Speaking of disapointing 22 ammo.

[CajunBass]

I've recently gotten back into shooting 22's, after picking up a Walther PPK/S in 22 LR. I had established that it really likes CCI Mini-Mags...(what doesn't?) so when I saw a "jar" of CCI "clean" ammo at the LGS, I decided to pick up one. The stats on the package (40 grain bullet at 1235 FPS) were the same as the Mini-Mags, with the only visiable difference being the polycoated bullets on the "clean" stuff.

Well, that stuff didn't work for toot in the Walther. It would feed, it would fire, but I don't think it ever extracted a spent case. I had to field stip the gun and pop the spent case out with a pocket knife blade. And I mean almost every round. After a dozen or so tries, I gave up and went back out into the store and picked up a 100 pack of Mini-Mags, and the little Walther was happy again. Not a single malfunction.

I know the Walther is somewhat fussy about it's ammo, but I was surprised to find a CCI ammo that didn't work. I suppose it will do OK in my wife's Ruger Single-Six.

Anybody else used this stuff? Have any trouble with it?

 

[TXBryan]

No experience with CCI "Clean" .22LR ammo but plenty with picky Walthers. We've had several and it takes a while to find ammo they like; and even then it seems to vary from lot to lot. All this while virtually all our other semi-auto .22LR pistols seem hungry enough to eat whatever they're fed.

 

[teletech]

I wound up with a box sort of by accident and fed it to a Ruger Mk-I without incident.
I'd buy it if the price wasn't much more than regular .22.
Obviously, I'd want to know how it was for accuracy and reliability for each gun before investing in too much of it.

 

[CH4]

Eley and Lapua notwithstanding, .22lr from all the major manufactures doesn't seem to be as consistent as when I was a kid, especially bulk ammo. Federal replaced a 330 ct bulk pack, because 5 in 10 were squibs. They said it was a lot with bad crimps. I have better luck with 22WMR.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Depending on the revolver, pistol or rifle that any 2 ammo is shot in
the chances that it produces good groups is 50/50.

With todays prices, I look for volume and not accuracy.

 

[Dave Lively]

I tried some a few years ago. The stuff I bought came in 100 round boxes and had blue and red coated bullets depending on whether it was standard or high velocity.

Both my S&W 41 and 22 Compact had trouble with the standard velocity ammo. The 41 is picky so its not liking new ammo was no surprise. The 22 Compact on the other hand is the most reliable 22 pistol I have ever owned and it had problems too. In both guns the ammo didn't have enough power to eject the case.

The high velocity ammo worked well in both guns. And of course my 617 revolver had no reliability issues with either type. The extraction never got sticky the way it does with lead bullets.

 

[AJ]

Had a couple of PP model Walther's of 1960's vintage. They worked the best with the hottest ammo that was round nosed that I could find. I think it was the old PMC Zapper. Nary a problem.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Not good news! Got 2 of those bottles out in my Ammo Cache.
Haven’t shot any.
Have a PPK/S, mine don’t seem to be that picky but I haven’t shot any of the bottle CCI.
Also have a Beretta 21a. Now it’s picky!
CCI seems to be using a lot of new packaging.
Hard to tell if it’s a new variation or just new packaging.
Just the other day Bought some CCI.
MiniMags in the regular boxes!

 

[Greyman50]

Will not even TRY Fed tan 325 box 22’s in Supermatic or Smith 17, even had FTF in 10-22. Blue box CCI standards fire most of the time but have FTF couple times in each box. Thank God I stocked up years ago. Shoot( or try) what I buy recently.

 

[dmar]

I have some of that CCI Clean .22, and it shoots great! Used it mostly in a couple of Model 17s, a Colt Officers, a Ruger MK3, and my Browning SA-22. Got some nice tight groups with this stuff, and I’m actually looking for some more. Mine came in little milk carton looking packages. I was surprised by how well it grouped, seemed better than my CCI standard/‘Target’ stuff.

By what you describe, sounds more like a gun issue, more than an ammo issue.

 

[teletech]

More Automatch comparisons yesterday at 50 yards in a model 41.
Overall average over 4 barrels with some from just after the last big shortage (~2010) and some more from just before the pandemic actually found the newer stuff to have about a 10% better group size, although two of the barrels preferred the old and two preferred the new. Still ~80 rounds per barrel isn't a big sample size.

 

[AJ]

Shot 50 rounds of AutoMatch this morning in a Beretta M9 .22 without a hiccup. Shot 50 rounds a CMP Eley Bulk box ammo in a Browning Medalist with the same results. The Eley was more accurate than the AutoMatch.

 

[Greyman50]

Will have to look for CCI Clean. All my “ older 22” is fine.

 

[alwslate]

Might be similar to CCI Blazer. I made the mistake of buying a brick of their Blazer LR ammo a while back. Underpowered junk. I shot a few rounds and gave the rest of it away.

 

[2152hq]

I had a Walther PPk .22lr that I bought used in the early 70's. It was a 1965 proofed gun. I owned it and carried it for nearly 30yrs.
It worked flawlessly with Remington HS 'Golden Bullet' ammo. So that's what I shot in it. I had 3 Walther magazines with it and they all worked as well.
Some other ammo would work OK but with occasional FTFeed. Others were just a no-go.

Todays 22rf ammo is a joke. Most any that I come across seems to sound like a mix of HS and STd Vel out of the same box when shot.
I'm no accuracy nut but I'm not that bad of a shot either and can tell the difference using a riffle I know to be accurate. Some of the stuff is terrible.
Duds are so common its a shame they even still make and sell the stuff under the big ammo maker names.
I've kept and pulled many of the duds,,even the hand fulls
from the DuD JaR at the range.
Multiple hits somtimes,,they ain't going to go off w/o any primer compound in them or just a pin point or two of compound in the rim. That is so very common as to be laughable.

I lucked into 3 cases of 60's or 70's (?) Winchester T-22 ammo at a show and along with a mix of different brands of 'stuff' keeps my guns going.
I like the StdVel ammo for the early pump and lever .22's I have.

 

[AzShooter]

I tried the Clean when they first came out in the Patriot boxes. The colors were each a different size and grouped differently.

I have a couple of bricks of the newer red Clean that I've been using and they really are cleaner in my guns, especially if I shoot them in my revolver ( lets tendency to foul the cylinders ).

 

[Dave Lively]

Might be similar to CCI Blazer. I made the mistake of buying a brick of their Blazer LR ammo a while back. Underpowered junk. I shot a few rounds and gave the rest of it away.

I bought a few 425 cartons of 38 grain RNL Blazer direct from the factory earlier this year.

My S&W 41 loves it. My particular 41 shoots CCI std velocity accurately but has about a 3% to 5% failure rate with it. With MiniMags I get a little less accuracy but as close to 100% reliability you can get with a 22. With the Blazer I get the accuracy of the standard velocity with the reliability of the MiniMags and at lower cost. If I shot off a rest I expect the standard velocity might be a bit more accurate. But shooting offhand I cannot see any difference.

My 22 Compact also likes Blazer. My 617 shoots it well but starts to have sticky extraction after a half dozen cylinders or so. Same thing happens with standard velocity but not MiniMags. I suspect the lube on the lead bullets creates more fouling.

A lot of 22s are finicky when it comes to ammo. What's junk in one gun is golden in others.

 

[Abflyboy]

I have a batch of rimfire rifles and pistols that all run very well with CCI Mini Mag but not much else and none of them will run any standard velocity ammo.

I tried the CCI HV Clean ammo in all the guns that run will with Mini Mag and they don't like it.

I just chalk it up to being another part of the rimfire game. My luck with rimfires in general is poor so my only requirement is that the gun runs 100% with Mini Mag or I don't want to mess with it.

It just so happens that Ruger Mk IV's like Mini Mag very much ...
and there are LOTS of different colors and designs ...
and LOTS of high quality aftermarket support ...

 

[chief38]

I've had similar experiences with high end ammo. About 25 years ago I bought some Eley Black and Eley Red .22 match ammo which was quite expensive. When I shot them out of a few rifles that are normally tack drivers, the Eley ammo was terrible - the worst of all the ammo I've ever tried! Worse than the Winchester and Remington promo bulk ammo!!

I used to buy (25 years ago) tons of Winchester Wildcat promo ammo for plinking between hunts. I paid $8.99 / brick on sale at Sports Authority before they went belly up. That ammo, despite being cheap as hell, shot remarkably well in most of my rifles - less than 1/4" groups at 75 ft! These days the CCI Mini Mag's and Federal Hi-Vel are most accurate in most of my long guns.

So that proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt some guns just don't like some ammo - period! No matter who makes it!

 

[colt_saa]

CajunBass,
You already know that one pistol firing one package of ammunition does not indicate the ammunition is bad.

My two Model 41s each prefer different ammo, not unusual with 22s. One will not shoot the ammo the other one loves. It is a jam-o-matic

Same thing with my Rugers, two of them love annunition that won't function in the third. That third one love the old Remington yellow box bargain 22 ammunition that most of my friends hate . . . . That is how I got my first supply of it, partial boxes from several of my fellow shooters

As to your Walther why are you field stripping it to get the casing out with a knife?

Why are you not just pushing the casing out with a rod from the muzzle end? Or a gun cleaning q-tip? Or the center part of a Bic pen?

There are dozens of options other than field stripping the pistol.