I’ve spent a lot of time at the shooting range watching people shoot every type of ammo made. With a lot of first-hand experience, I’m able to give you the facts on this ammo.
Blazer pistol and rimfire ammo is a fine option for range and plinking use. It’s generally cheaper than most ammo, is reliable in most firearms, and shoots fairly accurately. It’s loaded with a slightly dirty powder so your gun may need cleaning sooner than you are used to.
But, does it always feed and eject well? What about the aluminum cases, do they work fine? And, how dirty is it?
Is Blazer Accurate Ammo?
Blazer brass and aluminum-caused ammo is as accurate, sometimes more so, as other target-grade ammo. It generally shoots as well as any other practice ammo. Most shooters do not notice any difference in functional accuracy When switching to Blazer.
Blazer aluminum case uses a Heat treated case, a quality Speer fmj bullet, and a basic powder. this makes a load with more than acceptable accuracy for target shooting and standard pistol competition.
People like to give the company smack talk over the ammo, but shooters who’ve regularly used it have nothing bad to say about it. In fact, I’ve seen several guys who prefer it to Federal, Winchester, and Remington range ammo because it’s more accurate in their pistol.
The cartridges are loaded quite precisely for budget ammo. Powder charges and bullet seating depth is usually more consistent than other cheap stuff. Even though the cases are aluminum, they perform very well and don’t cause any reduction in accuracy.
Blazer Ammo isn’t as Dirty as You May Think
I’ve shot all the cheap ammo that has ever been on the shelf at my local gun store. Some of it gunks up my gun pretty bad. That’s not been my experience with Blazer. It’s certainly not the cleanest ammo out there, but it’s no dirtier than any other range ammo I’ve shot.
I’d say that it’s as clean as Remington UMC ammo, which is totally acceptable. When I say that ammo is dirty, I mean that as the powder burns, it leaves behind a lot more unburned material. All gunpowder creates a lot of solid residue after combusting. Think of it as gunpowder charcoal.
There are two things that make gunpowder burn dirty. The first is filler material. Some cheaper powders use basically a filler as an easy way to regulate the burn rate. BY using a filler, the burn rate is kinda set to slow. so, if there’s a bit more powder in a case or the bullet is seated a bit far down, it still performs in a somewhat consistent pressure.
But, that makes it dirty because the gunpowder is now watered down with less combustible material. It leaves more carbon in the barrel. Also, a light powder charge will be dirtier. More powder increases pressure. Pressure increases burn rate, increasing the temperature, which increases the efficiency of combustion.
More solid convert to gas in a higher pressure round. And, fewer solids combust in a low-pressure load. Cheap loads are usually lower pressure, and therefore burn less efficiently. Cheap ‘range” ammo tends to be lower-pressure and leave more carbon in the barrel.
Blazer isn’t premium ammo, but it’s not worse than most standard options either. If you are willing to shoot any cheaper ammo, Blazer will work as well as them all.
CCI Makes Blazer Ammo
Blazer ammo is made by CCI. It’s simply a cheaper line of centerfire pistol and 22lr ammo. Blazer uses quality Speer bullets to keep accuracy where it needs to be.
CCI is a well-known maker of quality ammunition. But, CCI is a high-class, more expensive manufacturer. They wanted to offer a more low-budget line of ammo and did so by making it look like an entirely different brand, thus keeping the name CCI as a standard of excellence.
Blazer is like the break-action of the ammo world. It shoots but doesn’t have any extras.
A Rough Chamber may Cause Jamming with Blazer Aluminum Cases
Blazer Brass feeds as any ammo should, but the aluminum-cased ammo may be more likely to jam or cause timing issues with the slide of a semi-automatic pistol. It’s because aluminum is not as smooth as brass. It’s more likely to hang up if you’re gun has a rough chamber. Still, it’s unlikely and is considered a reliable ammo option.
Aluminum tends to be softer than brass. Not always, but it tends to be. Softer cases will catch easier on marks and scratches in the chamber. That’s partly why steel-cased ammo tends to jam too: The soft plastic or lacquer coating hangs up in a rough chamber.
Also, neither are as smooth. Polished brass is not as slick as polished aluminum. Besides that, brass takes a very smooth polish and it remains smooth for a long time. Aluminum, after polishing, begins to oxidize and get rough unless it’s coated with something.
All that means that aluminum cases will have a higher tendency to feed and eject slowly. if you are having reliability issues with this ammo, you very well may have a rough chamber. That means you need to either get it polished or use brass-cased ammo. Like I said, this is the exception and most people shoot aluminum-cased ammo just fine.
Blazer Brass is Faster Cycling for Picky Guns
If your gun doesn’t like aluminum-cased ammo, they also make Blazer Brass, which is the same load, only in a polished brass case. It will feed better than aluminum in a fussy gun. Some pistols, primarily sub-compact pistols and micro 1911’s, are picky eaters.
The issue is often ammo has too much friction and cycles a bit slowly. When the timing of the action is changed, some guns won’t operate as they should. If the Blazer aluminum doesn’t function well, you can definitely try Blazer Brass. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of an issue on the range with Blazer Brass. I trust it completely.
Blazer 22lr Ammo is Cheaper and More Reliable than Winchester Wildcats
Blazer 22lr is decent ammo. The 50 round packs shoot better than most bulk packaged (loose packed) 22lr ammo. It’s one of the cheapest options around and it’s the best of the cheap 22lr ammo. Blazer rimfire ammo is more reliable than much of the other cheap 22lr ammo on the market.
I’ve shot a ton of this ammo and I love it. It’s not precision target ammo by any means, but among the other budget rimfire ammo, it’s one of the better ones in my opinion. With my Ruger 10/22, I usually shoot about 6 moa at 100 yards with my iron sights, which is all I can do with most ammo in that setup.
Using precision ammo that my rifle likes, I can shoot 3mos with my iron sights, but for plinking and close-range small game hunting, I’ll use the cheap Blazer stuff. In fact, I shot 7 squirrels and somewhere around 20 chipmunks this year with Blazer 22lr ammo. Plus, a porcupine, three raccoons, and a few rabbits in the garden. It seems to work.
