The Making of Cascade Cartridge Incorporated (CCI): Dick Speer Filling the Industry Gap

Cascade Cartridge Incorporated, better known as CCI received it's start from Dick Speer, brother to Vernon Speer who founded Speer bullet company. CCI is now one of the largest producers of ammunition components int h U.S.A., but they started with simple primers.

Dick Speer saw a gap in the industry, and like any good businessmen, he filled that gap. While there were proprietary cartridges available on the market, some more exotic ammunitions had been discarded. These cartridges, like the Newton series or Weatherby cartridges, had been pushed aside and the lack of a reliable brass source had created a need for a reliable producer. Dick Speer felt so strongly that there was a market in this area of ammunitions that he left his job at Boeing Aircraft to start up his Speer Cartridges.

When Speer's cartridges first hit th market they were sold under the label of "Forged From Solid" although they were later changed to "Speer Cartridge Works". The only problem was that material quality varied too much for "reliable" casings to be made, so much so that only a few acceptable cases were produced and shipped to customers. To build his business Dick Speer had to find a new avenue for his business to explore and profit from. With technology catching up with the ammunition world, and the specific technical operations of firearms shifting over the years Dick Speer decided that the viable option for his business to explore would be center fire primers. Since many larger companies were hesitant to sell off some of their primers along to reloaders, since that would ultimately lower their income, he decided that reloaders needed a reliable and new source such products, Dick Speer took that gap and filled it nicely.

In 1951 Dick Speer hired a Lithuanian chemist to help produce his primers, although business was steady there were some bumps in the road. Instead of riding on his brother coat tails of Speer Bullets, there was some confusion from the consumers regarding Speer bullets and Speer cartridges. Because of this Dick Speer changed his business name to Cascade Cartridge Incorporated, or CCI the now famous company that is considered integral to the shooting world.

Since Dick Speer first produced the first primer, there has been numerous upgrades, and expansions to the CCI line of products. from hyper velocity 22 LR rounds to cannon fuse for the U.S. military. CCI although now owned by Omark Industries, still continues to operate and design new products for the shooting world. Omark decided to let CCI continue in its path for greatness, since then there has been the creation of Blazer, the brand that sells at cheaper costs, and new primer manufacturing plants springing up. Omark made a great choice in keeping CCI around and running, Dick Speer should be proud that not only does CCI create some of the best innovation on the market but in 1992 was the first American ammunitions manufacturer to be ISO 9001 certified for quality systems, which is no small feat.