TargetTalk

I known that each rifle prefers different ammo but I was just offered either Federal Automatch or Ultramatch. How does this compare to Eley or Lapua. A bit of background, my team consist of three shooters that range from the low 540's to the high 550's and two shooters who are in the 520 range when we are shooting 3P at 50 feet. Right now we are using mostly Eley Club and Target and some RWS. Thanks for your help.

There's only one way to know; test it yourself. Anything else is just Internet blather.

Rover wrote:There's only one way to know; test it yourself. Anything else is just Internet blather.

That is usually good advice but this will be coming from the Friends of the NRA so my understanding is that the order has to be all one brand and type. I am not sure how good the Ultramatch is compared the Automatch.

UltraMatch is standard velocity. Automatch is high velocity.

Automatch, when available, is less than 20 bucks for a milk carton of 325 rounds at Walmart.

Ultramatch is about 200 bucks for 500 rounds.

Apples and oranges.

That said, Automatch has had some QC issues in the past. Some lots were really good, some were lucky to keep all shots on a pie plate at 25m.

I think Norma Tac is the best inexpensive ammo on the market. I think it would be a very good for your shooters. Good luck.

I've had good luck with Federal Automatch from various rifles. Whether or not it will be good from your rifle is always an unknown, but it has worked very well in CZ, Zastava, Ruger, and Savage rifles. When the combination was good (CZ and Savage), an inch at 50 yards is pretty routine. When the combination wasn't as good (Zastava and Ruger), an inch at 25 was pretty routine.

In the low cost match ammo arena I prefer Aguila standard velocity (but evidently so do a lot of other people because it seems to be out of stock everywhere right now) and Federal Champion blue box for training. But I could get Automatch at Walmart, so I wouldn't pass up picking up a few boxes when they were in stock because. You never know when a rifle will just "sing" with an unexpected load so I try to keep a good supply of stuff on hand (I even have some Winchester Wildcat in storage).

Given the choice between standard velocity and high velocity ammo, for accuracy work up to 50 it doesn't seem to matter, but beyond 50 standard velocity actually has the edge due to transonic instability (wave drag). It can be counter intuitive to think the slower bullet will be more accurate, but it is often the case when testing groups at 100.

Kind of a long winded answer to recommend Ultramatch since I haven't shot it, but there it is and worth all the money you paid for it.

Jimro

TerryKuz wrote:I think Norma Tac is the best inexpensive ammo on the market. I think it would be a very good for your shooters. Good luck.

Tac .22 did shoot pretty well in my 1907 barreled action.

I don't know about Ultra match, but I have some Federal .22 Gold Medal and it also shoots very well. Both Tac .22 and GM have shot just about the same at 50 yards in my gun. Holding sub 10-ring on NRA conventional. (a23?)