It started as a conversation about whether it would even work. We figured there was no harm in trying, and if it didn't work out to our satisfaction, we'd just rebuild it back to the original.
A customer brought in a 22 TCM rifle. We got to talking about the pistol version, how it had an interchangeable barrel that swapped between .22 TCM and 9mm. The magazine on the rifle was basically a 9mm magazine anyway, so we figured it would be a relatively easy conversion that could use the original .22 TCM mags. That raised the question: why wouldn't it work for the rifle?
There wasn't a good reason it couldn't. So we went ahead.
We got a 9mm barrel blank, chambered it, and threaded it 1/2-28 for suppressor use. We had to open up the bolt face a bit for positive ejection and reprofiled the feed ramp to suit the 9mm. The feed ramp was the real job. The .22 TCM is bottlenecked; 9mm is straight-walled. Same angle doesn't feed both. I worked it until it ran everything I put through it, then left it alone.
The work wasn't complicated. But none of it had been proven either.
"Using 147 subsonic ammo with a good quality suppressor, the target being hit is louder than the shot itself."
When it was together, it exceeded our expectations. Nobody had tried it with a bolt gun, at least not that I was aware of, and at the time there were no 9mm bolt action rifles out there. Since then, I've sent dozens of them all over the country. Several other gunsmiths picked the idea up and are keeping it alive.
That's usually how things move in this trade Quietly.
His intent was to shoot deer. He lived in a heavily wooded area and had a depredation permit to keep them out of his garden. There were a lot of deer there and once they figured out that his garden was an easy food source, he had a heck of a time keeping them out. They ate virtually everything he had planted. He did have some neighbors and didn't want to disturb them.
The rifle worked very well for that purpose. He was using Remington Gold Dot 147 subs, and they worked very well, usually shooting right through them. I was a bit hesitant about a 9mm rifle being used to kill deer at first, but it did, in fact, do an excellent job. At fifty yards, the loudest thing on target was the impact. The neighbors never knew. (Editor's note: Consult your local law, as utilizing a 9mm to hunt deer may not be permitted in your area.)
There was no recurring failure mode. None whatsoever, other than running out of ammo. That's about as clean as it gets.
Most customers come in working inside what they’ve already seen. and assume that just because they don't know how to do something, it can't be done. That's not how this works.
The other thing they don't always understand is that these things take time. We live in a society where people get instant gratification on a lot of things. Gunsmithing isn't one of those things. They aren't the only one bringing a gun in to be fixed, and rushing work like this is how problems get created.
"That's usually how things move in this trade. Quietly."
He absolutely loved it. I liked the project so well that I made one for myself and have made many since. It started out as a conversation about why it may or may not be possible. Once we discussed it for a while, we figured there was no harm in trying. If it didn't work out, we'd just put it back the way it was.
Now it's out in the world. Other gunsmiths are building their own versions. It works. That's the whole story.
"The bolt face didn't care what cartridge it was built around. The feed ramp didn't either, once it was cut right. Most of the limits people believe in aren't mechanical. They just haven't been cut on yet."