7mm TCU

[longgun]

For as long as I can remember shooting silhouette there has always been a small following for the 7MM TCU round.   Mostly it was considered a kids & woman's  gun since the recoil was very mild.  I shot a tcu one year and it was pleasant to shoot.  But I felt that there were better choices for the standard gun than the tcu.   Just recently I've seen where federal has made brass with the 7MM TCU headstamp and it is available
 www.reedsammo.com .  I've just ordered two boxes to see what it is.    But now it looks like that the 7 TCU may finally  be  legal for  hunter gun for those who might wish give it a try since it meets the requirements about factory available ammo.   For many years this has been a favorite round for the Pistol silhouette group.  I expect that there will not be a big
" move" to the 7 TCU for rifles  but now it is another option for anyone wanting to reduce recoil and give it a try.   Don

[Tony Tello]

Hello Don, what we need to do is ask Greg or Sil Committee if the availability of commercially made brass for the 7mm TCU makes the cartridge legal for Hunting Rifle Competition.  The rule calls a hunting style rifle, chambered in a factory cartridge...  

You know well we were able to use the 6.5mm Grendel at the Nationals this year only because factory ammunition, brass and dies for it were being made and sold by Alexander Arms and others.  

I just don't think we would be able to do that with the 7 TCU unless the NRA would changed the wording to the Hunting rifle rule first to allow for the use of wildcat cartridges.  

We were able to use the 6 BR and 7 BR cartridges plus now we can use the 6.5 Grendel.  I don't think think that the 7 TCU is any better than any one of those three cartridges mentioned but someone that has an action with a .223 size bolt would be able to put a 7 TCU rifle together if allowed to do so by the rules.

Would be interesting to see how they solve the feeding of the cartridges problem, I am still having a lot of problem with the 6.5 Grendel's feeding of the cartridges and have to load one at a time through the magazine most of the time.

[RamSlammer]

G/Day from OZ
                       There are people using the 7mm tcu down here. In fact I'm about to get one built myself. It seems to work very well with either Hornady 162gr SST's or 168 MK's. I've seen the 162 SST's hit a ram centre mass and lay them over as sweet as can be. They were travelling at 2191fps at the muzzle. The 168's are out of another rifle and I don't know the velocity but he loads 26gr of ADI Benchmark 2 (which is the same as Hodgen Benchmark), last shoot we were at together he had 9 hits on Rams with only 1 standing. When you balance the small losses against the low recoil it is a far incentive to give one a try. The 162 SST load when I was sighting it in for my mate had less drift at 500 than a 180gr .308 load.   Worth a try!
                                     Juddy

[longgun]

Tony,  you are right in that both the 6MM & 7MM br are better choices for the hunter gun.  But there is something about the 7 TCU that interest me.
For one thing brass doesn't cost as much,  which should not be a concern when you consider how much we spend on our equipment.   Having the commercial brass available is the first step in making it a legal hunter.  IMO this is the "first cousin" to having loaded ammo.  In fact E A Brown co.
http://www.eabco.com/recoil.html, has their version of the 7 tcu and even the 6.5 br.......  but both use the 30-30 brass as the parent cartridge.
You are right about checking with the NRA first,  but you know that anything new will be "axed"...

I have feed problems with the 6.5 grendel but I can load three  rounds in my magazine ,  but two rounds work better.  For good feeding on the TCU you have to buy the 223 magazine and follower from remington,  and have to have the right bolt  or do a sako extractor mod .

[jBrent]

Good evening all:
This topic has been quiet for a while......Has anyone received a ruling from NRA as to if the 7mmTCU (or 7mm/223) is considered to be a "wildcat" given that commercial brass is available?......jBrent

[drover]

I spoke with Greg about the 7 TCU in a hunter rifle a couple of years ago and I understood that as long as there was properly headstamped brass then it would be legal.  Also Thompson Center chamered their carbine in 7 TCU which surely meets the criteria for a factory hunting rifle.  

With all that being said it would be good to get a current ruling on the subject because I am sure that some local clubs may balk at a 7 TCU. -I am personally in the process of building a 7 TCU hunter just because I think it is a neat cartridge.  It always surprises me at how well it works.

[jBrent]

Drover:  I'm trying to assemble detail that would support the 7TCU being recognized as a commercial cartridge rather than a "wildcat".  Do you know when TC made the 7TCU in their rifle, model name number etc?   ......jBrent

[longgun]

Brent,  I've seen the contender 7 tcu advertised.
E A Brown co is chambering both pistols and rifles in 7 TCU,  check out their web site  http://www.eabco.com/bfchamb.html  .  They also are having TC custom shop furnish them with  barrels chambered for 7 TCU.  
Don

[longgun]

JBrent,  just did a quick search on TC custom shop.  Try http://www.foxridgeoutfitters.com/section.cfm?section=16
Scroll down to the calibre chart and look on the second page and you will find the listing for the 7 TCU.   Hope this is what you are looking for.  Don

[Hornetx60]

Thompson Center definitely made a 21" carbine barrel chambered in 7 TCU. They produced it from about the mid 80's to about the mid 90's. There for there is no need for you to have factory 7 TCU brass to prove that this was a factory round. How many people use 260's in the hunter class and use .243 brass necked up?  Just use good quality brass when you make the brass and it will last a long time. You may want to separate you ram brass from your other loads as it is going to take a beating and may not last as long.  Personally if you like the small 7's ...the 7 BR is the way to go.
 You could call TC and get an Email as proof.  BIll R

[drover]

I have a request to Greg Conner for a ruling on the legality of the 7 TCU.  I really see no reason that it should not be legal but it would be nice to have something from the silhouette director stating that it is.

By the way I have a copy of an ad, from a May 1985 Shooting Times, which shows the 7 TCU being an available factory chambering in the Contender carbine.  I also have a box of Federal factory brass.

[drover]

I spoke with Greg Connor a couple of days ago concerning the legality of the 7 TCU for hunter class rifles.  He did not give a definitive answer on the legality of the cartridge for hunter class, I explained that it has been chambered in the Thompson Center carbine and have proof in the form of a 1985 ad advertising it as such and that I had Federal factory brass for the 7 TCU.  His feeling was that since the brass is head stamped as 7MM/223 IHMSA rather than 7 TCU that it would be a problem with the head stamp even though the 7 TCU and the 7mm/223 IHMSA are one and the same, no differnt than say the 244 Remington and a 6 MM remington, same item different headstamp.

The best I could get was that he agreed to put it before the silhouette committe which meets at the end of October.  I would suggest that anyone who is interested in a 7 TCU hunter contact any member of the committe and explain their position or at least let Greg Connor, the NRA silhouette director, know of their interest in making it a legal hunter class cartridge.  

If anyone has any further documentation on the 7mm TCU and 7mm/223 IHMSA connection please feel free to contact me with the documentation and I will be glad to work as pointman on this issue.  I feel that it is a legal hunter class cartridge, as much so as the 6.5 Grendel, perhaps even more so, the 7 TCU has a history going back well over 25 years.

[Hornetx60]

Drover, I don't understand why you want to push this issue to the committee. The 7TCU cartridge fulfills the requirement of being a factory cartridge because it was produced by Thompson Center in the Contender Carbine. That is the only requirement in the book for a hunter cartridge other than the other statement that it not be a wildcat.Which in and of it self is tough to define other than the first rule which says it must be a factory cartridge. You can use the 7 TCU as can anyone and I know of a shooter that has been using it. How could anyone possibly deny this cartridge as being a legal one for the hunter category?

[drover]

I did not asked that it be taken to the committe when I spoke with Greg Connor about it he was the one who decided that it should go before the committe.  I am in total agreement with you that it is a legal hunter class cartridge however I would like a verification that it is such.  I do not want to drive 300 or more miles to a match and not be able to compete because the "local" powers that be do not think it is a legal hunter class cartridge.


To be realistic now that the standards for hunter class have been revised they are nothing more than a standard rifle with a 9 # weight limit with a 2 # trigger pull.  I have shot my hunter class rifle in both events for the last 10 years or so anyway so I am thinking that a 7 TCU would be fun to compete with.

[Hornetx60]

Sorry Drover I misunderstood you. You are right, as any sane individual can read the rules on the 7TCU. It isn't like there is anything grey in that one.  I too shoot a hunter both ways. I would just take it and shoot it. Let someone try to prove it is wrong. When you are clearly right you have nothing to be concerned about.

[longgun]

From Experience I have learned that the NRA rules committee pays more attention to written letters to the committee than anything else.  On numerous occasions I have known where only a few letters  ( as many as 5 or 6 letters)  have had more effect on getting rules changed than anything else.   I don't know why this is but it is true.

Therefore in my opinion what you should do is get as many interested people who would like to see the 7 tcu a legal hunter catridge is WRITE A LETTER TO THE RULES committee  stating that Fedreal is making the brass and that TC has been chambering both rifles and pistols for many years and that it should be a legal hunter catridge.

I would not think it wise for you to show up major match thinking that you will be able to shoot the 7 TCU as a hunter.  You probably will be disqualified.   If I were to travel a thousand miles to go to a match and intended to shoot the 7 TCU as a hunter,  I certainly would carry a back up gun of a different calibre.  

I would like to see the 7 dc as a legal hunter,  but things have kind of settled down from the last division we had over the hunter  and we certainly don't need a nother fuss just now.  IMO......  Don