Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Trouble with CCI .22 LR Ammo

I now have two .22 LR rifles that will not easily chamber a CCI factory round.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Federal ammo chambers, fires and ejects just fine.

donsm70

CCI 22 LR ammo is known for being very accurara across the board in most 22 LR rifles.
Part of that is due to the fact it has a full diameter .223" driving bands that have full square leading edges. If you compare CCI bullets the Federal slugs , you can see the Federal bullets have knurled driving band which refices their diemeter... The CCI driving bands are alsolonger than most other brands. This gets the bearing surface of the bullet closeer to the chamber throat which helps accuracy..just as it does in many centerfire rifles.

The problem you are experiencing usually occurs in some short and tight sporting chambers usually found in European rifles like CZs or true match chambered rifles of all brands which pre engrave the bullet way down the driving band.

CCI Stingers are the worst about this as their driving bands are a about .10" farther forward than a regular .22 LR .Even though my CZ m452 chambers Mini Mags just fine, Stingers require a bit of effort as they pre-engrave quite a bit when chambered. In some beands of match chambered rifles, the eifling may even ore engrave all the way down to the longer Stinger cases which crimos the bullet and can raise pressires dangerous or hamper extraction. Which is why it is not recommended Stingers be shot in match chambers. Other CCI 22 LR loads should be fine.

If your rifles don't have tight spec chambers, then the hard chambering could be the sign of a dirty chamber or throat..

Unusual to me, CCI Standard velocity is the Standard to see what will work in most 22's especially semi's. If CCI will not work then your 22 might have issues. It works fine in my High Standard Citation, and a BSA Martini, and CZ 452. Also worked well in a Remington 541S. What CCI ammo is it?

I have never had any issues with CCI Standard Velocity or Mini Mags in any 22LR in good functional condition. Like the above poster, it is the standard that I judge other rimfire rounds to. Tell us more about the ammo and rifles that are having issues.

Thanks for the quick responses.

The CCIs were Stingers.

One rifle is an early ULA rifle from Melvin Forbes. It has always been accurate with other brands of ammo.

The second rifle is a Kimber of NY. I just shot the Kimber today and when I switched to the Federal ammo, it was very accurate.

donsm70

I think Stingers have a slightly longer case(I don't have any on hand) and make up the difference with a shorter and lighter bullet. If those rifles have minimal spec chambers I think you just diagnosed your problem.

Both of those rifles should have match length chambers...

I would not shoot Stingers in either rifle for the reasons I mentioned in my first post.

CCI makes a couple other rounds on that long case, so check before you buy. Those Stingers are killer-dillers though, and a rifle that'll shoot 'em is a good thing to have. Last two chucks I shot with them were DRT; one head shot, one chest.

I am fairly certain all CCI and Federal 22 ammo is produced in Lewiston, ID. A couple of years ago, we needed 22 ammo for Boy Scouts. We picked up cases of Federal labeled ammo from the Lewiston plant and were told that it was produced in Lewiston.

CCI is my go to ammo, never had a problem with it in any of my rifles. Although I shoot far less Stinger ammo I haven't had any problems with it either.

They do not chamber the same. I found that out yesterday.

donsm70

I don't think thats the case. ..Was the ammo Federal Lightnings?..A waa a "few years ago" more like 9 or 10?

I say this because in the mid 2000s, just after ATK- the defense contractor bought Blount's sporting good division (CCI, Speer,RCBS etc) - decided to do some strange manufacturing "streamlining" in their rimfire product lines .After the Blount deal ATK owned both Federal and CCI.

For a while , CCI Blazer ammo was the same stuff as Federal lightings Champions.
I believe some Federal Highpower stuff was CCI mini mags in Federal boxes. It was/is easy to see the difference in the bullet styles and lubes with the naked eye ,do I don't know who the.nimrods at ATK thpught they were going to fool with their stunt.

This pissed off a lot of hardcore rimfire shooters as it really played hell with our expectations of what we were getting.And contrary to what the dickheads in the ATK marketing dept believed there IS a difference between loadings in each gun.

For example I have two rifles that show a stark preferrence for one load over another - real CCI Blazers vs Federal Champions or Auto match. ..If the ammo companies are just going to throw whatever load they want in the box, why even bother to put a catchy name on it? Just put a big "?" on it so we know its just a grab bag...

They did that stuff for 3-4 years and then stopped. All the CCI and Federal rinfire ammo I have bought in tge last 5 years or so looks just like it did back before the ATK buyout 15 years ago.

Really? Which other solid projectile loads does CCI use a longer than standard 22 LR case? To my knowlege ,the Stinger is the only one.

CCI makes a 32 gr segmented hyper velocity load that also uses a longer case. I'm not sure what it's good for, but i use them around the buildings here for varmints...I figure there is very low chance of ricochet.

The Stingers would not chamber in my 541-S either. The CCI subsonic hollow points would chamber but they required more than normal effort because the driving band is a good bit longer than other CCI rounds. I have had no problems with any other CCI rounds.

CCI Standard Velocity is my first go to when testing a gun....it seams to shoot fairly well in a wide variety of guns.....

Running it threw a Neil Waltz die help improve some guns....as a bonus I can make hollow points or flat nose....

Thanks again.

donsm70

This is not a problem. It is simply a matter of matching ammo to your rifles. That's half the fun of accurate .22s!

RS