Something interesting about .22 TCM

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TTv2

TTv2

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Recently in a topic about 5.7 ammo prices it gave me a reason to look at .22 TCM ammo prices and shockingly the price per 50 rd box hasn't changed since Covid, it's still the same $20 it was back then. I assume this is mostly old stock because .22 TCM is about as popular as .45 GAP, but it has me wondering if the price of .22 TCM stayed around $20, would anyone think about getting a Rock Island 1911 to shoot it?
 
I don't think RIA makes the TCM/9mm combo 1911s any longer ( could be wrong about that ). I have one of the combos in 9mm/TCM9R. Never bother with the 9mm barrel, because I have other 1911s in 9mm. The TCM9R is a hoot to shoot. I'm glad I have it. You did get me thinking I need to order some more ammo.
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tuckerdog1 said:
I don't think RIA makes the TCM/9mm combo 1911s any longer ( could be wrong about that ). I have one of the combos in 9mm/TCM9R. Never bother with the 9mm barrel, because I have other 1911s in 9mm. The TCM9R is a hoot to shoot. I'm glad I have it. You did get me thinking I need to order some more ammo.
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I know the 9R was built to fit in Glock mags for the 9/.40 size frames, but I prefer the regular .22 TCM. I would be more interested in something that's not a 1911 to shoot the TCM, but nobody makes it and even those conversion uppers for Glocks to shoot .22 TCM are no longer made.

.22 TCM is a great cartridge, I like it more than 5.7, but it's never going to gain much of a fanbase.
 
The ability to form the case from .223 or 5.56 cases makes it a far better option for reloaders. Beyond that the increased case capacity is nice and more velocity from a pistol barrel make it a better choice than 5.7.

About the only thing 5.7 does better is hold more rounds in a mag.
 
tuckerdog1 said:
I don't think RIA makes the TCM/9mm combo 1911s any longer ( could be wrong about that )
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I just looked on Armscor/RIA website and it seems that you are correct. They only list the 22TCM. I couldn't find any 22TCM/9MM combos listed.

TTv2 said:
I would be more interested in something that's not a 1911 to shoot the TCM, but nobody makes it and even those conversion uppers for Glocks to shoot .22 TCM are no longer made.
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Part of the reason Glock 22TCM9R conversion kits aren't made any more is they were hard to get to run reliably. If you read about the Glock 22TCM9R slide on different forums, you will fin that a lot of people had issues with getting them to run.
 
.22 TCM is a great cartridge, I like it more than 5.7, but it's never going to gain much of a fanbase.
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I'd bet part of the reason for that, is a lot of people don't even know it exists.
 
The 22TCM rifles should have been a home run, but Armscor based them on a 22 rimfire design. Although they were a nice looking gun, reports of spotty accuracy kept me from getting one.

It seems as if Armscor has taken a page from the Remington book on how to kill a fine cartridge. Meanwhile, the polymer Witness pattern pistol provides smiles and remarkable muzzle flashes!
 
Funny you should mention buying a 22tcm... I am REALLY considering buying one!

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There is a double stack RIA 9mm/22TCM that someone about 3 hrs away has been advertising for about 6 months now. He just dropped the price to $425. These are the pictures he sent me. I can't think of a reason not to buy it at this price?

I have always wanted a doublestack 9mm 1911. The 22tcm has intrigued me since it first came out. I think tuckerdog1 is correct in that they stopped making the 9mm/22tcm combo set. I haven't seen a new 9mm/22tcm combo for sale in stores in many years. I don't think they sell this combo any more. I was holding out for the Tac Ultra version but this seems to be an excellent price to me.

I love my 45acp 1911's and they are my range guns that I shoot the best. Having a high capacity 9mm 1911 should give me a real advantage in a friendly round of "kick the can" with my buddies. The 22TCM would just be a bonus. I found a decent supply of brass and have a few bricks of SP primers. I don't know if bullets will be hard to find and powder has me most worried. But someday the world will return to somewhat normal and reloading supplies will be available again. Until then I do have a pretty good stock of 9mm reloads.

This seems like a heck of a deal to me! Can anyone see anything I am missing? The transfer will cost about $40/$50.

P.S. What bullet do you use to reload the 22TCM?
 
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I have a .22TCM/9mm high capacity combo and it is more than worth the price you are considering. I also reload.22TCM. W296/H110 is the powder. Accurate also makes TCM powder that I’m sure would work well but I have not tried it yet.
40gr Bullets are made by armscor but I have not seen any for sale for a couple of years. The factory ammo still seems available.
I have seen that a few folks use Hornsby v-max 35 or 40gr bullets to load .22tcm, but I have no direct knowledge on how that works.
Loading such a tiny bottle neck cartridge is not the simplest task, either. You will need a case gauge and a dedicated trimmer to get all the tolerances set up for the dies. Lots of research to do before you reload this one.
I’ve been pleased with my results. I get about 1900fps out of a 4.25” barrel and an awesome fireball. Just like factory ammo. My reloads are a little hotter and more consistent than factory. And cheaper!
If you take the plunge, you won’t regret it.
 
drband said:
I have a .22TCM/9mm high capacity combo and it is more than worth the price you are considering. I also reload.22TCM. W296/H110 is the powder. Accurate also makes TCM powder that I’m sure would work well but I have not tried it yet.
40gr Bullets are made by armscor but I have not seen any for sale for a couple of years. The factory ammo still seems available.
I have seen that a few folks use Hornsby v-max 35 or 40gr bullets to load .22tcm, but I have no direct knowledge on how that works.
Loading such a tiny bottle neck cartridge is not the simplest task, either. You will need a case gauge and a dedicated trimmer to get all the tolerances set up for the dies. Lots of research to do before you reload this one.
I’ve been pleased with my results. I get about 1900fps out of a 4.25” barrel and an awesome fireball. Just like factory ammo. My reloads are a little hotter and more consistent than factory. And cheaper!
If you take the plunge, you won’t regret it.
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Does you combo function well with 9mm? Do you have a single stack or a double stack. One of the reviews I read said that the 22tcm ran beautifully through the double stack combo but 9mm was finicky.
 
MikeInOr said:
Does you combo function well with 9mm? Do you have a single stack or a double stack. One of the reviews I read said that the 22tcm ran beautifully through the double stack combo but 9mm was finicky.
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Perfect with 9mm. I have the double stack high capacity model.
 
drband said:
Perfect with 9mm. I have the double stack high capacity model.
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I just replaced the extractor in the last month. The new factory part extractor is a little different than the original and it functions even better. It’s 100% with 9mm and TCM ammo.
 
entropy said:
I shot one in .22TCM, no recoil, loud, accuracy was fine for 7 yards. A fun gun to shoot, definitely a reloader's gun, and still hard to find ammo or bullets.
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Definitely agree— you’ll need to reload to shoot much TCM.
But— the 9mm barrel functions flawlessly, so you get a good 9mm 1911 to boot!
 
I appreciate everyone's feed back. I have made arrangements to meet the seller at an FFL tomorrow. This will be my first gun purchase since COVID began. I am looking forwards to it and will report when I have a chance to take it out to shoot.

As mentioned above I was surprised to find 22tcm at $20 for a box of 50. I will order some after I purchase the pistol. Until then I will be shooting 9mm through it.
 
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Yeah, the 9mm/.22 TCM combos are the way to go because I imagine at some point the ammo supply will dry up, but the benefits of having a low recoil, high velocity centerfire .22 bottleneck are still there if there's a time that is desired.

.22 TCM definitely has a lot more going for it than 5.7 does
 
Just got home after 7 hours of driving. It was definitely worth the drive. The RIA 1911-A2 isn't in perfect condition but it is in very good condition... better than I expected for the price. This is my first double stack 1911 and I was a little worried about the size of the grip even though I have quite long hands. The pistol fits me and my long hands very well. The front blade is all black... which I hate for sites. I will be replacing at least the front site with a fiber optic site. The rear site is actually a pretty decent adjustable site with two white dots. I might hold off on replacing it, I will have to see how it shoots with the factory sites and see how it prints on the target before getting too deep into looking for new sites.

I am impressed with the trigger. My other 1911's have had trigger jobs so I am used to a light, crisp target trigger. This one has a much better trigger than I expected for a factory trigger.

An old boss where I used to work had a FN-57 which I loved. I loved the light weight, the smooth recoil and speedy bullet. He has tried reloading for his 57 but it never functioned as well with reloads as with factory ammo. I have been following the 22tcm since ~2014 when they came out and I always thought it sounded like a perfect combination of higher power, lower recoil because of the heavier gun and much easier to reload round than the 5.7 round. I am happy to finally own one! I really have enough firearms and didn't need another but this one at this price was too good to resist and filed the void of a double stack 9mm 1911, the ability to shoot 22tcm and a 1911 that I can tweak to my liking and not fret about like working on a high dollar pistol.

One of my other favorite pistol cartridges is the bottle neck Tokarev 7.62 in my CZ-52. I have high expectations that I will like the 22tcm at least as much when I get some ammo in.
 
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I have large, long hands. My double-stack RIA 1911 fits them very well.

I can shoot the double-stack better than my single-stacks because of it.
 
MikeInOr said:
Just got home after 7 hours of driving. It was definitely worth the drive. The RIA 1911-A2 isn't in perfect condition but it is in very good condition... better than I expected for the price. This is my first double stack 1911 and I was a little worried about the size of the grip even though I have quite long hands. The pistol fits me and my long hands very well. The front blade is all black... which I hate for sites. I will be replacing at least the front site with a fiber optic site. The rear site is actually a pretty decent adjustable site with two white dots. I might hold off on replacing it, I will have to see how it shoots with the factory sites and see how it prints on the target before getting too deep into looking for new sites.

I am impressed with the trigger. My other 1911's have had trigger jobs so I am used to a light, crisp target trigger. This one has a much better trigger than I expected for a factory trigger.

An old boss where I used to work had a FN-57 which I loved. I loved the light weight, the smooth recoil and speedy bullet. He has tried reloading for his 57 but it never functioned as well with reloads as with factory ammo. I have been following the 22tcm since ~2014 when they came out and I always thought it sounded like a perfect combination of higher power, lower recoil because of the heavier gun and much easier to reload round than the 5.7 round. I am happy to finally own one! I really have enough firearms and didn't need another but this one at this price was too good to resist and filed the void of a double stack 9mm 1911, the ability to shoot 22tcm and a 1911 that I can tweak to my liking and not fret about like working on a high dollar pistol.

One of my other favorite pistol cartridges is the bottle neck Tokarev 7.62 in my CZ-52. I have high expectations that I will like the 22tcm at least as much when I get some ammo in.
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I replaced my front sight with a Dawson Precision fiber optic sight. Call them. They will make sure you get the correct height and dovetail base.
I am still using the factory adjustable rear sight—with the dots blacked out. It’s a great combo.
 
drband said:
I replaced my front sight with a Dawson Precision fiber optic sight. Call them. They will make sure you get the correct height and dovetail base.
I am still using the factory adjustable rear sight—with the dots blacked out. It’s a great combo.
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Cool! I have been looking at their sights. There are a lot of different heights too choose from. Their website/video said that I should see where the factory sights print on paper and order a front sight height to compensate for vertical distance off of bullseye. But I don't know if that matters as much with an adjustable rear site.

I grew up shooting 3 dot sights so I am very used to them. My eyes and brain do not adapt well to an all black rear sight. So I will probably replace the rear sight with a fiber optic too. I was surprised Dawson doesn't make an adjustable fiber optic rear sight (that I could find at least). My guess is that adjustable rear sights don't fit into their ultra reliable competition gun category???

Any way I think I will take their advice and see where it prints ok paper first.
 
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drband said:
I just replaced the extractor in the last month. The new factory part extractor is a little different than the original and it functions even better. It’s 100% with 9mm and TCM ammo.
Click to expand...

I sent mine back for bad extractor, and they made it better, but not perfect. I bought a Wilson Combat Bulletproof Extractor, and had it set up for 9mm, it has been flawless with 9mm, and ok with TCM. (Works best when I load no more than ten in the magazine.) I talked to the head Armscor smith at SHOT, he told me to send it to him in Pahrump, and he would tune me a good extractor for TCM. I just don't care that much.
 
MikeInOr said:
Funny you should mention buying a 22tcm... I am REALLY considering buying one!

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There is a double stack RIA 9mm/22TCM that someone about 3 hrs away has been advertising for about 6 months now. He just dropped the price to $425. These are the pictures he sent me. I can't think of a reason not to buy it at this price?

I have always wanted a doublestack 9mm 1911. The 22tcm has intrigued me since it first came out. I think tuckerdog1 is correct in that they stopped making the 9mm/22tcm combo set. I haven't seen a new 9mm/22tcm combo for sale in stores in many years. I don't think they sell this combo any more. I was holding out for the Tac Ultra version but this seems to be an excellent price to me.

I love my 45acp 1911's and they are my range guns that I shoot the best. Having a high capacity 9mm 1911 should give me a real advantage in a friendly round of "kick the can" with my buddies. The 22TCM would just be a bonus. I found a decent supply of brass and have a few bricks of SP primers. I don't know if bullets will be hard to find and powder has me most worried. But someday the world will return to somewhat normal and reloading supplies will be available again. Until then I do have a pretty good stock of 9mm reloads.

This seems like a heck of a deal to me! Can anyone see anything I am missing? The transfer will cost about $40/$50.

P.S. What bullet do you use to reload the 22TCM?
Click to expand...


I bought one new, because I wanted a double-stack 9mm 1911 and it was the best deal I could find. After some tweaking, it is dead reliable with 9mm and my EDC. I certainly wasn't LOOKING for a .22 TCM, but at the time they were a package deal. I also have my .45s, and I'm not getting rid of them. I have been stockpiling the Hornady 35 gr, but I have become a miser with reloading supplies, trying to decide where I want to use powder and primers. (I have some H-110 from reloading for .30 Carbine.) It's fun, I like it, big boom, turns a jackrabbit into a fine pink mist, no one else has one. And yeah, If I have 5.56 brass that has been run out, I can look at cutting it and necking it to TCM.

I don't think I have used the .22 TCM in over two years.
 
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