cci blazzers

[french]

how do they shoot and will they kill something as big as a ground hog or crow at as much as 100 yards.thanks

[Uncle Howie]

I used to shoot a lot of the "old" Blazers. These came bulk-packed (just dumped in) 50/box. They were fairly accurate for plinking ammo ($8/brick around here), but used to have a heavy wax lube on them. I never had much problem with the lube, but some others had feeding problems with it.

The "new" Blazers come with a plastic insert in the box. They have little or no lube visible, especially when compared to the old style. I have not shot any of this style yet. I have heard on the rumor mill that they are the same as the "new" Federal Lightnings, but I have no way of knowing if that's correct.

The old Federal Lightnings that I shot (15 yrs. ago) were filthy on my 617, but that's a whole different story...

At any rate, I think that there would be better choices for hunting at 100yds. You could almost certainly find a more accurate load, wich would do better for crows.

For something as large as groundhogs, you'd probably want something a little faster, or maybe a better bullet design (HP, SGB, etc.) I don't have many groundhogs around here, but I would speculate that 100 yds. might be a little far for clean kills with a .22LR. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone else will chime in...

Good luck!

[Keith L]

I never thought of a .22 as a 100 yard gun for anything.  Most mass produced ammo has so much variation, and copper washed lead bullets are so easily dented, that groups open up with all but costly target ammo.  And that is fairly low powered and would lack the power to make clean kills on ground hogs at much over 25-30 yards or so.

My opinion is that for chucks at 100 yards you are in centerfire country.  Lots of choices there.  If you must use rimfire then .22 mag or .17hmr are more like it. And there you will have to use ammo that costs as much as the small bore centerfire. Place your shots well with chucks.  They are tougher than many think.

[Oldtimer]

If you want accuracy out of cheap ammo, then sort the cartridges by weight.  You will find that the there is a wide range of weight and that the bullets that weigh the same shoot pretty close together.   I have to agree with the other comments, that a  .22 LR is not the best choice at 100 yards, but is you have to use it , you want the most accurate rig you can get.  You should also try several different brands to see which your gun prefers.

[RaySendero]

Our shooting team has found that the CCI Blazers and the PMCZappers are both worth a try in 22 rifles.  Sometime they just won't shoot well in a particular rifle but 22s are that way you must experiment a lot to find which low cost ammo the rifle likes.  Usually you'll be rewarded in finding a good shooter.  My 10/22 loves the CCI Blazers - I hunt with them and shoot metalic silhouettes with them.  But others have found the PMC to be better in there rifles.

PS: I use Eley for bench rest shooting - Have never found these low cost ammos to be better than a good (Eley, Lapua, RWS) target ammo in any rifle.

[Paul Mohr]

I would say it would depend on how well they shoot out of your rifle. At 100 yards .22's can be pretty picky about ammo. I would try the velociters if that is what you want to do. They have good power and seem to group decent out of both my .22's at 100 yards (1.5 inches or so).

In my opinion I would not use a .22 at any range on a woodchuck. They are tough! At least where I live any way. A body hit with a .22 rimfire will not even phase them. I have seen them shake off a .17HMR in the body at 100 yards. I'm sure it died, but you will not drop one. I shot one once that my dog was going after. I put 18 .22 shells in it from like 60 yards and it was not dead. I had to chase it down and kill it with a shovel! I think maybe it was on PCP? :wink:

Crows are not as tough from what I have seen, but the vitals are much smaller and harder to hit. And if you don't hit them in the vitals they won't die either. A .22 would probably work good at 50 yards, maybe even 75. But I think 100 yards is pushing it. Unless you have an exceptionally accurate .22 at 100 yards. Plus they drop quite a bit and get pushed around by  the wind alot at 100 yards.

I agree, maybe a .22 mag or .17HMR, I love mine. Or even better yet a Handi Rifle in .223 or .243. The .223 might be cheaper to shoot than the HMR depending on the ammo.

Paul

[elyod56]

for hunting i use the winchester 40 gr power point which expands better than any other cartridge, especially when used in pistols. i don't like the new blazers because they don't seem to have of the power to reliably cycle a new cartridge into the chamber as the old ones did. the remington thunderers remind me of the old blazers.