6mm TCU

Hi Blusam;

Around a decade ago, due to a neck injury, I used a T/C Contender. At that time, there were 6mmTCU's, 7mmTCU's, and more rarely 6.5mmTCU's. I had the latter.

They are built upon a 223 Remington brass. The 6TCU uses the same bullets as a 243 Winchester. The 7TCU uses the common 7mm bullets. The 6.5mm bullets were scarce around my area, so I had to order them from MidwayUSA.

As my neck injury healed, I traded off the Contender towards the purchase of a 243 rifle.

My conclusion about the 6.5 TCU was that the brass was a slight aggravation to fireform, but other than that I didn't see anything phenomenally wonderful or phenomenally terrible about the cartridge.

Some fellows just feel a need to shoot something that's not common. Supposedly the 7TCU is the most popular of the TCU's... at least it was a decade ago.

Regards,

Jerry.
 
I have worked with a couple different 6mm T/CU Contender Handguns. One barrel was 15" from Virgin Valley Custom Guns, and the other was a 15" from On Target Technologies. The 6mm T/CU is basically a .223 Remington IMPROVED Case (fireformed with less body taper and a sharper shoulder) necked up to accept a 6mm Bullet.

Necking up .223 Brass to accept 6mm Bullets is an easy step. All that is required is a tapered expander in the sizing die. I have found that a little graphite in the case neck eliminates any problems necking the .223 up to 6mm.

I have found that when the cases are properly sized, fireforming loads are quite accurate. What I mean by properly sized is to have proper headspace when first necking the .223 cases up to 6mm. Both of my 6mm T/CU Barrels were TIGHT CHAMBERED, and to get Factory New .223 Cases to chamber I had to push the shoulder back a few thousands, and at that they were a tight fit. This is also a good idea so the cases do not stretch upon the initial forming so as to not create a weak spot in the cases.

In the 15" Handguns I have loaded 55gr. Bullets to 3000 FPS (or slightly more) and 80gr. Bullets to 2750 FPS. For Varmints and Coyotes I relied on 55gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips, and for Whitetail Deer I used the 80gr. Speer "Hot Core" Spitzer. I have found that Hodgdon's BENCHMARK Powder produced excellent accuracy and velocity in my 6mm T/CU Handguns.

The 6mm T/CU is an amazing little cartridge, and produces killing power all out of proportion to what the paper ballistics show.

Larry
 
Blusam,

I built a 6X45 (6mm-223) on a CZ 527 American last year. It is about the same as a 6TCU but a little smaller case capacity. The 6x45 keeps the same shoulder as the 223 and the 6TCU fireforms to a 40* shoulder. I built the rifle for its lt.weight , recoil and ease of reloading. Have not got any yotes but did get a 150# doe @ 125yds did not move an inch just folded up. Drop me a note if you have any questions.
 
I would think you would be delighted with the round. I have played a fair amount with the 7mm tcu and its really a cool pistol round. Folds up typical size does like magic, wooded shots right in the bread basket, never shot one past 50 yards. Cases are easily formed and the round is amazingly accurate. If you want to play with a oddball round its an easy round to like.
 
I will be quickly corrected if I am wrong but here goes.

I believe the 6MM TCU, which means Thompson Center Ulibarri, or something like that (the U comes from the developers last name and I did not look it up to be sure) was developed as a steel silouette round.

I took a bud prairie dogging last Sunday and he used one in a Contender. When you make a hit, and he was using what looked like TNT hollow points, there is a very distinct whop noise on the other end.

Great round, and very accurate!
 
TCU = Thompson Center Ugalde (named for Wes Ugalde that developed the round.) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

It's a great round... My very favorite for Contenders! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif

$bob$
 
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