22 Remington Jet cast bullet sizing ?

[borderbows]

Hi There,
New to the forum and had a question regarding the sizing diameter of cast bullets for the Model 53 Smith. Lyman #44 manual suggests .223 but no one seems to offer anything smaller than .224 Lyman/Rcbs. Anyone with experience loading cast in the Jet? Bullet used will be Lyman 225438.

 

[borderbows]

Page from Lyman #44 for 22 Jet.

 

[rockquarry]

Advertised diameter is not necessarily what the as-cast bullet diameter will be. Depends on the actual dimensions of your mould and the alloy you use. I would start with a bullet sized to .225", if such a bullet in a loaded cartridge will chamber without difficulty. If not, try a .224". For a cast bullet, you generally should use a bullet no less than a thousandth larger than bore diameter. Check chamber throat fit as well. If you can push a bullet through with a bit of effort, it should be okay.

Lyman books for years often suggest sizing to groove diameter and I don't know why other than a groove diameter bullet will almost always fit easily, but it usually won't be the most accurate bullet and it will likely cause leading.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I just went on Lee, Lyman and RCBS web sights, and they no longer list any Bullet sizers smaller than .224".

I have an older Lyman H&I die in .223. You will just have to find yours like I found almost all of mine. Find someone sell old/used reloading equipment. and go through box after box. I have between 40-50 sizers and carry a list of what I have, so I don't end up with repeats. I also did have 4 sizers 2 Lyman, 1 RCBS, and a Starr! Along with about 8 of the Lee sizers.

Usual price for used H&I dies is $5 although they always are asking $10-12. Find 4 you want an pull out a $20 bill, they take it every time!

If the earlier suggestion of .224 is still too big, Drill a smaller hole in a chunk of any metal 1/2" or more thick, and lap out. Then you can pan lube raw castings, or resize .224 sized bullets.

Hornady used to make .222 and .223 jacketed bullets for early Hornet and Jet. They are still cheaper than factory ammo!

Ivan

 

[mikld]

Depending on the cylinder throats and the groove diameter of the barrel, .224 might work without leading...

I usually size my revolver bullets to the same size as the cylinder throats which "normally" are larger than the groove diameter of the barrel (Sizing larger doesn't help as the throats will swage the bullet as it's fired. Sizing smaller almost always results in barrel leading.). For shooting cast bullets it is best to know the critical dimensions of your guns, because everything else is a WAG...

 

[DWalt]

Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook (at least the one I have) recommends bullets always be sized to groove diameter. Regarding your revolver, have you measured the cylinder's chamber diameters ahead of the bullet? Not much point in sizing bullets more than about 0.001" larger than that.

 

[Skeet 028]

The bore on my 53 is.222 the diameter of the jacketed bullets. When I tried cast bullets in the Jet I found it to be pretty much a waste of time but I tried .223 to be the most reliable. You really can't push them to much faster than 22 Mag speeds with any accuracy. Or so it was with my 53. Luckily I still have a few boxes of .222 bullets by Hornady and when I find them I buy .223 size 40 and 45 gr jacketed bullets(usually Sierra for some reason)made for the older Hornet bbls. Even have a couple boxes of Sisk .223 bullets. I happen to have a Savage 219 with that smaller bore. I really don't load the Jet any longer as I have about 10 boxes loaded. Probably will not shoot all of them up.

 

[borderbows]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm going to pick up a .224 size die and give it a try. Seems the most logical. Anyone shooting cast bullets in their 22 Jet with any other helpful advice would be much appreciated. Cheers

 

[borderbows]

Not looking to push the envelope or anything like that. Just want to be able to shoot economically. Seems .223 diameter jacketed projectiles are becoming scarce. I know I can't be the only one out there trying cast bullets in this cartridge.

 

[Bakebfr480]

I size the same bullet to .225 for my .22 Hornets. Works fine for me. Slug the barrel!

 

[Skeet 028]

Not looking to push the envelope or anything like that. Just want to be able to shoot economically. Seems .223 diameter jacketed projectiles are becoming scarce. I know I can't be the only one out there trying cast bullets in this cartridge.

You are probably one of the 6 or 7 ...in the US of course JUST JOKING

 

[smithrjd]

I only shoot jacketed bullets in mine. .222 or .223 are hard to come by. Hornady and Sierra make some, and I believe they are still catalogued. Never tried cast bullets, but would if I found some. I would think .224 or .225 as sized would be correct. Just keep the velocity down. No full house IMR 4227 loads..

 

[rockquarry]

I've never seen any advantage that jacketed bullets have over cast in any handgun cartridge, so I shoot only cast in them.

However, if one has little interest in casting for the .22 Jet, I'd get a supply of the 40 grain Sierra .223" Hornet bullets. You might check Powder Valley for availability.

 

[6string]

Lots of good info in some of the posts.
Your gun, not what the manual says, dictates the needed bullet diameter. Throat diameter should match or exceed by .001" that of bore diameter, provided you do not have bore constriction caused by crush fit threading of barrel to frame. If so, that needs to be lapped out.
If needed, you may then need to open cylinder throats to match.
No biggie.
And, this is only worst case scenario, not necessarily your situation.
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the case design and neck length of the 22 Jet, both issues which impact cast bullet performance...

BUT..... If your main concern is a steady and economical supply of bullets, you may wish to investigate SWAGING.
There are a few guys making the needed tooling to turn ordinary fired 22LR cases into nice bullet jackets. Then you add your chosen lead core and bullet nose profile. There's maybe 3-4 steps involved, but you end up with a cheap, effective bullet that performs amazingly well at 22 Jet velocities.
The nice thing about swaging, it gives you repeatable and specific bullet diameter, critical when fabricating small bore projectiles, regardless of what method you choose.

Best Regards,
Jim

 

[Skeet 028]

6string has a good point..swaging works. And yep you can make what you want. But for decent bullets be prepared to spend a pretty significant amount of money. My suggestyion is to try to find or get a company to make a sizing die to size your readily available .224 bullets down to .2225. Lee may make one for you. . A little imperialcase wax and a push through die and you can make jacketed .224s work withput the whole casting sizing lubing or even the swaging from scratch. . And if you can find a couple hundred .223 Hornet bullets you'll be good to go. And don't forget...much more than 45 gr in weight and you won't get decent velocities and maybe not even good accuracy. Oh making cases sucks too. unless you go to the whole problem in steps. A whole lot of loss making them from scratch. I just went and looked..I have 2 full boxes of Hornady Jet bullets and a few in another box and a few hundred 223 Sierra bullets for the Hornet. I have an old .223 swaging die by RCBS and I tried swaging some 40 gr V max bullets and most of the bullets lost their tips...so a custom die like the Lee swager may be the best bet. I only have a couple hundred factory cases and 4 boxes of factory ammo. Remington may make a run every now and then...Email 'em and ask.

Oh I forgot to say...keep an eye on the gun shows. I recently saw about 10 boxes of Hornady Jet bullets at a show. They were not cheap but they were available. I have seen a few boxes of ammo once or twice but have never seen any factory 22 Jet cases for sale. Most of my reloaded ammo is in resized cases....a lot of work

 

[mikld]

FWIW, I have sized jacketed bullets with my Lee sizing dies. Not a big deal. I don't think a .224" bullet would be a problem in a gun designed for .223" bullets, that's just .0005" engagement difference...

 

[SuperMan]

The bore on my 53 is.222 the diameter of the jacketed bullets. When I tried cast bullets in the Jet I found it to be pretty much a waste of time but I tried .223 to be the most reliable. You really can't push them to much faster than 22 Mag speeds with any accuracy. Or so it was with my 53. Luckily I still have a few boxes of .222 bullets by Hornady and when I find them I buy .223 size 40 and 45 gr jacketed bullets(usually Sierra for some reason)made for the older Hornet bbls. Even have a couple boxes of Sisk .223 bullets. I happen to have a Savage 219 with that smaller bore. I really don't load the Jet any longer as I have about 10 boxes loaded. Probably will not shoot all of them up.

...you have a Savage 219 in .22 Jet...wow..that was one of my dream guns..

Once met a guy who had the set of three Marlin Leveratics... .22 Jet, .256 Winchester and .357 Magnum... He said they were going to be given to each of his three sons...

Bob

 

[Skeet 028]

To the best of my knowledge they never made a 219 in the Jet. I had it in 22 Hornet which had a .223 bore. I never saw a Levermatic in either 22 Jet or 357 Mag..30 Carbine yes.. I don't even remember the model number for the 256/30 Carbine. I had one of the 22 Levermatics and it was not the most reliable gun I ever had

 

[Skeet 028]

Just came to me..the 256 was called the model 62. I hope it was a better made rifle than the 22 I had.