The Rimfire Report: A Quick Look at CCI CB 22 Short

Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire firearm world and all of its different types of guns, shooting sports, history, and ammunition. In our ongoing series of ammunition tests we’ve encountered many different cartridges so far, but I promise they’ll only get more interesting from here on out! I figured this week we’d take a break from the typical type of 22 caliber rimfire cartridge, into something a bit more strange - CCI’s CS 22 Shorts.

For those that don’t know, 22 Short, in its 29-grain configuration is cited as being the original loading of the very first American self-contained metallic cartridge. More powerful than .22 BB/CB cap (6mm Flobert) loads and much less powerful than 22LR, CCI’s CB 22 Short loadings are rated for pest control usage at close range only. Today we’ll talk about some of its advantages, and disadvantages, and take a look at some quick velocity data I've gleaned using the ammo.

More Rimfire Report @ TFB:

• The Rimfire Report: Plain Ole CCI Standard Velocity 40 Grain
• The Rimfire Report: A First Look at the NAA Sentinel 22WMR Revolver
• The Rimfire Report: CCI Suppressor 45 Grain - Heavy & Quiet

The Rimfire Report: A Quick Look at CCI CB 22 Short

CCI’s CB 22 Shorts are a funky combination of a very short cartridge, a lightweight 29-grain projectile, and a very minuscule amount of powder. It will not feed out of any box or rotary-style magazine meant for regular 22LR ammo, nor will it cycle in any currently existing semi-auto rimfire firearm (without modification). So what’s the point of this slow, light, and kind of expensive cartridge with a 136-year-old design?

The combination of light projectile, and minimal powder charge means that CCI’s 22 CB will always be subsonic, and should give you similar performance to a mid-grade 22 caliber pellet rifle - perfect for pest control around crowded areas where the expected pests will be no more than 25-yards away. Oh and if you’re still wondering what “CB” stands for, it stands for “Conical Bullet.” A holdover from when the 6mm Flobert cartridge was still fairly common, and also featured a pointed “BB” or “Bulleted Breech” cap.

CCI CB 22 SHORT 29 Grain LRN

Product Link: https://www.cci-ammunition.com/rimfire/cci/cb/6-26.html

Product Overview

Quiet. Safe. Fun. Our 22 CB loads keep down the volume and velocity yet knock out targets and pests at close range. They feature reliable CCI® priming and brass.

• Low noise
• Accurate
• Great plinking and close-range pest load

SPECS

• Caliber: 22 Short
• Grain Weight: 29
• Muzzle Velocity: 710
• Bullet Style: Lead Round Nose
• Ballistic Coefficient: .080
• Package Quantity: 100
• Usage: Target Shooting

Velocity Data

For this slightly different series of tests, I used a standard Ruger 10/22 Carbine with a 16” barrel for the rifle tests, and then a SIG Sauer P322 COMP for the pistol tests. I figured these two firearms would more closely resemble the type of gun that one might use to dispatch pests around the house/homestead/farm etc. It’s worth noting that single-loading these short cartridges into the 10/22 is quite a pain in the ass - not so much for the pistol.

Rifle Velocity Data - 10/22 16” BBL

This is the first time in our series of tests that I have seen a CCI ammunition fail to meet or at least be somewhat close to the advertised velocity out of a 16” barrel. We talked about a comparison to air rifles - this puts the 10/22 and CCI CB Short combo in the territory of a Break-Action type 22 caliber air rifle in terms of performance. Typically break-action air rifles will give you muzzle velocities between 500 and 800 fps, with the next step up from that being expensive and somewhat loud PCP air rifles.

With any drastic reduction in barrel length, so comes a drastic reduction in velocity. The CCI CB 22 Shorts out of the SIG pistol managed to give us an average of about 595 fps, about 80 fps slower than through our rifle. Our extreme spread and standard deviation managed to stay relatively the same, despite the minimum and maximum velocities being predictably lower for the pistol. This means that the round gets a tiny bit of extra oomph out of longer barrels but the kinetic energy won’t be much more.

Use Cases

CCI’s CB 22 Shorts definitely don’t look as good as some of the more powerful, heavier loads we’ve discussed before - especially for its asking price of about $0.15 per round. I think CCI CB 22 Short has a lot of merit as a backyard plinking round, as well as a somewhat more economical yet effective pest control round for critters typically found close to home.

So minute of squirrel/soda can at 25 yards is more than enough performance for me in the accuracy department. 22 CB Shorts also don’t make a lot of noise - so little in fact that they’re arguably hearing safe even without a suppressor when being shot out of a manual-action firearm. Semi-autos like the 10/22 or the P322 open up just a tad bit during the firing process which lets some of the noise out of the breech end of the gun. The addition of a suppressor should help reduce some of the noise out of these two guns, and shooting CBs out of a bolt-action or lever-action wouldn’t be much louder than snapping your fingers.

Final Thoughts

CCI CB 22 Short is most likely going to be used by farmers, ranchers, and homesteaders who are looking to do some accurate pest control around their property. CCI CB 22 Short should be accurate enough to blast away at squirrels, rats, birds, and other pests, quiet enough to be used near livestock and people without hearing protection, and economical enough to make it worth picking up if you value both of those things more than semi-auto operation.

The 29-grain bullets do not deform even at point-blank range, but this shouldn’t matter for plinkers, nor should it matter for the type of pests that this round is meant for (small rodents/rabbits). Of course, I’d like to hear from you! Do you or would you consider using CCI’s CB 22 Shorts for plinking or pest control duty, or do you feel like the more economical, available, and semi-auto-operable CCI Standard is still the better option? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts below! Thanks as always for stopping by to read The Rimfire Report and we’ll see you next week!