CCI is well known for its high-quality rimfire ammunition. Whenever you need a rimfire for something beyond plinking, you likely turn toward CCI. This year at SHOT Show, CCI unveiled their latest .22 LR load, the Uppercut. The Uppercut is aimed to be a .22 LR cartridge optimized for self-defense, specifically from micro-sized pistols. It’s perfect for guns like the LCP 2 and the Beretta 21A.
Catching the Uppercut
A .22 LR can be a viable defensive cartridge, but a large part of being successful with a defensive-oriented .22 LR is proper ammunition selection. You need a round that can penetrate deep enough to matter, so most bulk .22 LR is off the table. Most .22 LR ammo is designed for rifles. The Uppercut is supposed to be optimized for barrels that range from 2.5 to 4 inches and is designed for semi-auto handguns.
Interestingly enough, the Uppercut has the same goal as the Federal Punch. Federal and CCI are owned by the same company. Someone in that company really likes pugilism-themed names for their defensive .22 LR loads.
The big difference between the Federal Punch and the CCI Uppercut is expansion. The Punch load isn’t designed to expand but to penetrate. The Uppercut promises some expansion. The Uppercut uses a 32-grain jacketed hollow point. The Punch load uses a 29-grain flat-nose bullet. I’ve seen tests of the Punch load, and it penetrates extremely well.
According to CCI’s website, the Uppercut load penetrates consistently from 8 to 12 inches. If you know anything about ammunition standards, you know the typical defensive load should penetrate at least 12 inches through properly calibrated ballistic gel. This seems to fall short of that standard.
I don’t doubt that the ammo will be reliable. Rimfire rounds are traditionally less reliable than centerfire guns, but CCI’s primers have always been better than the vast majority of rimfire ammo. I’d argue CCI is the closest rimfire rounds get to centerfire reliability.
Yawn. That’s great.
How about some Large pistol primers.
I’ll take 15,000 please. Getting light here.
Gunbroker. $135 shipped. Knock yourself out.
I wonder how useful the ammunition will be for small game hunting. The expansion will deliver more energy to your quarry, which will likely mean a quicker, cleaner kill.
That’s exactly what I was wondering Simon!
If useful for humans likely not much difference than standard ball for small game. Coyote maybe but doesn’t seem the right round for that job.
If you’re depending on 22lr for defense/offense good luck. I guess it’s better than harsh language…
I know of a lot of hogs, cattle, goats and deer that were have been killed with a .22.
Shot placement in a hurried stressed environment is a detriment however.
I wonder how it would do in a rifle barrel.
What’s wrong with Stingers, I like those.
Just a regular Federal hollow point seems to do everthing I need done with a .22.
I suppose you change a few things give it a name and up the price.
“I wonder how it would do in a rifle barrel.”
I’ll guess not very well, since the powder burn is so fast. Grab a box and report back… 😉
“What’s wrong with Stingers, I like those.”
So do I, I think I have about half a thousand floating around here somewhere…
I’m thinking it would be an excellent hunting/varmint round out of a rifle. If it expands out of a handgun, it would likely violently expand (and penetrate less) out of a rifle. It would be overkill for something like squirrel, or sage rat, but probably good for raccoon, coyote, or opposum at reasonable range.
…. anything worth killing’s worth overkilling, I always say.
RE: “optimized for barrels that range from 2.5 to 4 inches and is designed for semi-auto handguns.”
Makes me want to try it in a 10/22.
Powder burn may be too quick for relevant velocity gains in rifle length but would probably do well enough in 5-8 inch barrels for hunting pistols.
From what I have read, even when it is loaded with the very fastest burning pistol and shotgun powders, like Red Dot and others in the same burning rate range, .22 LR typically continues to gain significant amounts of velocity to around 12″ of barrel, and usually still shows a measurable velocity gain from 12″ to 14″ or so, then velocity in the next inch or two of barrel slows down a tiny bit.’
Consider ammunition loaded with a very fast-burning powder that burns completely in the first 2″ of bullet travel. Just because the powder has burned completely, that doesn’t mean the gasses it produces vanish. They continue to perform work, expanding and pressing against the base of the bullet to accelerate it down the barrel and increase its velocity, for quite some distance, until pressure drops below the level at which it can overcome bore friction. Only then will the bullet no longer gain velocity, and only after that point it will begin to slow down.
I have also read that some propellants we think of as medium-fast pistol powders, close to Unique in their burning rates, were developed specifically for .22 LR. Vihtavuori 3N37 was supposedly developed specifically for .22 LR ammunition, though it just so happens that it works really, really well in hot 9mm loads too for compensated pistols also. Unique and 3N37 are quite a bit slower than Red Dot or Bullseye.
I saw a big decrease in velocity when I cut a .22 barrel to 16 inches from its original 22inch length.
Haven’t had access to a chrono in years but really didn’t notice much gain in 22lr velocity after 8-10 inches. Will need to check that out next time I have access to one as I do know someone with some silhouette oriented pistols to fill the in between of wranglers/mark 4’s to various bolt action rifles.
I’m gonna pick a few boxes up and try ’em in both my NAA Mini and my Beretta 21A. The copper metal jacket (instead of electroplate) intrigues me.
I’m currently using the Punch in my NAA, with such a small round, being able to penetrate deeply is what I’m looking for…
“ I’m currently using the Punch in my NAA, with such a small round, being able to penetrate deeply is what I’m looking for…”
That’s what she said. 😳
(Sorry. I apologize to you ‘n all the ‘lil pygmies in New Guinea. It be a glorious Friday and it’s five o’clock somewhere. Festivities are underway!)
No need to apologize, I laughed…
Within the designated caliber the heavier the bullet usually the better the penetration so stick with the traditional 40 grain solid bullet.
This 29 grain CCI ammo is nothing more than a warmed over old fashioned obsolete .22 “Long” ammo from the dead hand of the past.
As mentioned in the article .22 rimfire ammo is notorious for dud primers and I have gotten more than I would have liked too even in very expensive target ammo such as Eley and Lapua. Last year Eley made a bad run of Rifle Match ammo (nicknamed Black Box) that rivaled the misfires I usually get with low grade junk Remington Thunderbolt ammo.
This is for those people that insist on continuing to use screwdrivers as hammers.
Bob, (or boB), ANY tool can be a hammer, and a hammer can be EVERY tool !!
THANKS INFOR ALWAYS
STILL I PREFER CCI STINGER 22 LR FOR SELF DEFENSE
CARRY 22 MAG FOR BACKUP FOR SELF DEFENSE
Go away troll
This is a lot of gimmicky hype. So after years of grueling research CCI developed a cartridge that sends a 32 grain bullet out of a 2.5″ barrel at 950 fps? I chronographed some Aguila 38 grain HV at 1012 Avg from my 4″ Walther P22, so 950 from a 2.5″ sounds likely. And a 38 grain should penetrate at least as well as a 32. Anyway, this is pretty underwhelming for a NEW! product.
It’s about the price on the box.
XtraSpecialDifferent is worth at least $2 more.
So the bullet is an actual copper jacketed JP not a waxed lead turd.
22 Pinkster has a video on the uppercut.
I do not grasp why this is being sold as suitable for self defense. It is non-trivial to get a .22 LR solid to 12″+ penetration in calibrated 10% ballistic gelatin from a short-barreled pistol. If they’d asked me, I’d have said that during the Second World War, the US military had .22 LR FMJ ammunition–look it up, it was designated as M24 Ball–that had a true jacket, sometimes gilding metal, sometimes copper washed mild steel. It was created for the use of OSS assassination teams in occupied Europe, for compliance with the Hague Convention and the accepted laws of war. And M24 Ball, though it was loaded to be subsonic from a 6″ pistol barrel, got a reputation for lethality out of all proportion to its ballistics on paper. Part of this, no doubt, was the way it was used, and the skills of the men who used it. But because it was a true jacketed bullet, it typically got 12″ or more penetration in gelatin even from a pistol. The bullet did not deform and rarely yawed, which allowed it to go deeper. The jacket also gave it surprisingly good penetration in informal tests against wooden planks, sheet metal, and so on. This seemed to allow it to punch through bone more often, when a roundnose lead .22 LR solid was likely to deflect away from bone and change direction, or flatten against bone and stop there.
So, dig out the old spec sheets for M24 Ball, and write in the margin that because it isn’t intended for use with a can, it doesn’t have to be subsonic from a barrel of any particular length. Maybe see what can be done to improve the old bullet design without running afoul of the dopey “cop-killer bullet” laws on the books. For example, a bullet jacket weighing 25% or more of the total mass of the bullet is forbidden. As M24 Ball was loaded with a bullet weighing, if I recall, 41 grains, make the jacket ten grains, so as not to reach the 25% “naughty” weight. And, of course, depleted uranium is right out. Make the jacket mild steel with a copper wash. Make it a tapered jacket that will be thicker in front and thinner on the sides, to help the bullet get through bone, because shots allowing the bullet to hit perfectly perpendicular to the surface of bone are unlikely to present themselves when their customers are fighting for their lives in the dark. Load it to “.22 LR high velocity” specs, with a pressure curve that allows it to cycle semiauto .22s with authority, because that seems to help reliability a great deal in most firearms–I’ve had more than one Ruger Mk. III that wouldn’t cycle CCI Standard Velocity for sour apples, but worked perfectly with Mini Mags. Speaking of reliability, this isn’t plinking ammo. Primer problems are the bane of reliability in .22 LR and extra QC to make sure the primer material is there without gaps or imperfections would be greatly appreciated. Seal the case necks, too, to keep moisture and oxygen out. Otherwise nothing radical or experimental is needed, or even desirable. Give the bullet the standard .22 LR solid nose ogive shape, length, and dimensions, because semiauto .22 pistol and rifle feed ramps and magazines have been designed around it going back to the Winchester 1903 and the Colt Woodsman. Do enough tests to verify reliable function in a wide range of currently common .22 firearms, and make whatever changes give best reliability across the widest range of platforms. Package it in plastic trays of 100, because in the event that this product has to be used in the gravest extreme, if it’s worth shooting a bad guy once, it’s worth shooting a bad guy a lot. Think of the person with poor upper body strength who has a 10/22 with the factory 25 round mags for home defense. Packaging that has enough ammo to load up a spare mag or three kept with the gun is only logical.
I say yes to no’s idea
Within the designated caliber the heavier the bullet usually the better the penetration so stick with the traditional 40 grain solid bullet.
This 29 grain CCI ammo is nothing more than a warmed over old fashioned obsolete .22 “Long” ammo from the dead hand of the past.
As mentioned in the article .22 rimfire ammo is notorious for dud primers and I have gotten more than I would have liked too even in very expensive target ammo such as Eley and Lapua. Last year Eley made a bad run of Rifle Match ammo (nicknamed Black Box) that rivaled the misfires I usually get with low grade junk Remington Thunderbolt ammo.
This ammo sucks
Federal can make claims all they want but the fact is this Uppercut ammo is absolute JUNK! It does NOT do anything it claims and it is most certainly NOT optimized for barrels “2.5” to 4″ because it will not expand out of those length barrels or even longer. Even out of a rifle you are just as likely to get no expansion as you are for it to expand. Definitely a junk ammo.
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