Remington Thunderbolt .22's SN 40 gr. FTF

Jack D · Post by **Jack D** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:36 pm

Bought the only carton of .22's remaining on my local stores shelf. A carton (500) of Remington Thunderbolt 40 gr. SN. First box (50) I had one misfire. Second box 3 misfires. I cyled them through again and still no go. That's a 4% failure rate. Is this normal? I can't remember having so many misfires. The Federals I bought before these (ctn of 400) had no misfires in the entire carton. Nor did the 300 rounds of CCI Mini Mags fired previous to that. All in this gun.

recumbent · Post by **recumbent** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:41 pm

Thunderbolts are JUNK IMHO and they can lead your barrel severely.

I don't buy Remington rimfire ammo.

greener · Post by **greener** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:28 pm

recumbent wrote:Thunderbolts are JUNK IMHO and they can lead your barrel severely.

I don't buy Remington rimfire ammo.

Amen

Bought a brick of Tbolts when I bought the 22A. I was about to send the pistol back to S&W until I tried something else. Took a while to work off the Tbolts. IIRC they were dirty and the 22A complained loud and long.

RGB's were a different story. The first box didn't do well and I figured that they really couldn't be that bad, so I tried another. A year later I bought another. Yep, nothing I have does well with them. Can't imagine why I it took three boxes for me to figure it out.

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 6:43 pm

Bummer with those as your only available 22LR ammo.
I spotted at least 9 bricks (I bought 4! For under $15 each!) of federal 550 at the local big box, and scored a box of CCI CB shorts to feed my Henry as well.

If it is any consolation, Jack ... a levergun or other non-semi-auto would probably eat those crummy Remington rounds happily.

Jack D · Post by **Jack D** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:02 pm

bigfatdave wrote:Bummer with those as your only available 22LR ammo.
I spotted at least 9 bricks (I bought 4! For under $15 each!) of federal 500 at the local big box, and scored a box of CCI CB shorts to feed my Henry as well.

If it is any consolation, Jack ... a levergun or other non-semi-auto would probably eat those crummy Remington rounds happily.

Lucky you, Dave. Our "local" has not had anything since I bought that sour box of Thunderbolts.....and that was a month ago. They only had the one ctn.....of anything. Bare shelves since. I may have to go into the "Big City (Eugene)" to find anything shootable. And from what I hear, that's pretty iffy.

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:30 pm

I lucked out, the drone behind the counter said they had just finished stocking the shelves, I missed 9mm by 10 minutes.
I would have bought an armload of 9mm as well had it been there, the big blue box is the only place locally that hasn't jacked prices more than 15% or so in the last 6 months.

Post by **Bullseye** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:19 am

Remingtons and Ruger 22 Autos are not a good combination. I can shoot the bulk packed Remingtons out of my Marlin Model 60 without any major problems. But if I put them in a Ruger 22 Auto pistol it's jam city. Even in a rimfire rifle there's lots of duds in the bulk pack. I've tested them by multi-striking the rims and only a few will fire. I avoid the Remingtons like the plague.

R,
Bullseye

SKnight · Post by **SKnight** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:30 pm

I've gone through two bulk packs of Remington rimfire, I had a 10%+ dud rate. I took one of the duds apart and found no primer in the bottom. None!

I like the Remington centerfire, but you couldn't give me their rimfire.

gedden · Post by **gedden** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 5:00 am

aprox 150 thunderbolts caused this mess pictured below. It was only my second time shooting my mkII and when I saw a target that looked like I was shooting quarters at it, I didn't know what to think.
I've read up on it now and I think I'm going to only shoot copper washed ammo. Anyway I think I might have a slightly damaged crown by the way it squeezed out, and I have cleaned 95% of it but there is still some lead stuck there. I've got a lead removing cloth I'm going to try tomorrow so we'll see!

Post by **Bullseye** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 5:41 am

More people have had trouble with leading from Remington rimfire ammo in their Ruger 22 Autos than any other brand. Federal and CCI lead nosed bullets do not lead in Ruger barrels. Take your time and you should be able to clean up that crown.

R,
Bullseye

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 5:45 am

Bullseye wrote:More people have had trouble with leading from Remington rimfire ammo in their Ruger 22 Autos than any other brand. Federal and CCI lead nosed bullets do not lead in Ruger barrels. Take your time and you should be able to clean up that crown.

R,
Bullseye

I have used a lot of other brand lead lubed bullets in my rugers with no problems, Fiocchi, Federal, Winchester, Eley, Wolf and others whose name escapes me at this time.

Jack D · Post by **Jack D** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:58 am

gedden wrote:aprox 150 thunderbolts caused this mess pictured below. It was only my second time shooting my mkII and when I saw a target that looked like I was shooting quarters at it, I didn't know what to think.
I've read up on it now and I think I'm going to only shoot copper washed ammo. Anyway I think I might have a slightly damaged crown by the way it squeezed out, and I have cleaned 95% of it but there is still some lead stuck there. I've got a lead removing cloth I'm going to try tomorrow so we'll see!

That's interesting. I haven't checked to see if my bbl is getting leaded. My son is bringing me some bulk ammo tonight. He refused to shoot them because he says they are covered in some greasy lube. Since I can't buy any locally, I'll try them. Thought I'd wipe them off first. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought I'd ever have trouble getting .22 ammo.

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 1:49 pm

The lead away cloth should work fine. Just give it time to work. Also the special Lead wire brush works good to. It will grab the lead above the rifling.

I have not been able to find any bulk ammo locally, been looking for over a month now. My local gun range does have some 22 ammo, but they are expensive ($40+/brick). I ordered some ammo from Cabelas all they had listed was Rem, no Federals. They are 40 gr Copper wash plated HP, so I'm hoping they will at least be good for plinking. Right now I will take what I can find. My dad's Browning 22 can shoot any LR without any issues. So If I have problems I can still use them. I'm saving the AE22 I have for hunting. I do have a bulk pack of Federal at my dad's place. Since he lives out in the country I asked him if he could find some, He struck out too.

He was very surprised that ammo was not available.

If I have to clean the barrel more ofter no problem. I think the problem accours when the barrel get hot.

I'm suppose to teach my brother how to shoot a pistol this summer and was planning on using my MKIII. But if this keeps up we may jump over the 22 and go straight to the 9mm. I can reload those for less than $6/100. I have some old lead cast bullets that only paid $18/1000. I only have about 500 left, so I'm going to use them. I'm not allowed to shoot open lead at the Indoor range.

Post by **Bullseye** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:35 pm

My bride and I were out and about so we ventured into a Walmart and they had some behind the sporting goods counter. I thought this was interesting because the ammunition shelves were all bare. I saw someone else purchase a box of 550 bulk Federals so I asked the clerk if there was any more. She pulled out an open case with five boxes left in it, so I picked them up. It might be worth asking the clerks if they have any, because if I had not then I would have just passed on by not knowing any better. Now I have enough bulk rimfire ammo to get through the summer.

R,
Bullseye

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:43 pm

I have been asking every were I go, plus I call several place a week, knowing when they get shipments. I'm in a area where Walmart has cut back on there sporting goods department. I think they also cut back on ammo, but the info I had was no, it was a big seller.

I can/will get by, if I need to shoot my airsoft more I will. I can get it if I want to pay $30-$40/brick.