Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats TCU out of a bolt action rifle ?

Any one have any experience on how the TCU family of cartridges chamber from a Rem 700 ?

Can't find a gunsmith with a .25-223 reamer, but a few have the .25 TCU

I have a buddy who has a 700 in 7mm TCU. Said he had no problems as far as the "build" went. I'm pretty sure it was just a basic rebarrel.

I have a 6.5 TCU on a 700 that works great. Have the reamer and gages if you are interested....Russ

Are you asking about how the TCU family of cartridges feed from the magazine? If you weren't asking about feeding from the magazine that you can skip the rest of this post.

In my experience it was difficult to get reliable feeding on a 7 TCU repeater that I built many years ago. It can be done but I don't remember all of the details of how I did it. I do remember that I removed the spacer block from the rear of a 223 magazine and then used a feed platform from a different caliber. To the best of my memory I recall that I happened to have a short action feed platform from a Winchester that I tried and it fed perfectly using it. The biggest problem is that I don't remember what caliber the feed platform was from. It had to be from one of the larger short action calibers though because it was long enough to fill most of the magazine box. The original 223 feed platform was too short to operate properly with the filler box removed.

So yes, it is doable but it will take a bit of experimenting to make it work. If you happen to know of a gunsmith with a box full of feed platforms it is only a matter of trying until you come up with the correct combination.

drover

I have a small action Sako in a 6mm TCU that is very accurate.
In that particular action and round, I haven't had any feeding problems. Sweet gun all around for coyotes and such. I'm working up a round for deer with an 80 gn bullet. Still a work in progress there at this point. Velocity falls off rapidly with longer/heavier bullets.

drover,

What action did you use?

OOPS! Sorry that I forgot to post that. The action was a Rem 700 that had originally been a 223, I used a 7-08 barrel and had it cut off at the chamber end and rechambered to 7 TCU.

drover

Kevin Weaver has the .25-223 on his reamer list. When I talked to him about building a .250 Savage for my daughter he said he builds a few of the .25-223's for people wanting a light recoiling quarter bore. I still don't think you would have much of a problem running the TCU.

Drover, heard of cut back/7BR, but did not know you had enough OD to do a TCU.

I'd consider a 25 BR also in a short action. A 250/250AI would feed better, and would be my choice.

I like the 6 alot on the 223 case, the 6.5 and 7 is a good one for steel or deer sized game, though trajectory is so so out past 300 or so, no matter if you using Turrets.

I Figure the OP wants:

A) a 1/4 bore
B) has alot of 223 brass

I anyone sees or has a 6mm TCU Contender carbine barrel for sale, please let me know. I've been looking on GunBroker for a while with no luck.

TCU Contender carbine barrels pop up used every once in a while but they get snapped up pretty quick. Saw a Bullberry 6 tcu not long ago, pretty sure it was an 18" bull barrel. To me that's about as sweet as it gets for a carbine set-up. When my daugther gets old enough to hunt with me I'll probably do the same thing in a 7mm TCU for her to use...and so dad can barrow it sometimes

Need dies? In have a like new RCBS 2 die set in 7mm TCU that I'll sell. $30 shipped

Had a 6TCU 21" Bullberry, 12" twist, if doing over, would go 8 or 9" ROT. Nice round.

The TCUs will be fine on a 700. I've been contemplating having one of my CZ527s rebarrelled to 6mm TCU (I have the dies but have never owned a 6mm TCU). Magazine constraints are my only concern at this point though.

Appreciate the offer but I'm already loading for it in a Contender pistol. The 7 TCU is probably the most well behaved round I've ever loaded for. Seems like no matter what you try it wants to be accurate.

On the CZ, if me, I'd get a 7.62 and put a 6.5 Grendel on it's matching bolt faced action, and it feeds....

Find a gunsmith with a 223Rem reamer and 25cal neck/throater combination. Sharp shouldered straight cases will always give potential feeding issues ... sometimes though what works in one rifle wont work in the exact same model but another rifle. That's why in-line magazine boxes are the simplest solution ... as is something like a 25-204 which will feed easily.
Cheers...
Con

I own a Remington 700 in 25TCU. Feeding if fine. I just don't see how the shoulder angle affects feeding in this case because there just isn't that much shoulder to begin with.

75 grain Sierra's are all I've ever used. Dead nutz accurate in a sporter barrel with minimal muzzle blast and recoil. There is a lot to like. Ward