TCM 22 reloading?

[Guest MikeZ]

From MikeZ as of 6-03-2015:  All of the below information on TCM reloading was good until I tried it with the Armscor Bolt Rifle.  I tried the same loads of (Accurate #7) that I used in two TCM pistols on 2 new TCM bolt rifles and the cartridges stuck very, very, very tightly in the chamber.  One rifle went back to Armscor and I was told some metal was removed from the chamber and it still stuck badly upon it's return to me.  The speed was the same as a factory cartridge and as I said they worked fine in the pistols.  But after having to "beat" the fired shells out of the rifles - I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING ACCURATE #7 OR HS-6 TO RELOAD TCM'S!   I did try the H-110 powder at 10.6 gr, 10.8 gr and 11.0 gr.  Speeds were 2609, 2661, and 2702.  The factory ammo was 2652.  I just wish that it did not take 5 to 10 years to get printed SAAMI information on new cartridges.  All take care and be safe.

MikeZ

 

 

Hello:
I'm new to this site. I have been reading all kinds of stuff on reloading TCM 22's and not getting much good info. I have tried the H-110 and am not getting the speed at all. By doing a totally un-scienetific test of burning factory powder and matching the burn speed to other powders, the H-110 is way slower than factory. The burn rate closer matched HS-6. I want to try HS-6 and Accurate #7 at around 8.3 or 8.5 gr. Has anyone out there tried these powders and if so at what grains and did you chrono the results? I am using Armscor brass and bullets and seating to 1.260. Any info would be appreciated. Thank you. Mike Z.

11-12-14 update:
I wanted to follow up with my TCM experience. My son and I tested some loads Saturday and I will post the results. I can not recommend you try this without much studying, being very precise and very cautious. As I was concerned with the safety of this little rocket bullet, I made a pistol holder with a vise and tie downs and a 15' string to pull the trigger. It looked bad, but it worked. I could not find any info on the powders I wanted to try, so by using our burn rate experiment, reading all that I could find on the TCM 22 and studying a few factory loads I came up with 8.3, 8.5 and 8.7 grains of Accurate #7 and HS-6 powders. I used Armscor factory brass and 40 gr. bullets. Using a Lee die set, the brass was sized, trimmed to 1.020 and chamfered. I used CCI #400 Small rifle primers and a COAL of 1.260. Every step was checked and measured several times. The speeds were measured with a RCBS chronograph on a cloudy day at about 50 gegrees. Here are the results we got using 5 rounds of each load.

Factory Ammo = ave speed 2019, ES = 43 and SD = 15
Accurate #7 at 8.3 gr. = ave speed 1949, ES = 53 and SD = 19
Accurate #7 at 8.5 gr. = ave speed 1992, ES = 48 and SD = 17
Accurate #7 at 8.7 gr. = ave speed 2053, ES = 40 and SD = 15

I got a touch of primer flattening at 8.5 gr. that looked like factory ones. And a hair more flattening at 8.7 that did not look bad. (Non-scientific)

HS-6 at 8.3 gr. = ave speed 2140, ES = 101 and SD = 39
HS-6 at 8.5 gr. = The sun position was not letting the chronograph work.
HS-6 at 8.7 gr. = ave speed 2236, ES = 85 and SD = 31

I feel the HS-6 is too hot for the TCM 22 loading. I was getting stuck cases in the chamber and a little more primer flattening. After waiting about 15 minutes on the sun to change, the cases no longer stuck in the chamber. I have to assume the gun cooled down enough that the cases ejected ok. I did have one primer blow clear through were the firing pin hit with the HS-6 powder. I can not give any advice on how these two powders will affect the gun parts as to wear and corrosion. I see some folks are having luck with H-110 at 11 grs. and may give that a try in the future. That would be a pretty stuffed case. I have and am learning that reloading can be very rewarding and fun and it can be very frustrating and time consuming. Hope you all have fun and be careful. Mike Z.

Edited June 3, 2015 by MikeZ

[Guest BCR#1]

I found 22 pcs. of that brass earlier this year but had never seen that caliber before. I had to go home and read up on it to find out what it was.

Good luck in your hunt.

 

Bill

[Glenndolph]

Have you tried 11gr of the H-110? I've read that is what is needed to replicate the factory specs on velocity. I'm going to try and work up an equivelant load with AccuComp, as I've wound up with 10# of it. 

[Wiljo05]

Glendolph is on point here. Gotta be careful though as the pressures spike very quickly. H-110 is my go to for the TCM, but it's a very tight tolerance.

If you have a windows pc, check out the program called Quick Load. It can be your best friend when it comes to semi exotic / wildcat cartridges. Gives a nice graph of pressure / velocity curve and lets you tinker with different powders and bullet weights.

I'm working on a 40 grain ballistic tip load now, and getting decent results. OAL will be your enemy though.