magtech .22 ammo?

[Narcoleptic Warrior]

I know that Brazilian CBC ammo has a good reputation as budget centerfire fare, but has anyone here ever shot Magtech (magtech is the commercial brand of CBC) .22LR before? I believe that their most common round is a standard velocity 40gr solid point.

Is .22LR magtech good stuff or trash?

[Mellberg]

Don't waste time and money on the .22lr from magtech. They are really really bad.

[Narcoleptic Warrior]

Is it worse than Winchester T-22 target? Or perhaps the lousiest grade of Eley ammo?

[Fred]

Three or four years ago I bought a case of Magtech SV. I shot it in my FAS 607 which had safely, if rather unreliably, shot many other brands of ammo. In the first 300 rounds of Magtech, there occurred 2 actual explosions. The cases burst and fragmented, causing a loud noise and lots of debris all over. After the second explosion I returned the remainder of the case to Midway, asking them to advise potential buyers about the problem. They blamed it on my gun, which was total BS, and continued selling it, although I think by now they may have discontinued it. Of course that was just one lot several years ago, so I don't know what it is like now...and I don't intend to find out.

HTH,
FredB

[Nick_Burman]

Brazilian shooter warning... steer clear of CBC/Magtech ammo for any serious shooting!!! Here all shooters which want to see at least a modicum of results use Eley or Lapua...

Cheers,
Nicholas
Sao Paulo, Brazil (!)

[PaulT]

CBC/Magtech .22 issues may have been resolved, however, we lost many .22 Hammerli 280 frames and magazines when the previously reliable and relatively accurate 25m fodder was rebranded and manufacturing changed into the Magtech brand. The cracked frames were usually accompanied with the rapid ejection of magazine. Hammerli replaced may pistol frames and re-barrelled into new top-straps under warrantee but I think when one of our squad shooters had the second unit replaced in the same year, the suggestion to consider another brand of ammunition was made!

I noted .22 Magtech was back in the UK and the light weight sporting rifle shooters consuming large volume. It appears very sharp and the shooters bench resting these can not get it to group at 25m. Given quality Eley/Lapua/RWS brands are readily available, I don’t see the point in risking kit or injury.

[Fred]

CBC/Magtech .22 issues may have been resolved, however, we lost many .22 Hammerli 280 frames and magazines when the previously reliable and relatively accurate 25m fodder was rebranded and manufacturing changed into the Magtech brand. The cracked frames were usually accompanied with the rapid ejection of magazine. Hammerli replaced may pistol frames and re-barrelled into new top-straps under warrantee but I think when one of our squad shooters had the second unit replaced in the same year, the suggestion to consider another brand of ammunition was made!

Paul,

Is this a completely different problem from the frame cracking you have previously reported with the Hammerli SP20?

FredB

[PaulT]

Hi Fred,

A good question, hope below clears this up...

The Magtech .22 issues were with ALL pistols.

HAMMERLI 280
Back then, the Hammerli 280 was very popular in the UK (and elsewhere) and the Magtech issues caused major issues in carbon fibre kit. In total fairness to Hammerli, we have not known or seen these mega charges in any other ammunition but the one round in ?/10000000 was too much for the 280 frame.

I observed that the failed .22 units were without the “strengthening bar” with my and other 280’s not having any issues. This is not scientific so if any failed 208’s with a strengthening bar will be valuable input to this thread. The strengthening bar was an aluminium type bar that was screwed permanently into the fixing points of the Hammerli 280 barrel weights. My view is that these saved both .22 and .32 frames..

HAMMERLI SP20
The failed frames relate to the OLD .32 SP20 only. I noted the new frame design is reinforced in several areas the old ones failed. Somebody using my SP20 .32 with new frame noticed the recoil was far smoother than when using the old frame design. This was a blind trial as he was not aware of the subtle change between the two, so that was interesting.

The failed recoil buffers have been observed on both SP20 .22 and .32; no pattern of ammunition usage to buffer failure has been noted. The good advise from David Levene to regularly replace the recoil buffer screw has been sound preventative maintenance. The only unit where this has not been followed was a unit I leant out to a junior GBR shooter and I was kindly issued a free replacement buffer from Walther (Hammerli) in Milan last week – thanks guys!

[Rutty]

Our club bought some Magtech for Lightweight Sporting Rifle when we were unable to obtain any T22. The advantages of Magtech are as follows:

1. It's cheap.
2. It goes bang, most of the time anyway.
3. As it doesn't group you don't have to waste time finding excuses for your scores.

As PaulT said above, Eley/Lapua/RWS or it would seem just about anything else is a better bet.

Rutty