Type Pistol/Rifle Parent case 5.56×45mm NATO Bullet diameter .224 or 5.56mm | Designer Fred Craig Case type Rimless bottleneck Base diameter 0.376 in (9.6 mm) | |
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The .22 TCM or 22TCM (.22 Tuason Craig Micromagnum) is a proprietary bottle-necked cartridge developed by custom gunsmith Fred Craig and Rock Island Armory (RIA) for semi-automatic pistols and the Rock Island M22 TCM bolt action rifle. Before the cartridge was commercialized, it was called the 22 Micro-Mag. Similar conceptually to other bottle-necked pistol cartridges such as the larger-caliber .357 SIG, the .22 TCM trades bullet mass for increased velocity and lowered recoil.
Based on the 5.56×45mm NATO case and shortened so that the shoulder is at approximately the same length as a .38 Super cartridge, the .22 TCM is somewhat longer than the ubiquitous 9×19mm Parabellum and designed to be fired from a RIA line of weapons (which also included 9mm barrel swaps) fed by Para-Ordnance-style double-column .38 Super magazines. A sub-variant, the 22 TCM 9R, with a shorter, more deeply-seated bullet, is designed for use in Glock magazines limited to standard-length 9mm cartridges. Standard factory loads are 40-grain jacketed soft hollow point, 39-grain for "9R".