CCI opens new .22 Rimfire Production Facility in Idaho

Gun Watch ^ | 12 August, 2012 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

.22 Rimfire case block being filled and checked at old CCI plant in Lewiston, Idaho

Vista Outdoors opened their new rimfire production facility in Lewiston, Idaho on 10 August, 2017. The new facility covers 37,000 square feet.

Vista Oudoors owns the CCI and Federal ammunition brands. They are major suppliers of .22 rimfire ammunition for the United States. The CCI facility in Lewiston, Idaho has been running almost non-stop to attempt to meet demand in the United States for the last four years. It produces about 4 million .22 rimfire rounds a day.

To meed the increased structural demand for .22 rimfire, Vista Outdoors made the decision to increase rimfire production, years ago. The plan has been in process. The new plant automates the production to modern standards. Much of the new machinery was designed by CCI engineers. From the Lewiston Tribune:

The latest addition provides room for a variety of proprietary equipment used to make .22-caliber rimfire ammunition.

Much of the equipment was designed by company engineers, in cooperation with outside vendors. The focus, Mackleit said, is on "continuous flow" - starting out with raw material and moving through to the finished product in a sequence of steps without building any pockets of inventory along the way.

The result, he said, has been a substantial and "very satisfying" reduction in the time needed to complete an order.

This 10 minute video of how .22 ammunition is made at CCI was made a few years ago by 22Plinkster. It shows how the old process produced .22 ammunition. I recommend it to see how high quality .22 rimfire ammunition is made on an industrial scale. The priming segment particularly interesting. It was still done partly by hand, likely for safety reasons.

Link to video

Perhaps a new video will be made of the plant that opened on 10 August, 2017.

.22 rimfire ammunition has been slowly increasing in availability and dropping in price for months. Production is gradually meeting pent up demand. The new CCI plant will speed up that process. 

The lowest priced .22 ammunition consistently available is the Aguila brand. On the Internet, prices have been about 4.2 cents per round. Aguila quality control is said to have been increased significantly in recent years. Aguila nearly doubled its ammunition production over the last four years.  Aguila uses an Ely priming process. They are striving to get and keep a significant market share of North American demand.

The CCI plant can be seen as work by Vista Outdoors to keep its share of the market. It has brand recognition, an excellent reputation, and is the major player in the market. To keep that position, CCI .22 rimfire prices will need to be competitive.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

[marktwain]

Before the bubble, .22 ammunition capacity was closely ballanced to demand, at about 4 billion rounds a year. Now production has increased to over 5 billion rounds a year, and is just starting to satisfy demand.

[Paladin2]

"4 million .22 rimfire rounds a day."

So, every American gets a round every 75 days?

[marktwain]

That was the old production limit at one plant.

I am sure if more Americans want ammo, the plants will be expanded even more.

[TnTnTn]

Great-hope they produce some more 22 WMR....

[Vaquero]

I was a border. I confess to buying up all I could. With $h!t-for-brains in the whitehouse over the past 8 years I got what I could when I could of rounds I couldn’t reload (like rimfires) and reloading components.

[yarddog]

Around 6 months ago, I was in a Walmart near the gun section. An old man walked up to the counter and asked for a box of .22 ammo.

To my surprise, the girl reached under the counter and pulled out a 50 round box. She asked how many and he replied “just one.”

I had plenty and was not interested in purchasing any but it was almost funny that they had plenty but were keeping it hid.

[yarddog]

Also WRF and 5mm Remington rimfire.

[Vaquero]

HOARDER. not boarder. Sheesh......with the auto correct

[Blue Highway]

I can finally buy .22LR CCI Mini Mags for under 8¢ a round.

[eartick]

I had plenty and was not interested in purchasing any but it was almost funny that they had plenty but were keeping it hid.

Yes they have been hiding it since the crunch subsided. They were also limiting it to one box but sounds like they relaxed that. I am good with .22 LR but desperately need some 22mag m

[TigersEye]

And don’t waste it! ;-)

[BipolarBob]

ammoseek has those listed I believe.

[LegendHasIt]

WOO HOO!!!

[lacrew]

Where I’m at, all ammo (except shotgun) is now behind the counter at Wally World...don’t know why. And the odds of somebody being at the counter are less than zero,

[Rinnwald]

Hey!

That was PRESIDENT $h!t-for-brains.

Gotta keep respect for the office.

[SkyDancer]

No limit at Cabela’s or Walmart. Cabela had them for $3.99/box of fifty.

[Viking2002]

I just got in another 150 rounds of .22LR from Sportsman’s Guide today. $8.52. And I threw in another 60 rounds of .223 for my AR, just to stock up a little.

[SkyDancer]

Good price. It’d be like $12 or more at Cabela’s - but they’re usually high anyway. Some guy was selling .22mag shot shells for $20 at the gun show and Cabela’s had them for $12. They had lots and lots of .22’s at the show but way high in price, at least $7-10 higher than box stores.

[Viking2002]

Truth be told, I did get a Buyer’s Club membership. I’d been debating it for years and finally did it, for $40 a year, I get 10% off, 20% off on one-day or weekend specials, free shipping several times a year, and a few other perks. It pays for itself quickly. And they have everything, like an online Cabela’s. But they carry a lot of cool military surplus from all over the world, too. Want a German Pickelhaube? Got them in two styles. German tanker suit? Italian field camo? British ballistic vest? Israeli gas mask? Bulgarian army trench coat? Swiss alpenflage battle suit? Yup. Got ‘em. LOL

[MarkL]

I really miss the days of being able to buy a brick of W/W Wildcat .22LR on sale at K-Mart for $6.99, normally $9.99.

Of course we'll never see those prices again, but I pine for a time when I can shoot 100 rounds for $2.00. Right now, most .22LR I find is about $3.50 or more for just 50 rounds. :-(

I miss being able to afford to shoot a brick or more of .22LR over a weekend. Hopefully this will help bring prices down to a more reasonable level.

mark