Tale Of Two Guns

From a joint venture between Smith & Wesson and Remington came the .22 Remington Jet and from Colt and Winchester came the .256 Winchester. Almost. Colt chambered at least three sixguns for the .256 and then abandoned the project. Ruger saved it for a while with the single-shot Hawkeye. Smith & Wesson was far more bold and amidst much fanfare unveiled the Smith & Wesson Model 53 in .22 Jet with an announced muzzle velocity of 2,400 fps!

Even before these cartridges arrived, sixgun genius Jim Harvey was using shortened and blown out .22 Hornet brass to form his .224 Harvey Kay-Chuk for use in converted Smith & Wesson Model 17 revolvers.

Although the .22 Jet was advertised as obtaining 2,400 fps with a 40-gr. bullet, actual ballistics never even came close to this — more like 1,800 fps and serious problems developed. The .22 Jet was arrived at by necking down the .357 Magnum case to a .22 shaped like a milk bottle. The major problem with the .22 Jet was set-back.