In short, pretty cool! A hoot to shoot -- very little recoil (say .22 Magnum-ish), big muzzle flash and seriously loud. Forty grain bullet @ 2000 fps out of 5-inch 1911. Great performance in gellatin...I think you're starting to get up into hydrostatic shock country, but we didn't have the ultra-high speed camera on this one. Have a high-speed session scheduled in early January, and I'll run the .22 TCM on it then...I'd like to see the wound cavity develop. I also want to do some penetration tests, too...was interesting how the bullet performrped in Jello...it either fragment early in, chewing an impressive mound channel, or, in one case, mushroomed perfectly and stopped maybe a quarter-inch from completely penetrating the 15-inch block.
Gosh, might be nice to have a tack-driving bolt gun that uses the same 17 round mags, wouldn't it? Hummmmmmmmmm. I think I mentioned I got .22 TCM brass, bullets and loading dies from Fred Craig, and Hornady has a 35-grainer that should work.
And to head off the "but why, Michael?", I've been contemplating a little .22-ish project for a while now. I've looked at 25/20, .22 Hornet, .221 Fireball, .22 Jet, .256 and the 5.7 x 28. I've got a good bit of experience with the 5.7 in the pistol and carbine configs, but zippidy-do-da on the others ( well, maybe a little with the Hornet, but It has been a long whole back) When Armscor signed on with SG and I reconnected with Fred Craig after many years and started hearing about the TCM, my interest in the little .22 project got bumped up.
BTW, I have one of the new Leupold Mark AR Mod 1 1.5-4... Plant to mount it on Colt 901 .308 next week just to try it out.
Pixs on all coming?
7 comments:
Michael,
Start with a Ruger 77/22 .22 Hornet. Commission the fabrication of a .22 TCM magazine well insert that will replace the factory rotary magazine. Roughly, I'm picturing a hybrid between the Ruger magazine and a scrap Para-Ord frame. Replace or convert the factory barrel to .22 TCM.
There's something to be said for the .224 Zipperer (.224/9x23) as well.
Can you get hands on an R.I.A. double stack tactical while you are there?
What would the flame be like fired out of a rifle length barrel? I know .30 Carbine out of a pistol is a flame thrower, but never notice much flash out of an M1 Carbine.
Hint hint...very small fireball out of rifle.... No recoil to speak of...big time accurate...17-rounders feed smoothly...you didnt hear it from me...LOL!
mb
"You didn't hear that from me!" So what did we hear from you Mr. Bane? The 256 was nice in its day but bullets are not what I want. I still like the 556 whether bolt auto single shot or zip gun! That's got the hustle I'm used to. I've discovered years ago I can't reinvent the wheel. Now if its purely enjoyment then by all means. I love being master of my own domain. Best regards from Pgh. No longer relevant.
Speaking of "I'd really like to have a....": How about a 5.7X28 in a Ruger No.3. That's right, a No.3. A plain-Jane single-shot. Put iron-sights on it and give me Ruger's precision rings (The BEST in the biz'!) and I'll be happy. I think that it would be a hoot-to-shoot, as well as an economical precision-plinker. That is if Ruger could actually make an accuarate barrel. (I have many Ruger rifles, center-fire and rimfire and none shoot as good as my many Remingtons, Winchesters and Marlin.) Maybe a barrel with polygonal "rifling" would do it best for that small caliber.
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