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CCI Ammunition

CCI Ammunition
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryAmmunition
Founded1951
FounderDick Speer
HeadquartersLewiston, Idaho, U.S.
ProductsCartridges
ParentCzechoslovak Group
Websitewww.cci-ammunition.com Edit this at Wikidata

CCI (Cascade Cartridge Inc.), based in Lewiston, Idaho, manufactures rimfire and centerfire handgun ammunition, including primers for handloaders and a industrial ammunition production line. CCI made the first .22 Long Rifle Mini-Mag rimfire ammunition in 1962 and, in 1975, they developed the .22 Stinger rimfire ammunition, a high velocity .22 Long Rifle product. Today, CCI makes a wide range of rimfire and snake shot ammunition, a high velocity .22 Long Rifle product. Today, CCI makes a wide range of rimfire and snake shot ammunition.[1]

History

CCI was founded by Dick Speer (brother of Vernon Speer, who founded Speer Bullets) in the early 1950s. Arvid Nelson was a partner in the business. The firm's first shipment was part of a defense contract to make primers using chlorate FA-70. CCI later moved on to much safer formulas for sporting ammunition. CCI provided the first reliable supply of primers for hobby reloaders.[2]

As of February 2015, it was a subsidiary of Vista Outdoor, a spinoff of Alliant Techsystems.[3] As of the same date, CCI employed about 1,100 people.[4] The company was sold to the Czechoslovak Group in November 2024.[5]

CCI purchased 17 acres of land next to the Lewiston Gun Club. When the gun club moved, CCI purchased that land as well. As of 2020, CCI's plant was still located on this land.[6]

Product lines

In 1975, CCI engineers completed development of the first "hyper-velocity" .22 Long Rifle ammunition. This ammunition became known as the "CCI Stinger."[7]The CCI Stinger has a slightly longer case length of .702 in (17.8 mm), compared to the standard case length of .613 in (15.6 mm) for the .22 Long Rifle, both of these cartridges have the same overall cartridge dimensions.

In early 2020, CCI introduced 14 new products.[8]

CCI/Speer sells the Gold Dot line, component bullets, and handgun ammunition using a bonded copper-plated hollow point bullet. Plated bullets were originally sold only for handloading as a cheap substitute for jacketed bullets.[9][10]

CCI sells the MeatEater line of hunting ammunition for small game. CCI partnered with Steven Rinella of MeatEater to produce and market this product line. The MeatEater line of ammunition includes Copper-22, Mini-Mag, and Maxi-Mag variants.[11]

In 2023, CCI introduced Clean-22 Hyper Velocity ammunition; this adds to their line of polymer-coated rimfire ammunition. Polymer coatings significantly reduce lead fouling in barrels.[12]

References

  1. ^ https://www.cci-ammunition.com/products/products.aspx CCI ammunition product list
  2. ^ Staff. "CCI Ammunition". Officer. Endeavor Business Media. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  3. ^ ATK Commercial Products. "CCI/Speer".
  4. ^ "ATK Company Overview" (PDF). ATK. Retrieved 21 December 2012. [dead link]
  5. ^ https://www.armadninoviny.cz/csg-se-stava-vlastnikem-skupiny-kinetic.html
  6. ^ Staff. "CCI Ammunition". Officer. Endeavour Business Media. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  7. ^ Lounsbury, Tom (3 February 2021). "Tom Lounsbury: Old and dependable 'Twenty-Two' rimfire".
  8. ^ Eger, Chris. "CCI DELIVERS OVER A DOZEN NEW RIMFIRE LOADS FOR 2020". Guns.com.
  9. ^ "Speer Gold Dot description". Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2009.
  10. ^ Patent 5,079,814 Archived 2016-01-24 at the Wayback Machine, for a bonded plated hollow point bullet (the Speer Gold Dot)
  11. ^ Grant, Jim (31 July 2020). "CCI Introduces a New Line of MeatEater Series Rimfire Ammunition". AmmoLand. AmmoLand.com. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  12. ^ Massaro, Philip (20 January 2023). "New for 2023: CCI Clean-22 Hyper Velocity". American Hunter. Retrieved 13 February 2023.