Old ammo

[bladeracer]

I've collected a lot of old ammo, generally from deceased estates. I identify it the best I can and label it in separate containers and it's started taking up way to much shelf space for what it is, so I've been burning it off in pistol practice. Yesterday I shot Rapid Fire, Standard Pistol and Air Pistol matches, but also did some practicing.

I've rarely had any trouble with the old ammo I've been shooting, but on Wednesday in a Standard match I was a few rounds short so I grabbed some out of a box of old ICI just to finish the match. The first round blew the case head off the case, leaving the shell in the chamber. As I didn't have a rod and brush with me I finished the match five rounds short.

So I decided to clear some of these old boxes out yesterday. I had 17rds of this old "I" head stamp ICI stuff left. Out of the 18rds, 13 blew the case head completely off, and two more blew the case head apart but it was still attached to the case. If I had fired this stuff in a pistol with an extractor I'm sure I would be hunting for a new extractor for it. It dumped the gas out the sides under the slide, impregnating the residue into the skin of my finger, but there wasn't any heat or pain. The FAS 602 is very easy to remove the barrel though so I just pulled it each time and pushed a bronze brush through to remove the cases. Two of the case heads landed on the bench beside me, the others I found on the ground behind me, so they probably went over my head. I didn't get any debris back into my face but I probably wouldn't want to be standing close beside me when I was shooting these (I was on my own at the club).

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I thought I'd post it just as an advisory of what _might_ happen shooting old ammo. This lot came from a deceased estate that a mate picked up last year. There was a decent amount of more modern (1990's probably) .22LR ammo still in bricks and boxes that he wanted, but the 300+ 12ga shells and the hundreds of loose .22LR rounds in the bottom of the box he passed on to me.

I also shot a bunch of old Remington Yellow Jackets, 42gn Winchester Powerpoints, 40gn Superspeed HP, a few unidentified 40gn RN CCI, and what looked like old Remington Cyclones but with less recoil (probably just lost power due to age) all of which shot very well. Winchester RN Longs shot fine but won't cycle the action.

I notice Remington is now also selling the 1500fps 33gn Yellow Jacket bullet at 740fps, calling it the C-Bee22. I liked the Yellow Jacket when I was a kid but it lacked some accuracy, so I wouldn't mind trying the CBee22 - anybody seen it in Oz?
https://www.remington.com/rimfire/29-21119.html

[Blr243]

That cb stuff is the most gutless ammo I have ever used

[bladeracer]

That cb stuff is the most gutless ammo I have ever used

Yes, CB's are. Usually no powder, just a primer, for "gallery" practice in your home, but this stuff is hotter than CB's at 740fps.

[Blr243]

Thanks for the clarification. Maybe it was the cb I was useing. I’ll find the box wen I get home from the bush and I’ll have a proper look

[deye243]

Yep well known around the old blokes that I know that the priming compound causes corrosion in that old ici stuff hence that's where it becomes brittle around the rim

[bladeracer]

Yep well known around the old blokes that I know that the priming compound causes corrosion in that old ici stuff hence that's where it becomes brittle around the rim

Good to know
I have more old ICI stuff that I'll get through eventually.

[Fester]

The better pick for that real quiet 22 ammo is the CCI segmented 40gr Quiets.
It actually shoots OK at 50m and known to be effective on birds and stuff.
It's not cheap at about $185 a brick but likely less noise then my .22 PCP sluggy.

Years back, I tested the Cee-Bees and others. They only grouped to about 25m.
Also had an Indian Minor crawl off under a farm truck. A Win sub killed it instantly.
I had no confidence in all that slow ammo for years and only tested the CCI after a good report, it seems OK.

[deye243]

The better pick for that real quiet 22 ammo is the CCI segmented 40gr Quiets.
It actually shoots OK at 50m and known to be effective on birds and stuff.
It's not cheap at about $185 a brick but likely less noise then my .22 PCP sluggy.

Years back, I tested the Cee-Bees and others. They only grouped to about 25m.
Also had an Indian Minor crawl off under a farm truck. A Win sub killed it instantly.
I had no confidence in all that slow ammo for years and only tested the CCI after a good report, it seems OK.

Tried them cci the 800fps in my cz457 it's a known performer and it throws them at 5"+ at 50 just like every rifle i have tested them in .
I think because of the projectile length the average 22 does not have the Twist to stabilize them at 800 think they should make a 30 to 32 grain segmented Hollow Point to do their slow speed stuff

[bladeracer]

The better pick for that real quiet 22 ammo is the CCI segmented 40gr Quiets.
It actually shoots OK at 50m and known to be effective on birds and stuff.
It's not cheap at about $185 a brick but likely less noise then my .22 PCP sluggy.

Years back, I tested the Cee-Bees and others. They only grouped to about 25m.
Also had an Indian Minor crawl off under a farm truck. A Win sub killed it instantly.
I had no confidence in all that slow ammo for years and only tested the CCI after a good report, it seems OK.

Agreed on the CCI Quiets, it's not target ammo but it's accurate enough for me out to 40m. But when I tested the Quiet RN and HP two years ago setting up a Pard for a rabbit cull I found lots of fliers so decided against it. The rounds that stayed on target were accurate enough, but with every 4th or 5th shot veering off two or three inches, or more, it wasn't going to be usable. My ammo was in the cupboard for nearly ten years though which may have been the cause of the weirdness. The Segmented Quiet is too expensive to use on minors or rabbits for me

What I like about the Yellow Jacket is the very soft bullet and the huge cavity, they kill very well. If they are using the same bullet in this 740fps stuff it could be excellent - if it's accurate in your rifle, and it feeds in your action. Cleaver has it listed so it's a good chance it'll show up here eventually.

[bladeracer]

Tried them cci the 800fps in my cz457 it's a known performer and it throws them at 5"+ at 50 just like every rifle i have tested them in .
I think because of the projectile length the average 22 does not have the Twist to stabilize them at 800 think they should make a 30 to 32 grain segmented Hollow Point to do their slow speed stuff

The Quiet bullet is no longer than other .22LR bullets so I doubt that's the problem. .22LR bullets are still accurate as velocity bleeds down well below 710fps. Some ammo simply is not accurate in some rifles. Winchester Long-Z is loved by lots of people but it has never grouped for me out of any rifle I've tried it in. The Quiets were accurate enough for me to test penetration against corrugated steel roof sheeting at 180m.

[Fester]

TBH, when I bought 1 pack to test, I didn't expect much on the 50m range, but they were OK.
They had some vertical dispersion but would have only spread about 1/2" sideways.
I can use the bottom post in the reticle, and it's near on target.

After testing the crappy stuff years ago, I suspect that when they can no longer hold a decent group, they likely also lose hitting power at the same distance, as my Myna crawl off showed.

Hoping the segmented ones live up to the positive reports as the bricks cost a bit.
I only need 1 as I don't even have rabbit properties, and not one to go begging, or approaching people on remote properties as I don't think I would like being approached by strangers.