Federal AutoMatch

22 Long Rifle ammo is finicky. Tell us all about it here.
atomicbrh
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Federal AutoMatch

Post by atomicbrh »

With the high cost of smallbore ammo accurate enough to even practice with I too am looking for inexpensive ammo to use for 40 meter and 60 meter practice. A competitor at our last match gave me a unopened 325 round box of Federal AutoMAtch to test. He was shooting this ammo through a Ruger 1022 with a heavy barrel of some sort. He has shot several matches with us and never had an alibi. On the box it says 40 grain solid and Muzzle velocity 1200 fps. Lone Ringer wrote on another thread that there is not enough lube on most Federal ammo. The bullets look and feel very dry. I am thinking about just twisting the bullet into a stick of Lee Alox lube before putting this ammo down an expensive barrel. Has anyone tried this ammo in rifles other than the Ruger 1022 and has it caused excessive leading in their barrel? Is it worth going to this trouble to save money?

Bobby R. Huddleston
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Post by BlauBear »

Federal ammunition does leave more lead behind than Eley, but all of my rifles like 711B and I know Automatch shoots well. You will need to clean the bore well shooting - I use a Patchworm kit and definitely pull out leading, but until I can afford Eley Club all the time...
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Jason
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Post by Jason »

Well up until a month ago, I used the Automatch for my Contender and Marlin 57 for smallbore cowboy silhouette. It always has left a little more lead in the barrel, but it took a few hundred rounds before it mattered any in accuracy and the pistol and cowboy matches are only 40 rounds so it was worth it. This last lot I got doesn't shoot worth crap compared to the older lots, though. I went from 2 to 2.5" 5-shot groups at 100 meters with it to barely being able to keep them on an 8.5x11" sheet of paper. I switched to the Golden Eagle Target ammo and the groups shrunk right back down and still had enough velocity to take down every cowboy ram I hit. Now I'm sitting on four bulk packs of ammo of this new lot that I doubt I'll touch again unless it's for pistol plinking at short range sometime. Before you worry about leading, I'd worry about the ammo actually shooting accurately for your guns. This new lot shoots that poorly in my CZ 452, the Marlin 57, and the Contender 22lr barrel. Sorry I couldn't give a broader test group than those, but I don't really intend to try it it any of my other barrels.
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Post by JUNKIE »

Federal is replacing bad lots of AM22, contact Federal and they will make it good.
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BlauBear
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Post by BlauBear »

JUNKIE wrote:Federal is replacing bad lots of AM22, contact Federal and they will make it good.
Wow! :shock:

So what happened?
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Post by pistolero45 »

Interesting that AM22 has had some problems....

I used to use AM22 for both Bullseye and Silhouette competitions. I always thought it was accurate and reliable. Flyers were rare.

Firing a Ruger MK II pistol out of a Ransom rest at 50 yards produced one inch groups. And my Rem. 540 XR would do 1.2 inch groups at 100 meters. My stock Ruger 10/22 would shoot 2.3 inch groups at 100 meters using AM22. That's not bad for an inexpensive bulk cartridge.

There are many .22 rounds that will outperform AM-22, but at quite a bit more expense. If your gun shoots well with it, why not?

As for experimenting with different lubes, take a look at www.rimfirecentral.com That topic has been discussed several times.
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Post by JUNKIE »

BlauBear wrote:
JUNKIE wrote:Federal is replacing bad lots of AM22, contact Federal and they will make it good.
Wow! :shock:

So what happened?
poor QC they did not crimp the ammo correctly all signs indicate the new lots are good. Again check in RFC http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/ for details

Just trying to spread the word.
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Post by Dee »

Automatch shoots good in my CZ 452. For the money a good bulk pack round and some wally worlds still have older lots for $11.57 a box others are charging around $14 since the prices went up. I heard they had a few issues with a couple of lots so haven't gotten any lately. Hope they come back around to what they were glad to see Fed is taking care of it at least.

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Post by ter »

I thought I would try a box of Automatch for fun. It was 14.47 for 325 rounds today at walmart.
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Post by kevinbear »

I have shot alot of automatch in my P22 and used it for practice/loaner ammo in my 541. It does lead barrels so I've refrained from using it in my high end guns. Because of the 500% tax scare on ammo I recently bought a large quanity of it from a local Walmart.
Someone give me the short version, is it worth the time to lubricate automatch so you can shoot it in your Anschutz?
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Post by BlauBear »

I plan to experiment with 711B and a can of Pam (whatta' ya' think - regular or butter flavor) next time I go to the range and will try to post results.
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Post by Jason »

Heh.. I was planning the same thing, actually. I'm going to take a few of my empty cartridge boxes and stack them on the bullets so that no brass is showing, then lightly spray the bullets with lube. I had planned on using Oneshot case lube, but I suppose Pam would work, too. I think I'll try it in the CZ before I try it in the Anschutz, though. :)
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Post by kevinbear »

If either one of you have a chronograph I would be interested in what the numbers look like from it, average deviation, standand deviation, especially after additional lubrication has been added. That would give you an idea if it would be capable of the accuracy needed for rams.
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Post by Jason »

Yep. That's the plan, Kevin. I'm actually trying to make my stockpile of 711B work with my M12 for long range silhouette and prone matches, so I'll probably have to wait until my trigger group gets back from Herb Smith to make any progress.
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From the Federal Catalog

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