Federal Black Pack 1100rd .22LR any good?

CanuckShooter

CanuckShooter

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Has anyone tried a recent batch of the Federal Black Pack 1100rd boxes of .22LR that are on sale plus rebate right now at Cabela's? I see mixed reviews.

I'm tempted by the price, but if it's full of underpowered rounds, and duds like a lot of their blue box stuff or any Winchester rimfire I'll pass. AutoMatch is the only bulk I'd even consider these days, but I've even had issues with that stuff, so I don't know if I trust any bulk rounds anymore. Might have just been that particular gun that didn't like AutoMatch though, so I'll have to do more testing.

The boxes of Black Packs used to be 1750rds each I believe. Bought 2 a few years or so ago. Shrinkflation is lame.
 
FishHog said:
I don't think I've ever had a federal .22 missfire, and I use a lot of the bluebox stuff. Maybe its the rifle not the ammo.
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It's pretty common these days to have some misfires, but more often it's very inconsistent charges causing cycling issues etc in the different bulks pack of Federal (much less so with AutoMatch). I've had it happen, multiple friends have, and a ton of people online have as well. It used to be very reliable ammo. Not sure if they've improved things lately.
 
Haven’t tried the Balck packs but I mainly shoot Fed .22 and it all goes bang for me in all my rimfires, it’s always been Win .22lr that I’ve had duds. Win Wildcats have been good although not the most accurate in my rifles, my .22 revolver likes them.

Automatch and Aguilla are the main two I buy bulk lately, automatch is pretty much the same poa/poi as the fed AE I have hunted with.
 
IF this is the same load as they had a "Special Rebate" on 4-5 years ago it's really good HV ammo. I bought a couple '1100's back then and it was great. IF you need/want HV, this is prob the best deal around for that. As for AutoMatch, I found it to have a lot of FTF that had poor primer loads. JMO
 
I have shot a couple of those bulk pack of federal and piles of the blue box 525 packs same ammo 36gr HP, had the odd misfire but they work well in the gopher patch, have shot them out of my BL22 and CZ452 they both shoot them with reasonable accuracy sub 1" @ 50 yards, my CA Ranger didn't like them 1.3" average, for plinking or in the gopher patch they are great :D
 
Buck1950 said:
IF this is the same load as they had a "Special Rebate" on 4-5 years ago it's really good HV ammo. I bought a couple '1100's back then and it was great. IF you need/want HV, this is prob the best deal around for that. As for AutoMatch, I found it to have a lot of FTF that had poor primer loads. JMO
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I agree. I bought a batch of that stuff and it worked fine. I may have had the odd dud but nothing worse than AutoMatch of any of the other bulk 22s.
 
My issue with the larger Federal loose ammo boxes is the round count is always under the advertised quantity. Being ~5% out soon makes the expected saving a false economy. Dud ratio seems to vary per box, no real pattern that I've observed.
 
The '1100' packs I bought 'back then' was in 50-rnd white paper boxes, nothin' fancy about the boxes even. But they all shot well . . . I've saved a couple hundred for 'something special' if needed. S/B a good hunting round, better than the SV SK-RM I normally shoot now. My 'Inventory' shows that those BPs cost $2.50/box = 5c/round tax incl in those 'good ol' days. Now 8c/round plus tax.
 
Buck1950 said:
IF this is the same load as they had a "Special Rebate" on 4-5 years ago it's really good HV ammo. I bought a couple '1100's back then and it was great. IF you need/want HV, this is prob the best deal around for that. As for AutoMatch, I found it to have a lot of FTF that had poor primer loads. JMO
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The first Automatch I bought a few years back worked and grouped well. This year's batch, not so much. - dan
 
dan belisle said:
The first Automatch I bought a few years back worked and grouped well. This year's batch, not so much. - dan
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don't say that :eek:
I bought 2 boxes from Reliable Gun on their Black Friday sale to try and they group well in my semi-auto.
Then I ordered 12 more boxes from Italian Sporting Goods. I hope your batch was faulty :devilish:
 
dan belisle said:
The first Automatch I bought a few years back worked and grouped well. This year's batch, not so much. - dan
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Same for me; my High Standard Sharp Shooter target pistol loved it. Last few years they have had a falling out. CCI SV is ok and I am in the process of evaluating a few other brands.

I have caught a couple sales on Tac-22 lately and in my rifles it really shoots. $5-6 per box on sale. Currently, because of accuracy, it has displaced CCI SV as my practice ammo.
 
legi0n said:
don't say that :eek:
I bought 2 boxes from Reliable Gun on their Black Friday sale to try and they group well in my semi-auto.
Then I ordered 12 more boxes from Italian Sporting Goods. I hope your batch was faulty :devilish:
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The quality decline seemed to be concurrent with the onset of covid. I think QC went out the window for a time. I have heard that the newer batches are better; not yet ready to try them again.
 
Mine were all bought pre covid, haven't bought any since so can't comment on the new ones I bought a bunch at Peavy Mart about 10 years ago, $16.95 / 525 pack, still have a couple left
 
$13.99/525 Federal Blue Box back in 2006 at Canadian Tire. I would buy 10 boxes every month for about a year. I still have 32 boxes left. I remember being asked by fellow shooters "why so many?"... 22 ammo is always going to be cheap....I'm in my 70's now so I'm thinking that's probably going to last me a lifetime. Don't shot as often as I did then.
 
I bought a bunch of the Black Pack years ago and it seemed identical to CCI 36 gr HP Mini-mag (similar muzzle velocity, point of impact, and grouping).

I just bought 4 boxes of the new Black Pack yesterday and will try it out soon. I still have some leftover older Black Pack and CCI mini-mags to compare.
 
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If this is the ammo you are talking about I bought 10 boxes of 1100 right before the covid bs happened. Cabelas had a good deal and at that point everyone was in an ammo frenzy. I’ve only had a few failures in all my rounds but I just wave it off. I run these rounds in cheap semis. And they do work excellent for me. Never tested for accuracy as in groups. Crown land plinkers with a red dot usually.
 

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