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Post by HMC710 on Apr 14, 2019 21:48:32 GMT -5
Follower / Spring / feed lip geometry just isn't favorable for the set up we are trying on the SP mags for the TCM short body the way we are trying it (using a stock body). Made a whole new set up tonight and total failure kicking the noses up. Going to go the opposite direction next week and throw more time and money away. Good news is, the TCM/Glock lower ran very well. I'm getting some carrier drag I need to solve, but for stock TCM rounds this is a no-brainer. We have the BCG glock cut figured out and can do it pretty quick. The mod on the PSA glock lower is very straight forward and you do have to cut a new mag slot in the TCM mag. But, its the best running TCM mag set up I've got and lord knows I've tried a lot.
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Post by HMC710 on Jun 9, 2019 17:56:08 GMT -5
Ran two tests today at local range: Test 1: modified glok lower to take TCM mags. Ran two full mags with zero issues. Man, you don't know how good that feels. Was starting to get some drag on the third mag and did not have my tool box with me to clean up the upper so I switched to test 2
Test 2: Old style Gen II TCM mag: first 5 rounds were 100%. Next 10 rounds were 50/50 run / nose high jam..... Was using factory bullets at 1.28"
The TCM mag set up is much closer to the chamber and the rounds are angled up, guiding them in. Our mags are more level and the short rounds "jump" out of the mag when they leave the feed lips. This distance is also where the round passes the neck of the next round. I think the only answer is to go back to the metal mags with longer feed lips..... but that presents another group if problems for the short round.
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Post by HMC710 on Jul 4, 2019 12:33:56 GMT -5
Some people don't know when to quit...…..
Happy 4th all!
Frustrated with our TCM mag testing and reloading (have I mentioned its a PITA? I'll comment more in the reloading section....) I once again tried something new with our dedicated mag set up based on Tokarev testing last week. Have run 3 - 5 round tests out of two different mags and both have fed 100% out of our 16" carbine set up using 1.28 (or less) factory reloads. The first mags is a modified 1.38" mag set up and I ran 1.28 loads out of if dropping the bolt and firing all 5 rounds. I made 1/2 of the changes to our 1.28" mag (which was a total failure last test) and I had a snag on the neck during bullet drop and the remaining 4 rounds fed 100%. Both of these mags are the polymer body mags. I don't know if this is a breakthrough or fluke at this point, but going to load up more ammo and head to the range....
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Post by HMC710 on Jul 7, 2019 18:46:04 GMT -5
Tested 4 modified mag set ups this weekend with reloads from 1.28" to 1.54" using our dedicated mags. Operation was much better than our previous tests, but none ran as good as the factory mags.
The main difference is that factory mags are A: single feed so the rounds are centered towards the chamber; and B: The rounds are closer to and angled up towards the chamber.
With our mags we were feeding upwards of 80% with nose high jams the #1 jam. We are going to take one barrel and do some more lug grinding, but it looks like the rounds are being pushed nose up by the bolt action and not the barrel extension..... we'll see. The rims of the case are very sharp and grab everything. I'm tempted to take about 20 cases and "rebate" the rim and see if it helps feed....
The good news is that we spent more time shooting than clearing jams, so that's a good thing.
Also tested a Glock lower / TCM upper with 9R reloads and it fed 100%, so that's an easy build.
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Post by HMC710 on Aug 10, 2019 20:41:44 GMT -5
Reloaded some TCM with 36 gr HP and 40gr poly tip with OAL's of 1.52 - 1.54". These load would feed a stock TCM chamber with no throat. We used our new Gen3 M1 carbine mag set ups and loading 5 rounds we got 100% feed. Might take some more reloads and head to the range tomorrow to see if we can keep loading and firing these Gen3 mags.
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Post by squirrelslayer on Aug 11, 2019 14:47:00 GMT -5
are these the AR mags with 30 carbine innards? Very interested! For my wildcat
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Post by HMC710 on Aug 11, 2019 16:58:16 GMT -5
Kinda…. we use AR mag bodies with the thickest side walls we could find. The metal mags all have clearance ribs and mess with the stacking. The poly mags are smooth, but the smaller dia of the 30 carbine almost requires that we shim the sides. PITA.... We are also working on two new mag adapters....
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Post by HMC710 on Aug 29, 2019 18:45:40 GMT -5
New TCM mag adapter report:
A while back, frustrated with lack of progress on dedicated TCM AR mags, I made up an adapter that allows stock TCM mags to (almost) fit into a standard AR magwell. Almost, because the TCM magazine is over .900" wide and has to be squeezed in to fit most AR magwells. Some fit, some, a little vise action and presto, the mag will slide into the standard AR lower. You just need to set depth and angle.
There are a number of Glock mag adapters for standard lowers, so its basically the same thing, but cut to fit a TCM mag.
I'm up at the main shop and getting some parts cut and we modified our Gen 1 TCM adapter and the Gen II adapters are ready for testing. Fit is much better and working on a mag release system. I'm going to try and cut a couple more before I have to head out.
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Post by HMC710 on Sept 8, 2019 12:35:19 GMT -5
Worked on geometry of the dedicated mags while we tested the new TCM-AR adapters at the range yesterday and going to make a couple more adjustments. Even the 1.28 mag ran better yesterday after some tweaking. Don't know how much time I'll have, wheels up in 3 hrs...
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Post by HMC710 on Mar 23, 2020 18:31:19 GMT -5
Ordered new CMMG 5.7 30 round mags for TCM reloads and the 9mm Pmag conversion to see if we can borrow the ramp to adapt to the TCM. We found the "magic wand" to get ours to fee reliably, but costs are way to high to fab and modify mags. Hopefully the 5.7 AR mags will work for standard TCM rounds as well as reloads with real bullets....
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Post by HMC710 on Mar 25, 2020 19:33:49 GMT -5
Got new CMMG mags today but no time to play. THe 5.7 mag is definitely made for the much smaller dia round, but I'm thinking some follower work and reloads with real bullets will fire up the TCM just fine. 1st reports from another tester is factory rounds work but needs some improvement and reloads with 55gr work pretty good.
The 9mm adapter will have to be modified to work with the longer tcm, but we'll see what we can do. Another tester is running full auto with 9R ammo!
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Post by HMC710 on Mar 26, 2020 21:15:33 GMT -5
The 57 mag loaded with 45gr vmax bullets at 1.59" oal. Didn't have time to live fire, but hand cycled 5 rounds went well. I did modify the follower a bit to match the dia of the TCM rounds. The CMMG 9mm "endo mag" was modified by removing the back spacer and re-inserting into the PMag body. Again, 5 rounds hand cycle worked ok. The CMMG mag is a modified Mean Arms (apparently they are working together on this) that does not have the blow back ejector built into the mag due to the CMMG radial blow back system. Again, no live fire, but do have others running 9R ammo full auto.
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Post by HMC710 on Mar 29, 2020 18:42:19 GMT -5
Ran some reloads at about 1.34" oal through the CMMG 9mm Pmag insert with the back spacer removed and function was good for the 10 rounds I did. The follower has a tail on it that you can cut off to load more rounds. Just didn't have the time or want to tick off the neighbors now that were all shut in....
The 57 didn't go as well with my 1.55" reloads. SO I reworked the follower and reamed out some space on the 57 body and the 5 rounds tested went fine. The mag has a raised portion in the back half of the body and it makes the rounds tilt outward and don't stack nice. Follower spring is very heavy so only used about half of it for testing.
For being very thick side walls the heavy mag springs makes it bulge out and hard to fit the magwell if you load too many rounds.. Interesting tho.
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Post by HMC710 on Apr 8, 2020 19:48:18 GMT -5
Finishing up a batch of our TCM-AR adapters. We beefed up the latch mechanism and are waiting for some new pivot pins to come in....
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Post by HMC710 on Oct 17, 2023 6:57:02 GMT -5
Next Gen mags being tested with the best results we have had. Finally had enough time at the shop to stay on this project! Stay tuned!!!!!
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