CCI has it available in their online store. Quite a few varieties of 22lr also available.

 

I spent a round of cci hm2 this morning.
Potent stuff.

 

Love it!

 

Still kinda high for 17HM2 though..Looks like they may be dropping the price of some of their 22 though finally..Mini Mags are still cheaper at my Walmart though..

 

Found some CCI VNT at local sporting goods store for $10/50. They must have gotten a deal on it b/c there was a lot of it on the shelf.

Now just waiting for the barrel for my Sako Quad to arrive and try it out.

 

Found some CCI VNT at local sporting goods store for $10/50. They must have gotten a deal on it b/c there was a lot of it on the shelf.

Now just waiting for the barrel for my Sako Quad to arrive and try it out.

I think you will be pleased. I'm so much so with mine, that I haven't ever bothered trying the other bbls on my Quad. They have just sat in the safe. Would like to see your results reported back in here.

 

Squirrel1 Enjoyed your video , mighty fine shooting I just love that round, just like a little lazer space gun.

 

Nice round for sure. Love it.

 

Spent 3 rounds of cci today.
Again potent stuff.

 

I havent spotted any ammo at local supply lately. I do see it at gun shows, but refuse to pay $250 a brick for it. Plus I dont know if it's old stock, (ammo made before they figured out how to anneal the cases). I've still got a K left of the lot I bought a year, or so, back. That will last me a while if I dont plink with it and use it only for hunting, but I will eventually need more... So to my question: is there a way to tell how old the ammo is?

 

CCI Date code is printed on the side of each box

The First letter in the Lot# is the Month on manufacture:
A – January, B – February, C – March, D – April, E – May, F – June, G – July, H – August, J – September, K – October, L – November, M - December

First two numbers in the Lot# is the Numerical day of the month: 01-31

The second letter in the Lot# is the Year of Manufacture:
A – 1995, B – 1996, C – 1997, D – 1998, E – 1999, F – 2000, G – 2001, H – 2002, J – 2003, K – 2004, L – 2005,
M – 2006, N – 2007, P – 2008, Q—2009, R -2010, S-2011, T-2012, U-2013, V-2014. W-2015, X-2016, Y-2017, Z-2018
Started over with A again in 2019, B - 2020, C - 2021, D - 2022

Last 2 or 3 numbers are the batch id from that day

 

Beat me to it but yes codes are on the boxes..I have learned the CCI ones in my head when I am looking at CCI 17 at the local shows..

I do not worry about the codes on any other caliber of CCI..

 

Okay, so we have the date codes, but somebody mentioned "figuring out the annealing".

Help us actually put those date codes to use.

What timeframe is the line between the "old" and the "new"?

Thanks.

 

Cold Bore, ,I doubt if CCI has changed their annealing process from the beginning. they simply do a better job of annealing on some batches than others. They anneal them after the primer is inserted and do so without using heat as far as I know or have been told.

 

I was referring back to this.....

Plus I dont know if it's old stock, (ammo made before they figured out how to anneal the cases). ... So to my question: is there a way to tell how old the ammo is?

So it's just like the rest of rimfire ammo? Certain lots are just better, not necessarily an age thing?

 

Cold Bore, Your question has more than one fork.

Not necessarily an age thing, is correct. Necessarily being the key word. The next batch they make could be worse than the last batch they made. It depends on how well the annealing process goes on each batch. So new ammo could be worse on splits than old ammo. Which brings us to the topic of old ammo.

Due to the annealing process that is used and the thin wall of the case as the ammo ages it is more likely to give way and split. Keep in mind if this older ammo was very well annealed it may still produce LESS splits than a new batch that was poorly annealed.

If one has an older batch of ammo and a newer batch of ammo both properly and well annealed then the newer batch will contain less splits as the older batch begins to show its age. But older doesn't NECESSARILY mean more splits than new.

 

Got it.

The way the one reply was worded, I thought there was some breakthrough moment when the annealing process changed, with a definite step in case quality evident from that point forward.

"ammo made before they figured out how to anneal the cases"

Maybe I just misread, or misinterpreted, it.

Thanks for the clarifications.

 

"Ammo made before they figured out how to anneal the case." That statement could very well apply to the 17HMR, but by the time the mach2 was born they had it figured out! They don't always do a good job of it though.

 

The article I read, the cci engineer stated that "it took quite a while to figure it out" ... based on personal experience I'd say they didnt get it sorted out until well after the m2 was introduced. I've heard people bring up the higher velocities of the earliest loads as cause, but I was having a failure rate of nearly every other case with the 2100fps stuff. These ranged from very small cracks resulting in low poi strikes, to major splits that would cause the bullet to tumble and strike the target sideways at 100yds. I'm sure from one batch to the next, just as with any other ammo, some will be better than others, but the older stuff, say prior to 2015, is far more failure prone. Again the article doesnt specify a timeline for "sorting it out" but based on my own experience I will avoid any old stock ammo... unless its eley... I've not had this issue with their cases.