Got this gun from my father's estate after his death in 1992. His name was also David Reynolds.
Dad was a big fan of "The Jet." He liked the velocity and the fireball. He liked the dual firing pin set up and the .22 LR inserts.

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David Reynolds

My 8 3/8" 4-screw no dash came with the extra numbered cylinder and the inserts...It's on the to-be-lettered list......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

I'm the proud owner of 2. The 6" is serial number K444444, and that's why I bought it. Big Larry

I’m a big fan of the 53.

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My 4" 53 shipped in 1970. They are fun to shoot and usually get a conversation going at the range. Quite a flame out of the end of rhe barrel with the 4"!

Thanks for the invoice and serial number list for the Chiefs!

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Wrangler of stray Chiefs
Bob

My 1961 made Model 53 with its 22 lr cylinder in place.

IMG_0549.jpg

Got a good price on it, the store told me it would be easy and not too expensive to find 22 22 Jet cylinder.

They lied.

Nice picture!
Glad to see your dies and components. I don’t think anyone can truly claim to be a big fan of the M53 or .22 Jet if they don’t reload for it. That’s when it comes into it’s own! (Be sure to “double up” with ear plugs and ear muffs!)

Yours, plus the one in the OP’s post, are real beauties with those nice diamond stocks!

A lying gun dealer?...Why, that's almost as unheard of as a crooked politician!...Fire up the tar pot, boys, and pluck some chickens!...We'uns is about to have a party!......Ben

__________________
Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

My 4 screw 53 letters with targets AND a butt swivel. Sold to Sportsman's Den in Bridgeport. What were they thinking? RR/WO for a total of $6.30. Butt swivel, $1.20. No extra charge for the walnut targets which obviously had to be modified. Fun to shoot!

It isn't that it is hard to find extra cylinders for model 53s. It is however, very hard to pay for them.

Yes, the lied for sure. Last one I saw went for about $600 as I remember. The 22LR 53 cylinders are priced about the same.

Here's my 4 inch with 22LR cylinder numbered to the gun.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

Love the Jet; and love to hate it. Flat-shooting, low recoil, great fun, versatile; excellent on rats, jackrabbits, porcupines, coyotes, etc. And with earsplitting muzzle blast, hard-to-find components, and exasperating reloading features. I actually think it should be THE pistol issued to most of America's police officers, but don't want to hijack the thread.

Local pawn shop had one that i looked at every week for months. Finally found auch nicer one online dor less money. Mine has a 2x scope on it which makes 100 yard shots a bit easier. I bought it to use on groundhogs in PA, but now that I am in exile here in Florida I have been thinking about letting someone else have the fun. I have several hundred rounds of both Remington and PPU ammo along with plenty of components.

They are fun to shoot.

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

Anyone notice the “plagued continuously by extractor and barrel erosion problems” comment in the OP’s historical letter shown above?

I’m not used to seeing such frank statements in a S&W letter!

Every Jet owner MUST be a reloader if he wants to save his (non-replaceable) barrel! Also, everyone that owns a box of factory Remington ammo needs to sell it to an ammo collector! Never shoot the factory ammo, it will burn the barrel out in very few rounds. All of those flames out the end of the barrel is unburned powder which first escapes in the BC gap and flame cuts the breech end of the barrel!




Here is a couple of my Jets!

jcelect

Extractor, si. I read that the best you could do was keep ammo and chambers thoroughly degreased to reduce setback. There was some wildcatting done with the idea that a conventional straight case and sharp bottleneck would do better. It didn't but the Cotterman Super Jet made a fine Cadet Martini barrel.

Would they have done better to commercialize the Harvey Kay Chuk?

Barrel erosion? Oh, ok flame cutting of the forcing cone.

The talk about flame cutting and erosion got me looking at my gun. I have a threaded hole in the top of the frame. What in the world is that?
Not a very good photo.

Edit: I had the same thought Ben, maybe a scope was mounted on it.

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David Reynolds

It looks to be in the wrong location for the sight leaf, could the gun have once had a scope mounted on it?......Ben

__________________
Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

I have an original Kay Chuk and had another one built on a 17-6 gun. Neither one shows any signs of barrel erosion! S&W told Remington they wanted a 40gr bullet from a 6" barrel to leave the barrel at 2450FPS. I have not chronoed any of the Kay Chuks yet, but I believe they are much slower!
The Supper Jet

The .224 Harvey Kay Chuk

My two guns

jcelect

I recall an old article about a .25 Hornet revolver, the case shortened a bit like the K-Chuk to fit the cylinder but straight. Before the day of inexpensive consumer chronographs, the only description was loud and flat shooting. Glen Fryexll references it and describes how he assembled a Blackhawk that was giving 1500 fps with gas check bullets.

Christy would make a SAA cylinder for about anything, I have read of .218 Bee and .25-20 WCF.

Here is mine, shipped to Evaluators in June of 1961. The serial number is very close to those on the invoice that DARE posted so it was probably made the same week.
I have fired some of the old Peters brand factory ammo and it is in fact pretty hot. I also have a good supply of the PPU ammo which seems to have been throttled down a bit. But still a lot of fun.

The cardboard spacer for the extra cylinder was missing when I bought it. Since the box bears a label from Evaluators I never bothered to letter it to see if it shipped with the .22 LR cylinder or if maybe some past owner just removed the piece of cardboard. The correct tapered SAT's are getting expensive and the unique tapered chamber swabs are also difficult to find and expensive when you do. I got lucky with this gun and it came pretty much complete as shipped. Except for maybe the .22 LR cylinder if it had one anyway....

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You might be remembering the Winchester answer to the Jet, the .256 Win Mag. It is also a necked down .357 mag case. The Ruger Hawkeye is a single action chambered in the .256 win Mag, Marlin made a lever action gun for it, and S&W produced ONE mod 53 chambered in the .256 Win Mag cartridge! TC also chambered barrels for the cartridge.
I had an Encore barrel chambered for the .256 and at present I'm experimenting with load development for the lighter 25 cal bullets.
jcelect

If you keep the Jet and the KayChuck down to around 1800fps you won't eat up your throats or have brass set back, Full tilt loads of H110 or 4227 will start eroding the throats of any revolver.

For anyone wondering, this is how one that hasn't been fired, or hardly fired, should look.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

Nope, the .25 Hornet is a wildcat on .22 Hornet brass blown out nearly straight and shortened a bit for S&W although Glen F. was able to use it at full length in a very custom Ruger.

The few revolvers tried in .256 WM were discouraging and not put into production.

I have had My Jet since around 1975. It will be the last gun I sell. I handload for it and do several different bullets. 40 grain to 52 grain. The 45 hornet being the most used with 11 grains of 4227 and a SP Magnum primer.

I have one of the short lived Ruger Hawkeye single shot pistols chambered for the .256 Winchester Magnum. Yes, I like reloading for the oddballs. Here's the .22 Remington Magnum AKA .22 Jet and the .256 Winchester Magnum along with the parent cartridge for anyone unfamiliar with them.

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