Federal Auto Match - 325 packs

[WJP]

My apologies. I was reading 308 Jeff post when I responded. The CCI blazers are what I was referring to but forgot to hit the quote tab.

[dale2242]

I was at the Outdoor show in Medford Oregon yesterday.
There was a pallet of Federal Auto Match at the Bi Mart booth.
$18 for a 325 pack.....dale

[Shepherd2]

I was in Wall Mart yesterday and they had the 325 packs for $17.47. That's the cheapest I've seen 22 LRs anywhere. I always check WM for .22s when I go there and the last couple months they've had some in the case. Usually CCIs.

[zubrato]

Seen it for 19 bucks, while my MKIII eats it up( sometimes barely), it can be weak and inconsistent. Some rounds are so weak they might as well be colibris. I shot at a big steel drum about 100 yards away in the winter, found 1-2 perfectly undisturbed bullets gently resting on top of the snow that didnt even break the surface. Must have been the two stovepipes out of maybe 5 mags I shot. wont reliably cycle my marlin 60 for this reason, stovepipes like mad and jams it up like the dickens.
"match" ammo it is not. its barely decent bulk ammo.

[TCLouis]

19 bucks and change at Wally World in Spring Hill last week.

Match sould not be anywhere on the box. Last I tried was far from it.

Waiting to see if the new batches of Aguila SE can match what I have in my 22 LR stash for precision on paper.

[bobthenailer]

$ 17.47 a box of 325 at WM Tue and Wed picked up 3 boxes each day ,

[Love Life]

It shoots just as poorly as the federal premium gold medal target ammo.

[Elkins45]

The word "match," like the words "custom" and "literally" essentially has no real meaning anymore.

[Bmi48219]

I picked up several boxes 6 months ago at Bass Pro, $17.50 each & I had a $10 off a $30 dollar purchase. A LOT of FTFs in my 2206, like one out of 15 shots. One out of 25 In Officers Madel Match. Retried the FTFs & got half of them to shoot the 2nd try. Tired the rest a 3rd time, no luck. I emailed Federal and sent them some of the bad ones. They said my firing pins were'nt hitting hard / deep enough to ignite primer compound but did hit hard enough to crumble it in the rim???
Funny that my firing pins hit hard enough to fire CCI & Remington ammo consistently & group better too.

[Love Life]

Using a Remington 40X bench rifle and a savage Mark II heavy barrel, Federal auto match and Federal premium gold medal target both shoot the worst out of several brands I have tested. RWS sport and Eley sport have been great for practice, CCI Mini mags shoot just as well as the RWS and Eley sport. Bulk federal champion, comes just behind the mini mags. Remington match is just a tad better than the Federal AM and GMT ammo, and could be better if quality control was better.

In the Remington match ammo, there are several out of every 50 where the heel of the bullet was seated on the case mouth and over hangs. Total garbage.

RWS 50 and RWS 100 are both the best in my rifles for shooting itty bitty groups in hopes of winning a match, lol.

[WILCO]

$ 17.47 a box of 325 at WM Tue and Wed picked up 3 boxes each day ,

Good price. I'm happy with the product. Will buy more.

[tazman]

I have 3 22 rimfire bolt rifles and 3 22 autoloading pistols and the Federal Auto Match shoots as well as any ammunition I have tried in them with the exception of the really high end match stuff. I have had no issues with failures to fire or eject in any of them.

[Chill Wills]

The word "match," like the words "custom" and "literally" essentially has no real meaning anymore.

Yup!
They mean as much as a politician's promise.

For the price the Auto match, as in match up with an semi-auto action pistol or rifle, have a place in my ammo cupboard. They are good enough for certain things.
Unless my info is only gossip, Lots (as in numbered lot) of auto match are the culls of a better match grade ammo in the federal line up.
Too bad Federal is not the same old Federal we used to get ammo from.
How could you top the old 900 line and the old dimpled Olympic "Ultra-match"?

[GhostHawk]

I am just thankful for all of you guys who keep jumping in and suggesting that people try something else. That this is not "match" ammo.

I agree, I don't think it is, and I am not paying for "match" ammo.

What I do think it is, well I would rather not say.

So you guys please carry on with the discouraging. If it leaves one more box for me on a shelf some day, that is reason enough to leave you be.

Thanks.

PS my Ruger 10/22 is doing just fine with the cheap armscor and blazer ammo.
I save all the Federal for my Ruger Mk III's 22/45's, his and hers. Both shoot this stuff like it IS match ammo. Ok so they believe the box. I don't care. What I care about is that on a good day I can put 10 into a nice tight smaller than 1" group at 20 feet. And this ammo does that with boring regularity. But I like boring sometimes.

[Love Life]

What the box says, and what the targets say at 50 yards and 100 yards are two different things. Now, I'm quite sure that there is somebody out there with crickett rifle who shoots .000001 inch 10 shot groups at 100 yards with the stuff...using iron sights, but I haven't met them yet.

Maybe federal means the action shooting type of matches when they refer to "Match", lol.

[Maven]

I purchased 6 cartons of it over the last 6 mo's. because the price was almost reasonable and it was available, if not plentiful. Yesterday I tried it (160 rounds) for the 1st time in my Ruger Mk. II Gov't. (6 7/8" bbl., open sights) in an indoor range here in FL. While it isn't match ammo, and who would think it is at ~$20/carton, it performed rather well in my gun at ranges between 10- and 25 yd., both offhand and rested. By "well" I mean no failures to feed or fire, no stovepipe jams (which I did get with Norma match ammo/same gun last week, btw), and VG accuracy. How it would perform in my rifle, however, is unknown at this time. My takeaway from reading some of the above comments is that perhaps Federal's QC could be improved, but more significantly, .22cal. arms have huge differences in bbl. & chamber dimensions, and thus quite different preferences in what they will shoot accurately.

P.S. The Norma match ammo was much more accurate than the FAM, but then it was bigly more expensive too.

[Traffer]

A place called Dunhams in Wisconsin has Federal target 325 for $17.99 on the shelf.

[GhostHawk]

Maven well said sir, totally agree.

[Maven]

Thank you, GH!

[Maven]

Just got back from the same indoor range where I fired 50 Fed Match Auto v. 50 Norma Match .22 USA @ 15 yd. with the same Ruger Mk. II Gov't. pistol rested on the bench top (with the gun rug as padding) as in post #36. By and large the amount of dispersion was slightly greater with the FMA v. the Norma ammo, but that the only difference I could see. In short, the FMA's are an excellent value for the money, at least in my pistol. I'm guessing they'll perform admirably in my Marlin HB .22 rifle as well.