There will be naysayers, but in Indoor Bullseye with .22 Target pistols, it used to be a common practice to use a needle oiler and put a tiny drop of good gun oil on the first case chambered. Might be worth a try, if not free, cheap enough.

 

Maybe I'll give it a try some time.

 

I've owned a 1911 chambered in 22TCM going on 8-9 years. I've never had the issue you describe. I've had issues with over-pressured ammo, but only one particular box and no other over-pressure issues since that particular box. Half of that box was over-pressured. I'd smack the back of the gun while gripping the slide to get the spent casing to eject -- not a hard lock, though. I had one round (same box of ammo) blow the primer out. That case required a rod to push the case out.

I've close to 1000 rounds of 22TCM and 22TCM9R out of the barrel. I've not been tracking which boxes are US-produced and which are Philippines-produced. Not even sure where the faulty box of ammo was made, and it's been quite a few years since then.

I've no advise to give (other than to try a different batch of ammo and to maybe get a gunsmith to fit the frame and slide, as recommended), but thought I'd share my experience.

 

Thank for sharing your experience. Evidence to the contrary I didn't mean speak too harshly about the caliber. It just didn't work out for me in this format.

 

Sensor, I had EXACTLY the same experience and my RIA top end was fit by a very good gunsmith who sometimes posts on this forum. Very hard lock-up with the first shot, and every shot after. I sold the ammo and barrel and used the slide to make another 9x23. Problem solved.
They say the 22TCM is great for smashing watermelons, but around here the watermelons are pretty tame and a good knife seems to be all I need!

 

Sorry you had the same experience.

 

You don’t need a new 9mm slide just get a 9mm barrel to put in the 22TCM slide and you are done.

I enjoy shooting my 22TCM 1911 and bolt action rifle. The 1911 is a flame thrower and the rifle is just a fun plinker.

 

Yeah, mine came with two barrels. It shoots 9mm extremely well, too.

 

Thousands and thousands of rounds through my TCM from the old brass low pressure stuff to the new warm nickel stuff.
It ain't the ammo chief.

 

I might be wrong.

But it might also be a difference between your gun and mine in how they react to it. Or a lot of other factors I can't really account for. This post was mostly back story for "don't be dumb like me and mess with the chamber."

 

I never had that problem with my 22tcm pistol. It is their 1911 version which can be converted to 9mm too. But years ago I remember a Llama .45 that I had just bought had a problem with the extractor. It would not eject the cases and it acted like they were stuck in the chamber. The gunsmith fixed it, but I forget what he did now. So maybe it is the extractor with the problem.

 

My very limited experience says that the complete pistols work much more consistently than solo slides. Just more factors they can control from the factory, I think.

If you remember what fixed the 45 let me know.

 

Early TCM wide body 1911's came with two caliber specific extractors, one 9mm one 22tcm. Later production changed to one extractor for both calibers, when properly made and adjusted they work great, some are not perfect. I would try to get a 22tcm specific extractor, if no joy then get a 9mm one and have a knowledgable gunsmith fit it to the 22 TCM case, your problems should disappear.

My very early pistol was tuned by the man himself Fred Craig, it was one of the pistols sent to gun writers for evaluation and reviews .
It has a 3 lb trigger, and the slide feels like it is on ball bearings , super smooth and slick. It is highly accurate with both 9mm & 22tcm barrels.
It has had the early imported and USA made ammo, along with my hand loads run through it over the years I have owned it and has never had any problems in any way over that time.
I really enjoy the lack of recoil, it's accuracy, dependability, and the fireballs coming out of the muzzle, I would not sell it for 4 times what it cost me.

 

Conversion kits are on sale at RIO, after ordering I am taking a stroll through the post on here about it. This one starts out a little shakey but I feel better towards the end. Any vetran 22 TCM owners have any advice for a new guy. I might not cast but will be re loading ammo and putting slide on Tac ultra FS HC 10mm frame.

 

This is mostly a cautionary tale to not do what I did.

TL;DR It's probably over-pressure ammo from the Philippines. USA made ammo might fix it. If polishing the chamber doesn't fix it don't hone or do anything more with the chamber because it probably won't fix it.

I've been interested in the 22 TCM for a long time. I found one of the old conversion 1911 slides that RIA used to make and mated it with a 9mm para cut frame. Fits perfectly and cycles ammo smoothly until it's fired. The first fired case locked up in the chamber so tight I almost could not get it out by hand. Eventually I was able to slap it open against the web of my palm.

I experimented quite a bit to figure out what could be causing the issue. Putting the fired cases back in the chamber is the only thing I could do to repeat the malfunction, other than firing more rounds. I thought I had read extensively about 22TCM, but I would have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had seen one of the posts here talking about over-pressure ammo causing this problem. I didn't see that so I moved on to trying to fix it myself.

I polished and honed the chamber. This greatly reduced the amount of lock up, but not enough to allow the pistol to cycle when fired. The lock up is not a smooth friction, but a hard wall that has to be overcome.

Polishing and honing were unsuccessful in resolving the problem. I believe the ammo I purchased (Philippines production) is so over pressured the cases deform and lock up no matter how smooth the chamber is.

I reluctantly moved onto contacting RIA to see if they had any suggestions. Their suggestion was to use case lubed ammo. I've never heard of lube for ammo, other than in a reloading context. I was told they make lubed 22 TCM, but I've never seen that and supposedly they are out of stock. The rep would not make a suggestion for products to lube their ammo that can actually be purchased. (Aside: Purely for laughs I tried WD40 Specialist that leaves a dry lubricant coating. That made the lock up worse. Not a serious attempt, just an amusing aside.)

Eventually the rep said I needed to get a gun smith to fit the frame to the slide. No hate, but that slide fits and operates smoothly. I get it's the legally smart thing to do on their part, but I was hoping for helpful information, not a polite way of telling me to pound sand. Particularly after polishing and honing the chamber myself I wasn't asking for any free fixes from them.

I love the potential of the 22 TCM, but this adventure didn't work out for me. If you had a good experience I'm happy for you, but I wouldn't do it over again. Being at the mercy of poor quality ammo is a little more finicky than I can deal with in a pistol I was planning to carry. My plan at present is to throw the 22 TMC slide in a closet. I wouldn't feel good about trying to sell it after working on it myself. I'll probably get a 9mm slide that fits my frame and enjoy not thinking about how fix this anymore.

Thanks for reading. I hope you get something useful out of it. I'm not asking for advice on anything, though you should feel free to comment.

 

I use Hornady spay case sizing lube. So far it works. Even with hot loads. Jb