Model 53

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Jetman22

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I have a 22 long rifle cylinder for the model 53
22 jet Mag.
I was thinking about rechambering it to a different cartridge. Sort of wild catting it.
I know it has a lot of value but if I'm going to shoot 22 lr I'll just shoot my K22.

What do you guys think would be a good choice and why?
Thinking in terms of bullets and dies n brass.
What would you do?


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Wouldn't you just be duplicating the Jet pretty much with anything else you could get into that cylinder- Improved Jet, K-Chuck (either version), Bee?
 
Your probably right. But a wildcat in a pistol
Is always fun to tinker with. I was hoping someone might know of a cartridge out of the ordinary that might even be loaded subsonic.


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I take it you want to use it in the model 53 frame and stick with 22 cal bullets. If so I would go with the K Horne unless it is to long. If to long the 22 Harvdey Kay Chuck, which is a shortened, blown out 22 Hornet. I made one using a K 22 cylinder and a center fire K frame. Its pretty good, but not better (or worse) than my 22 Jet.

To me what would be interesting is to use another K frame, sleeve the barrel to .257 and make a 256 Winchester. Better than sleeving the barrel would be to take 25 caliber barrel, turn it down to .540, thread on end of it a 36 to the inch, then bore out a K frame barrel to .540 and silver solder it to the turned down barrel. Come out with a full strength forcing cone that way. The 256 Winchester runs at 50,000psi and that would be to much for a K frame, but if you dropped down to 357 pressures (35,000psi) you would be OK. A 256 fires a 660 gr bullet at 2300fps at 50K so you should be able to get around 17-1800fps at the lower pressure. Be fun to play around with.

My dream is to get a blank N frame cylinder and make a 30 caliber similar to a 30 Herret short enough to work in the longer N frame cylinder lengths.
 
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Steelslaver, I would like to see that 660gr .25 caliber bullet that you mention. I believe it would be as long as the barrel and wouldn't stabilize too well with the standard rifling!
 
Jetman22 said:
Your probably right. But a wildcat in a pistol
Is always fun to tinker with. I was hoping someone might know of a cartridge out of the ordinary that might even be loaded subsonic.


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Click to expand...

Something like this?

1.JPG

SW-3.JPG


Read more here:
You may hate this one, but I love it!
 
.327 mag, much like .357 with less re-coil. Versatility of using .32 long wadcutter accuracy, and the in-between route with .32 H&R Mag.
 
Tony M
The link won't open to the link.
What it that.
22 ccm?



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You do realize the the .22 LR cylinder is worth between $6-800.00....

That said I did sacrifice mine to turn the 53 into a 53/16 .327 Federal. I happened to have an extra 53 barrel that was burned out and had that one rebored to .327. So although I lost the .22 LR cylinder the gun is much more useful to me and can be easily restored to original...

Bob
 

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I believe you would be better served to sell the gun with the extra cylinder and get what you want. I found a lot more pleasure in wildcatting cartridges in single shots than revolvers, especially when designed for straight wall cartridges.
 
My vote goes to the 22TCM. Approximately 300fps faster from a 5" barrel than the Jet from a 8.375". It would also use 9mm moon clips if the back of the cylinder were milled for them.

I have a 53 and a Rock Island TCM. The RI is a full sized double stack 1911 frame. They both are a literal "blast" to shoot.
 
Although I'd personally never alter a 53's cylinders; if I had to choose I'd have the Jet chamber recut, and not the .22LR chamber. The .22 Jet has always had some issues with the tapered shoulder, and cases backing out when firing. I'd have it reamed to a .22 CF with a sharper shoulder to make it a better chamber.
 
30 years ago, a buddy had a T/C Contender in .256 Win. What a great plinking/varmit round. Very accurate and could be made from .357 Mag brass. From what I've read, the .22 Jet's slim taper caused jamming when the cylinder wasn't spotless. Ruger chambered SA guns in that caliber and didn't have any reliability problems, since the shoulder had a sharper angle and didn't tend to force the brass rearward.

It's also faster than a .22 Jet!

.256 Winchester Magnum - Wikipedia
 
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Ya, the "cylinder" on a Ruger Hawkeye only held the firing pin and acted liike a breach block when in firing position, the actual round is chambered in barrel where the forcing cone of a normal revolver is. Breach block (cylinder) unlocked and rotated for chambering and extraction.
Extraction was by a rod similar to a normal single action, except instead of pressing a round out of the cylinder a foot on the rod pressed on the rim of the case pulling it out of chamber.

Unique design as far as I know.
 
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Mod 53 w/xtra Super Jet Cyl fitted to gun.

Back in the 1970's I had a Jet with a Super Jet Cylinder and RCBS dies. Here is a photo of the Jet and Super Jet cartridges. basically it was a fire-formed jet round that created a shouldered round. Had about 50% success in the fire-forming. Loaded with same bullet, powder and primers. The big plus was, It cured the seizing problem present in almost every cylinder group fired. Had the gun fitted with 8 3/8", 6" and 4" bbls. Also fitted a .22 LR, 22 Jet and 22 Super Jet cylinder and then had it beyond class A engraved.

Enjoy the photos!
 

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That is truly a collector gun. Have you changed the barrels out to shoot. I've thought about different barrel lenghts but have been told it's not just a swap out deal.
Thanks for the pictures.
Tom


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.22 Super Jet engraved w/extra bbls.

I had the S&W factory number, fit and test fire the two additional bbls when I had the Super Jet cylinder fitted, just before engraving all pieces. I never fired the gun. I'm also of the opinion that you just can't put different bbls on yourself, they must be professionally fitted. Here are photos of two other guns that I had factory installed extra bbls. One is a Mod 48 with extra cylinder and bbls, the other is a Mod 27 with three extra bbls.
 

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I was looking for a low power loading in 22 caliber that I could use for some offhand target practice in my shop. I hit on using my Model 53, 38 gr. pointed pellets made for compressed air air rifles and powered by the lowest power rated nail gun loads available to me (Load Rating No. 2). I would load the nail gun power cartridge in the 22 Jet Insert and drop a pellet into the cylinder chamber. I would push the pellet from the rear with a pointed spud to spread the pellet's skirt just a little while holding the pellet in place with a finger placed over that chamber. Then when all six pellets were in place I would insert the Inserts and then load the nail gun cartridge. I did quite a bit of shooting with this loading and found the accuracy was good, but not great. Also, the noise level was unacceptably high being even higher than CB 22 loads. The cost wasn't too much as long as I watched for a sale at the Big Box Hardware stores on the nail cartridges. I tried lighter weight pellets, but found they would leave the skirt in the bore of the revolver. I was going to try .220 lead round balls but quit this type of target shooting before ever finding any for purchase. Not knowing what products of ignition were being left in the bore of the M 53, I was very diligent in cleaning the handgun after every shooting session.

All this experimentation was fun, but it was just too much work since CB ammo was available.
 
Indoor target loads with the Jet are easy....

Take a few Jet resized cases and enlarge the flash hole. Then seat a Small Pistol Magnum or Small Rifle primer. The resized cases firmly hold Crossman .22 caliber pellets seated backwards so they look like a flush seated HP... The necks don't expand at all so all one has to do is make a small wood fixture to hold the case head and then a decapping rod to tap out the spent primers.

Very little noise and very accurate.


Bob
 
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Jetman....I was just thinking...what about the .224/.32 Freedom Arms...

Necked down .327 Federal and supposed to be a smokin' round...

Easy to get dies and brass for....
 
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