Testing CCI Uppercut Defense .22 WMR & Suppressor Max .22

While it doesn’t receive the attention of its “big brother” centerfire counterparts, rimfire ammunition is undergoing a high-tech revolution of its own. Today’s rimfire options include rounds designed with features and improvements tailored for very specific purposes and applications.

CCI Ammunition in Lewiston, Idaho, is a leader in designing and manufacturing this new wave of rimfire and recently introduced two very purpose-driven rimfires.

CCI Uppercut Defense .22 WMR features a jacketed hollow-point bullet with specialized nose skiving to ensure full, reliable expansion while retaining the necessary weight to achieve critical penetration depths. This product extends the Uppercut Defense line, which was initially introduced in .22 LR with a 32-grain jacketed hollow point.

The highly reliable CCI priming and propellant launch the 40-grain Uppercut bullet at an impressive 1,050 fps from a 2-inch revolver barrel. From a rifle with a 24-inch barrel, that velocity soars to 1,875 fps! A box of 50 is priced at an MSRP of $25.99.

I shot the Uppercut .22 WMR rimfire with a Walther Arms WMP SD, a full-sized semi-auto sporting a 5.6-inch barrel, a poly frame, and an aluminum slide. I mounted a Trijicon SRO red-dot sight onto the pistol.

Given this is a self-defense round, I also used Caldwell Dual Zone Silhouette Targets, which at 5 yards roughly simulated a 6-foot tall target standing at 10 yards.

Accuracy with the WMP SD and this ammunition was outstanding. Shooting offhand at 5 and 7 yards, I had no trouble drilling five-shot clusters of 1 inch and better. At 7 yards, the top groups were 0.90 inches and a pair at 0.75 inches. There were no failures to feed or eject in 75 rounds.   

CCI specifically designed the Suppressor Max in .22 LR to provide exceptional noise reduction and hard-hitting terminal performance when fired through rimfire suppressors. CCI constructed this rimfire round with a specialized hollow-point bullet that creates effective segmentation upon impact, even at its low-decibel, sub-sonic muzzle velocity of 970 feet per second (fps) from a 24-inch barrel.

Though subsonic, Suppressor Max cycles all semi-automatic rifles and pistols. The 45-grain segmenting hollow-point bullet is safe to shoot through all quality suppressors. It is sold in 100-round boxes with an MSRP of $18.99.

To test the Suppressor Max in .22 LR, I first ran the ammo through Ruger’s new 10/22 Carbon Fiber rifle. Weighing just 3.5 pounds, this latest iteration of Ruger’s classic semi-automatic rimfire features a stainless steel barrel encased in a tensioned carbon-fiber sleeve. The speckled and textured Magpul MOE X-22 stock fit comfortably on my shoulder, and the trigger was crisp with a quick reset.

Of course, being a 10/22, ammunition is fed via a detachable 10-round rotary magazine. The extended magazine release provided a smooth, no-fuss removal of the flush-mounted magazine. The rifle sported several other features, including a factory-installed, one-piece aluminum scope rail.

I mounted a Trijicon Credo HX 1-8x28 riflescope on the Ruger. The first-focal-plane Credo HX features 0.25-MOA elevation and windage adjustments, large tactical-style control knobs and a red/green illuminated, MOA-segmented reticle. The 34mm tube is Trijicon rugged and made from 6061 aircraft-grade aluminum.

Running suppressor-designed ammunition without a suppressor is possible but not ideal. I used SilencerCo’s Switchback 22 suppressor for my test. Modular and lightweight, the Switchback offered three different length options and four possible configurations. It handles .22 LR, .22 WMR, .22 Hornet, .17 HMR, .17 WSM, and 5.7x28mm firearms and is optimized for pistols out of the box. For rifles, flipping the orientation of the internal baffles is recommended and extremely easy to do.

I zeroed and shot the Ruger with Suppressor Max at 50 yards at my outdoor range. Occasionally, wind gusts popped up and were enough to push the light bullets and my group to one side. But even then, I placed several five-shot strings into a 1-inch group.

My very best three-shot group pegged in at just 0.40 inches, while I made 10 shots at the head of a paper coyote target at 1.4 inches. The Suppressor Max and the Ruger worked well together, and there was not a single failure to load or eject in 125 rounds. I also tested some standard .22 LR with the Suppressor Max and the Switchback. The standard ammo’s blast was certainly reduced enough that I did not need hearing protection, yet it remained fairly snappy.

But the muzzle blast was even less pronounced with the Suppressor Max ammunition. It wasn’t the “pff-fft” of suppressed firearms in Hollywood movies, but it was super quiet. On a small game hunt, I’m sure any animals I missed would look around, curious about the noise, but not be scared off, which would allow for a follow-up shot.

While CCI designed Suppressor Max with small-game hunters and rifle shooters in mind, I wondered about its application for close-range varmint eradication, such as dealing with rats raiding eggs in a chicken coop. In that scenario, a suppressed pistol could be just the solution. Consequently, I loaded my Browning Buck Mark Plus Vision UFX .22LR pistol, which resembles something from Star Wars; it’s a semi-auto featuring a threaded 5.8-inch barrel. The Switchback easily screwed right onto it.

I shot at 7 yards offhand and was soon drilling 1-inch groups and better with the Suppressor Max. The very best group came in at 0.60 inches for five shots. With that kind of accuracy and a fairly quiet report, one could take out a rat or two without disturbing nearby egg layers!  

CCI offers several other suppressor-optimized and/or segmenting hollow point rimfire loads. For example, CCI’s proven Quiet-22 in .22 LR features a muzzle velocity of just 710 fps, making it the ideal choice for suppressed bolt guns and single-shot rifles. These rounds produce 75% less perceived noise than standard velocity .22 LR rounds. 

For small game hunters, the .22 WMR Maxi-Mag Segmented HP utilizes CCI’s exclusive polymer bullet coating, which significantly minimizes copper and lead fouling in the barrel without leaving a residue. The Maxi-Mag’s segmented hollow point fractures into three equal-sized pieces upon impact, thereby tripling the number of wound channels.

It’s a new era for rimfire ammunition, and CCI is arguably at the forefront of innovation. For more information, visit cci-ammunition.com.