shoot a revolver that well.

When first announced, most gun writers praised the fantastic performance. A muzzle velocity  of 2460 fps was supposed to be developed in an 8-1/2 inch barrel. Chronographed tests by various individuals indicated an actual velocity of only 2000 fps in this length barrel. Quite a come down, but it is still a good cartridge. The S&W Model 53 in .22 Jet was discontinued due to problems with the cylinder locking up when firing full powered loads. The 22 Jet is no longer manufactured by Remington or other commercial manufacturers.

Source: Cartridges of the World

Problems with the cylinder

Whereas a bottleneck type case with minimum body taper has a tendency to cling to the chamber wall during firing, just the opposite happens with the extreme body taper of the 22 Jet case. For this reason, if cases and chamber walls were not kept absolutely clean of oils and lubes, the .22 Jet has a tendency to back out of the chamber during firing and prevent the cylinder from rotating.

[Spanky]

You could sell it or trade it for something... I'm sure someone would want an original Jet barrel.
Please don't rechamber it... they really are hard to find.



Spanky

[wreckhog]

Thanks. Went back and almost bought the profiled 30-30 barrel (no ejector). Got the stock today btw. USPS is crazy. Thanks again.

[NFG]

Ditto on Tim's info...

Had a gun club friend that bought one of the first.  I thought it was a cool looking cartridge, but the gun made the rounds of a lot of gunners in the gun club...sold/traded etc for less and less as the word got out...no one could get anywhere near factory propaganda and using the inserts made for a very inaccurate shooter.

There are at least one AI version which ends up basically a 22/357 and you could do a 22/357 Maxi now, but all you do is end up with a rimmed 222/223/222 RM with a lot of very hard work on forming the cases.  It's hard enough making 256 Win out of 357 cases.

It was an interesting cartridge when it came out, but if Remington AND S&W had done their homework we would probably have a very workable and usable 22/357 AI in the S&W Md 53 and maybe the 221 Fireball wouldn't have arrived...who knows.

Wonder what the rest of the story is?

I would think a 22 Jet barrel would have collectors value if nothing else, and it still is a relatively warm, reloadable 22 cal with ballistics slightly better than a high dollar ammo 22 Mag.  The various 22 Hornet iterations, 218 Bee iterations and 221 FB stole the Jet's thunder for certain.

Luck

[gcrank1]

And without the cylinder binding problems of a revolver it might work OK in a Handi.

[quickdtoo]

My only experience with the Jet had to do with a barrel on ebay several years ago, when the bidding went over $200, I bowed out, it went for around $250 IIRC, I did buy a set of dies while the bidding was open, but ended up selling them to Wally(mt3030, may he rest in peace) after he found a Topper Jet locally. Here's the thread on it with a fair bit of info and some pics, he died in a motorcycle accident the following summer, so I don't know if he even got to shoot it. 

Tim

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,100735.msg1098266610.html#msg1098266610

[briannmilewis]

The 22 Jet and the 218 Bee have about 1cc case capacity, the Hornet has 0.79cc and the 221 FB has 1.43cc. If the Hornet is considered a good 150yd Coyote gun, then the Jet and Bee will be in there too. I think Stimpy made a Jet recently, maybe he will chime in.

[NFG]

A slight correction on the numbers, Brian...

218 Bee - ~0.075 cu in, ~18.9 gr H20.
Hornet - ~ 0.057 cu in, ~ 14.3 gr H2O.
Jet - ~ 0.074 cu in, ~ 18.8 gr H2O.
221 FB - ~ 0.088 cu in, ~ 22.1 gr H2O.

The "improved" versions are slightly higher in capacity.

(Slightly OT)  The Hornet has a large following, especially in the 14, 17, 19, and 20 cal versions.  It is very efficient, uses very little powder to get fairly high velocities.  Anyone interested goto Sabier...lots of very satisfied customers there.

Accuracy of the Jet depends on all the usual factors...tuned rifle, tuned brass, tuned load.  The Jet would/should be much more accurate and attain a higher velocity in the Handi's longer barrel, but would still suffer from the same problem of the case moving backwards against the frame and locking it up.  How much of a problem depends...and the only way to know  that for sure is to shoot it.

Luck

[stimpylu32]

wreckhog

I love my Jet , I load it to just over 22 mag speeds and use it for Tree Rats , as Tim said the only real problem that the 22 Jet had was in wheel guns were set back was a major issue , in the Handi or TC's it in a non-point .

Factory ammo is a bit on the pricey side when you can find it , however dies are on par with any other round and it can be formed from 357 mag brass with a set of form dies ( their pricey too ) but I have a set  so if you need some case's let me know and I'll form you up some .

I'll check my load log and send you the data that I have worked up if you want to load for it later on .

stimpy

PS  - The 35g V-max and 40g Nosler B-tips do very well in this cartridge .

[PHATINJUN]

Stimpy was yours a rechamber or original? Mine is original with the 1-16 twist and the .221 bore. I have not wringed it out yet but initial bench testing did not even get scope set. But to be honest I was also working 4 other guns final tune for my PD hunt. And I have not been back to the bench since. I'll take a look at your load though if you would send it to me .I may be trying to push it to much. Thanks Kurt

[stimpylu32]

Kurt

Mine is a 22 Mag re-chamber , the bore slugged out at .223 , but the .223 Hornet bullets shot poorly while the .224s did very well , it also had a 1 in 16 twist same as my 218 Bee did and it had a .224 bore , also a 22 Mag re-chamber .

For some unknown reason some the tighter bores do well with over-sized bullets in little 22 rounds like the Hornet , Bee & Jet . 

stimpy

[gcrank1]

My two .223X .22 Hornet (orig) grv dia.s also did well with .224s, ie 50yd. 3/8" groups pretty consistenty.

[PHATINJUN]

Yes my Hornet did the same shot very well with the .224 bullets .Then I slugged it and got this Jet both with the small bore then found a large # of Hornady.223 Hornet/Jet bullets for sale cheap. At the same time I found the Lilgun load for the Hornet and with that load and the 223 bullets it shoots the same 1/2-3/4"@100 as the 224's did and 1/2" is not only about the best I can do personally it is pretty much good enough for me my patience level may not allow me to get much smaller. Hopefully I will be able to get back to the bench this yr with the Jet. For some reason I keep wanting to take one of these 1-16" and do a 22-250 rechamber with it but I think they are to hard to come by so I got a 22 mag and am thinking using that. Kurt
BTW I was using 13gr LILgun for both the Jet and Hornet

[briannmilewis]

You can buy Jet brass from Grafs from $26/100.