Got me a Hornet and seen my next one tonight

[cheatermk3]

I was up to a guy's place to pick up a Handi lightweight 22 Hornet tonight.  It came with irons and the montecarlo buttstock, so I was lookin' around the place for a spur and a rail I could talk him out of, when I spied what appeared from a distance to be a 410 with a hammer spur.  I asked what he had there and he said, "I'm a bit prouder of that one than the one you just bought".  Turned out to be a Topper in real good shape, caliber 22 Jet.  He wants $200 for it, it has pretty nice figure, for a Topper; nicely polished case hardened receiver with no tool marks.  The dovetails for the front and rear sights are empty, but there are almost no marks at all on the metal except for a light scratch about 1.25 inches long near the muzzle, the barrel appears to be about 26 inches long.  It has a weaver rail and a hammer spur.  I'd already spent my $$ on the Hornet, so I asked him to hang on to it for me, which he agreed to do.  I got the hornet and a set of RCBS dies for $165+tax=181 OTD.

Am I nuts?

[Paul5388]

I'd rather have the Hornet than the Jet, but that's just my opinion.  The Jet would just be a novelty and may be hard to find components for.  However, you'd probably be the only one on the block that has one!

BTW, I really like my 20" Hornet!  13.5 gr Lil'Gun in Rem brass with a 40 gr V-Max is hard to beat!

Well, Midway has brass, so maybe it won't be so hard to find components for.
Midway .22 Jet brass

It won't take too long to get over paying $51 for the dies!  :eek:

[quickdtoo]

I just bid up to $143 for a Jet barrel on ebay last weekend, it sold for $202.50!!

[Deadeye47]

I just bid up to $143 for a Jet barrel on ebay last weekend, it sold for $202.50!!

:shock:  I'm glad I'm slowly recovering from my Handi obsession before it got out of hand.... :wink:

[tomaldridge]

A few years ago, I missed buying a .22 Jet by about 15 minutes.  If I remember correctly, you can neck down a .357 case to make brass.  Anyone know for sure?

[quickdtoo]

I read that you can, but I think you need special dies to do it and they cost over a hundred bucks! New brass is cheap at $20 per 100.

http://www.midwayusa.com/ebrowse.exe/browse?TabID=1&Categoryid=11472&categorystring=9315***652***670***9013***

http://www.redding-reloading.com/pages/caseformdies.html

[cheatermk3]

I replied to tomaldridge's post but it must've gotten lost--

You can form jet cases from 357mag cases but it's a 2 or 3 step process:  357mag>>256winchester>>22jet.

There really is no reason to have a jet except the cool factor.  The parent case is relatively weak; the max load listed in my Hodgdon powder reloading manual shows a velocity of just over 2000 fps with a 40 grain bullet.  Anemic at best.

Can you tell I'm having second thoughts?

[quickdtoo]

Is the Jet up at the Mercantile??? I almost got a Herter's die set on Ebay last weekend, but got cold feet at the last minute when the thought of a different thread pattern than modern presses crossed my mind...I bid $21.50, it went for $22....Cheapest die set is $40+ special ordered, in stock die sets are $55 and up! My 45-120 Sharps 3¼" Lyman 3 die set was only $35!!

[Varminter]

if you get that 22 jet and decide you dont want it any more let me know. I would be willing to take it off your hands for you. i have been looking for one for quite some time. The catridge isn't really good for anything in my opinion but it would make a nice novelty catridge. If you get it and change your mind let me know.

[Paul5388]

10.5 gr 2400 with a CCI 550 and 40 gr bullet will produce 1796 fps put of a 6" S&W Mod 53 revolver (Speer #7, page 323).  That extra 200 fps + should be fairly easy out of a longer barrel.  Just think of it as a reloadable .22 Mag!

Here's some data from IMR.

.22 REMINGTON JET CF MAG.
REM. CASE; REM. 6 1/2 PR
REM. 40 GR. (J)
.222" DIA.; 10.0" BBL.; 1.645" C.O.L.
“Hi-Skor”
700-X 4.7 1755 32000
PB 5.1 1690 32200
SR 7625 5.3 1745 31200
SR 4756 6.7 1925 31200
IMR 4227 13.5 2290 32900

Those chamber pressures are in CUP.  I don't know that I have seen any .222" bullets lately, but there are still some .223" Hornet bullets made in 45 gr.  I don't see any reason for the pressure to be so low, except for use in the Mod 53 to help keep them from backing out of the chambers.  It's a .357/.256 case that holds a lot more pressure in those two, so why load it so low?

[cheatermk3]

Paul5388 is correct.  My mistake, I had a bit of trouble finding a listing for the jet in my manuals and when I found one it was in the Pistol section, which I didn't notice at the time, or failed to remember when I posted from memory this AM from my desk at work.

The Hodgdon data lists the jet's max load of 11.0gn of H110 powder under a 40 grain, .2225 dia bullet.  doesn't give case or primer except small pistol, lists a velocity of 2019fps, barrel length, "...S&W 8 3/8".  

I'm guessing(here we go again) that there's quite a bit more to the jet in a rifle format.

[quickdtoo]

Here's some more load data...

http://reload.thor420.com/22remjet40gr.htm

http://reload.thor420.com/22remjet45gr.htm

[Paul5388]

Just remember, they are usually pretty liberal about their velocities!

I load 125 gr .357's that will shoot at 1620 fps out of a 6" barrel  and using 0.5 gr less will produce 2057 fps out of my 22" Handi.  I use SR 4756 to do this.  I think you could use the SR 4756 load I posted and be pretty close to what the Jet is capable of, especially if you work it up from there.

The Speer data was taken with .223" bullets, so a Hornet bullet (I know Sierra still makes the .223" for use in old Hornets) could be used.

Here are 40 gr .223" bullets
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=163371

[cheatermk3]

I wonder what the bore on that Topper would slug?

Would it be 222, 223, or ??  Only one way to know for sure...

Whoever owned it, didn't shoot it much.  There were no obvious signs of use that I could pick up on in the brief inspection I gave it last night.

I looked for, but didn't find, a serial number on the frame.  The barrel had a 6-digit number stamped into it's lower left quadrant of the chamber area, it was 161XXX (I wrote it down but couldn't find the scrap of paper it's on, so I may be way off here too.  mighta been only 5 digits).  

As far as case capacity, it seems to be a double of the 218BEE, one of my favorites.  The Hornet I bought last night is a prime candidate for a rechamber to 218BEE or perhaps 221 fireball.  I shot it today and found that the rear sight is missing the spring, so I shimmed it up with a piece of the end flap of one of the ammo boxes and got it to shoot almost to POA at 50.  I put 3 winchester supreme 34gn HPs into an inch, approximately, at 50.  I was shooting at a steel plate painted black but for a first try with factory ammo it seems to shoot pretty good.  I guess I just have a bad attitude towarde the Hornet from some troubles I had making ammo 25 years ago.

I got the word from my boss today that he wants me to put in some OT for the next several weeks, so after next week I'll be rollin' in some unexpected greenbacks.  Guess there's no reason not to scarf up the jet.