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This is a comparison of Norma USA TAC-22 and GECO Semi-Auto 22LR Round Nose standard velocity ammos. I’ve been shooting both regularly, and couldn’t really tell if one was better than the other. My gut told me that GECO had a slight edge over Norma, and both shoot better than CCI Standard Velocity, but my best groups out of the two were very close. Since the conditions at my range were pretty good yesterday, with about a 3-4mph cross wind, I decided it was time to compare them a little more closely.
Both ammos are made in Germany*, and both have a stated velocity of 1100 fps. The writing on the GECO box is mostly in German so you have to look online for the velocity. *Although it’s called Norma USA, this seems to be because it’s distributed from the USA warehouse, but there is discussion on the web, and supposedly calls to the company that confirm it’s made in Germany. Note that the nose of the Norma round looks a little flat on top, but that's just the lube making it look that way.
The rounds look identical up close. Both have a waxy lube indicative of quality ammo. Some people don’t like the greasy feel, but for me it’s an indication that it’s going to shoot well. I keep a rag next to me on the bench to wipe my trigger finger with.
Looking closely at the brass, you can see that it is identical, both carrying the RWS headstamp. Most of the discussion on the web, supposedly confirmed by calls to the distributors, is that both ammos are manufactured out of the same RWS facilities that produce RWS target and match ammo.
Both measure exactly the same on my Dillon calipers, in all dimensions.
Now is where the rubber meets the road. I will confess right now that I hadn’t cleaned my gun in two range trips. I’m going to claim it’s because my girls have been occupying the kitchen table to do homework, which is higher priority (but there’s also the laziness factor), so that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Therefore, my Ruger 10/22 with 18” Green Mountain barrel had about 700 rounds through it at the start of the test. Targets were shot at 50 yards.
I took a sighting shot on the first target, #3 in the upper right. Right away I knew that I’d need to run some rounds through the barrel to clear out some of the fouling and hardened lube from the last range trip two weekends ago. I really should have started with a clean rifle. I started with the center column of targets from the bottom up, then up the left column until I saw that the rifle was beginning to group.
Target #4 and #1 for the GECO Semi-Auto were used for the comparison. I switched to Norma TAC-22, and shot off targets #12 and then #9. All four sets were fired with ~25-30 seconds between shots. The 5 shot groups didn’t tell me a lot, since they were pretty close. GECO printed 0.351” and 0.411” center to center; Norma printed 0.360” and 0.465”. It’s always the flyers that get you when you’re trying to get good groups, so I decided I needed to go to 10 shots to separate the wheat from the chaff.
After the break, I started with the 10 shot group test. I decided to throw in a few more ammo types after the two I was testing, which would confirm my feel about those as well. Starting with the Norma on target #7, GECO on target #4, and then CCI Standard on target #1. I followed that with Winchester White Box and Remington Golden Bullets, both of which do a decent job for bulk ammo out of my Ruger. All groups were shot with 10-15 seconds between shots.
Here are the results:
Norma: 0.851”; and 0.681” if you throw out the furthest flyer. The only reason I would on this test is due to having a slightly cooler barrel due to the break (the first shot was low).
GECO: 0.507”; and same if I threw out any of the outer shots.
CCI: 0.791”; and same if I threw out any of the outer shots
Winchester: 1.12”; and 0.804” if I threw out the flyer
Remington: 1.066”; and 1.006” if I threw out the flyer
My conclusion is that the GECO ammo, although visually identical, shoots best out of my 10/22. I will caveat that be saying that variations on lots could account for some of that, but I’ve shot different lots of each and always had a gut feel that GECO was better. One reason may be the powder used. GECO states that although their Rifle Target and Semi-Auto ammos have the exact same velocity, the Semi-Auto is specifically designed for semi-auto guns. My guess is faster burning ammo, but who knows. Norma typically shoots lower than GECO in my rifle.
Both ammos seem to be a decent value at $50-$55 per brick. I stocked up on the GECO when I saw it on sale recently for $90 for 2 bricks, plus $15 shipping.
Both ammos are made in Germany*, and both have a stated velocity of 1100 fps. The writing on the GECO box is mostly in German so you have to look online for the velocity. *Although it’s called Norma USA, this seems to be because it’s distributed from the USA warehouse, but there is discussion on the web, and supposedly calls to the company that confirm it’s made in Germany. Note that the nose of the Norma round looks a little flat on top, but that's just the lube making it look that way.
The rounds look identical up close. Both have a waxy lube indicative of quality ammo. Some people don’t like the greasy feel, but for me it’s an indication that it’s going to shoot well. I keep a rag next to me on the bench to wipe my trigger finger with.
Looking closely at the brass, you can see that it is identical, both carrying the RWS headstamp. Most of the discussion on the web, supposedly confirmed by calls to the distributors, is that both ammos are manufactured out of the same RWS facilities that produce RWS target and match ammo.
Both measure exactly the same on my Dillon calipers, in all dimensions.
Now is where the rubber meets the road. I will confess right now that I hadn’t cleaned my gun in two range trips. I’m going to claim it’s because my girls have been occupying the kitchen table to do homework, which is higher priority (but there’s also the laziness factor), so that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Therefore, my Ruger 10/22 with 18” Green Mountain barrel had about 700 rounds through it at the start of the test. Targets were shot at 50 yards.
I took a sighting shot on the first target, #3 in the upper right. Right away I knew that I’d need to run some rounds through the barrel to clear out some of the fouling and hardened lube from the last range trip two weekends ago. I really should have started with a clean rifle. I started with the center column of targets from the bottom up, then up the left column until I saw that the rifle was beginning to group.
Target #4 and #1 for the GECO Semi-Auto were used for the comparison. I switched to Norma TAC-22, and shot off targets #12 and then #9. All four sets were fired with ~25-30 seconds between shots. The 5 shot groups didn’t tell me a lot, since they were pretty close. GECO printed 0.351” and 0.411” center to center; Norma printed 0.360” and 0.465”. It’s always the flyers that get you when you’re trying to get good groups, so I decided I needed to go to 10 shots to separate the wheat from the chaff.
After the break, I started with the 10 shot group test. I decided to throw in a few more ammo types after the two I was testing, which would confirm my feel about those as well. Starting with the Norma on target #7, GECO on target #4, and then CCI Standard on target #1. I followed that with Winchester White Box and Remington Golden Bullets, both of which do a decent job for bulk ammo out of my Ruger. All groups were shot with 10-15 seconds between shots.
Here are the results:
Norma: 0.851”; and 0.681” if you throw out the furthest flyer. The only reason I would on this test is due to having a slightly cooler barrel due to the break (the first shot was low).
GECO: 0.507”; and same if I threw out any of the outer shots.
CCI: 0.791”; and same if I threw out any of the outer shots
Winchester: 1.12”; and 0.804” if I threw out the flyer
Remington: 1.066”; and 1.006” if I threw out the flyer
My conclusion is that the GECO ammo, although visually identical, shoots best out of my 10/22. I will caveat that be saying that variations on lots could account for some of that, but I’ve shot different lots of each and always had a gut feel that GECO was better. One reason may be the powder used. GECO states that although their Rifle Target and Semi-Auto ammos have the exact same velocity, the Semi-Auto is specifically designed for semi-auto guns. My guess is faster burning ammo, but who knows. Norma typically shoots lower than GECO in my rifle.
Both ammos seem to be a decent value at $50-$55 per brick. I stocked up on the GECO when I saw it on sale recently for $90 for 2 bricks, plus $15 shipping.
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