.251 TCR Coming Together

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Ratshooter said:
Be sure and check the bore if you use air gun pellets. I tried that with 22 caliber pellets many years ago. I played the "what if" game. Like what if I couldn't get 22rf ammo any more? Something that was almost a reality in 2008. Anyway I decided to see if I could use a 22 nail gun blank to shoot pellets out of my single six.

So I loaded up the cylinder with pellets and blanks and fired 6 rounds. I could see the bullets hitting the dirt around my target but they were going all over the place. Then the ejector rod wouldn't push out the empties. I removed the cylinder and found that the pressure had blown the front part of the pellet off and left the hollow skirt stuck in the chamber. The same thing thats supposed to happen if you shoot a hollow base wad cutter bullet too fast even though I have never been able to do so and I have tried. Anyway that was the end of that experiment.

There was a fellow over on the firing line forum a few years ago who made a 25 caliber revolver but I don't remember the details of it.
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That was a buddy of mine- did a .25 ACP single-six. I figure to fire the pellet loads with either a standard or magnum primer because of the whole 'skirt blowing off' issue.
 
Congratulations Mr. Pearce, it's a gun!

While it needs considerable work in the finish department the gun is complete and shoots!


N59lM0C.jpg
Chronographed two loads:

38gr. LSWC 865fps 63 ft./lbs
35gr. GDHP 870fps 59 ft./lbs.

The fact that these loads came in precisely in the expected range I attribute to the existence and benevolence of God. I haven't tried any hot loads yet, but since these two loads used about 1/2 of the case capacity I'm optimistic.
 
While I get .25 ACP as being one of the forerunners for the concept - I'm lost on the notion of a .25 caliber wadcutter.

What previous firearms allow that projectile to already exist?

I like your explanation for developing the concept. So often in the past I hear or read of wildcat's being done more *'cause they can* than because it actually addresses a role or realistic gap.

Sound like a fun project for you or anyone else that takes it on.


Todd.
 
ApacheCoTodd said:
While I get .25 ACP as being one of the forerunners for the concept - I'm lost on the notion of a .25 caliber wadcutter.

What previous firearms allow that projectile to already exist?

I like your explanation for developing the concept. So often in the past I hear or read of wildcat's being done more *'cause they can* than because it actually addresses a role or realistic gap.

Sound like a fun project for you or anyone else that takes it on.


Todd.
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I actually swage my own from 1/4" lead wire; there were no .251 LSWCs before I started either... not that I know of at least...

I sometimes joke that the purpose of wildcatting is to reproduce the performance of an existing cartridge in the most inconvenient way possible...
 
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I threw a quickie finish on the gun with Van's Instant Blue. Once the gun has it's new cylinder and is properly finished I'll strip it and rust-blue it. More load development today; I'm convalescing and forbidden from serious work, so what the hell, right?

Today i was playing with Power Pistol powder, and I am liking the results! All loads used Federal small pistol primers. Today's loads-


Power Pistol Loads



38gr. LSWC- 2.0gr. 698 fps. 41 ft/lbs



38gr. LSWC- 2.7gr. 912 fps. 70 ft/lbs



50gr. FMC- 2.7gr. 831 fps. 77 ft/lbs



50gr. FMC- 3.5gr 1065 fps. 126 ft/lbs



35gr. GDHP- 2.7gr. 769 fps. 41 ft/lbs



35gr. GDHP- 3.5gr. 1214 fps. 115 ft/lbs



35gr. GDHP- 4.0gr. 1464 fps. 167 ft.lbs*



*This figure is suspect; I was only able to get a good reading on one round of this string. This should also be considered a Maximum Load using the Federal primer.
 
WestKentucky said:
I was contemplating a contender barrel but a custom reamer would shut me down. Maybe a 22 hornet reamer in a .251 blank would do it... but who has a 22 hornet reamer handy, or a .251 barrel blank?
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I used a standard .275" reamer I bought on Amazon. Tricky keeping it properly aligned, but it can be done. the straight-walled case makes it a lot easier.
 
Michael Tinker Pearce said:
I used a standard .275" reamer I bought on Amazon. Tricky keeping it properly aligned, but it can be done. the straight-walled case makes it a lot easier.
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Did you spin the reamer or the barrel? (Edit ... i wasn’t thinking about a revolver cylinder, but was thinking more in line with a rifle barrel) Without a pilot I bet it was hard to keep straight.
 
WestKentucky said:
Did you spin the reamer or the barrel? (Edit ... i wasn’t thinking about a revolver cylinder, but was thinking more in line with a rifle barrel) Without a pilot I bet it was hard to keep straight.
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I did it in a drill press with a precision milling vice. I lined the chambers up using the .250 reamer, clamped the cylinder in place, then swapped in the .275 reamer. The results were mostly not as good as a proper chamber reamer, but decent enough. It works and accuracy appears to be good. First range outing is tomorrow so I'll be able to fire it at ranges beyond 15 feet.
 
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Gordon Boser had a Ruger Single Six made up into his .25 K-Hornet, called the gun the "Yellowjack" and wrote great review of the gun/cartridge combination. Has piqued my curiosity ever since, but that's as far as I got. Will be following with interest!

Bob Wright
 
First official range outing for the .251 TCR, and it was mostly good... mostly.

The bad news is the 35gr. GDHP at 1464fps. was not accurate, and three out of five bullets keyholed at seven yards. This bullet doesn't have much surface area, and I think at this velocity it is over-driven. It was designed to function around 800 fps, so running at the better part of twice that isn't working. I try some of the lower-velocity loads and see how it performs.
wlFybGY.jpg

The 50gr. FMCRN at 831fps. was laser-accurate however. Of course shooting a group without a flyer was too much to ask...
BtA89Q1.jpg

The 38gr. LSWC at 912fps worked nicely, cutting a tight cluster of itty-bitty cookie-cutter holes, just as one would hope. I'm going to be swaging some different weight bullets and some wadcutters and experiment; I think a 65-70gr. wadcutter at 900 fps or so would be a hell of a small-game round. More experimenting... uh, darn? :)
 
Well in all honestly Michael Tinker Pierce, the .251 TCR is a neat idea, heck if you could fit 7-8 rounds in a wheelgun that would hold 5-6 rounds of 38/357 you could be on to something there.;)
 
silvermane_1 said:
Well if you could get 22 Win Mag Rim velocity, that would be awesome.;)
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at 126ft/lbs this is definitely in the .22 Magnum range for a revolver with a barrel this length, and there's room to drive this bullet (and others) faster... we'll see what this will do with another 1/2gr. of Power Pistol!
 
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