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What are folks' experiences with this? Okay - goes bang regularly and accurate enough for casual steel plinking, junk to be studiously avoided or "you might be surprised".

With .22 LR prices coming down to somewhere near to what they were 2-3 years ago - not quite but gettin' there - I've been grabbing a couple thousand here, a couple thousand there as various sellers offer free shipping deals. Looking tonight I see Federal Automatch at 6.2 cents per round with free shipping if you buy at least seven of the 325 packs, so before I whip out the credit card wanted to check with the cognescenti here.
My limited experience with it has been positive regarding function. Not one of the leaders in accuracy. Bulk plinking/blasting ammo. Of coarse your firearms and experience may differ.
I’ve never liked it but know one guy that does. Another buddy of mine bought 27 boxes of it back during the shortage and he hated it. He wound up selling all of his to my other buddy.

It generally shoots decent enough but I’ve seen more duds during Steel Challenge matches with it than any other brand. But game guns can be finicky depending on how redneck the tinkerer is.
I've never had an issue with it, but I use good rifles.
Works good in my 10/22's and mk2 ruger target pistols. It will shoot 1/2" to 5/8" 5 shot groups in my hb cz453 set bolt gun. None of my 22's hate it...mb
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.

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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
Originally Posted by EdM
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.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Looks like it shoots just fine to me. It is $21/box here, which if pretty reasonable.
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 here goes:

Ruger 10-22 with Kidd barrel:
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These were all shot on the same day^^^

No "cherry picking". I'm showing the good with the bad..
Originally Posted by bsa1917hunter
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:
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

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..
Originally Posted by 79S
Originally Posted by bsa1917hunter
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:
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

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..

Ha ha.. I have seen that too. Makes you shake your head huh? One of my buddies in Washington is like that. An old retired Airborne Ranger. Hell of a good dude. He's 80, but still shoots quite well. Well, last year when we were having a know your limits shoot, he was having issues with his old Winchester semi-auto. I told him he could use my 10-22. I let him use the Eley Target ammo I had been using in it for 2 rounds. He was whipping all of our azzes. I said, "Steve, you are going to have to use your ammo now". He said, ok and pulled out some damn thunderbolts and old golden bullets. I said, ok I'll adjust the turret so you are on target, but you may have to fine tune it. The guy continued to whip our azz and everyone told me not to let him borrow it again. I almost won a couple matches against him but wasn't quite fast enough with my single shot Savage. The damn target ammo I was using kept sticking to my fingers when I was trying to load it quick. Still could not believe he was whipping our azzes with that cheap azzed Remington ammo. That Kidd barrel is not finicky though. Should have known better...
I have nothing but praise for Automatch. I've yet to have it cause malfunctions in any semi-auto.
My CZ bolt gun likes the Automatch well enough!
I like it because it's subsonic through my suppressed S&W Victory pistol. I just use it in that application, but it is great there. I get it at WalMart for $21 or so. Grab that or 3 boxes of $4.99 CCI Standard Vels nearly every weekend.
Automatch has functioned perfectly our semiautos and given excellent accuracy in everything I've tried it in.
It has always worked ok for me. I bought a case from Target Sports USA right at the beginning of the plandemic. Price at that time was $139.99 to my door. Ten boxes of 325. I still have a few unopened boxes.
Originally Posted by 79S
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.
Originally Posted by Swifty52
Originally Posted by 79S
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.
Originally Posted by RyanTX
Originally Posted by Swifty52
Originally Posted by 79S
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.

That sucks. I hope you get it figured out. Wondering how it would have performed in a bone stock pistol, before the parts change? One thing about my bone stock Ruger mkII's, is they always function flawlessly. I'm always amazed by that fact, as I've had some semi auto rifles that were finicky. I just shoot cheap azzed red box federal bulk in my mkII's because they seem to shoot very well for the price point and they take pins down just fine. That is the only time I use my mkII pistols. Not much of a pistola shooter..
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[img]https://i.imgur.com/273jCSz.mp4[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/puigB1P.mp4[/img]

I have seen where sticky ammo can create unnecessary issues though. I still have not tried the Norma Tac22 ammo I bought about 4 months ago. I know a lot of guys here love it. We will see though..
The Norma Tac-22 is definitely slippery oily feeling, I've only used it in the summer/early fall so far so will see how it does this winter. I use it in .22 bolt rifles so functioning in autoloaders is moot for me.

My favorite all around ammo, CCI AR Tactical, is kind of at the other end and very waxy feeling. It also gives top accuracy in all of my .22's, bolt or semi-auto, but recently displayed a little hitch which only appears in Ruger Mark .22 magazines.

My Mk IV has been getting failure to feed jams recently where the round only makes it halfway into the chamber before the sidewall is crushed by the bolt. The magazines themselves are very sluggish in operation, slow to raise the next round into position. Took one apart yesterday and discovered a smear of wax in the inside front where the bullet noses rubbed against it. Cleaned that out and they are now as slick operating as ever.

That doesn't show up in any other magazine for a 10/22 or bolt rifle. Not a big deal since it's easily cleaned out, and will continue to use the ammo but will probably clean those Ruger mags a bit more often than every 5 years. wink
Automatch has always been clean reliable and reasonably accurate in any semi auto I have used it in.

It isn’t something I shoot thru my bolt guns as there are more accurate options there in the same price range
I use it for bulk plinking in wheelgun 22's and several contraptions.

Works great. Probably fired 3k without any issue.

The Norma stuff works great too, but euro spent cases don't dump out of a wheelie nearly as easy. I use it in my bolt guns only, where its respectable without dishing out the extra cash two keep all five rounds instead of three in the same hole.
No problems with 10/22 or bolt guns.

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.
Originally Posted by CraigD
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.
That's been my experience as well. I've had some that shot pretty good in the past. I've got some here right now that is garbage.
Like any rimfire ammo, it's lot-dependent. The first boxes I tried just about made me quit Federal altogether, for life. The last couple of boxes were more than acceptable. You get a good batch, or a bad batch, just like any other .22 rimfire ammo.
Have been checking ammoseek for low prices and free shipping deals and lo and behold, one of the better prices that came up is a local store so I drove over today and picked up three boxes.

Going to take three rifles and a Ruger Mark IV out to the range tomorrow and wring it out, if it shows promise will go back and buy a bunch more.
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 - all 10 shots into .546"
2 - CZ 457 Varmint with another SWFA 10x42 SS - 9 of 10 shots into .549"
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. 9 of 10 shots into .746"

[Linked Image]

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... wink

[Linked Image]

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.
Originally Posted by Jim in Idaho
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.

[Linked Image]

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... wink

[Linked Image]

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.

Great post. I love pictures and this shows the lot of automatch you have definitely works well. Thanks for the honest group pictures. I wish more guys would do this.
I like Federal AM now; I didn't like it so much in the past. I think it's better. Buckmark loves it. 100% cycle rate, good accuracy.
S&W Mod 63 likes it, 10-22's seem to function with it. It's $19 a box here now.
If folks are looking for this, Bucking Horse Outpost has the 325 packs for $18.60 each with free shipping on orders over $125 and NO sales tax collected (at least for out of state buyers). That's 5.7 cents per round which is about the cheapest I've seen it in a long time. There is a limit of 10 boxes at this price.

Other stuff - you do have to create an account, no guest checkout, and they require adult signature on ammo sales but if you might not be home to sign for it you can choose either UPS or Fedex at checkout and those companies both have options to "Hold at Location" so you can go pick it up at some place convenient to you.

Federal Automatch AM22
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've only shot a few hundred rounds of it but I haven't had a single issue with reliability. My gun doesn't favorite it however. I've tried more than 2 dozen different brands and types of 22 LR ammo in my rifle and it's in the bottom 1/3rd as far as accuracy goes. It averages roughly 2" groups at 50 yards for me. As far as bulk ammo goes CCI Blazer, Aguila SuperExtra, and Remington Thunderbolt all out shoot it. It does much better than the Federal Champion and Winchester Super-X in my rifle though.
Originally Posted by Redhill
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.

Yeah, some guys I shoot with have some barrels with bentz chambers and they have issues with a lot of different kinds of ammo. Those are the ones that like CCI also, but they use barrels with tight chambers. Their rifles don't like to extract a live round, so they have to fire to clear. The funny thing is those tight chambers don't do much except for cause delays in our shoots. My Kidd walks all over them in comps. Take that for what you want..
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.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
I'll have to get out and try some soon. Bought a fair bit of it during the last crunch and have it stashed, but don't recall ever firing any of it ever.
Originally Posted by EdM
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.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


Looks very good for a pistol and inexpensive ammo. I love it when that happens. I'd be content shooting Federal automatch, Federal Champion, American Eagle and the like. As long as it performs like that..
I like it for practice but if I'm shooting for meat or money I go up a couple notches to Gold Medal or Else Club
I have tons of this ammo and honestly I cannot get it to shoot in much of anything with acceptable accuracy. I use it in my pistols to make them go bang
Guess I’ll have to buy a box and try it again. I was not a fan of the stuff from ~10yrs ago, was reliable but had too many flyers.
The older box I had was ok but not great in the 617 and the Savage bolt rifle.
The new box I received from Midway a couple weeks ago shot great in both so I bought several more boxes.
My CZ s and Marlins seem to like it have nothing bad to say about it not the most accurate but not the most expensive either.
For plinking, they work just fine. Of course I'm not using them in competition. The targets I posted are how they actually shot in my Ruger 10-22 with Kidd barrel. That thing is not picky at all. At $21/box of 325, that is not a bad deal and Walmart always has them. That is also a good thing.
I get it at a around $13/ box from the store I work at. It's very accurate and reliable in my bxr
For the price and easy availability. I don’t know if another load that is as accurate and reliable. If I have to buy bulk 22lr, it would be my first choice. It’s certainly hunting accurate in every gun I’ve tried it in.
I shoot it in my Smith & Wesson 617x10 for Steel Challenge. Using a Speed Beez Loader they all drop in the chambers freely. They shoot reasonably well from my 617 fired off hand. They are to problem to Eject.
They would not be my first choice for my Target Rifle shooting groups, but they are not bad for general use. I have ran hundreds of them through my Super 14 Contender as well. Again not Match Quality Ammo, but plenty good for what I am doing with it.

Bob R
I wished I never bought it. Night shift maybe?
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