22 Remington Jet

[buckspen]

I would welcome any suggestions for accuracy loads for the .22 Remington Jet. I have four Model 53 S&Ws (two 4 inch, one 6 inch and one 8 inch) and four T/C Contender barrels (two 10 inch and two 12 inch) in this caliber.
My current reloads using Remington (of course) brass, Federal small rifle primers, Hornady 40 grain Jet bullets and about 10 grains of W-W 296 powder are not getting the job done.
This load chonographs about 1833 fps out of the 8 inch T/C barrel but the extreme spread is very large (397 fps) and accuracy is poor.
By contrast, old factory Remington Jet ammo chronos at 2750 fps with a much smaller extreme spread (59 fps) and accuracy is much better.
Also, I read in a reloading manual the the T/C Jet barrels were bored .224 instead of the .222 bore used by Smith & Wesson. Can anyone here verify that?
Thanks!

Buckspen

[nutsforsmiths]

I have a 4" Jet and a 10" T/C barrel. I have had great success with 11 gr of IMR 4227 and Federal small magnum pistol primers. I use the same bullets and brass as you mentioned.

The Smith is quite accurate with this load. The T/C is accurate too, but not as accurate as the Smith. I too have heard that the T/C barrels are bored slightly larger, hence loss in accuracy.

I have to admit that I have shot the Model 53 a lot more then the T/C, so it could be that I'm just not used to it yet.

I have never shot factory loads for the Jet. I did used to shoot loads made by Old Western Scrounger about 15 years ago and those were very accurate and louder then my reloads.

[VonFatman]

Yes, they used .224 barrels. The S&W used .222

The .224 bullets should be easier to find.

I asked the same question and if you read through the replies, it will verify your information.

http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.p...,188694.0.html

Bob

[Jellybean]

No wonder I never could find one...
I checked some of my loading manuals and found a couple Lymans that have data using a T/C in .22 Jet. They list the groove dia. as .223.

Edit; I read VonFatmans link and there is a possibility T/C did change their diameters from .223 to .224. (The Lyman manuals that say .223 are older while the Hornady manuals that list it as .224 are newer.) It would give handloaders a much wider selection of bullets to use if it were .224, but would still be able to fire using factory ammo. If the barrels were made to the original .222 diameter, bullet choice for handloading would be scarce, to say the least. You might want to slug your bores or buy/borrow a pin gauge set.

[buckspen]

Interesting stuff! Thanks for your replies, gents.

Thanks, Bob, for the link. That was interesting reading. I think there is a lot of misinformation out there about this issue. And I think I need to try slugging some barrels to really get a handle on this.

I spoke to a fellow who has given me other good information about T/C Contenders and he said Contender Jet barrels are .224. I didn't think to ask him about older barrels.

The fellow I spoke to also recommended IMR 4227 as an accuracy powder for the Jet. He suggested 13 grains. I guess I need to go find a pound of 4227. I used to use that in the .22 Hornet and it worked pretty well, if I remember correctly.

By the way, that old Remington factory ammo is fun to shoot! Lots of muzzle flash and blast. It is really some hot stuff. No wonder it had the reputation for damaging barrels.

My first .22 Jet was a Model 53 with 6 inch barrel that my father gave me for a high school graduation gift in 1961. I fired exactly 25 factory cartridges out of that gun before I decided I didn't need to beat myself up so much. Nobody used hearing protection in those days and just a few rounds out of that gun would make your ears ring and give you a headache.

- - - Buckspen