Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Why does everyone like Mini Mags?

First let me say my hunting rifle does not shoot any of the high velocity ammo accurately, so that eliminates me from the market. But what I'm referring to is admiration for CCI Mini Mags. It's sold in 2 variations... 40 gr RN at 1235 ft/sec and 36 gr HP at 1260 ft/sec. Both are copper coated. I understand that in the past it has been one of the more readily available rimfire ammo. Now, at least where I live, Aquila is the most readily available.

Federal makes 38 gr HP copper coated rimfire ammo that goes 1260 ft/sec. and a copper coated 40 gr RN at 1240 ft/sec. In my nylon 66 and pistols it is more reliable than the mini mags. I'm not going to say it never misfires or misfeeds, but almost never. The mini mags are a pain to shoot. Besides, heavier bullet at the same velocity means more energy.

I dont have a dog in this fight one way or the other.... just wondering why everyone likes mini mags?

Back in the day (late '60s and early '70s, anyway) MiniMags were probably the most reliable ammo you could get, and it shot pretty well in most typical hunting .22s, like the Marlin 60 and 10/22s. The bullets were tight in the cases, unlike the cheaper ammo from Remington and Winchester, causing a mulititude of problems feeding, etc.
From my point of view, the stuff made that old Marlin of mine sing, and killed stuff well.

To be honest, it's not the most accurate stuff in my current rifles (all boltguns), but it's still awfully good, and reliable, in that old Marlin of mine, and a whole passel of 10/22s and 77/22s I've owned. It's plenty "accurate enough" and reliability is still not really questionable even now. Those plastic sliding-lid boxes are nice, too, but everyone's using those nowadays.

We hide-bound old guys tend to like what worked for us back then, and if it's still working well enough, are slow to change much. I am also very, VERY pleased with the Aguila CPHV stuff, but if I'm going to go after a limit of Missouri squirrels, I'll probably be carrying MiniMag HPs, because they shoot pretty well, too. I like CCI pretty well, Federals are okay, and I won't buy Winchester or Remington, period, too many loose bullets. Aguila is my current favorite for plinking or just plain messing around, but for tree rats, gimme those MiniMags.

They aren't match quality by any means but are fairly accurate in my rifles and very reliable. It's a great choice for small game.

Acceptably accurate in everything I've tried them in, dead reliable, and good killers. Available often enough to keep on hand.

Not my first choice for accuracy in my current pet, but I try to keep 1000 or so on hand for myself and/or my sons.

Good choice in pistols too. Velocitors turn up a bit more speed, but cost twice as much. Stingers are my go-to in my carry gun, an 8-shot M63, but reamin scarce and of course, pricey.

Once I burn up the cheap Winny and Fed bulk I bought in 2003, I might just pick up a case of MM holler points for "everything else".

accurate and go bang every time not like the Rem and Win ammo today

Seen more than one semi-auto that would have problems running consistently reliable unless CCI mini mags were used.

I'm just the opposite... My auto rifle and pistol misfire and jam all the time with MM. Put in the Federal and the problem goes away.

The pistol is the worse.. 2 in 10 misfire and 4 in 10 jam... put in the Fed and no misfires or jams. I shot just over a 100 rds Friday without a jam or misfire. I knew not to even try the MM, although I got some left, from times past.

Just different guns, I guess.

FWIW, the MM's shoot just fine in the revolvers, no jams no misfires. I cant say much for accuracy, because I'm not at all accurate with a pistol. Lock me in a barn and I couldn't hit a side!

I had a Marlin 39A that wouldn't extract Federal cases (in the 1950's-1960's). The front of the rim was a little rounder than others, causing the extractor to slip over.

Bruce

I recently tried several kinds of ammo in a 10/22, and found that the MM stuff held groups about twice the size of most other varieties. Only AE 38cphp was worse. The best was federal Automatch, followed closely by the bulk winchesters. I didn't try any high dollar stuff. Fine by me. I've gone away from using hollow points on game. Lead solids do plenty of damage to smaller critters and give better penetration if something bigger or thicker shows up.

What I like about mini mags is they have a good combination of hitting power, accuracy, and the ability to shoot reasonably well from a variety of rifles.

Reckon a guy can use what he wants to.

As for me, I have rifles that shoot this or that better. The mini mag HP though shoots pretty well in just about everything and superbly so in most of my favorite .22s.

Ditto

I like the plastic boxes. They don't crush and fall apart in yer back pocket like cardboard do......

They were always a bit pricey when I shot them. So I always said screw it and ponied up for Stingers. Those are bad ass. I guess I should try the MM again now that most decent 22 is pricey. I do agree that Aguila is very good. Got a brick I'm bringing my Zimbabwe buddy when I go over there. Arms embargo in place on Zim from the EU. A box of crap 22 is $50 there!!! A buck a thunderbolt!!!

Not everyone likes them. I don't, but then I don't have much time for any HV .22 ammo. I target shoot mainly, with a little plinking thrown in and I go for accuracy over speed. Even though I'm an avid squirrel hunter and shoot more than my share of them, I even prefer standard velocity target ammo for them also- again choosing accuracy over velocity. (And over the course of 50 years at that game I honestly can't remember ever losing a squirrel because I didn't hit it with a HV bullet.) I don't buy into the nonsense of shooting deer with magnum cartridges either.

In my experience Stingers always, without fail, turned in lousy accuracy. (To me lousy accuracy is an inch or worse at 50 yards- and Stingers always were that bad and worse, usually a lot worse. Useable accuracy equals 1/2-3/4"/50 yards. Expected accuracy is 1/4-1/2".)

I murder a lot of schit with rimfires every year. I'm talking thousands, not hundreds and the Mini Mag is ALWAYS accurate enough for squirrel sized game out to 75yds. And I've yet to see it not feed or cause problems in any 22LR. Bolts, autos, you name it.

It's the gold standard as far as I'm concerned. It may not group best in every firearm but it groups well enough to get things done.

If I had a rimfire that had issues with MM's, I'd tear that rimfire apart and find the problem.




Dave

1/4" groups are fun but any 22LR consistently putting five shots into 1" @ 50yds, is going to be a bad mamma jamma on the killing fields.




Dave

a skwirl patch is always way more fun than poking holes in paper.....

And damn good for sorting out who can and can't shoot... grin.




Dave

Agreed, but this is one area I let myself get anal about. I'll concede MM's can be ok accuracy-wise, but my rant was about Stingers. I never had any luck with them.

I don't have ground squirrels, gophers, prairie dogs, etc that y'all have out there, so shooting hundreds (let alone thousands) of shots at small game for me is a non-starter. Also, for me, the mild "thap" of an Eley Tenex compared to the crack of a HV round is a valid reason for choosing them also. The squirrels (what's a "skwirl") don't seem to shy away as much. Shooting them out of a 28" barreled M52 also helps keep things quiet. (And no, I don't care to get into suppressors.)

MM HP's RULE!
Effective.
Cheap.
True and
Local.

They shoot excellent in all of my .22's.. Must have 6 or 8.

I've found the Stingers to shoot really well in my bolt guns. But they give me fits in my Magnum Research.

The Browning HV's are pretty awesome. But I don't think I'd use them for squirrels out east. They really make things pop.




Travis

Stingers & Yellowjackets only shoot well out of my CZ & Remington 513T.. But they are deadly in those two 👍

I split the difference with my small game ammo and use RWS SSHPs. As accurate as anything I've tried so far in my sporter, and killer-diller on squirrels. They also hit the same POI as SVs and Aguila match, and darn close to Quiet .22 solids. Don't worry about bigger critters anymore since I grew up and got bigger guns. The SS ammo is much quieter in the woods where HS makes a considerable crack.

Stingers are a crapshoot accuracy-wise, but are the killingest LRs I've used. They're the only one I'd trust to kill groundhogs cleanly with a chest shot. They also crank about 1200fps out of a pistol.

Mini Mags? I started using them back in the mid-1970s because they gave the best combo of accuracy and kill-power, literally the best bang for the buck, back when they WERE a buck. I've almost never had a "bad" lot of Mini Mags in all those years. Only other brand that has come close have been the early production Win 40 SWCHP, the Power Points. Those were outstanding, then terrible, now are "coming back" a little. But the Good Ol Boys in Lewiston have never, ever dropped the ball.

Not always the most accurate, depending on the individual firearm. But over the past 40+ years, one of the most consistently reliable choices to be found in my experiences.

CCI Singers for me. They are accurate in my Nylon 66 & my Marlin model 60

!" @ 50 yds, 5 shot group... need to tear that gun apart and find out what's wrong with it... or just go ahead and shoot a shotgun.

Very reliable and at least reasonably accurate in everything I have ever tried them in. I have had great luck with CCI rimfire ammo across the board. I could be happy with just Mini Mags and CCI Standard Velocity for all of my 22LR shooting.

A few days ago, I went to the range for some informal shooting. I shot 300 MM hollow points through a Remington Model 550-1. No issues and very good accuracy. That is an example of why MMHP ammo is one of my favorites.

A year or so ago you'd have been labeled a wastrel and a showoff.

Glad that's over.

CCI Mini Mags earned a good reputation for value, reliability, and availability during a time when the Rem golden bullets were really hit and miss.

Then CCI has gone the extra mile to develop a variety of 22 rounds, ans well as other rimfire stuff. They have shown a lot of innovation.

there is a reason the mini mags are the suggested ammo by many rimfire pistol and auto rifles from the factory , they make them function properly

I have used them for many years as my go to squirrel ammo in multiple rifles. Midway came through with a 5000 round case during the crisis so I never had to venture very far from my normal ammo. I use this ammo in a couple of rifles still to date, a Rem 541, a Marlin 80 and Rem 550-1. It has also performed very well, never had a misfire and is accurate. It is not match ammo,

My reason for liking Mini Mags is about the same as everyone elses. Just looked over an accuracy chart I've been compiling over the last 4 rifles I've owned (CZ 452, 455, and two 10/22's), and until last November, I used almost exclusively high velocity stuff, and mostly HP. Mini Mags hover around the top 5 most accurate in all of them, never had a misfire that I can remember, nor a feeding issue.

Never had any problem with them for plinking and hunting. They are not match ammo.

Norma TAC is becoming a favorite (not match either), but still will be shooting the MM's until I die.

Dam, the Norma is on sale now. See below.


http://www.championshooters.com/ind...t_id=2890&virtuemart_category_id=214

well throw me in with the overall majority on mini mags, they shoot really well in most rifles i've shot them out of and they pack a nice punch for hunting. they also shot very well out of my Mark II that i used for squirrels at times. my preference on the mini mags is the hollow points. I've now grown very found of the Norma TAC-22 for informal range shooting. i still haven't tried any of the Aguila stuff rat smackers recommends but its on my list to do as soon as this blasted heat goes away now that i've finished my home project for the summer.

Never shot any Mini Mags. The 10/22 shows a preference here, all 5 shot groups:



From a 513T, groups #3 and #5 are 10 shot groups:



Back to the 10/22, in discussion about HV ammo it always preferred W-W Power Points:

I've killed a bunch of tree rats and ground hogs with them. They have never been anywhere near "very" accurate, except one rifle, but they will usually hang around 1" ,give or take, at 50 yards. Don't remember ever having a misfire or any other problem with them either.

I remember my dad b*tching that Minimags had gone up to a penny apiece.

As a kid I ran CCI minimag and Federal. Didn't matter...both did well.
Hated Remington's waxy crap.

Other guns came along, showed preference for Super X, so just went with that for all.
Did fine for a couple decades.

Minimag in decent supply, my current .22 rifles (two) don't like it.
One does OK with Blazer, so will pick up a couple more bricks.

Dunno if Minimag sucks now, or just have guns that prefer something else. I got some WW Max 42gr (Australian mfg) and my bolt rig liked it.
Ordered 2 bricks. See if this lot # is as well liked.

No..Mini Mags don't "suck now" ..They never did.

Its always been good clean, reliable ammo which is more than I can say for Remington ,Winchester and Federal during the last 10 years.

Your particular rifle does not like them in terms of accuracy...In terms of accuracy ,every gun is a law unto itself..It happens.

Mini mags have shot fine in my rifles. This every rifle has ammo it likes has not been my experience, higher grade match ammo always groups better then hv stuff .

I can get slightly better accuracy with low velocity target loads that cost twice as much. But the difference isn't that great. Anything cheaper and accuracy really suffers. Best balance between acceptable accuracy and price for me.

I shoot mini-mags and Stingers in my Berettas, a Model 21-A and a Model 87, and both give very reliable performance with this ammo.