What are we supposedly getting when we buy "match" rifle ammo?

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As much as possible the maker uses brass that is duplicates of each other, bullets are as alike as possible and as perfect in diameter and weight as possible, the primers are as identical as possible.....well, everything is as close to being the same as possible. They do try to use a bullet and powder that give the best accuracy for a gun of that caliber. Some is really good and some not. The match ammo I tried shot well but was not the best for hunting.

Sometimes nothing more than a word on a box

Sometimes everything that matters when you have only one shot

Most often something in between those two extremes

True match ammunition will be made to insure more uniformity from shot to shot.

Many features contribute to this and each factory does things differently, some of the issues are:

Projectiles will have more uniform jackets
Projectiles will have more uniform weight
Projectiles will have more uniform concentricity
Projectiles will have higher ballistic coefficients
Brass will have reamed primer pockets
Brass will have chamfered mouths
Brass will have more consistent capacity
Powder chargers will be individually weighed
Crimps will be applied to ensure concentricity
Finished cartridges will be individually inspected
Finished cartridges will be packed to keep them separate

There are many more issues that contribute to MATCH ammunition that do not come to mind at the moment

Match ammo is ONLY match ammo IF YOUR GUN LIKES IT!

I have a .22 Target rifle (CZ453) that LOVES Winchester Wildcats and Federal Champion - both Hi velocity lead run of the mill ammo. It will shoot a one hole group with either and I paid $9.99 a Brick only about 8 years ago at a big box store for the Wildcats.

I was so impressed with the accuracy of the CZ with "Promo ammo" that I wanted to see what it would do with the Eley Black and Eley Red top of the line "MATCH" ammo. I think I paid over $35 bucks for the 100 rounds (50 rounds in each box) of Eley (inc. S&H) and really was exited to get out to the Range with it. Guess what ------- it shot like ****! My 1/4" groups I was getting with the Promo ammo opened up to over 1" with the Match ammo. Lesson here is Match ammo is only Match ammo if it shoots well in YOUR gun.

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In answer to your question as to what Match Ammo is SUPPOSED TO BE, some Company's like Eley double prime their Match ammo which is supposed to insure more reliable and more consistent ignition and velocities. Bullets are more carefully handled as to not distort them during the loading process, the QC is suppose to be monitored more closely, the bullets are packaged in individual holes instead of just being thrown into a box, and they probably use newer more calibrated loading equipment (as opposed to older and more worn ) and may even put their top employees on that line.

All that said, my personal experience has been you need to find what YOUR individual gun likes. IN GENERAL, CCI Standard velocity 40 grain Target ammo works best in MOST handguns - for me. Rifles I own like the CCI, Federal and Wildcat Hi Velocity 40 grain stuff the best and the Eley (I have 4 different types) does not shoot worth a damned for me. I have nothing personal against Eley, it just sucks for me - while others RAVE about it - go figure!


Federal makes their red box - match ammo, Remington has a match ammo they sell under the Eley name and theirs, Eley, Wolf, and CCI. TRY a few boxes of each BEFORE spending big bucks on any of them! You might find similar results to what I have.

Yep,,
Most mfg. have a warning / recommendation not to use match bullets for hunting.

https://www.sierrabullets.com/store/...HPBT-MatchKing

Hunting: high velosity~high Energy bullet to drop game quickly.
Bullets designed to penetrate and mushroom on contact.

Target: low to medium high velocity with a ball or HP bullet designed for targets. Fragmentation or minimum mushrooming.

Match: high quality Target ammo....... no defects.
Plinking: low grade practice ammo..... may have defects.

Match is generally a term used with Military ammo.

Just as a general rule, Standard Velocity for most handguns and Hi Velocity in most rifles. While Hyper Velocity ammo gives you faster bullets I find that most are not as accurate for target work. I do use Velocitors (CCI) for small game and it is quite effective - but won't give you 1/4" groups. For hunting Squirrels and Rabbets it is more than accurate enough and really puts 'em down fast.

In the 1960's/70's I shot smallbore prone and 4-position rifle competition and was my main hobby other than hunt/fish, chase girls. Speaking about .22 rimfire ammo as used for that purpose, at that time, their were several ammo choices popular. If you were a top level shooter then extreme accuracy was/is possible using most of the choices out there back then, which included most standard velocity LR ammo, not all. That competition is about "the x's" not 1/4" groups.
My oldest son shot NCAA rifle competition, very precision.
I heard various stuff about quality control and component variations, etc. but information was harder to gain in those days. I'm sure it reamains a topic amongst .22 competition even now as to which is shooting best- now, not last year.
In my own experience shooting Anshutz and later Remington 40XB (after theft of former) I shot mostly Winchester T22-not long after it came out, as did many others. This fact varied over time as results of best shooters (and ourselves) became known. Given the results of such precision shooting (highly predictable! in the upper skill range) it came down to shooters finding that a certain case lot was best. The case lots numbers in those pre-world wide web days got passed around! I have no idea why the accuracy either?
The fascination with hyper .22 has never caught my fancy either. The proper small game use of a .22 like squirrel or rabbit is gonna die from a solid .22 bullet at Mach1 or better anyway.
My problem now days, like many, is where to buy any .22!
If your an ammo hoarder, I hope you have a flat tire and soon...

I really don't know what it means now days, however, back in the day, serious contest Match Ammo was hand made. The brass was measured and had to be within a very limited range of specs. Each bullet was weighed and had to be within a 2% range of weight. Primers were examined for construction, no imperfection of any kind was allowed and the powder charge was trickled to exact weights. This was all done by hand!

IMO the bullet effects accuracy most. Add uniform and exact loading specs and match ammo is born lol.

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