I have to ask if what I experienced recently is the "NORM" ?

Over the last 16 months or so, I have tried several thousand rounds of various .22 ammo through my Smith, Winchester Subs, Eley(various), RWS (various), mini mags, tactical, American Eagle and just about everything else available this side of the pond, including the super dirty Remington thunderbolts.

Standard Velocity, High Velocity, solid nose, hollow point Subsonic and copper plated Supersonic blah blah blah.

I mostly buy a brick of 500 rounds at a time so have come to expect some consistency within the brick.

all have functioned well with minimal fuss, almost 0 stovepipes and the occasional FTF as would be expected with rimfire ammo.

Then I tried the Blazer................

As this is a family channel I will keep it clean, and simply say "What a load of !@£P!!!!!!"

500 rounds of pure HELL,

short strokes, FTF, FTE, and in some cases 3 - 4 times through the mag before they fired...

1 magazine of 25 rounds I actually had 17 FTF 1st time through.

I was thinking time for a clean, maybe a broken firing pin, (wouldn't have been a problem as I have a spare) or possibly I may have been looking at trying to send back for warranty work ( a real pain from UK I'm led to believe).

Anyways, out of curiosity more than anything, I picked up a couple hundred rounds of American Eagle from the club just to satisfy myself the Smith wasn't broken, andwould you believe, 100 rounds straight through not a single issue of any kind.

In short, even though the Blazer cost half the price of the other stuff, I WILL NEVER be TOUCHING that GARBAGE again, I was under the impression that CCI made good if not some of the best .22 ammo out there.

GUESS NOT!!!!!!

Anyone else found this ?? or did I just get a duff brick from a duff batch ??

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Utrinque Paratus

I've always preferred Blazers to most other bulk 22 ammo. Though I must add I haven't been able to find any Blazer 22 ammo the last couple years. Either you got a bad batch or something drastic has changed.

Not sure, never tried the stuff.

What i will say though is that i run Eley sport as it is cheap, available and accurate enough at 25 yards for the comps i enter. I can tack drive with it through my Anschutz and it cycles and is just a little less accurate through the 15-22.
However, this latest batch, i got 500. Has been full of duds...the 24C hammer hits hard enough to break a finger and even it has had trouble igniting the primer on some rounds...my clubs 10/22 rifles have been having 30 out of 50 FTF, 1st, 2nd, 3rd time.
One round had the rim struck in every possible location and obviously had no primer in it at all. I had heard of bad batches of ammo but had not experienced it until this batch. Luckily my Annie and 15-22 are up to the challenge but seeing as though Eley sport is their entry level i am moving up to the next price bracket and going for Eley Club, for the 2016 summer competitions. Hopefully the extra £1 price tag per box will turn my 93/100 into 100/100 on my comp cards.

Now how to get rid of the last couple of hundred of the duds....mmmmmmmm. Honey prepare the tin cans!

I haven't purchased any .22 ammo for a couple years, or more. I refuse to pay as much, or more, for a brick of .22's that you can buy a flat of shotshells for.

In the past I have always had good luck with CCI .22 ammo. Their Mini-mag work in most of my 22's. Even the bulk box Blazer worked great for plinking.

But your's isn't the first story I've heard about faulty .22 ammo, from different brands of .22 ammo since the shortage started.

I haven't shot in a bullseye leagues for quite awhile because of the .22 prices / shortage. Thankfully most of my shooting is centerfire stuff.

A number of people have bragged on them since the 2012 shortage. I have a box from before that and I thought that they were ****. I could not get any rifle or pistol I own to shoot them. Only the single six revolver would fire them and I sold that. I took them to the lake house and hand them out to the neighbors. They're free, so they never tell me if they suck.

The Blazer ammo is made by two manufacturers. CCI and Federal. I've never had a problem with either, but they perform differently. If you look closely, one has more of a waxy shine to it. Federal comes in a bulk box with a "zip" open. Folks have complained about those, mostly just less accurate. Curiously, the Federal Blazer in the 50 round boxes, with the white holder don't seem to be an issue.

The CCI 500 bulk box is just a flap box that you open. No many complaints on those.

Blazer = a step above goldenduds but not much.
M22 and dynapoint even fed 525 are my go to bulk ammo.

I look for the Blazer .22 - it has been much better for my 1911 frame. The American Eagle is total junk in my experience.

My experience with Blazers was that they were as good or better than the other bulk brands and if the store had them I would buy them first. Haven't seen them in a store since what, 4 years ago now?

Never had a bad experience with Blazers...other than can't find them. In fact, it is much sought after by most of the Steel Challenge rimfire shooters at my gun club.

Wow... Surprised by this, I've gone through thousands of rounds of blazer in the 15-22 and our K22 LBP and other than the occasional light strike on the pistol they've been faultless.

I honestly think you were extremely unfortunate... For me they've been a cheap, high velocity bit of fun that's been accurate but entertaining to boot compared to CCI Standards (of which our last batch started spitting hot bits of something or other at us).

Ispoke to the LGS where I got them from an they guy there who does all the ammo orders and purchases told me if I had any left he would "buy back" or exchange as he had had a lot of complaints recently about said Blazers, so I guess it is possible he had a bad batch in.

When they worked they were pretty accurate, in fact definitely better than American Eagle and a couple of others I could mention, I was just stunned by how many FTF I was having.

I have always had good percentages with almost zero FTF since getting the Smith, even with me leaving my rifle on purpose, very dirty to try a destructive test for forced failures I never had this many, so I was shocked to say the least, as I said I had feared that I had broken it at one point.

Maybe I should leave it a couple of months and try again.

If I do try again and get no problems that would be a bonus as at £2.50 for 50 or £25 for 500, these are indeed cheap, tho just not so cheerful. These were only ever gonna be plinkers, but I dooooooo so like to plink...

These were the CCI ones in the flap open brick pack.

I also tried some Gecco .22 Semi Auto, these were the dogs danglies to cycle and shoot, I even had a bizarre trick of the light on the day which I had not seen with .22 before, on a 25yrd outdoor range, when firing, at about the 18yrd point you could actually see the round for a brief instant, I was so taken that I gave another shooter a couple of mags to try the rifle so I could stand and watch the rounds.

Couple of others were looking too, was pretty cool to see I must say.

Rob.

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Utrinque Paratus

In the great .22 ammo shortage a couple years back I cleaned out the back of my safes and closets and found quite a bit of Blazer .22lr. I found a brick that was marked $5.99 tucked away in a dark corner.
It was as greasy and dirty as it was the day I bought it, but it fired just fine. In fact, I wish I could find Blazer.22 now because for my needs, it's better than the junk I can currently find locally.

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paws for friendship

I love CCI Blazer; it is my go to 22LR after trying several competitively priced options. The reason I went with CCI Blazer is that it functions reliably and is reasonably accurate. It works great in my Browning BuckMark, Ruger Mark III, T/C R-55, Weatherby XXII SA, S&W 15-22 and S&W Model 41. In fact, the S&W Model 41 is notoriously picky with ammo and has been 100% reliable with the CCI.

I shot Blazer as well as any other 22lr from my 15-22 and Ruger Sr22 pistol, it is not terribly accurate ammo but OK. Are you sure your rifle is OK? Dirty mags? Mine is fairly new and all parts are still mint. I got couple of Blazer bricks two years ago for my former GSG522 and it is almost gone as well, I probably wouln't buy it anymore.

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Guns ...

Check the over all length of those blazers compared to the other ammo you use.
I tried some different ammo the other day (Blazer) in my 9mm. Didn't like my 9 had way to many FTF

Below I posted in ammo section:

I tried some different ammo the other day that my daughter gave me, wasn't going good had FTF & FTE problems. I'm not posting this to bash ammo brands, posting because I have figured out wy it was happening.

I can run Remington 115g without any issues, she gave me Blazer 115g to try, had issues with those.
Below is what I come across.

Remington- over all length 1.110, diameter of casing .386
Blazer- over all length 1.155, diameter of casing .389

Conclusion=
Ammo with a over all length at 1.110 works perfect
Ammo with a 1.155 over all length interferes with the feed. I noticed that the angle of the bullet going up the feed rap makes the nose of the bullet hit the inside top of the barrel making it interfere with the feeding process.

I love the blazers in my mkiii. Never any issues and cheaper than anything else I can get my hands on. In fact they work so well even if it's only 50 rd boxes I'll grab a couple when I see them. The only thing I like better are CCI Mini-mags and they arnt as cheap for plinking. The American Eagles are another story and I pass on them every time.

Yep rifle is fine, tried it again today with Gecco and Eley

no issues what so ever.

Guess I got a duff box by the rest of what i'm reading.

Thanks for all the input though guys, much appreciated.

Rob

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Utrinque Paratus

Been awhile since I've used any Blazer, but I don't recall ever having any problems with it.

Quite the contrary to your findings, I have found in several thousand rounds, that it is the second best both in my .22 pistols and rifles. In my pistols (a browning challenger and Ruger 22/45 it has been 100% reliable and 2nd best in accuracy (behind Norma Tac-22) in my Ruger rifle and Marlin model 60 is is second to Wichester auto match. Seems your mileage is different.

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Regards from THE Old Fart

Rob1, I have also had problems with Blaser 22's. In fact I still have some and they average about 2-3 misfires out of 100. They are not as good as my others such as Federal, Winchester and Remington.

Never had any problems with blazer. But all I know is that it's GREAT to actually have choices in 22 again.

In a prior year ammo shortage I bought a brick of Blazer after I ran out of CCI standard velocity and other premium ammo. One night shooting in our indoor bullseye league, the stars were aligned and the force must have been with me, as I shot a 97 slow-fire with it in my Model 41, still my all-time best.

You ask for input, but it looks to me like you've made your mind up that one batch of cruddy ammo makes the entire operation GARBAGE.

Keep buying the eley and save the CCI for me. I like to support them as much as possible.

Hi Gopher,

Not at all, if you follow my other comments, based on the responses of the other guys, it seems my brick was not the usual for these, so it is likely that, once I use up the gecco that I recently purchased, I shall try another batch to see how they fair.

As you can imagine, I was frustrated at time of writing hence why I asked the question.

Thanks, one and all for responses.

When I do try another brick, I will be sure to update the experience, either way, whether good or bad.

By way of balance.

Rob

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Utrinque Paratus

never had an issue with them

Rob1,

Sorry to hear of your experience with CCI Blazer, since there's always a chance it will happen to me with some of my newer Blazer (I've just about finished up my older stuff).

No reason to ignore your actual experience. It happened, and it was the ammo. Usually I make excuses for rimfire, saying that the only rule is that there are no rules, but this seems to be a pretty blatant case. However, I have used Blazer for many years, and it has been both reliable and accurate. It seems to me that you have run into a bad batch, and that seems to make more sense with the inexpensive Blazer than with other CCI ammo. There must be SOME reason why it is less expensive (QC), but until now I couldn't find out what it was.

Your idea of trying another batch seems reasonable, but I certainly wouldn't be in a hurry, and for sure you might take the trouble to check the actual batch number to avoid a repeat.

Good luck.

The ONLY .22 LR I shoot through my Ruger and Model 41 is Federal Auto Match. Rim fire is really finicky, so try a bunch and go with the best

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John

If you are talking about 9mm Blazer I could say for sure - it is possibly the best 9mm FMJ rounds available these days. I buy 124gr mostly but 115gr is about the same perfect with any of mine 9mm pistols or carbines and I have a lot of them. Price is still cheap as well, you could get 1k rounds for $200 if you will look around. I am sure you could get better ammo but you will pay more and difference will be minimal, check you firearm for the issues.

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Guns ...

If you still have the lot# available send CCI and email stating the issues , they may send you some free ammo. I did that with another manufacturer, they asked me how many rounds I had purchased and they replaced all of it .

Norm

I am curious about how you know this, but I must admire that I have gotten some Blazers before that had different looking bullets than my old Blazers from 6 -8 years ago. I have always liked Blazers for the price, and quality, but must agree that the Federal looking bullet shells were not as good. FYI, the "Federal" looking Blazers that I rec'd were in 50 round boxes, they came from Grafs, several years ago.

I would if I could but as I live in UK I am pretty sure they could nt post out some replacements, though my LGS did offer to buy back as he had received a lot of bad feedback about that particular batch, alas I had used them all up so could not take him up on his offer.

Rob

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Utrinque Paratus

I've probably shot ~4000 of cci blazer, it's my preferred ammo, so much so I have two cases of it on hand(10,000 rounds). I've never had a single issue with it, and why it's my preferred ammo is it shoots in any 22 semi auto I have whether its a rifle or a pistol. The cases on hand that I have was pre ammo shortage days, haven't bought or seen any since.

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Rod
M&P 22A, 40c, 15A, 15-22

Mine HATES Gecco SV ammo. I gave the boxes I had away.

I shoot Blazer alot. NO problems through my 15-22 or my 22c.

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M&P 22,22c,9c,45c
Shield 9

Never have tried blazer. The only .22LR ammo I have had trouble with is TAC-22. Brownells had it on sale a while back and I bought a brick for my new SW22. Every round jammed in the Victory. Had to poke them out with a cleaning rod.

So they will be kept for my K22 and M1-22LR carbine.

The Victory seems to need ammo with a minimum of 1200 fps at the muzzle. Maybe it will loosen up with age. It loves CCI Mini-mags.

got to say mine loves blazers even my gsg1911 loves them to