22Plinkster Sees How His Ammo is Made
While there is a plethora of videos showing how common centerfire ammunition is made, 22LR and similar rimfire ammunition has been kept relatively close to the chest. CCI had a video out a few years ago, but it disappeared from their official YouTube outlet and was not saved anywhere that I remember.
The general process is a secret no longer. Using their sponsored shooter and YouTube shooter extraordinaire 22Plinkster, CCI has opened the factory yet again for us to enjoy. While CCI does not show much of the individual machines running (that would be a trade secret), they do a pretty good job of opening the curtain and showing the process.
The process for making 22LR is surprisingly involved.
- Cup Forming
- Annealing
- Wash & Dry
- Drawing
- Wash & Dry
- Cap Forming
- Plate Filling
- Sizing
- Primer Charging & Drying
- Propellant Charging
- Bullet Loading (Which does not include making the bullet!
- Mating of Bullet & Charged Case
- Bullet Seating & Crimping
- Waxing
- Packaging
Enough reading, enjoy the video showing the process. The amount of lead that is used on a daily basis is astounding!
One of TFB's resident Jarheads, Nathan now works within the firearms industry. A consecutive Marine rifle and pistol expert, he enjoys local 3-gun, NFA, gunsmithing, MSR's, & high-speed gear. Nathan has traveled to over 30 countries working with US DoD & foreign MoDs.The above post is my opinion and does not reflect the views of any company or organization.
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After seeing all the work that goes into a .22LR makes me question my desire for super cheap ammo...just a little.
Those bullets are small specialized items manufactured using a commodity metal. Just think about the different metals that are found in today's bullets. There's copper and what they add to make brass. There's lots of lead as we see in this video. As for what's in the powder that propels the round there's even more materials that some miner has sweated to remove from a dangerous place in a quantity that makes mining it worthwhile for the miners and the company's that employ those folks as well. So next time you see the price of your favorite cartridges going up in price, check on what's happening in the world of mining and the prices they are quoting for the metals they mine, tin, zinc, copper and lead mostly. If there's a shortage of any of these basic metals anywhere in the world, it's always reflected in the price quoted for that particular metal. So even though those cartridges are manufactured here in this country where everything seems normal, commodity metal prices are quoted in various metals markets located in various parts of the world and can very greatly. It'd be interesting to know who they buy their lead from, who they purchase their brass from, shipping charges etc etc. But just judging from this one plant's output per day and they must go through a tremendous amount of metals, which in itself is probably somebody's full time job just to make sure they NEVER run out and have enough to run all day EVERY day no matter where it comes from and relatively speaking how much it costs. As an avid .22 shooter now I know how some of my favorite ammunition is made. Thanks!!