Disappointed with CCI Standard Velocity

What that the chances of one squib and two misfires in timed fire with CCI SV?

One hundred percent![img]

I purchased a case of this ammunition in 2018/2019 when prices appeared to hit a bottom. Maybe it is panic era (2016) ammunition, no date codes that I can see.
 
I fired my first string TF no problems, all rounds fired and ejected normally. Then, first round, second stage, a stove pipe. The round failed to eject, probably a low powered round, and was jammed between the top strap and the next round to feed. This is where that top strap  becomes a source of un reliability and it is not needed in pistols with optical sights. You cannot clear the malfunction without dropping the magazine, and I had to use my needle nosed leather to pull the rounds out. This is not something that you can clear by racking and tapping.  As you can imagine, I dropped a minimum of twenty points due to un reliable ammunition. Actually it was more, I pointed round five downrange and pulled the trigger, because I assumed my pistol had a broken firing pin and I was down for the match. That round went bang, but it only hit the berm. 

 
Rounds three and four of the alibi string are pictured, they failed to fire, I extracted the things and kept on going, but having a misfire, and two failures to ignite made me think that I had firing pin problems. Not so, was able to finish the rest of the 22LR match without a malfunction.
 
I took these rounds to the next match and tried to fire them in my Ruger MKII. That pistol has a more robust firing mechanism than the M41, and even though repeatedly chambering and ejecting the rounds, they did not ignite. You can see the indents. Between two pistols, these rounds should have fired.

 
I have not sectioned the cases, but I suspect, there is no primer cake in the rims. Given the multiple strikes, if there was primer cake in the rim, I should have experienced ignition at some point. This is horrible quality control.
 
This seems to be a common problem with these inexpensive rounds, a number of competitor's I have talked to have many cartridge malfunctions with CCI SV.



You get what you pay for.

Look in the lids of the boxes that’s where the lot #’s are

James Hensler wrote:Look in the lids of the boxes that’s where the lot #’s are

very hard to see sometimes, angle the light to see the embossed #

Call CCI and report the problem....they will test and replace all the ammunition for you if it tests defective at no cost to you. Their customer service is very good. I speak from a similar experience myself. I have had no malfunctions with the replacement ammo.

Yesterday and today I had two squibs with Eley 22 lr ammo. Getting the primer compound in the rim properly every time would seem to be an issue more than one company has.

CCI has still been the most consistent of the cheaper 22 ammo that I have tried so far. 22 is about as finicky as it comes.

I'm sorry to hear that! I can't remember ever having a misfire of any kind with CCI-SV's! Now I'm "psyched" in a bad way! Especially since I have around  5 K CCI-SV's plastic box!

I only shoot in a weekly Gallery League! 

Smiles,

REConley wrote:Yesterday and today I had two squibs with Eley 22 lr ammo. Getting the primer compound in the rim properly every time would seem to be an issue more than one company has.

I don't know this and I can't prove it without equipment, but I am of the opinion that pistol match 22lr has to have a more sensitive priming compound than rifle match. This is because rifle ignition systems have larger, stronger springs and thus are able to deliver more energy to the rim.

This theory is more or less consistent with problems I have had with one lot of SK Standard Plus, a rifle match ammunition. Constant function issues in my pistols, nary a problem in a rifle.

I also believe the pressure curve is different for pistols, as semi auto pistols need a fast pressure curve and decent residual pressure for the residual blow back effect. Bolt guns, the most common match 22lr, don't have the timing issues  that semi automatic pistols have.

But, can't prove a thing, other than to say, Eley and Lapua both make rifle and pistol match ammunition, so there has to be something different between the types, and this is what I think ought to be on the difference list.

Hey Slamfire:

From what I have soaked up from various forums is that CCI started having serious quality issues when they started packaging their ammo in the "Red Stripe" paper boxes.  

Since I stocked up heavy when the prices were low, I have a good supply that I have not tested yet and am concerned.  

Were those rounds from the plastic box or the paper box?  If it was a paper box, did it have the orange stripe?

Regards, 
Crankster

I had some issues with CCI - SV that I purchased last December. However, since mid January the ammo I have bought has been nearly perfect. Maybe 1-2 FTF per case at most. When FTF instances are about two to three months apart it is hard to keep track. I have shot over three cases in the last 9 months and it is just reliable. Load gun, aim, press trigger and gun goes bang.

The box looks like this, expect the curve is white instead of gray. No orange strip.





a local store sold "CCI SV 2nds", and I purchased 600 rounds. Had fewer problems with the seconds than with this first quality stuff.

I've had a few FTF with 032 but the big issue with the ammo was the inconsistency. I would observe a louder report and recoil than the norm and sometimes a "puff". I haven't had any squips , but I only use the half case I have left for practice. CCI SV used to be my go to round in all my 22s.

I've been told the paper boxes are for export. If you remove the 50rds from the paper box it has on one side a rough edge, probably made when they broke the 100rd strips. If you carefully file the edge you can place 2- 50rd strips into a plastic box. I seriously doubt that in mass production they have the ability to distinguish between what is good and not good
I've shot both paper boxes and plastic boxes in my Hi Standard and Marvel, and occasionally (NOTE OCCASIONALLY) had a few FTF. But again, this is thousands of rounds. It seems there may be issues with the gun but the picts appear otherwise. But I don't believe it's because of paper vs plastic
My opinion only

Then someone explain Green Tag

james r chapman wrote:Then someone explain Green Tag

Please do.

Green Tag was such an accuracy disappointment in rifles many years ago, I never tried it again. Quite spendy from my LGSs for what I was getting. Quite glad I bought two boxes first before buying more.

AND are the SK variants now the go-to for when we don't want to pay Eley and RWS prices? 

On another notes, I'm using up the last of my Fed AutoMatch in other guns, since it just will not cycle the M41. MANY cases short-cycle enough to recock the hammer but don't hit the ejector and get re-chambered. Done all the recommended tweaks to the extractor and it takes fingernail pressure on it to extract those empty cases. I suspect soft brass and not enough power for the M41.

And yes, the pistol has been properly lubed for these disappointments. But my batches of AutoMatch were accurate enough.

james r chapman wrote:Then someone explain Green Tag

Green tag is over priced CCI SV. Supposedly it is a more accurate lot of CCI SV, but we don't know the criteria, do we? How much more accurate, groups 16 inches at 50 yards compared with 18 inches with CCI SV sort of accurate?

And since primer cake is a mix of components, primer cake sensitivity varies, so the user may experience a high amount of duds, in a pistol, with the next lot.

Pistols don't have as robust ignition systems as rifles, but we can't buy 22lr ammunition based on primer cake sensitivity, as the makers don't provide that information.

One thing we know from the current ammo buying and hoarding, there is no CCI-SV from any previous year's production problems still floating around in the pipeline. Well, you could buy a case of old stuff from someone on GB, I guess.

GrumpyOldMan wrote:

james r chapman wrote:Then someone explain Green Tag

Please do.

Green Tag was such an accuracy disappointment in rifles many years ago, I never tried it again. Quite spendy from my LGSs for what I was getting. Quite glad I bought two boxes first before buying more.

Ditto on the accuracy. While it may have just been the lot I had that was mediocre at best, CCI sv (both plastic box and paper box) has been my go to for over 20 years.

Green Tag was designed as a rifle accuracy round.  It didn’t get a good reputation there either.

Well, from my 50 yard testing with a Volquartsen Scorpion; paper box was not as good as Plastic box. Plastic box was equivalent to Pistol Match. I have the targets to prove it.

Is there really any difference between SV paper or plastic and Match other than enhanced QC testing to identify when the best is coming down the production line?

We're talking about bulk ammo here guys. My guess is you could test 10 lots each of paper and plastic box and would get a variety of results. Has anyone emailed CCI to see what they say?

zanemoseley wrote:We're talking about bulk ammo here guys. My guess is you could test 10 lots each of paper and plastic box and would get a variety of results. Has anyone emailed CCI to see what they say?

We also only shoot 50 yards with one hand at a 3.25" 10 ring. Function should be a higher priority than extreme accuracy for most.

mhayford45 wrote:Well, from my 50 yard testing with a Volquartsen Scorpion; paper box was not as good as Plastic box. Plastic box was equivalent to Pistol Match. I have the targets to prove it.

I wonder if it's possible to observe a similar difference in performance between two different lots of paper box SV, or two different lots of plastic box SV. Meaning, the demonstrated difference in accuracy may not reflect anything intentional that CCI does to make those two products. I'm sure you tested and have results, but I wonder if that's consistent and repeatable beyond the specific lots you were comparing.

I think it is possible and likely to see lot to lot differences within plastic and paper box CCI. The QA, specs and testing data and processes are not available to my knowledge and are not published on CCI's website. Maybe someone on the list knows this, but I am unaware of any such information. Clarity from CCI would be welcome and provide a basis for better discussion and selection. From my limited inventory and testing of the small sample size available to me, plastic box is better at 50 yards than paper box. Paper box is more than adequate for the short line.