About Us

At CCI, we understand what you want and need. When it comes to ammunition and components no one beats us at our game. We offer the best selection in all shooting sports. While other companies sat on century-old technology and performance, we revived rimfire with exciting, high-performance products.

It all started when Richard “Dick” Speer’s enterprising led him to establish CCI in 1951. He provided a steady source of component primers to reloaders. Today we continue being the leader in rimfire ammunition thanks to our innovation, determination and resourcefulness.

Vista Outdoor

Vista Outdoor is a leading provider of innovative outdoor products that enable our customers to achieve rugged independence in the activity of their choice. Vista Outdoor operates in two primary business segments: Shooting Sports and Outdoor Products. Our portfolio includes well-respected brands designed to bring the world outside.

CCI HISTORY

Richard “Dick” Speer (1915-1994) possessed a remarkable talent for things mechanical. He was a machinist at Boeing Aircraft’s Seattle plant when he realized that his brother Vernon’s success in the component bullet business (Speer) meant there was money to be made in reloading.

There were many proprietary rifle cartridge designs like the Weatherby and Newton that were not supported by the big ammo companies. Dick decided to make cases to service this small but active market. He left Seattle and joined Vernon in Lewiston, Idaho. In a small room at the Speer plant, he began production of these special cases using an impact extrusion process.

After two name changes, Speer and his partner, Arvid Nelson, settled on the name Cascade Cartridges, Inc., or CCI.

Although Speer’s case-making process was sound, the quality of the raw material was not. In the years after WWII, most stocks of cartridge brass had been depleted for the war effort. Faced with an untenable situation, Speer turned to a different path. Component primers for reloaders were in short supply. Some war surplus primers were showing up, but the supply and choice was limited. Speer decided to get into the component primer business.

Speer intended to build primers for hobby reloaders, however, CCI’s first shipment was to fulfill a military contract using the chlorate FA-70 formula. He then turned to non-corrosive, non-mercuric formulas for sporting cartridges. Reloaders now had a steady supply of rifle and pistol primers that was unheard of previously.

To handle the new business, Speer bought a 17-acre chicken ranch next to the Lewiston Gun Club, just a mile south of brother Vernon’s bullet works. The farmhouse doubled as an office and warehouse, and production began in a renovated chicken coop. He quickly erected modern labs and manufacturing buildings, gaining him room to expand the product line. When the gun club moved, Speer bought the adjoining property for future expansion. The CCI plant still occupies that property today.