Had a so-so day with Mini Mags today

[Riomouse911]

My buddies invited me out to the membership range they belong to, so I brought a milk crate full of steel plates, along with my dueling trees, IPSC torso plates, etc.



The bay is roughly 90 feet wide and 170 feet deep, so we spread stuff out all over and had targets from 10 to just about 50 yards. Some of the guys out playing.











I brought out two rimfires to plink with, a 10/22 and my Mk IV with 10” and 5.5” barrels, along with several other center fire autos in 5.56, .45 and 9mm. (5.56 BCM AR, Ruger 9mm PCC, CZ 97B .45 & Shadow 2 9mm, a Kimber Stainless Target 9mm and Glock 17L and dot-sighted 17 & 43X 9mms.)

I was using WWB centerfire ammo, which often causes many folks to cringe. The WWB ammo reputation is not sterling, I have experienced several issues over the years myself and have read of a ton more issues others have had. Nevertheless, today I fired over 700 rounds all told today with zero issues.

For the rimfires I brought 500 Mini Mags and 500 Blazers, far more than I thought we might shoot but one never knows. I chose these over a variety of other ammo choices I have because CCI ammo has been good stuff for quite a while. It seems like my run of luck is over, today it wasn’t happening.

I had several jams with the Mini Mags in both guns, and with both barrel uppers on the Mk IV. This is not par for the course with these two guns, both have been super reliable with everything but oversized Browning and Aguila bulk ammo. These did not seem to be magazine related, as both guns had jammed with multiple magazines. The actions on both were lubed and clean, the extractors in both are Volquartsen Exact Edge and haven’t been an issue before. I think this was just a lousy batch of ammo.

I put a few magazines of Blazers through both guns, I had no issues.

Today was a good lesson in “you just never know.” Even our trusty, reliable standbys (like CCI Mini Mags) can let us down once in a while.

Despite the rimfire hoohah, we all had a really good day across the board. All the indoor range trips over the past year paid off for me, I shot the tree and rang plates much faster today with long guns and handguns, with far more consistency than I have had for years. The other guys were paddling in the same direction I was, they all shot very well today, too.

Stay safe.

 

[Old Dog]

Is it just me, or do the dueling trees make plinking sessions so much more fun when you get out there with your buddies?

I'm not sure the quality of CCI has been there lately -- I've also shot a lot of the Mini-Mags I've picked up in the last couple years and had some glitches (mostly with my 10/22 TD, but also with the MK-IV -- frankly, the MK-II has been more reliable).

I do have a lot (let's just say, more than a couple thousand) of the older WWB (all in 9mm or .45 ACP) and as of now, have never had any issues with it. All the Blazer ammo I've ever used has been 100%, so I tend to believe with some ammo, it's the quality of the gun that matters.

Nice little range your friends have. My wife always knows I'm heading to the range when she sees me putting on the khaki 5.11 pants before she heads off to work...

 

[Col. Harrumph]

My wife always knows I'm heading to the range when she sees me putting on the khaki 5.11 pants before she heads off to work.

I see what you said there, you kept man you!

 

[OS/N]

I usually get the best results with CCI SV. Mini mags usually run well in my mark II target mdl though and self loadung rifles just not as accurate as SV. TAC22 usually runs and shoots well also just not quite as consistant accuracy wise - would never notice a difference shooting off hand though.

I wonder if the mini mags were a little hot for some of your rigs.

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

Awesome day in spite of the Choooot'N Gremlins: (the ba...$^4ds). Hey when you can get a great price on WWB 9mm, even I'll pick it up. My Distributers are having a heck of a time keeping my store stocked up. (OH, and for the cringe folk: Ammo Incorp ammo works fine don't believe the internet).

 

[d31tc]

Bringing an assortment of fun, I’d invite you to the range anytime!

That looks like a blast. Competition always steps it up for me.

 

[doubleh]

I enjoyed the pictures. My target hanging equipment does not include steel posts and a driver (I have built quire a few of those in the past) as most places here don't have enough topsoil to hold a post up.

When I bought my place I fenced it using t-posts. I rented a trailer mounted compressor and an air drill to drill holes for the posts. You get a real workout running an air drill all day. I ran out of fuel with the drill in the final hole and had to get my wife to help me lift the drill out of the hole I was so worn out.

 

[LiveLife]

10/22 ... brought 500 Mini Mags and 500 Blazers

I'm not sure the quality of CCI has been there lately

Since my last 10,000 round testing of 25+ brands/weights/lots in 2019, I have resumed my 22LR comparison testing with now 47 brands/weights/lots purchased in 2022-2023.

2019 batch of CCI SV/Blazer (boxed) and Auto Match (loose bulk) have been 100% reliable in my 10/22 and T/CR22.

2022-2023 batch of CCI SV/Blazer (boxed and loose bulk) and Auto Match (loose bulk) also have been 100% reliable in my 10/22, T/CR22 (Feeding issue was sourced to dirty/worn 10 round magazines and I got two extra magazines) and BCA 22LR dedicated upper and also in Advantage Arms 22LR slide kit for my Gen3 Glock 22 (Norma Tac-22 is single shot in AA slide kit).

I have CCI Mini Mag/Meat Eater so will post my experience of feeding/reliability and accuracy in the "real world" comparison thread - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...nition-comparison.908102/page-2#post-12731537

 

[Shawn Dodson]

I've been experiencing misfires with a newly purchased case of CCI Mini Mag 40 grain Standard Velocity. Attemping to get the misfired cartrdges to fire with multiple strikes and at multiple places along the rim has not resulted in any of them firing.

I've relegated this particular case of ammo to bolt rifles only.

 

[LiveLife]

CCI Mini Mag 40 grain Standard Velocity. Attemping to get the misfired cartrdges to fire with multiple strikes and at multiple places along the rim has not resulted in any of them firing.

From the 22LR myth busting thread, we determined round not firing even after multiple strikes on the rim is indicative of priming compound having moved away from the rim, likely from rough/prolonged transportation and/or from rough handling, as when round was pulled apart, priming compound was found among the powder granules - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ud-why-dud-thread.893062/page-2#post-12273202

So priming compound having moved away from rim may not necessarily be due to manufacturing process rather transport/handling.

I will pay particular attention to CCI MiniMag/Meat Eater when I do my 50/100 yard comparison testing and report back.

 

[Riomouse911]

From the 22LR myth busting thread, we determined round not firing even after multiple strikes on the rim is indicative of priming compound having moved away from the rim, likely from rough/prolonged transportation and/or from rough handling, as when round was pulled apart, priming compound was found among the powder granules - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ud-why-dud-thread.893062/page-2#post-12273202

So priming compound having moved away from rim may not necessarily be due to manufacturing process rather transport/handling.

I will pay particular attention to CCI MiniMag/Meat Eater when I do my 50/100 yard comparison testing and report back.

Ya, most first strike non-fires will fire with a bit of rotation in the chamber so the pin hits a fresh rim. Once in a blue moon I will get a non fire with multiple tries. The last time with LR was an Aguila SE 40 gr RN in my S&W 617, in .22 WMR I had one stubborn round in my RAR that I hit 3x. (I was shooting Winchester 40 gr fmj. )

The jams I had yesterday almost seemed to be variations in powder charge issues with this batch. Thinking about them, it seems like the bolts weren’t going back far enough to hit the spent case against the fixed ejectors hard enough to kick them out. Then the fired case got stuck between the recoil spring rod, chamber roof and the fresh round that was trying to feed. This wasn’t with every shot, but on average I had one clinker per every 10-15 shots I fired (my buddy tried the Mk IV with the 10” barrel and had the same jam on his second magazine.)

The LR rounds have such a small powder charge that it probably doesn’t take much variation in charge weight to make them underpowered.

Again, this was probably just a wonky batch with random rounds having the issue. ( I hope!) If @LiveLife has clinkers in his testing, it may be more widespread than just this lot.

Stay safe.