Match Rifle Ammo: Is factory match-grade ammunition really worth it? Petty puts it to the test

Guns Magazine, March, 2002 by Charles E. Petty

I'm sure you've seen ammunition on the dealer's shelf with the words "match grade" prominently displayed on the label. As shooters, we assume that the ammo in this box is going to be better than one not making the same match-grade claim. And this is almost always true.

But it's hard for consumers to tell by looking whether the ammo really is special. We have to trust the manufacturers, and in fact they go to considerable lengths to make sure that their product really is better. But because there is no universal match-grade standard, each manufacturer must develop its own criteria.

The fact that we can buy match-grade ammo at all is really pretty amazing. Manufacturers can't resort to many of the practices that you or I as handloaders would use to build better ammo for a particular rifle. For example, they need to ensure that their ammo will fit any gun out there. This deprives them of the opportunity to do any tricky stuff such as seating the bullets out further, or maybe making neck dimensions tighter.

So what is involved in making match-grade ammo? The short answer is that manufacturers simply take more pains doing the same things they do for standard ammo. In general terms, the loading rate is surely slowed down, and tooling (such as seating dies) will be selected to meet tighter tolerances. But the components are the biggest factor.

Primers

Match, or benchrest primers, really do contribute to the accuracy of match ammunition; however, they're not functionally different than conventional primers. There is no secret match primer mix. Rather, it's a matter of operator skill. Primer manufacturing is very labor-intensive. In manufacture, a stainless-steel plate with hundreds of little holes forms the primer mix into the pellets that go into the primer cup. This process is done by an operator, known as a "charger." The charger has a little ball of wet primer mix and, using a rubber squeegee, spreads the mix to fill each hole. Quality-control checks identify which chargers make the most consistent pellets. These chargers are then chosen to make match primers.

The metal parts (the cups and anvils) are the same as those used in forming standard primers, although these parts may be selected from tooling that produces more consistent dimensions. But there aren't any special "hard" or "soft" primers.

Cartridge Brass

Is there such a thing as match-grade brass? The answer: yes, no or maybe. It depends upon whom you ask. There aren't any special materials. Depending upon how the company makes brass, it might be possible to identify a set of tooling that makes cases which are just a bit better than another set. And it would certainly be possible, and practical, to earmark those cases for match ammo. One of the secrets to good ammo is to have brass that has a very consistent capacity.

Benchrest shooters weigh each case and select a batch to use that only varies in weight about a tenth of a grain or so. That may be helpful, but modern process control methods in the factories have done a lot, to eliminate many of the variables that might possibly be harmful to accuracy. Statistical process control techniques are used to hold products within some pretty tight tolerances. Today's brass is very good, but it's also possible to exercise more precise control over manufacture or make small adjustments in dimensions, It would be very costly to manufacture separate match-grade brass, and companies would have to realize very significant improvements over standard cases before it would be attractive to consumers.

Bullets

Once upon a time, the secret to making good match rifle ammo was to buy Sierra bullets. And for a long time that was a secret, but today you'll find the name right on the label. Sierra's 168-grain Match King .308 bullet has been the defacto standard for accurate .308 and .30-'06 ammo for decades, and today it's still superb stuff. But now Nosler and Hornady have products that compete head-on: Hornady's A-Max in both .30 and .22 have proven to be exceptionally accurate, and Nosler's new competition J4 168-grain .30 is loaded in the new Winchester Supreme Match ammo. Hornady's standard 168-grain BTHP is no slouch either.

The Plan

It seems as if there has been a resurging interest in match ammo. There was a time when Federal simply owned that market. That is no longer the case, and Federal has some formidable competition from Remington, Winchester, and a little upstart outfit called Black Hills Ammunition. As a bullseye shooter, I'm a longtime consumer of match-grade ammunition and have come to appreciate how difficult it is to produce really good ammo.

By far, the majority of match rifle ammo consumed is in .223 Remington and .308 Winchester, with some long-range work being done with the .300 Winchester Magnum. Federal also has match ammo in 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser and .30-'06 Springfield, but I am not equipped to test either of those. What I did do was test a good cross section of available ammo that is identified as match-grade. While I didn't test every possible load, I did test quite a few.