.22 tcm and cast boolits

[blackpowder man]

It took a long time to finally get my hands on a new Rock Island in 22 tcm and then I shot it for a few months with the 9mm barrel in it because I didn't have any 22 tcm ammo. By the way, the 9mm set up is amazingly accurate and loves cast boolits. For Christmas my awesome wife got me some dies. Unfortunately they were out of the Lee dies, so I got hornady dies. I'm now a couple hundred rounds into loading for this fun little caliber and getting some better accuracy. So far the factory ammo does ok, but not anything to brag about. The cast loads are working pretty good so far. I am running the lyman 225438 hornet boolit and, now that I've worked out overall length and crimping issues that caused the rounds not to let the action fully close, I think I am getting somewhere. I think my next step will be to carefully try some other powders like 2400 and HS 6 just to see what they might do for accuracy and velocity. I am currently running 9.2 grains of W 296 and it seems to do well and proves more accurate than the armscor stuff. Here are some pixcs of the round:

[golfhack]

I`d be very interested in your results. I`ve loaded up to 10 grains of H110 using the original Armscor bullets, but I don`t have any other suitable alternative powders on handto try out (ran out of HS-6 before I started reloadjng TCM). I have seen other posts reporting success with Lil gun, but not much other load data beyond 296/H110.

[blackpowder man]

I tried out 5.5 grains of HS 6 and 7.5 grains of Alliant 2400 with the lyman 22548 today. The HS 6 cycled and worked, but barely. Need to try a little bit more powder. The 2400 did well and showed promise. I will have to continue going up and down a bit on the powder charge. Neither was as hot as the w 296 loads, but they were not supposed to be. These were starting loads as an experiment. I think I like this funny little caliber. It's like shooting reduced .223 loads and cast boolits only from a 1911 with a short case.

[golfhack]

Below is an excerpt from another member (JDouglas) on his 22 TCM load tests:

The two bullets used are the Remington 45 grain flat based hollow point .218 BEE bullet and the Winchester 45 grain FMJ .22 Hornet bullet.
Both bullets were seated to just clear the magazine lip. All fed with no problems.

Accurate Arms Number 7 7.5 Grains- large red fireball
Alliant Blue Dot 7.5 Grains-Huge Blue fire ball
Hodgdon H110 9 Grains-loud bang,huge fire ball-* note this powder went from normal pressures to scary pressure by .4 grains. Be careful with your scale.
Winchester 296 10.0 Grains-Nice fire ball
Accurate Arms Number 9 10.0 Grains-nice fire ball
IMR-4227 10.5 Grains-Huge fire ball
Accurate Arms 5744 11.0 Grains-small fire ball

…….Without a doubt,My test show that for the reloader,the Winchester 296 powder is the best choice with these two bullets. The bore was clean and the brass is perfect. The primers show no pressure signs. So 10-10.5 grains using a small rifle primer seems to work out very well. The muzzle blast is loud and there is an impressive fire ball.


These are the results I saw in a posting from another member (Hatch):

HATCH

Factory - 2001 fps 33.9 sd
2020,1960,2029,1981,1999,1984,2076,2008,1972,1984

2.5 unique - 1023 fps 27.3 sd
1049,1053,1017,1005,1042,1033,1013,995,971,1050

2.7 unique - 1067 fps 50.7 sd
1182,1050,1070,1024,1085,1051,986,1069,1091,1061

3.0 unique - 1157 fps 45.3 sd
1279,1155,1115,1160,1143,1167,1133,1147,1131,1143

10.0 h110 - 1905 fps 34.8 sd
1870,1896,1893,1924,1849,1888,1940,1943,1957,1888

10.2 h110 - 1875 fps 45.4 sd
1885,1918,1966,1883,1834,1862,1839,1915,1806,1846

10.4 h110 - 1910 fps 18.7 sd
1918,1910,1915,1880,1924,1924,1891,1883,1932,1924

10.6 h110 - 1947 fps 20.5 sd
1949,1943,1963,1955,1960,1926,1969,1904,1935,1966


These are my own results using H110, Armscor 40g softpoint, OAL 1.255"

9.8 grains: Cycled reliably, brass ejected about 4-6 ft away - big fireball
10.1 grains: Cycled reliably, brass ejected about same length - big fireball
10.3 grains: Cycled reliably, brass ejected about 6-8 ft away - bigger fireball
10.4 grains: Experienced consistent Failure to Eject problems (ejector does not pull the case out of the barrel) - perhaps due to case expansion?

I started at 9.8 grains based on other posts I'd seen, but given your results, I'll try lower charge weights next. Out of curiosity, are you seeing any leading with the 225438 hornet?

[whitecap]

Hello gentlemen. I am new to the site and somewhat new to reloading(1 year). I have just purchased the 22 TCM combo and have been very interested in this thread. Has anyone tried Bullseye or H 335? I only ask because the Bullseye is a fast burning powder and is used often in 9mm and 45 ACP. The H335 is a very good powder for the .223 which attains a very high fps with the 22 cal. head.

[NavyVet1959]

Has anyone tried the 55gr Lee "Bator" bullet with the TCM?

[Groo]

Groo here
I would thing the 22tcm would work well with powdercoated/ Hi-tek coated boolets.
AA9 seems to be a go to powder in the 357 sig and I would think it would be in the 22tcm
as the charge would be compressed and reduce any boolet set back.

[Outer Rondacker]

I know this is an old thread but I picked up one of these little buggers and just cant seam to shoot it enough.

I am looking to make or buy a mold for this 22TCM so I can use cast bullets. I plan on PC them. So lube grooves are not a must. I got a set of dies and was about to order some bullet heads and shipping was just nuts. 18.69 per hundred. NO WAY. So being a caster I am back to my second favorite hobby. Casting. But I am having an issue finding a mold. I have been told to try the NOE mold but I have an issue with that. No one can give me an overall size of the factory bullet to see if the NOE mold will work. Issue I am running into is pointed bullets being to long. I am hoping to re-spark this thread with more results.

How hard is it make a mold just for this little bullet to be PC?

What cast bullet is anyone using and with what results?

If I was to HP a lee Bator mold do you think the bullet will be short enough and light enough for the TCM? I dont need a hugh HP but enough to flaten out the front of the bullet.

All help and info shared is welcome. I know I can buy bullet heads for .13 cents each but do you know that Ammo supply warehouse is anti gunners. I called there to order some heads and ask why shipping is so much and the guy on the phone told me we dont even like guns. We are just here to make money that is it. So I do not want to buy a thing from them.

[HATCH]

I have found that the Lyman 2 Cavity # 225438 DC Mould 22 Cal. 44 Grain

will function perfectly in the 22TCM
I have cast up about 500 of them and plan to coat them.
I loaded up a dummy using the same setup I use on the factory jacketed bullets.
I posted a picture somewhere

[Outer Rondacker]

Thank you Hatch. Do you mind if I ask are you loading for a rifle or the pistol? I am looking for the pistol at the moment. Can not seam to get any rifles in my area.

I take it you are sizing to .224?

[NavyVet1959]

The RIA .22 TCM / 9mm combo is on my wish list. I'm planning on using the Lee BATOR mold since I already have it and try to develop a load for it. Don't know how well it will work, but experimenting is half the fun.

[Outer Rondacker]

Don't know how well it will work, but experimenting is half the fun.

Yes sir you said it. I have not HPed any molds. I am thinking of getting the Bator and doing a kinda flat point with a small HP indent in the center.

Let me ask you this, how well does the Bator mold fill out? Is it a difficult mold to cast or does it go smoothly? I hear horror stories about smaller cal molds but have not cast anything smaller then a 380/9mm.

BTW you have a good wishlist the combo is well worth it. Just need to cut the price of ammo down its to high in my area. I made a hundred cases today from some 223 brass. Here is a pic of factory brass and mine.(home made on the right)

[NavyVet1959]

Yes sir you said it. I have not HPed any molds. I am thinking of getting the Bator and doing a kinda flat point with a small HP indent in the center.

I would be more inclined to give the mold a try before doing a HP on it. Who knows, it might work...

Let me ask you this, how well does the Bator mold fill out? Is it a difficult mold to cast or does it go smoothly? I hear horror stories about smaller cal molds but have not cast anything smaller then a 380/9mm.

It filled out well enough for me and I was just using straight wheelweight alloy, no extra tin mixed in. It might have been better with a bit extra tin for those picture perfect casts that people like to post so that everyone thinks that all their bullets look like that, but I haven't felt the need. I don't shoot long range, so absolute perfection is not necessary. Besides, if you choose to powder coat them, that will cover a lot of imperfection.

BTW you have a good wishlist the combo is well worth it. Just need to cut the price of ammo down its to high in my area. I made a hundred cases today from some 223 brass.

I'm thinking that the 9mm barrel begs to be deepened a bit to make it into basically a .38 SUPER that uses cut down .223 brass. Probably need to increase the weight on the recoil spring though. I think that would probably make it a 9x23 though. The mags that Armscor ships are .38 SUPER mags from what I understand.

[NavyVet1959]

Looks like I'll be getting one on Sunday (assuming the seller doesn't back out). First thing I'll check is to see how much the leade is on the 9mm barrel. I might be able to load the 9x19 a bit long and get something between the power of a 9x19 and a 9x23.

[NavyVet1959]

Well, I ended up getting that one and also it is a bit more gaudy that I would prefer, it was a decent price. Unfortunately, not a double stack model.

(full-size image link)



Kind of make me think that the person who designed this for Armscor previously had a job designing jeepneys in the Philippines.



I'm currently winding up a month in Taiwan and Midway finally got all the items in that I wanted to order, so I placed the order today. I should have my .22 TCM and 7.7x58 dies arriving at my house a couple of days after I arrive back in Texas. I sure will be glad to get back there and have some good beer, good BBQ, and deserts that are actually *sweet*.

BTW, they actually have a beer here with a pineapple favor. Probably something made similar to the "wine" coolers in the US that have no wine whatsoever in them and are just listed as "fermented malt beverage".

Been driving a scooter here for the last month and let's just say that the "rules of the road" are "interesting". I'm surprised there are not more accidents.