.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.
Source: Hodgdon Data Manual, 26th Edition
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