Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Federal Automatch

Federal Automatch has not been very stellar in any of my rifles. The Walther PPQ has decent accuracy with it, but every magazine has at least one failure to extract. This from a pistol that will run Fioccii subsonics like a well tuned engine. I've tried to like this ammo but it ain't happening and I still have 4 1/2 boxes left.
I know many like it and seem to have good accuracy with it, but nothing I've shot it in likes it and that entails a lot of rifles and some pistols. Am I the only one that doesn't like this stuff?

We used up a large box of this last year. We experienced the regular jams (FTE) with our Marlin semi auto. But they cycle fine in our browning lever rifle. The kids can hit small balloons at 50 yards with them.
I’ve better luck with REM Thunderbolts in our semi auto Marlin. That’s what we’re running currently.

I use it in Smith and Wesson 15/22s 10/22s , Mark 2 & 3 and Smith revolvers. No complaints, others shoot a bit better but it does fine for most of my 22 shooting

They work just fine..

Most recent testing with my girlfriends 10/22.. At least she calls it hers. ha ha..


That rifle does well with just about anything though. I had to test it, because I had just switched everything over, from my rifle. Receivers and barrel swaps. Uggghh...

6 minute bedding job:



My rifle shoots it a little better, but it has a Kidd barrel on it. It's always shot well..

There's 5 10 shot groups there, and they all went bang, and cycled the action without a hiccup.



Those were shot within the last few weeks. Some with old Automatch, and some with the newer Automatch. I will never complain about Federal Automatch ammo. It's always treated me very well. When I get a new rifle or new barrel, that is the first thing that goes into them...and yes, it's a whole hell of a lot better than any Remington ammo.

The old Winchester 52 sporter likes it:



The new CZ457 American will shoot it decent on occasion:

Mine isn’t great with it but where we had good luck with it was at 400yds. It dropped less and we had more hits vs cheaper standard velocity stuff. Our target was pretty big at 12x12” but I had several 10 round mags where I was 9/10 or 10/10 at 404yds. Norma tac22 and CCI sv were quite terrible at that distance. I’m sure better ammo like Sk or lapua would be best but for banging around at that distance AutoMatch works for us.

It is one of my favorite cheap ammo's. If your having issues with it it is your gun not the ammo.

All other bulk ammo and non bulk runs fine in it.

Maybe a bad lot
Monday morning machine setup at the factory

In the last year or so, we’ve ran CCI blazzer, S&B standard velocity, Thunderbolts, and Federal in our semi Marlin. The only problematic amo was the federal.

Haven’t tried the AM, but in general Federal ammo has had the most misfires in my guns, multiple guns, rifles and pistols, so I avoid it. Had the same problem with some pricey Winchester a few years ago, so give it a pass as well. Already have a bunch of good stuff on hand, sufficient for my needs and then some, so I’ll burn that up for now. Midway has the AM on sale for you fans…

I have some that I purchased ~12 years ago. The stuff sucks hind tits. This is from a CZ 452, Ruger 10/22 and a Browning Buckmark. It cycles fine but the accuracy isn't there. Those same rifles will cut holes with Norma TAC-22 and CCI SV.

I hear a lot of complaints about AutoMatch. With that said, it's been the most accurate and reliable of the cheap ammo in my guns. I use AutoMatch when I don't use CCI SV or a more premium ammo. We've shot 10s of thousands of rounds of it over the last few years. I ran out of ammo during the Obama years and all I could find was Aguila. Primarily Super Extra, I think but also believe I had some standard velocity, too. We've mostly run through 20,000 rounds or so of that ammo also. In my experience AutoMatch is a step up from Aguila (at least of that era).

The one negative I've noticed about AutoMatch is the cases seem more prone to corrosion than other ammo.

This matches how it has performed in similar guns for me. Though, I like to find a still morning and shoot my more accurate .22 rifles at 100 yards for accuracy testing. If I can put 10 shots in plus or minus 1" at 100 under calm conditions, I feel pretty good about the rifle and ammo. AutoMatch may shoot a little larger groups than that but close enough that the price makes up for it.

That's interesting. I've never tried it at that type of distance. All I know is I've been buying it for a damn long time. In one of my comments, I said it was a lot better than any Remington ammo. Well, Maybe not the Remington made Eley Target that you could find about 4 years ago. That stuff shoots damn well. I also like old Remington yellow jackets. I know that stuff does well further out, and even on larger critters. Some of the older Remington Target ammo was not too bad, but even that is not as good as the Federal Automatch, when I've compared them side by side.

To me, it seems like guys get on a kick, make something up in their head, and then believe it as gospel. This is one reason why I test ammo in the 22's I have. I don't like to give up on something, unless it is absolute garbage. Remington thunderbolts are like that. I've had so many duds, with so many different boxes of that stuff, that I finally had to give up on it.

Tit for tat, Federal Automatch has been pretty damn good and consistent. The funny thing is one rifle may prefer the older box, while another rifle prefers the newer stuff. I'll write newer or old Automatch, on the target, and save that for a record. I'd also rather have a rifle that prefers it over a lot of other things because I hate finicky rifles, and Automatch is easy to get, and still fairly priced (around $21/box at Walmart).

A lot of my buddies swear by CCI standard velocity, but I haven't had the greatest luck with that stuff. I'm not calling that bad ammo, though, because I do have some rifles that really like it. One rifle I sold about 2 months ago, absolutely loved CCI standard velocity. I see why guys like that stuff too, because it's only $4.99/box at Wally world. So, for 325 rounds of that, you are looking at about $32 vs. $21 for the Automatch. For regular playing around and plinking, give me the Automatch. If I were forced to use one in some sort of competition, I'd pick the one that shoots best in that certain rifle. In my 10/22 clone, it would be the Automatch, in my Savage MK1 FVT, it would be the CCI standard velocity "target" ammo.






Those groups were all shot on the same day, to show how consistent it shoots. That was the old black and white box stuff. It also likes the newer Automatch, so I can't complain..

As someone else commented, this sounds like a problem with your firearms. I shoot all types of Federal rimfire ammo, and it always goes bang. American Eagle, bulk pack Federal gameshok, you name it. I'd be checking your rifles, to see what's wrong with them. If you said you had problems with Remington thunderbolts or golden bullets, I'd believe that..

Even super old Hi-power ammo, goes bang:




That old Federal ammo doesn't shoot the best, but it's not bad for old and tarnished hollow point ammo..

A lot of .22's can be picky about which ammo they shoot well and functions well in them.

Ruger MK III Target shoots Automatch the most accurately of all the non-target grade ammo I've tried in it and functions perfectly with it.

Ruger Mk IV Standard shoots it well but has lots failures to eject, it functions perfectly with everything else.

Same thing with a 12 year old Ruger 10/22 - accuracy is fine but occasionally it fails to eject. Norma TAC-22 is the same; fine accuracy but sometimes not enough oomph to work the bolt fast enough to eject the round consistently.

A S&W Model 35 with tight chambers shoots it very well and it ejects easily. Norma TAC-22 and CCI AR Tactical both stick in the chambers. Same with a S&W Model 617, it thrives on Automatch and shoots it just as well as Mini-mags, TAC-22, old Super-X, whatever.

The biggest surprise was a CZ 457 American, it shoots well with several types of ammo but loves Federal Automatch for accuracy.


Automatch doesn't shoot badly in any of my .22's and shoots really well in some, it just has FTE problems in two particular Rugers. It wouldn't be my first choice for competition uses but for plinking steel or other informal use I like it a lot. The fact that it's inexpensive is definitely a point in its favor.

Stinks in my Marlin both accuracy and feeding wise.

works, feeds, accuracy great in my S&W Performance center/Venom and 7" Mod. 41. Tikka doesn't like it.

How about explaining that.

K22 - I haven’t had the best of luck with AM…..as some have suggested it does well/OK in some of my firearms but so-so to not good at all in others. Some observed lot to lot variation that bordered on extreme for me (have seen this with pretty much any brand though - including the high end stuff).

Anymore I test a small batch of ammo I’m planning on buying - making sure I can get larger quantities of the same lot if it performs well. The days of expecting certain types of ammo to shoot where I want it based on reviews and then buying large quantities is over for me - wasted way too many $$ doing that over the years. Just my two cents😁.

PennDog