Pardini SP Bullseye Edition ammo choice

[conradin]

I recently tried out CCI standard on my Pardini SP Bullseye but it fails to cycle. My Pardini is the convversion type (with .32 and also red-dot as an option). I find it hard to believe because CCI is one of the most popular .22lr ammo in the USA. I thought maybe it has something to do with US vs EU made ammo, but I tried both Federal Gold and Winchester and they both are fine. Other ammo I have used have been fine: Eley Match, Eley Tenex, Aguilla, Lapua OSP, RWS Rifle Match. I have not tried Remington yet.

Anyone has the same experience? Also what kind of ammo also does not work?

[Rover]

I once tested a single S&W M41 using four different barrels in a Ransom Rest with a large variety of brands. No two of the barrels used the same ammo for best accuracy. Some ammo wouldn't function, but not in all four barrels.

Go figure!

[Isabel1130]

How new is the gun? Clean it well and then drop test the ammo in the barrel.
When I first got my AW-93 I got perfect functioning with SK standard plus. Figured anything would work, and threw in a few boxes of Eley Target to go to the next match which would not feed at all.

It could actually be the magazines that are causing the issue. CCI standard is a bit larger than the European brands, and if it is causing the magazine to not feed correctly, that could be the problem.

[pistol champ]

I have a Pardini HP 32acp with the 22 conversion. I've shot a few thousand CCI paper box SV with out any failures. I know that Pardini USA does not recommend it in their guns because of the poor quality control on the CCI ammo. You might just have some CCI that is not compatible with yours. I would suggest to try some from another lot number.

[conradin]

I seldom if ever use this gun in its .22lr version until recently, as I only use it as the .32 version.
I have dissembled it, cleaned it, switched magazines, and even switch to the .32 spring and all still failed.
Failure include: complete failure to eject (case remained in chamber, slide did not move open), failure to eject half way (case stuck half way out, on the ejection port), stovepipe, or successful ejection but failure to feed.
Switching back to its .32 conversion the pistol functions fine. So the problem does not come from the rest of the pistol.

I also have used someone else's CCI, it still failed. Right now it is a mystery. I donated my remaining CCI to the kids in the club for some winchester instead.

[JD Mahan]

Cci sv is the only (seriously, the only) ammo I've had any issues with in my Pardini sp. I cleaned the gun, cleaned the magazines, drop of oil, everything. Nothing helped. I just decided life was too short, and every other decent ammo (eley Club and target, wolf, sk, lapua) worked perfectly (I'm over 5000 rnds, and the only malfunctions have been the cci)
Silver lining of sorts; it works fine in my High Standard, so my wife inherited the 2 bricks.

[SuperIIFT]

The wife and I have 2 Pardini SPBE Editions
CCI Standard Velocity is the ammo of choice for both of our SP pistols
Have tried others Fiochi (Failure to fire) Remington not accurate Federal Failure to fire, and others
Keep the gun clean and lubed, make sure you are putting it back together correctly
Break it in 500 rounds etc.
Hold it securely (no limp wrist)
In the end you will be rewarded with the finest BE Pistol out there

[crankythunder]

I did a extensive test on pardini sp bullseye 22LR ammo and posted it on rimfire central:

Although it is a couple years old, I have done some additional testing and I have not acquired any information that would lead me to revise my findings.

The complete test is here:

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/sh ... ht=pardini

In summary, I found that for accuracy, CCI was acceptable but all the European ammos were a touch better.
For reliability, Eley sport and Eley target were sensitive to ambient temperatures. (an important consideration where I live, where we transport our pistol box from sub zero weather to the indoor firing line).
My conclusion was that since I could not discern any accuracy differences between the European ammo, and discarding the Eley Sport and Eley Target for reliability reasons, the cheapest available European ammo would suffice.

I currently use sk standard plus and wolf match target even though I do not like the wolf snot lubrication that migrates to the pardini grip, the steering wheel, the doorknob, and the toilet flusher despite frequent and heavy use of baby wipes.

Currently, I have a tube of pre moistened wipes and use a fresh wipe after loading the magazines on my hands, the mags, and the grip.

Let me know if this helps!

Regards,
Cranky

[crankythunder]

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/sh ... ht=pardini

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/sh ... ht=pardini

It appears that I made a couple posts back when I was doing extensive ammo testing with my pardini. Both links are above.

Regards,
Cranky

[NDbullseye]

I have one of the Pardini SP new Bullseye Editions. I have used over 6K rounds of CCI SV, 1K Eley Tenex, 2K SK standard plus, and 1k of the Federal Ultramatch (non dimple). Zero malfunctions in all of the above rounds fired. The only malfunction I have had with this pistol was with a brick Eley Sport I was burning up for practice. On the malfunction is was so light of a charge that the empty ejected but didn't pick up the next round.

Accuracy wise @ 50yds:
Federal Ultramatch: 1.5"
CCI SV: 1.0"
SK STD+: 0.9"
Eley Tenex: 0.8"

@ 25yds all were under 3/8" with ease.

I personally shoot slow fires @ 50yds with Tenex. I have better shot calls with it. Tried all of the above and gives me the best results. Best slow fire is a 99 with it.

[UtahDave]

Which flavor of Tenex are you using? There are three at least.

Thanks, good posts.

Dave

[NDbullseye]

The tenex I am using is the straight tenex red box.

[gwpotte]

When I purchased my Pardini SP BE in 22 about two years ago, I tried it with CCI Std Velocity since that is what I had on hand and had been using with my S&W 41. Vladimeer (from Pardini USA) told me CCI Std Velocity would shoot well in my pistol but would likely not feed reliably due to being a non calibrated ammo. CCI Std Velocity did shoot well in my Pardini SP BE, but after about 90 (yes only ninety) rounds, I had two consecutive failure to fires. I examined the brass and noticed light hits. I examined the pistol and noticed bullet wax build up on both the chamber and bolt faces. I cleaned the bolt and chamber faces off and fired the remaining 20 rounds I had without a problem. My conclusion was the bullet wax form the CCI Std Velocity was building up on the bolt and chamber faces creating a cushion and causing light hits by the firing pin. Decided to try SK Std Plus and over 7500 rounds later I have yet to have a failure to fee or fire. Accuracy has been very good. I do not care for the greasy lube over the entire bullet (including case), but reliability and accuracy is great. So I just wipe my hands on a rag after loading a magazine and use only SK Std Plus.

[JohnCfromMD]

I just took delivery of my new Pardini SP. I love it. As I had heard about problems with Pardini magazines and loading them with CCI SV, I decided to do a measurement of different brands of .22 LR. As the reported problem seemed to be related to length, I measured Cartridge Overall Length (COL).

The SAAMI COL spec is 25.40 mm.
Of the brands I measured, here are the averages of what I found:

Aquila Super Extra SV 24.76mm

CCI SV 25.36mm

CCI Green Tag 25.198mm

Sk Standard Plus 24.83mm

Eley Target 24.938mm

The ammo with the least COL difference between each round was Eley.

Interestingly, only two individual rounds exceeded the Saami spec of 25.40. Both were CCI SV,
One was 25.55 and the other was 25.43. HOWEVER, in both cases it was the lube on the bullet tips that made them too long. When the excess lube was scratched off with my thumb, the measurements were 25.38 and 25.11 respectively.

As you can see, CCI seemed to have the longest average lengths. HOWEVER, when I actually received my gun, I was able to load and fire CCI SV and Green Tag with no problems. What I did note was that some of the lube on the CCI ammo tips chipped off and fell into the magazines when loading. Over time, this might contribute to a drag on the follower. My conclusion is that CCI. With occasional cleaning of the magazines, will work perfectly well for practice. In matches, I will use the Eley target.

The Aquila also seems to shoot well and given its sale price, is definitely good for practice.

N.B. I do not offer this as having any statistical significance as the samples were taken from the same lot for each ammo measured, and I did not measure a large number of rounds... Only 8 rounds from each box.
Best regards, JohnCfromMD

[wahoowillie]

I bought a new Pardini SP BE package in early December and have run over 2000 rounds of CCI SV and 1000 of Eley Target through it without a single hiccup. Before that I had a older SP and ran countless rounds of both types of same ammo with zero firing or feed issues. Not sure if it makes a difference, but I clean my gun after every range trip whether it needs it or not!

[David M]

It is not only Pardini that has trouble with CCI and some other American ammo's, FWB, Hammerli and Morini also
suffer.
There are two .22 spec's, the European and American spec's are different, the American is larger in the case.
As a general rule European pistol, use European ammo.

A fix I have used with great success is to run a American Match Grade chambering reamer into all my pistols.
This sloves the chamber feed problem and light strike from not fully seating.
You also need to be careful with overall length, the Pardini is tight on case length and suffers from drag
on the bullet nose in the magazine, over length will misfeed and stovepipe out of the mag.

[hundert]

CCI doesn't work in my free pistol, because it's apparently longer than other cartridges... I can't close the breech.

[PFribley]

CCI sv is both longer and larger in diameter. Any of the name euro brand will function much better.

[Dipnet]

MY SPBE eats anything I've tried and I regularly use CCI for matches cause it's affordable (especially right now). I like SK bullets; the bulk stuff is very similar to CCI and upper crust Pistol King is the softest recoiling ammo I've ever shot (and very accurate and zippy). Until I start shooting 10Xs, I'll pass on the Tenex (although I fish the boxes out of the trash, fill them with yellow box rounds, then casually put them on the bench at some future match). It adds to the illusion of competence...dipnet

[-TT-]

... upper crust Pistol King is the softest recoiling ammo I've ever shot (and very accurate and zippy).

Pistol King is all of these except accurate in my Benelli MP90S. For some reason, groups open up to over an inch with it, while SK Standard Plus or SK Pistol Match are practically on top of each other. There's no substitute for thorough testing - in your own gun!