Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Federal Automatch 40 gr. LRN - another quick survey

Generally better accuracy than any of the other cheap stuff and dead reliable. I have loads of with it for fun time at the range. Tweaked 10-22 at 50 yards.

I know it's cheap guys, but I'm a titewad a lot of times. I won't shoot anything Remington rimfire. That schidt is garbage anymore. I used to love yellowjackets. Those were the schidt right there, but when ammo was hard to find, it seemed like Federal was still able to produce the Automatch. I'm one that can appreciate that effort on their part. I've posted these before, but there goes:

Ruger 10-22 with Kidd barrel:






No "cherry picking". I'm showing the good with the bad..

I shoot automatch in a s&w model 41 in bullseye matches. Shoots very well, Had a guy show up last weekend with Remington thunderbolt. Lol I can’t make this up lol..he goes this stuff shoots horrible. So I gave him a handful of the federal automatch and some cci standard. Afterwards he’s like man they both shot pretty good. My friend and me said afterwards who brings thunderbolt to a bullseye match lol..

Hell of deal right here.. I just had some shipped to Idaho $84 bucks for 1000rds. My bud is flying up and will bring it. Alaska airlines allows you up to 50lbs for ammo.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/norma-tac-22-22-long-rifle-ammo-40gr-lrn-500rds-tac22-500.html

I like the Norma also. Toss up between it and automatch. Only thing is shoot that stuff below 80* as it has some really nasty lube on it. So fugging slick I had a hard time loading magazines without the stuff slipping out of my hand.

Actually went out and shot a box of the Automatch and 150 rds of the Norma TAC-22 last night through the new MK IV 22/45. The Automatch functioned perfectly, as I expected that it would. I've gone through 5-6 cases of it in the past couple of years and 95% of it was flawless. There was one batch that had about a 10% fail to fire rate. But everything before and after that batch has been fine.

The Norma TAC-22 was a different story. And Swifty, you're right about the lube. A lot greasier than the CCI's. I had high hopes for it being usable in steel challenge matches. But, it had a bunch of FTE's with it. Sometimes, the bolt was completely closed on the empty case and sometimes the empty case was stove-pipped on the bolt. Literally went through 4-5 magazines where 90% were "single shot" because I had to pull the bolt back every time.

The Norma box says it is 1,100 fps (40gr) and the AutoMatch says it's 1,200 fps (40gr). This was also the first time the pistol has been shot. Granted, it was properly lubed after replacing all of the internals with Volquartsen parts (including the firing pin and extractor).

Maybe the pistol just needs breaking in. But, I could go right from a mag of Norma's that 9/10 rounds wouldn't extract to a mag of Automatch that functioned perfectly then right back to a mag of Norma's that would not extract. Maybe with the gun being new, and the Norma being softer shooting, the recoil spring is a little stiff causing them not to cycle with the softer shooting Norma.

I am going to go back out with my MK3's and the Glock 44 to see how the Norma's run through those, but I'm disappointed in them so far and I've got two cases of them on my shelf.

Accuracy can be "shoots lights out" to not all that great. Lot #'s make a big difference. If you can find a good lot, it will shoot as well as if not slightly better than CCI SV ammo.

First trials this morning with a Tikka T1x, CZ 457 Varmint, Kimber of OR M82, Ruger Mk IV Standard and a Mark III Competition Target slabsides. I fired 5 rounds out of each rifle to help season the barrel and then fired a 10 shot group for record, the pistols got 10 rounds through them and then a 20 shot group each since I wanted to test each of their two mags for feeding. These are all the groups fired today with no cherry picking. Looking at the general grouping I'll take full credit for the flyers here.

Rifles are at 50 yards, pistols at 25. Haven't measured these to the last thousandth but for reference those alternating color bars are 1/2" wide

1 - Tikka T1x with an SWFA 10x42 SS
2 - CZ 457 Varmint with another SWFA 10x42 SS
3 - Kimber with an ancient Leupold M8 4x scope. I started the Kimber group on the upper right but it was a bit too close to the target edge so started over on bottom right.



1 - Mk IV 6" Standard with Burris FF III
2 - Mk III Slabsides with Burris FF III, not sure where all those flyers came from. I used to be the greatest pistol shot in the world but apparently not these days...



After shooting groups I plinked a while at steel plates set at 40 yards for the pistols and 100 for the rifles. Had five misfires out of 200 rounds, four of those in the Mk IV which apparently has a weaker mainspring than the Mk III. But after rotating the cases 180 deg. they all fired on the second strike. Other than that they all functioned perfectly and didn't gunk up the Ruger mags like the CCI AR Tactical has done.

I'd say this definitely meets specifications since it groups well in all five firearms. Not the best groups each one has produced but all I wanted was something reliable, clean and that wasn't going to spray the rounds over 2-3", these are obviously a lot better than that. If I miss a 3" steel plate at 100 with any of the rifles it sure won't be the ammo's fault.


Thanks for all the comments above that got me to try these. Had a bad experience with Federal bulk some 10 years ago and never bought any more, but will show up at the store when they open tomorrow morning and get as much of this same lot as they want to sell me.

I've found it to be OK but not great.

It has chocked in loading in some of my shooters especially those with match barrels. Maybe the QC on case size is lacking a wee bit???

I would buy it for revolvers and bolt action rifles if feeding is not an issue.

I recently picked up a pretty high condition S&W M22A for $200. I knew nothing about the firearm, good or bad, other than it was sold as a low budget piece but thought I would give it a go. I took it out with Federal Automatch, sighted it in and it showed promise (25 yards) with a pretty darn nice trigger. I returned to the range with a Sightron Red Dot mounted that Doug was selling for $200 a bit ago. A nice Japanese made optic. Of course my groups (same ammo) were well improved as expected. At near age 61 my eyes do struggle with handgun open sights even at 25 yards. I may try my various SK stuff though I suspect my ability is already the limiting factor.