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.
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.
