CCI AR Tactical ammo

While at Cabela's last week, I picked up a carton of the CCI AR Tactical .22LR. I took it with me to the range today and after working through some hand-loads for my M&P15, I switched over to the M&P15-22 to see how this CCI ammo worked.

The 15-22 had been cleaned prior to the last range trip and had not more than 100 rounds through it.

I fired a string of Walmart obtained Federal Bulk ammo to establish a baseline for how things were working today.

The Federal ammo clocked in with a 10 shot group at 1193 FPS, SD of 25.7 FPS, and an extreme spread of 70.6 FPS.

The AR Tactical ammo clocked in with a 10 shot group at 1154 FPS, SD of 7.9, and an extreme spread of 21.9 FPS.

Without going any further, it is easy to see that the CCI ammo is much more consistent than the Federal.

The orange target dots are 1" in diameter. They provide a reasonably small target for 50 yard shots with low magnification scopes.

My M&P15-22 is equipped with a Millet DSM-1 1-4x optic. I was running it at 4x for all of the shots fired. 10 rounds were loaded into a 25 round magazine. I used a GripPod for the forward support (I need to get a short 10 round mag) and used the green sand bag for rear support.




Here is the Federal Bulk target, shot at 50 yards. I checked my records and this particular string was a bit on the larger side (by slightly less than 1") than what I have shot before at 50 yards with this rifle, albeit I was using a Leupold scope at 7x. The problem with Federal is that it is not really consistent, as was proven by the above chronograph numbers.




Here is the CCI AR Tactical ammo, shot at 50 yards.




Here is the CCI AR Tactical ammo, shot at 25 yards.




No, I didn't monitor the temperature, barometric pressure, note the altitude, or even stick up a wet finger for a relative wind direction indication.

I now do know that this new CCI bulk ammo runs better in the 15-22 than any of the other bulk ammo I have tried. It is NOT as accurate as some of the ammo I have previously tried, but then again, the Ely target ammo is about 4 times more expensive and only bested the CCI by about .4".

excellent thank you I have been waiting for this for a while now. very nice standard deviation numbers. close to its 1200 advertised also.
Now what would be really interesting is how well it does compared to mini-mags; does the more expensive minimag beat it out, or does the lower velocity provide the tactical better accuracy. thanks again for the writeup.

THX for the review. Havent seen the CCI's yet but I gotta get me a Few boxes when I go to the Valley. Whats the damage for a box of these?

right now cabelas has it exclusively for $19.99, sometimes theyll have a random sale for $17.99. 375 rd per box. sometime in 2011 it should be available at other retailers.

I picked up a box at Cabela's a couple of days ago for $17.99....a box has 375 rounds in it.

I'll use them for certain stages of my regular carbine training drills....those areas where the lesser accuracy of the Federal makes no difference will get those rounds.

If someone wishes to send me a few cases of the other CCI ammo, I'll run them over the chronograph too.

Very nice. Thank you for posting this information... esp since you have a chronograph too!

Good job on the review and tests. It's no surprise they did better than the Federal. Federal is what it is, but CCI is a level up on every level....but it is a level up in price which to me is totally worth it. I shoot CCI only (my Walther P22 LOVES it, so it sold me long ago which is why I use it in my S&W)

Am I the only one that wishes CCI put the tactical ammo in the same plastic containers that the mini mags come in?

higher packaging costs means more expensive product. You could always take them out and put them in your minimag cases yourself if you so desire. I'd rather the bulk pack price stay cheaper however.

FullMonte said:

Am I the only one that wishes CCI put the tactical ammo in the same plastic containers that the mini mags come in?

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Those containers are nice, but they aren't free.
Actually I half-expected the tactical to turn out to be CPRN MiniMags without the boxes, but it's beginning to sound like it really is a different product. However with a 20mm ammo can full of MiniMags and a bunch of Fed bulk it'll be awhile before I try them. By then hopefully this strange honeymoon with Cabelas will be over and I can pick some up locally.

myeye22 said:

. By then hopefully this strange honeymoon with Cabelas will be over and I can pick some up locally.

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I agree I want to see these at walmart or a sporting goods store soon.

I use empty minimag boxes to hold my opened boxes of Federal AutoMatch (also in 375-round boxes).

Winchester SuperSpeed RN also comes int he plastic boxes like the CCI stuff. I just got 500 rounds of it at Walmart for $30.

The nearest Cabela's for me is about 1.5 hours north. I want some of the CCI Tactical AND the Aguila SSS subsonic stuff to try out.

ht tp://www.outdoorproducts.com/family-camping/dry-storage-family-camping/watertight-box---small/3/23/187

i have 4 of these , they hold aprox 700 rnds 22lr each, a couple silicone packs from shoes or cloths keep moisture in check. found the first 2 at walmart second 2 at dicks

cal

grimreaper21 said:

higher packaging costs means more expensive product. You could always take them out and put them in your minimag cases yourself if you so desire. I'd rather the bulk pack price stay cheaper however.

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That's the irony though... as it is, the CCI Tactical from Cabela's costs more than CCI MiniMag 40gr in most cases. Hopefully once they up production in 2011, we'll see it at more vendors, and hence, at lower prices.

You can get CCI Mini-Mag for under $6/100rds these days pretty easily.

I've only seen it (shipping included) under six bucks per hundred once. That's at Gander Mountain (if the free shipping is still going on) and if you buy 1500 rounds at a time (averaged out to $5.66 per hundred which is the lowest I've seen in over a year). You can't just go out and get 100 Mini Mags for under six bucks. But by all means, if you can, post it up cuz there's lots of people out there who can't stomach spending $100 plus bucks a shot in ammo.

VooDuuChild said:

I've only seen it (shipping included) under six bucks per hundred once. That's at Gander Mountain (if the free shipping is still going on) and if you buy 1500 rounds at a time (averaged out to $5.66 per hundred which is the lowest I've seen in over a year). You can't just go out and get 100 Mini Mags for under six bucks. But by all means, if you can, post it up cuz there's lots of people out there who can't stomach spending $100 plus bucks a shot in ammo.

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Well, to get the best prices you have to buy in large(r) quantities. Even CCI Tactical bulk packs from Cabela's start at 375 rounds each for ordering, but orders require you to minimum of a case of 1500 at a time or whatever.

Anyhow, here is one source (out of stock) for CCI Mini-Mag 40gr that I've used at $5.88/100. You just gotta poke around and there are other deals to be had from other vendors too, I'm sure.

$20/375 = .0533 cents per round; cci tactical.
$6/100 = .06 cents per round; cci minimag.
the only time you'll see $6 a box is when you buy in large bulk as mentioned, or gander has one of their $5.99 in store sales. otherwise it is usually 7 cents a round, or more. most gun shops sell it over $8 a box per 100.

MidSouthShooters is a good outfit. They sell CCI MM for $5.69/100. If you buy $120 worth they have free shipping. (Not sure how long the free shipping will last)

I just bought a bunch of CCI standard velocity from them which is kinda hard to find right now.

Here's a link to the CCI MM. Midsouth CCI AMMUNITION 22 LR 40 GR HIGH SPEED MINI-MAG 100 RDS

scootle said:

Well, to get the best prices you have to buy in large(r) quantities. Even CCI Tactical bulk packs from Cabela's start at 375 rounds each for ordering, but orders require you to minimum of a case of 1500 at a time or whatever.

Anyhow, here is one source (out of stock) for CCI Mini-Mag 40gr that I've used at $5.88/100. You just gotta poke around and there are other deals to be had from other vendors too, I'm sure.

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I've bought the 375 box of Tactical from Cabelas, 2 box plus shipping was around $48.00.
First 2 boxes came torn open and they sent me another 2. They get beat up in shipping. I have since ordered the dry box with 4 boxes -free shipping.

grimreaper21 said:

$20/375 = .0533 cents per round; cci tactical.
$6/100 = .06 cents per round; cci minimag.
the only time you'll see $6 a box is when you buy in large bulk as mentioned, or gander has one of their $5.99 in store sales. otherwise it is usually 7 cents a round, or more. most gun shops sell it over $8 a box per 100.

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Isn't CCI Tactical $25/box from Cabela's (barring the recent "in-store only" sale for $17.99/box)? e.g. it's 4 boxes for $99.99.

That makes it $25/375 == 0.06666666 (repeating of course) cents per round. Most of the time, you can get free shipping from Cabela's, so it's not a huge amount more than that usually.

Ideally, because CCI Tactical is bulk-packaged, vendors other than Cabela's MSRP action will price it better once it's more widely available. As it is now, it's a Cabela's exclusive. As it is, it appears my 15-22 actually runs really really well on Federal AutoMatch 40gr... I put in a few magazines worth the other day and it can make holes within holes at 25yds as long as I do my part. I can't say that about the CCI Mini-Mag or Federal Champion at this point. I was pretty amazed really.

That said... by then, the CA ammo ban will have kicked in and I'll be SOL for online .22LR ammo if the politicians decide .22LR can be classified as a "handgun caliber"

Which reminds me, I should get a couple thousand more rounds of 9mm before it's too late!