Reeder Custom Guns - 7mm TCU - I was stunned to see a full length article....

In this month's Handloader Magazine. I haven't seen anything written on this early Contender Round in 30 years.

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for knocking over steel. I remember reading Milek shooting deer and antelope, a natural evolution of events. The 7 BR as hot on it's heels. Both ran a 120/140 gr. close to the old 7mm Mauser's 175 gr. speeds. The 7mm is arguably one of the finest calibers on any platform, it just is.

The concept ran from 6mm up to .30, or .358 even, if you will. Gary's Raptors on the more capacity .204/.222 Mag. case take it another step. I think the 7mm GNR on the .30-30 just takes the cake. The .280 GNR is great but crosses the line on efficiency compared to some of the smaller rounds. Relating to how much powder is used to gain the extra speed. BUT when you need the baddest, fastest, the .280 GNR is there for you.

Gary was around in the glorious days when handgun performance was being truly explored. His continuation of the design and performance increase have been truly a gift to me.

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probably to the point of them putting out a contract on me. The main 2 I liked to talk to back then were Lee Jurras and Bob Milek. I remember talking to Milek at one of the shows and I mentioned that I saw that TC had adopted his 6mm/223. That sort of set him off. TC had not gone with his version of it. They went with Ugalde's version of it, making it the 6mm TCU (Thompson Center Ugalde)I don't remember what the difference was but it apparently was enough that they were 2 totally different rounds. Later on, mainly because I liked Milek, I built a 6mm/223 barrel and used it for a few seasons. Like the 7 TCU it really lacked the power to put a deer size critter down immediately. For exotic game like Corsican sheep and such it worked fine, except the Mauna Kea, Merino or Barbados Ram (all the same animal, just different names) with their 4" thick wool. At the hit they didn't show a good hit at all and continued walking after being hit. But on the Corsican sheep with their thin coat it worked fine.
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for an antelope hunt in Montana. At about 150 yards I hit the antelope just behind the front leg. He stiffened up and started walking off. I hit him again at about 175 as he stopped and turned broadside to me. Again he started walking off. I ran a Texas Heart Shot up his ass and that finished him. He was an old buck and had been doing a lot of fighting. His hooks were almost totally gone on his horns. The 7 TCU is a good cartridge but just not a one shot killer on a deer or antelope size critter. We were allowed a doe on the hunt too and it worked fine for a small doe at about 35 yards. I rechambered it to 7-08 and that almost doubled the power.

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Gary, I was wondering if you still work on the XP-100.
I always wanted one, partly because I am Left handed.
They are pricy now though.

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in 257 Raptor that he took a cow elk with at the HHC.

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Have ever owned.

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Still have my old 10" and it looks new till this day. With the great bullets available for the 300 Whisper/Blackout, it's still a useful caliber.

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12 he had taken probably a dozen exotic critters with his 10" 30 Herrett.
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My first contender barrel is at 256 Winchester and then a year later I bought a 30 Herrett 1976 I believe. My father-in-law and I used to take 100 rounds for three different guns which one was the 30 Herrett out every weekend and shoot prairie dogs for quite a few years. My 30 Herrett shot thousands of rounds still have it still shoots as good as when it was new I like the 30 Herrett.

7mm TCU - I was stunned to see a full length article....

Yep , not a bad round but there are many better nowaday's.

Really efficient, was it not initially a target round

I used to annoy some of the gun writers

I chambered it in a custom XP-100 years ago

XP-100

sure, we have a couple here now for customers

if I remember right we did a custom XP-100 for Blake

Yep it’s a tack driver. The most accurate gun I have

I always leaned towards the 30 Herrett...

I started Kase off with the 30 Herrett. By the time he was

30 Herrett

The 7 TCU start me in handgun hunting

geez., its a miracle I can speak Engrish with the way I type