RIA 1911 22 TCM / 9mm Review w/pics

Questions and answers, photos, videos, and discussion.

Moderators: mpallett, bakerjw

Post Reply
User avatar
TROOPER
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 7441
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:24 pm
Location: Augusta, Georgia

RIA 1911 22 TCM / 9mm Review w/pics

Post by TROOPER »

The 22 TCM fires a 224 caliber bullet weighing 40 grains at 2050 fps from a 5-inch barrel. By comparison, the 5.7 puts its 40-grain at 1690 fps. The 2,000+ fps advertised by the 5.7 is for the rifle.

The only current manufacturer of 22 TCM firearms is Armscor via Rock Island Armory, where currently they advertise 5 handguns and 1 bolt-action rifle.

This review concerns a handgun -- the 22 TCM Standard / Micro Mag 9mm.

Internet rumors persevere that the 22 TCM is a 9mm necked-down to a 22, but in the below picture, you can see that this is not possible due to a 9mm casing being too short for that to be possible.

Image

The handgun in this review is a 1911. This is my first-and-only 1911 and unfortunately I have limited experience. However, it seems that this is a standard set-up for a 1911.

Image

Fully assembled, the firearm can be seen below. This also leads to one of a few complaints I have with this firearm.

Image

... the barrel is chromed at the ejection port, but does not continue under the slide. The complaint here is that the chroming does not completely cover the portion of the barrel visible through the ejection port.

Image

This is the next complaint with this firearm. The grip scales are plastic with a relatively high rubber content and - due to the double-stack magazines - are very thin. These grips are very, very flimsy, and the plastic tab unique to double-stack 1911s do not stay in the channel of the grip, but rather, they stick up and are very much noticeable when the gun is held. That said, I have since replaced the scales with a different set. Para double-stack grips are the ones used above. Be aware that only double-stack grips will work.

At any rate, here is an additional picture of the grips below. It appears that a dremel or other similar tool was used to modify the inside although I do not understand why. Probably for cost reasons, there is a space for a medallion or logo built into these grips, but no medallion is included. This was confirmed both with the Armscor / Rock Island Armory website as well as with other internet forums.

Image

This particular firearm came with a conversion kit to fire both 22 TCM as well as 9mm. The conversion kit came a barrel, a stronger recoil spring, and a different ejector.

Image

My thinking was that the conversion kit would make the firearm easier to sell if I decided to be rid of it. I have not fired the 9mm conversion, though internet forums have found it to be reliable. Having not fired it personally, I am still concerned about the travel distance for the 9mm versus the 22 TCM.

Image

The above image also explains why something like a GLOCK 17 or similar "natively 9mm chambered" firearm cannot be adapted to this cartridge with a simple barrel swap. The Cartridge Overall Length (COAL) is longer than a 9mm, and would not fit inside of a standard 9mm magazine. On the other side, firearms chambered for a 45 ACP such as the GLOCK 21 cannot easily be adapted to 9mm due to differences in the diameter between a 45 ACP and a 9mm. I have read conjecture on the internet that a GLOCK chambered in 357 Sig could conceivably be converted (with the appropriate spring).

Below are two more pictures meant to show how the different cartridges sit in the common 17-round magazine.

Image

... and another of the magazines inside of the firearm.

Image

The internet claims that the cartridge is proprietary, and is NOT formed from 223 Rem, however internet forums state that earlier batches of 22 TCM would occasionally have headstamps saying 223 Rem. The picture below visually shows a 22 TCM and a 223 Rem back-to-back.

Image

Specs available online show very close similarities to the brass of the 223 Rem and 22 TCM....
Last edited by TROOPER on Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
TROOPER
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 7441
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:24 pm
Location: Augusta, Georgia

Re: RIA 1911 22 TCM / 9mm Review w/pics

Post by TROOPER »

.... continued

Image

Any differences between the base of the two cartridges seems to be insignificant in terms of interchangeability. And people who successfully load their own 22 TCM seem to have no difficulty -- although plenty of challenges -- with reloading the 22 TCM.

Which leads into a different subject: reloading the 22 TCM. Frankly, the subject of reloading the 22 TCM deserves its own post with at least as much detail and as many pictures as a review of the firearm. However, a short version of reloading the 22 TCM involves the following steps:

Clean 223 brass
De-prime
Clean pockets
Cut 223 brass to appropriate length
Anneal top of 223 brass
Neck-down via 22 TCM reloading dies
.... from here, reload as normal as you are now holding 22 TCM brass.

A review of SHOOTING the 22 TCM is also something which needs more pictures. However, missing those pictures I'll have to go with just words.

Recoil --- "minimal" doesn't quite cut it. It seems almost non-existent.
Accuracy --- whether because of any sort of "inherent accuracy", or just due to a favorable sight-radius, accuracy seems ridiculously good.
Fireball --- factory ammunition produces a grapefruit-sized fireball every time, and the gun sounds like thunder.
Terminal ballistics --- on soft-tissue... I don't know. But on hard targets -- it destroys what it hits. Gunblast.com did a review where it had pictures at the bottom of the article where mild steel that had been hit by 9mm, 45 ACP, and 22 TCM. The 22 TCM makes a 30-caliber hole in the steel... and the other two merely scuff it.

Negatives: ammunition being proprietary means that you can find it in one spot... or you can't find it. For reloaders, this is almost as ideal as you can get since its components are small rifle or small pistol primers.... 223 brass... and 32-40 grain 224 bullets. The components are almost as readily available as reloading components can be.

Negatives: the gun came dirty. Removing the grips for the first time revealed actual dirt soaked in oil. There was also oily grit distributed relatively evenly along all of the gun's internals.

Negatives: the factory grips are not only unattractive, but with the plastic tab poking out - they are also uncomfortable.

Negatives: there are instances on the internet of people using one specific 45 grain, but that is an oddity. Essentially, reloaders are limited to 40-grain and lower due to constraints of cartridge overall length (COAL).

Positives: this is a 5.7 in the shape of a 1911 with actual 2,000+ fps velocities... from the pistol.

Positives: Reloading can be challenging, but with such readily available components, it is still friendly.

Positives: high-capacity magazines in either 22 TCM or 9mm make this a relatively safe purchase since offloading a double-stack 9mm 1911 should be easy.

---------

Future plans: Having replaced the grips, I intend to replace the sights with higher-visibility three-dot fiber-optic or tritium sights to truly take advantage of the gun's accuracy. I've already purchased 200 22 TCM reloading bullets in addition to the 150 rounds of 22 TCM. I'd like very much to load some of them with Hornady 32-grain V-Max to maximize muzzle-velocity from the 5 inch barrel. What's more, the 22 TCM can also be fired from a bolt-action sold by Armscor. The bolt-action barrel boosts the velocity of the factory ammunition to just under 3,000 FPS. I am confident that 32 gr V-Max can easily push that velocity to over 3,000 FPS. Curiously, the bolt-action rifle also uses the same magazine as the handgun in addition to a small 5-round magazine.

Without factory ammunition the rifle puts out somewhere between a 22 Mag and a 22 Hornet. With handloading, the performance edges slightly closer to 22 Hornet -- albeit with 40-grain and lighter.

Below is a picture of a different users handloads. Few bullets work due to length constraints, but at least one 45gr works, and the 35gr Hornady V-Max also works -- and with excellent accuracy results as well.

Image

----------
User avatar
continuity
Elite Member
Posts: 4554
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:39 am
Location: Ohio

Re: RIA 1911 22 TCM / 9mm Review w/pics

Post by continuity »

Outstanding review. Interesting round that I have no experience with, but would seem to be a small varmit destroyer, par excellence, especially out of a bolt gun.

Thanks.
What amount of a man is composed of his own collection of experiences... and the conclusions that those experiences have allowed him to "know" for certain as "Truth"? :Ick
johndoe3
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 2710
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:02 am
Location: N. Colorado

Re: RIA 1911 22 TCM / 9mm Review w/pics

Post by johndoe3 »

Thorough review, excellent.

The 2000 fps for the 22TCM out of a 5" handgun is intriguing. However, probably like the short barrel Judge, people ask what is it best used for? Both self defense and varmint shooting is probably the answer.



BTW Trooper, if you want to try a similar ultra-high velocity 9mm in your carbine, pick up a box of Liberty Ammunition 9mm +P, with a 50gr bullet at 1900 fps from a 4" barrel handgun (users report 2050 fps from a 5" barrel).

http://libertyammunition.com/products/c ... mmunition/

better price http://www.midwayusa.com/product/133875 ... -box-of-20
You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time...and those are pretty good odds.
Brett Maverick, gambler on TV (also used by Progressive leaders everywhere)
User avatar
TROOPER
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 7441
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:24 pm
Location: Augusta, Georgia

Re: RIA 1911 22 TCM / 9mm Review w/pics

Post by TROOPER »

johndoe3 wrote:The 2000 fps for the 22TCM out of a 5" handgun is intriguing. However, probably like the short barrel Judge, people ask what is it best used for? Both self defense and varmint shooting is probably the answer.

BTW Trooper, if you want to try a similar ultra-high velocity 9mm in your carbine, pick up a box of Liberty Ammunition 9mm +P, with a 50gr bullet at 1900 fps from a 4" barrel handgun (users report 2050 fps from a 5" barrel).
Liberty ammo, 50 grain 9mm +P ... Sectional density of 0.058 with a bullet weight of 50 and diameter of .35".
22 TCM, 40 grain... Sectional density of 0.118 with a bullet weight of 40 and diameter of .22".

The 22 TCM is superior to the Liberty 9mm +P for sectional density, as well as weight-retention.

However... the 22 TCM is something of a novelty round given the wound channel versus standard 9mm, 40, and 45. It's very hard on 'hard targets', but as a defensive round, the flash, the bang, and bluntly put... the concussion... of the round are wildly inappropriate without hearing protection. It's one of a few automatic handgun cartridges that have a near-rifle style of concussion to them.

If someone's coming to kill me and this is the only gun I have with NO hearing protection, I would seriously -- no BS -- hesitate on using it.
QuIet Noob
Silent Operator
Posts: 82
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2011 1:14 pm

Re: RIA 1911 22 TCM / 9mm Review w/pics

Post by QuIet Noob »

I bought on of these over a year ago. I have yet to shoot 9mm yet. The 22tcm is too much fun. I would like to get it threaded but I have been told it will not cycle. It has a very light spring. What are your thoughts? Even with hearing protection it is a loud pistol!
Post Reply