Do bullets make a difference?

Does the brand/type of bullet make a difference?

I posted about buying a Ruger SR 22. I used once during a lesson, and three times by myself.

The first two times I had cleaned it beforehand, and I was using Federal bullets. About half the time I was able to fire all 10 without an issue, about half the time I had to pull back the slide because a bullet was stuck.

Then this past weekened I went again, and I used Blazer bullets that I got from SGAmmo.com. I had not cleaned it. I fired about 300 rounds without any issues. It just seemed like a smoother experience. Granted, I am new and you do most of your improvement early, and I think I read on some subreddit that 22LR handguns need some breaking in.

Both sets of rounds were 40 grain, although I have no idea what that means.

To reiterate: Does using different bullets matter, or am I just a newbie getting better?