.251 TCR Coming Together

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Michael Tinker Pearce

Michael Tinker Pearce

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I honestly cannot recall if I have posted about this before on this forum. I am working on a wildcat cartridge for revolvers- .251 TCR (Tinker Centerfire Rimmed.)
6y8FSqk.jpg
This is a straight-walled case .25. The loads above are a 38gr. SWC and a 31gr. Hollowpoint. I also have 50gr. FMC and 35gr. Gold Dot hollow-points on the way. I'm going to be experimenting with SWCs and wadcutters in weights up to 65gr. The parent case for this cartridge is .22 Hornet (shown below.)
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The idea is to develop loads ranging from primer-propelled gallery loads right up through something a bit hotter than .22 Magnum; basically to span the power range of .22 rimfires in a reloadable cartridge.

I'm currently working on converting an Uberti 1873 to fire this cartridge, using some .25 ACP barrel 'liner' from JTs. This was a percussion version I picked up cheap. I've lined the barrel and am working on converting the cylinder; I've turned some 4140 round bar down to fill the chambers, then I'll line-bore the cylinder and ream the chambers for the cartridge.

I've recently gotten a chronograph and will be working on load development. The current test loads are in the same power-range as .25 Auto, and I'll work up from there.
oOhfjSv.jpg
Here's a work-in-progress shot of the test-gun. I had to cut the barrel to 3-1/2" because that was the longest I could ream out for the barrel insert. I 'slabbed' the barrel to give it a distinctive look, which I think will look pretty cool once it's blued. Still have to finish the cylinder and mount a front sight. With luck I'll be firing the first test-loads this weekend!

Eventually I plan on making a new cylinder from half-hard 4140, but that will have to wait a bit.
 
I love that stuff ! great idea, looks like the parent case is .22 Hornet . I have a Christy Gun Works converted in early 60s Original Colt Bisley to .224 HarveyK Chuck which is a shortened and blown out .22 Hornet that would fit into the old Colt SA cylinders . It is not for sale. I have only fired it maybe 50 times. I got it with a leather box with about 120 rounds of handloaded K Chuck ammo for it that was made in late 60s . I got is left to me by a Big Sur rancher who I served as his foreman for 4 years before he passed. I has a 6" barrel with Christy gun works .224 Harvey K Chuk on it and the cylinder is machined and the whole gun reblued. It has Micro sights installed/
 
I remember reading about the K-Chuk in one of my first Gun Digests.

I also remember a Handloader magazine article about a .25 Hornet at K frame maximum OAL for high velocity varmint loads.

Apparently .251" was a convenience move but it is going to limit bullet selection.
The short barrel would be a hindrance to me, but I haven't seen a revolver by the OP with a long barrel, it seems to be His Thing.
 
DWFan said:
Just curious. Why .251"? Why not .257"?
Click to expand...

It's meant as a revolver cartridge, and .257 is mainly rifle bullets. Yes, there are a couple of .257s that would suit a pistol alright, around 65-70gr., but not many. Also, I wanted to be able to use .25 caliber air-gun pellets for some of the 'gallery' or pest loads. .251 just seemed to suit the mission better.
 
That is a very cool idea and project. It sounds like an excellent caliber for reloaders. I'll be curious to see how hot you can load it. It would be great to have something with a little more mustard on it than 22 magnum.
 
Ohen Cepel said:
How tough is the brass creation process?
Click to expand...

Not bad at all- I use a .22 Hornet shell-plate with a .25 ACP decapping/resizing die with the primer punch replaced with a pointed 1/4" hardened steel rod. Just needs a little case-lube. Then I trim it to length and chuck a 1/4" steel rod in the drill press, press it into the case, fire it up and file off the 'belt' left at the bottom by resizing.
 
It's interesting and should be a fun project. I don't see the appeal of a .25 Magnum, which for all intents and purposes is what this is. I feel that a .32 is better as a handgun round and also has a good power range from that of a hot .22 LR up to 9mm.

Where a hot .25 like this would be great is if it were rimless in a compact semi auto like the P365 and it held 15+1. Low recoil, but more effective than a .25 ACP and maybe even a .32 ACP.
 
TTv2 said:
Where a hot .25 like this would be great is if it were rimless in a compact semi auto like the P365 and it held 15+1. Low recoil, but more effective than a .25 ACP and maybe even a .32 ACP.
Click to expand...

Oddly that's where this all started, but I couldn't locate a donor-case and got side-tracked into this.
 
TTv2 said:
It's interesting and should be a fun project. I don't see the appeal of a .25 Magnum, which for all intents and purposes is what this is. I feel that a .32 is better as a handgun round and also has a good power range from that of a hot .22 LR up to 9mm.

Where a hot .25 like this would be great is if it were rimless in a compact semi auto like the P365 and it held 15+1. Low recoil, but more effective than a .25 ACP and maybe even a .32 ACP.
Click to expand...

Makes me think of the .25NAA, which was a .32acp necked down to accept .25 bullets. I think it died off faster than .32NAA did, as you can actually still find loaded ammo for .32NAA. I always thought it would be neat to have a Keltec P32 chambered in .25NAA, but I digress...
 
I guess it probably wouldn't meet the criteria for compact and would probably be more of a pain than it's worth but I would think a scaled version of like a buckmark would be feasible for a semi in this chambering.
 
Michael Tinker Pearce said:
It's meant as a revolver cartridge, and .257 is mainly rifle bullets. Yes, there are a couple of .257s that would suit a pistol alright, around 65-70gr., but not many. Also, I wanted to be able to use .25 caliber air-gun pellets for some of the 'gallery' or pest loads. .251 just seemed to suit the mission better.
Click to expand...

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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