For Fun, RIA’s TCM TAC Ultra FS
Combo .22 TCM Still Rules the Range
I’ve touted the virtues of this gun before and I’m going to do it again. You will literally have a blast shooting this gun. The ball of fire produced by every shot, the incredible accuracy, and the speed at which you’ll burn through the .22 TCM rounds will put a smile on your face. You’ll record it on your mobile device and text it to a friend with a smiley emoji and an “LOL”. Except you’ll literally laugh out loud as you and others shoot it.
It’s just that fun. And it retails for $891.
The only part that’s not so fun is loading the 10-round magazines. You know how loading .45 ACP cartridges into a Wilson Combat magazine is an exercise in engineering excellence with buttery-smooth movement and feel? These magazines aren’t quite there yet. It takes some serious pressure from a thumb or two to get the rounds to go down and in. And even when they do, they don’t feel like they’re going in smoothly. And so you wonder if the rounds will get hung up as the gun calls them up, one by one. They don’t. In fact, I’ve yet to have any kind of stoppage or jam.
RIA’s TCM TAC Ultra FS Combo .22 TCM
In fact, other awesomeness in this gun includes racking the slide. Smooth, easy, consistent, confidence-inspiring. You expect it to be a lot more difficult to tug back, but it’s not. Moreover, the thumb safety and the trigger are both smooth and crisp. The G10 grips create great purchase and the whole operation is 1911-wonderful.
Unloaded, this gun weighs 2.35 lbs. It measures 8.54” overall with a 5.51” overall height. So it’s a relatively larger, heavier gun. It just doesn’t feel like it when you’re firing it. A 5” barrel and a terrific fiber optic front sight makes accuracy better when you’re doing your part.
Classic 1911 grip and a terrific front sight
But squeezing the trigger is where all the fun’s at. Doing so fires a bullet at 2,000 FPS. Empty cases eject about six feet to the right and two feet behind the gun. Watch your step; you’ll have a pile of them before too long. Recoil is negligible despite the ball of fire and the bark and the gun gets back on target quickly.
The tactical rail is there if you want it; for me, so far, it has gone unused.
10 rounds of .22 TCM is a load of fun, but it’s not so fun loading the magazines.
A ball of fire like this comes with each shot.
At a recent range session, I had a handful of handguns and rifles out to shoot, along with a handful of friends who were eager to do the shooting. Once one person got this 1911 into her hands, it was only a couple shots until it drew the attention of everyone else. At that point, it easily became the most popular gun on the table. It was so fun, in fact, we were all laughing out loud. Literally.
