Taurus TCP and cast- no throat?

[fatelk]

I bought a new TCP a few months ago, and of course want to shoot cast in it.

I already had a 105-SWC mold for .38 special, and read a lot about folks using these just fine in LCP .380s. They absolutely would not work in my gun because I had to seat the bullets extremely deep to get them to chamber. I bought another mold, the 102gr Lee for the .380, and I have to seat it way too deep as well, so deep that the case starts to bulge too far down.

I've shot some FMJs through it just fine, but notice that they have a slight taper right out of the brass. The lead bullets are full diameter further up, and this is where they contact the rifling. It really looks like there is almost no throat ahead of the chamber.

This can't be right, can it? Does anyone know an easy way to fix this, short of paying a gunsmith a bunch of money? I assume Taurus wouldn't do anything about it, since factory FMJs shoot ok (even they feel a bit tight, though, when I check them in the chamber with the barrel out).

[NickSS]

My TCP is the same as yours. I have the lee 102 gr bullet and have to seat it deep to work. However they do work and I have shot several boxes of ammo out of mine with them. I have also shot a couple boxes loaded with Hornady XTP 90 gr that I use for self defense and they work flawlessly. I am thinking about getting a lyman RN mold in 90 gr size as they have more tapper in front of the driving bands and they may work better. I have not gotten around to ordering on yet.

[fatelk]

Thanks, makes me feel a little better about it. Seems like a lousy design, but I suppose that shooting cast is not likely to be much of a design consideration for Taurus.

I suppose it wouldn't take much to cut or hone a few thousandths out of the throat if I had the right tools. Maybe I'll ask about it over in the gunsmithing forum.

[Shuz]

fatelk--How's the trigger pull on the Taurus TCP? My wife complains that the trigger pull on my Ruger LCP is way to long and hard for her. I was thinking of a Taurus TCP for her, but your comments about it not shooting cast boolits makes me re-consider. FWIW, my Ruger LCP shoots both the Lee 102g RN and the Lyman 90g RN very well. never hadda problem.

[fatelk]

The trigger pull isn't bad. I think it's really about right for a pistol like that. It's not a target pistol, but it does hit pretty much where I aim. The Lee 102s shoot OK, just have to be seated really deep. Some cases, depending on brand, bulge badly when seated that deep.

It's not a bad gun, all in all. I'm a bit disappointed about the throat thing, but I still plan on trying to fix it by honing or lapping the throat much the same way you would lap a mold. I posted about it in gunsmithing, but no replies other than one "don't do it- you might wreck your gun". I don't know if the more experienced gunsmiths are ignoring me because it's such a stupid question, or just because nobody's ever tried it before.

I'm going to go ahead and try it. I'll post how it turns out. It's not like it's a high-dollar target gun where I'll destroy the match grade accuracy. If I'm slow and careful I don't see why it shouldn't work.

[mroliver77]

Firelapping with medium charges of powder will move the throat on down the barrel rather quickly!

A throating reamer will do what you want. Load a dummy round to the oal you desire. Make sure it feeds from the mag and cycles into the chamber. Then cut slowly, clean, try dummy round and repeat until you are where you want. You can rent reamers online.
Jat

[fatelk]

I can't seem to find any reamers for rent or sale in .380, or much for throat reamers in handgun calibers at all. Am I not looking hard enough, or are they available at all?

Either way, I'm not excited about spending much on this darn little thing. I'm still tempted to try honing it when I get time. I can't see why it wouldn't work. I'll let you all know if it does (of course I might just keep it to myself if it doesn't).

Added: by the way, I wasn't intending to fire-lap it. Here was my idea:

My thought is to drill out the flash hole in a .380 case to accept a 1/4" bolt (maybe turn and epoxy a nut inside the case), seat a soft cast bullet in the case, then embed some fine grinding compound into the throat area of the bullet. Turn with a drill, going slow and cleaning often to avoid messing up the chamber.

I'm surprised that I didn't get any constructive comments on it.

[fecmech]

This is off the wall but if you have the 358429 bullet seat it in the .380 case with lapping compound on the front of the front shoulder. My 358429's mic .355-.356 on the front drive band. It's no target pistol to start with.

[fatelk]

Anyone have a good Taurus TCP barrel for sale?


Just kidding. It worked OK, but I sure wouldn't recommend it. It was a huge pain and took forever. I've got it to where I can seat the 102gr Lee bullet out to .950 instead of .930. Factory loads measure about .970 but I'm just not that patient so I'm going to quit here. I actually chucked the barrel up in my drill press for better concentricity. I haven't shot it yet but it looks good.

[leadman]

Lyman bullet mold 356242 might just do what you want it to do. Weight is 90 grains, has a step above the front driving band so the nose should be smaller than bore diameter.

If you can find or have made a top punch that would size the boolit in front of the driving band you may b able to make it fit better.

What you have done with the lapping might have solved your problem also.

I am interested since I have an old OMC 380 that suffers from this condition also.

[fatelk]

Partway through the process I was thinking I should have just spent the money and bought the Lyman mold, rather than mess around trying to modify the barrel. It did seem to work though. I hope to get out to try it today.

[fatelk]

It shoots OK, but I'm getting leading.

I don't know what I was thinking with this thing. I should have slugged the barrel before even bothering to order molds. I just slugged it and it measures .358". I figured with modern manufacturing they could have kept it tighter than that.

I know it could be made to work with tinkering, but for now this just is not a cast bullet gun. It's a decent little pistol otherwise, but a disappointment for shooting cast.

[shotman]

Reloading the 380 brass from a taurus ? you would have to buy brass or be inside a closed building Mine will toss the brass 20 ft .. Cabels had 380s onsale about month ago I got 20 boxes so that will last
The 380 head spaces on the mouth of the case you may get into a problem by changeing that . A hard primer like CCI could delay.

[Leonidas]

I have had bad luck shooting cast bullets in my Taurus TCP 380. I also am trying to shoot the Lee 102 gr, sized to .356. The first magazine usually works flawlessy, but after two magazines the action will not close all the way. I think it is due to leading because when I clean it the is a fair amount in the first inch of the barrel.

I made a chamber casting of the barrel today and found out it has a inner diameter of .3585"! I highly suspect that is the source of my problems and causing the heavy leading in the barrel.

Have any of you made a chamber casting of your barrel? If so what diameter is it? I have tried the Lee 105 SWC which drop at .3585" for me but they do not chamber very well. Are there any other molds that drop greater than .358 that are light enough to work in the TCP?
The only one that might work that I can see is the Lee 358-125-RF using a light charge due to the reduced case capacity. Has anyone tried that mold? I am hoping the round flat nose will fix the chambering problems the SWC had.

Edit: Just noticed Fatelk's post that his slugged barrel was over spec as well at .358. Curse you Taurus!

[The Ranger]

Ranch Dog offers a mold that throws a 100gr RFN, i know he used a Taurus 738 TCP and a Taurus 138 in development of this bullet. think its spec'ed at .360. you could get in touch with him.
i'm planning to get one to feed my TCP real soon.

[.5mv^2]

I put the 105swc in the 380 case so the lip only sticks out a fraction. Shoot them in a LCP. I iron out the brass by running the loaded ammo through a Lee 38 special sizer. My load has been worked up and is less than in my Lyman. I am now getting 870fps.

[.5mv^2]

BTW my bullets are sized .358