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Thread: forming 7TCU

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
    Czech_too's Avatar
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    forming 7TCU

    [SIZE=3]The last few years I've been telling myself not to pick up anything which would require me to get yet another set of dies, bullets & moulds.
    You're already loading for enough cartridges I said. So what do I do but pick up another Contender pistol but in 7TCU.
    No one else listens to me, so I guess, why should I.

    After doing an appropriate amount of research, most saying to not use military 5.56 brass, but rather new .223 brass I figure to use some of this fully prepped range brass that I have a large quantity of. Hey, I'm frugal. So after acquiring a used set of die, for cheap, I took a small quantity of the prepped brass, stood it up in a shallow pan of water and annealed it, step one accomplished. Onto step 2, after liberally lubing the inside of each case mouth I proceed, with some caution initially, to run each case thru the FL sizing die. I was pleasantly surprised to find not a single split neck. This got my confidence level up a notch, so I went ahead and annealed some more brass and then re-sized it. I was cautioned to expect some split necks, but not a one was found. Maybe there's a reason why it's recommended to liberally lube the inside of the case neck? I'm sure that the annealing didn't hurt either.

    The resulting cases have virtually no shoulder and after being loaded and fired have very little taper from the base to just below the shoulder, or what there is of it. The only thing I would do differently, if I had any new brass, would be to re-size the brass and then trim if necessary as I found that all of the prepped/fired brass is short by about .020" of the recommended trim length.

    from left to right would be a .223, re-sized to 7TCU, 7TCU w/140gr. Sierra(previously fired case), 7TCU w/Hornady 154 gr.
    Last edited by Czech_too; 04-07-2018 at 09:52 AM.
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  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master Nobade's Avatar
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    Years ago we learned to use 222mag brass to make those cases, that way it can be trimmed to fit the chamber. But since that's rare and expensive any more 223 will have to do. You'll love the TCU, it's an amazingly accurate and easy to work with cartridge.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    Czech You will be hard pressed to find a load that doesn't give you good to excellent groups. My powder of choice was H322. Kevin
    I did have some problem with case shoulders collapsing. But not on a regular basis.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    It's a great little cartridge! I built a rifle just for shooting cast bullet silhouette matches and it is very accurate and cheap to shoot.
    NRA Endowment member, TSRA Life member, Distinguished Rifleman, Viet Nam Vet

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

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    New, military, several times fired, did them all in one slow pass with the Lee expander ball after Islington it well. Lost one or two every couple of hundred.

    Easiest, least fussy cartridge I've ever messed with,,,,,
    More "This is what happened when I,,,,," and less "What would happen if I,,,,"

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  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    I've done hundreds of them with no anneal and no neck lube and don't recall any spits. Give it a try. Also, no military??? new brass only??? I used to use the most tarnished/grungy brass I could find just to mock those people.
    The only amendment the Democrats support is the 5th.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    No military? Whoever made that recommendation must have been trying to create a market for someone's overstock of .223 Rem brass.

    During my IHMSA days, the second TC Contender barrel I bought was a 10" 7TCU along with a set of RCBS dies. Over the next 7 or 8 years, formed hundreds military cases into that caliber without any issue(s) I can recall. One thing I DO recall, however, is that military brass is a bit thicker than commercial .223 resulting in slightly less case capacity...not that it seemed to make any real difference in accuracy or case life.

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  8. #8
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    I used 2-3 times fired R-P or F-C . Never lost a single case(350). Used SIERRA 150gr rejects for case forming. But if you're a T/C shooter you know all about that. 4+reloads, haven't lost more than 2 cases.
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  9. #9
    Boolit Master


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    Wait till you try it in a rifle
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  10. #10
    In Remembrance


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    Woodchucks in my part of Michigan fear the mention of my friends name. He has a contender with a longish barrel and scope that is a pistol length variable. He has used mil - surp cases for as long as I`ve known he reloaded, never heard him complain about case losses.Robert

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    I have not formed 7tcu. I would wait to anneal the case until after you have naked it to 7mm. I have had good luck expanding cases this way.

    If you notice the cases are not concentric try using a 6mm before you use the 7mm expander.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy Smk SHoe's Avatar
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    This was the first wildcat (ish) cartridge I loaded for in the late 80's. Only thing I did different was run them thru a neck expander that was somewhere in between. Maybe a 6mm. Loved that cartridge.
    Retired Redleg
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  13. #13
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    I remember reading in a gun magazine when the round first came out that the "inventor" of the load just put .223/ 5.56 rounds in the barrel a fired the cartridge. Poof! Instant fire formed cartridge... And he never said that the bullet rattling down the bore hurt ( or hit ) anything...
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    Did I ever mention that I hate to trim brass?

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    I shot the 7tcu for many years in silhouette matches. I just purchased surplus military ammo at gun shows and shot it out of a 223 barrel and fire formed it that way. I didn't do anything other than that and reloaded it. I just threw out several hundred cases that were loaded many times and still worked well when I got rid of both Contenders I'd been using (one for Unlimited and one for production single shot and standing). I never had a problem doing it that way and it must have shot good, I was in International Class in everything and also killed a bunch of deer with it. Why make it complicated?

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master
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    I shot IHMSA production with my MOA in 7mmTCU. I would swear it shot better using cases only necked up to 7mm but not fireformed yet. Bought the gun so girlfriend could go shooting silhouette with me.

    Still have the gun, girl is long gone!!

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom W. View Post
    I remember reading in a gun magazine when the round first came out that the "inventor" of the load just put .223/ 5.56 rounds in the barrel a fired the cartridge. Poof! Instant fire formed cartridge... And he never said that the bullet rattling down the bore hurt ( or hit ) anything...
    That is how I used to do mine as well, never lost a case in forming. Did 357 Herrett the same way, the 30-30 shoulder was a crush fit in the Herrett chamber for that first shot so the cases fit snug against the breech face. Just had to trim off the extra neck and done with it. Never had Herrett dies. I neck sized in a 38/357 carbide sizer, stopping short of the shoulder, expanded with a 35 cal "M" die and seated with a 35 Remington Lyman "PA" seater. FWIW, 357 H is virtually identical to 35/30-30 other than neck length.
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  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by rockrat View Post
    I shot IHMSA production with my MOA in 7mmTCU. I would swear it shot better using cases only necked up to 7mm but not fireformed yet. Bought the gun so girlfriend could go shooting silhouette with me.

    Still have the gun, girl is long gone!!
    The loyalty and devotion of a fine gun is beyond belief LOL. Regards Stephen

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    I never annealed. I used graphite mixed in a pill bottle with shot to lube the necks. Dip the neck in and twist a couple of times. Never had one split, military or commercial. Loaded them the same. Was classed international as well. I just gave away on pay-it-forward a year or two ago some military that I had formed and never used. That brass will last a long time. Mine had been loaded and emptied many times, neck-sized only with mostly 139 grain Hornady's, sometimes 160 grain just to be different. It is a great round, and as said before, very accurate.

  19. #19
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    The simplest and easiest was to form cases is to get a boat load of 5.56 loaded ammo and fire it in the TCU chamber. Obviously no accurate, but dead simple forming process. I anneal all of the cases after firing and before trimming or reloading.
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  20. #20
    Boolit Buddy mike69's Avatar
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    I have a 14 inch 7tcu contender barrel on the way should be here Monday . was going to ask about forming brass . It seems I always find my answers on here with out asking . I really like this group learned a lot since I joined .

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