My 7TCU Rifle

[HandgunHTR]

I have posted about this rifle in various threads, so I figured I would take the time to do a little show and tell.

I have been shooting the TCU line of cartridges out of single shot handguns since the early 2000s and I was turned on to them by a guy who has been shooting them since the mid-80s. I kicked around the idea of building a repeater in the cartridge and finally got around to doing it after messing around with a 6X45 AR for a few years.



The action started life as a Remington Varmint SPS chambered in .223. I got it on the used rack at my local Cabelas for $399. It was the one with the 26" heavy barrel with a 1:12" twist. I pulled that barrel off and sent the action off to LRI for the Tier 2 "blueprinting" (Remage package). For that they diamond hone the ID of the receiver, recondition the lug abatements, and resurface the bolt nose, bolt face, and lugs. I also had them do a pinned recoil lug for ease when installing and swapping barrels.
The barrel is a Wilson blank chambered, threaded, and fluted by Ragged Hole Barrels. It is 18" long and the muzzle is threaded 5/8-24. The barrel nut is a PVA.
Once it was all together, I had a local guy cerakote the barreled action, bottom metal, and bolt in Titanium.
Trigger is a Trigger Tech Primary.
The stock is a Pure Precision (Mesa) Altitude in Glacier color scheme. I put a SRS Hunter rail on it as well.
One other modification I did was remove the "spacer" from the factory BDL mag box. It is just a piece of stamped metal that has two small TIG welds holding it in. A quick hit with a cut-off wheel in a Dremel and it was out. I replaced it with a piece of 1/4" aluminum flat bar that I trimmed to fit. I epoxied that in with JB Weld. There is a little bit more of a gap between it and the follower, but not enough to cause any issues. This allows me to get COALs in excess of 2.5". If Waters had been making magazines when I built this, I may have gone the Tikka route, but this was a $10 fix vs a $165 magazine.


I topped the whole thing off with an EGW rail, Leupold Rifleman rings, and a Burris Fullfield E1 3-9X40 scope with the now discontinued German #4 with center dot reticle. I will probably upgrade to better rings and a better scope someday, but considering this rifle is the one that gets loaned out most of the time when we have people come to the hunting property to cull does, I want to keep it very simple.

The whole thing weighs 7 lbs 12 oz. Add the 11oz for the SilencerCo Harvester Evo that it wears when shooting it and it is a very comfortable 8 lbs 7oz.


My current load for it is a 120 grain Hornady V-Max, loaded on top of 25.7 grains of VV N130, in a Federal case, with a CCI 400 primer. This produces a muzzle velocity of 2490 fps. This makes it a legit 400 setup as the V-Max bullets will perform down to 1600 fps on deer-sized game based on performance I have seen when using them in single shot handguns. Another good bullet for this round is the 120 grain NBT.

As for how this gun shoots, here is a 10-shot group that I shot with it yesterday. The three shots on the left were the last three as mirage started to become an issue at the end of the string (it was 91 here yesterday).



This is a very easy shooting rig, and as I said, it is the one that gets handed to guests and kids most often when a loaner is needed on the property. I plan on taking it over to the adjacent WMA this fall to see if I can't put a black bear on the ground with it.

 

[KyleR1985]

Heck yeh. Nice rifle.

Whats the plus compared to the 6x45?

 

[Slickhill]

Pretty neat rifle.

When I worked as a gunsmith I often had time, machinery, know how, and parts but little money. I’d get an action for free or almost free and instantly dream up something to build on it for some imagined purpose or niche with whatever bargain basement parts I could source.

I traded a box, 50rd box not brick, of 22LR for a rusty crusty old 700 ADL in 222Mag. No stock, no bolt, barrel almost rusted shut, but the mag box was there and miraculously the trigger wasn’t beyond saving. Some pressure testing outfit was liquidating their barrels on EBay and I snagged a 30” by 3” diameter cut rifled K&P chambered for 280 and setup for a pressure gun. I knew or cared nothing about BC numbers at the time and saw the TCU in an old loading manual and decided it might be the ultimate ranch gun for coyotes, pigs, deer, and maybe the wayward elk.

I chucked the big K&P in the lathe and cut off the 6” where the chamber and throat were. Then began the long task of turning it down to match the contour of a M7 RSAUM barrel I had in the discard pile. Ended up finishing it at 20”.

I bought a bolt body with no handle from PT&G back when they were $89. Standard Remington extractor and ejector setup. TIG welded a M70 style handle on it that I bought from Fred at 4D for an extra $9 when I rented a reamer and gauges for the TCU.

I picked up a BDL Varmint wood stock at a gunshow for $30 and had a bottom metal that was all scuffed up in my stuff. Cut the ADL box down and moved the spacer back to make it work with the BDL setup.

Had a 3-9 Leupold lying around and a set of Talleys that were in vogue at the time so they went on top.

I shoot one load of RL7 under about any 115-120 and it works great with all of them I’ve tried from Sierra, Speer, Hornady, and Nosler. It averages 2575 and shoots great. The Nosler 120BTip is probably the hardest bullet of the bunch and penetrates a surprising amount for a tipped 120. The Speer HP with the big hole in the end is murder on anything I’ve ever pointed it at, stick it in the front half of the chest and it’ll be strawberry jam inside. I’ve probably only shot around 50 pigs with it but I’ve shot some pretty good sized ones and never needed to shoot one twice so far.



It’s an enjoyable and effective little rifle and cartridge that’s easy to form and load for, very little recoil or blast even without a suppressor. I need to get it in the lathe and thread it someday, I have a synthetic stock off a LVSF I had planned to bed it into as well but just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

 

[onlybrowning]

Super cool. The TCU cartridges are neat. Those old school Contender guys were quite innovative for hunting and silly wets back in the day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HandgunHTR]

Heck yeh. Nice rifle.

Whats the plus compared to the 6x45?

There really isn't one other than the cool factor. The 6X45 is one of those weirdly efficient cartridges that perform better than expected.

For me, however, I have moved away from the 6mm. Not because they aren't great, but mainly because it was behind the 6.5 and 7mm in getting decent bullets out in the market. They are out there now, but it was the 6.5 and 7 that were out there first and I stocked up deep on those.

 

[HandgunHTR]

Well, I took the little guy to the range today to shoot a ladder with H335, Federal GM primers, and 120 grain Nosler BTs.

With a book max load, I ended up at 2567.6 fps and an SD of 4.8. Groups were more than adequate. I think I have found a new hunting load.