Boats has my vote to.

Boats is 98% right... Maybe 99%.

My only issue is a matter of degree, rather than of substance.

Keeping in mind my background is from Smallbore Prone, not Smallbore Schützen or Benchrest.

If you can't afford to practice, then the high dollar ammo at a match won't do you spit of good.
Buy the best you can afford, but temper that with your need to actually expend some of the stuff in practice.  A LOT of the stuff, in fact.

I shoot maybe 150-200 (3-4 boxes) a week in practice, with matches through the summer (4-5 boxes a match).   
I couldn't afford to do that buying top-end Eley or Lapua.  I'm not trying to bargain shop my ammo, I literally can't come up with that kind of $$$.

I'm shooting Eley Club at the moment, and it's performing a bit better than the Wolf Match Extra did last year. I need the rest of the season to tell you exactly how much better.
The Wolf ME allowed me to practice more, and was capable of cleaning the targets we shoot... I felt at no overt disadvantage using it.  I'm sure top end Eley would have gained me X's... no doubt.  MAYBE it would have gained me a couple points. But if I had to triple my ammo budget, I would have had to cut my practice in half, and that would have dropped me MORE points.
Now that Wolf ME is more expensive, I'm stretching a little more and buying Eley Club.   

DON'T skimp on ammo if you don't have to.  Buy stuff that will shoot.
But also remember that shots fired in practice are going to pay off at the Big Match you've been planning all year for... so don't spend yourself into such a hole that it pains you unduly to drop the hammer on each round while you hone your skills.

I've been trying to keep my ammo ahead of my skill level, but spending $11 a box on a $2 "sight-alignment and trigger squeeze" doesn't really help.
Now that my "hold and squeeze" are worth more, I can spend $6 a box and not be disadvantaged by the ammo.   

As always; YMMV.
Paul F.

Federal is most certainly out of the running.. unless things have changed.
From some gleanings in Precision Shooting, and from Benchrest Central a few years back; it seems that Federal sold their whole rimfire ammunition line (lock, stock, and warehouse) to another company to operate.
The other company promptly discontinued using the "expensive" components for the match ammo, and used basically "floor sweepings" to cobble up the 1000, and the 900. In a lot of cases they quit bothering to put lot numbers on boxes.

Some of the rimfire bench guys here locally would kill to get a couple cases of the "old" 1000A or 1000B ammo.

I used to use 711B for pistol ammo.   
After their change-over, I got a brick with 3-4 duds in a box, and a mix of "Pop" and "Crack" from the rounds.   

The Bean Counters figured that people would keep paying $10/bx (back then) for "match" ammo even if they cut the quality. 
Notice how Federal ammo isn't showing up at matches any more?


OH, and I agree..
Same ammo whenever possible.   
Some guys change ammo in Prone from 50 to 100 yard... and they have to burn sighters to get the barrel to settle down again... every single time.   
I MIGHT pull stuff like that in a "club" match, but if it matters at all, thats the time when I spend the money on ammo!

I read last night an ad (forget the vendor) for a "new" match ammo from Lapua.
You sitting down?
$26 a box.  Of 50.
It better be good if they want me to pay $130 to shoot a 1600 match!

Paul F.

Paul F.
    For what it's worth, we have had a couple pretty sloid test reports in so far on the new Lapua. Seems no better than the black box ELEY so I cannot imagine what the Finns are thinking?

Thanks for all the input fellas! Boats, no offense taken. I can understand your propensity for the Ely brand. I moved out here to Oregon 3 years ago, and was an avid BPCR shooter in Montana. There are no local shoots in my vicinity for that game, I have to travel quite a ways to do it. I found a Schuetzen club within 50 miles of my house and built a .22 Ballard for that sport. The local club doesn't shoot alot of 22 matches, so right now I'm just shooting the postals offered by ASSRA. In other words, I won't be doing alot of it. I'll definitely be getting in alot more practice than actual comepetitive shooting.