Anyone use Remington Thunderbolts?

[His lordship.]

Over the years I have heard that they are not good, on the chatlines alot of people want to curse and spit when .22 Thunderbolts are brought up.  I have used them, but found the accuracy was second rate, ok for cheap plinking.  During the Spring of 2009 ammo was in such short supply that I bought a brick of them, as one of my Ruger 10/22's likes them.  Seems like I was getting some out of battery fire on my other 10/22, so did not restock.  Especially now that ammo is more available.

There was a guy on You Tube who was getting severe leading build up in his Ruger Mk. 2 pistol, and made me more cautious about using them, I occasionally clean the barrels on my rimfires, so maybe he needed to do that with that load.  Anyone else have problems with Remington Thunderbolts?

[mbopp]

Over on rimfirecentral they're referred to as "Thunderduds" and worse.
I bought a pack of Remy subsonic HP's to try. I get 1 out of 4 misfires out of them. First I blamed my pistol but my bolt .22 rifle gave the same results.
I'm sticking to CCI SVs when I find them.

[woodchukhntr]

Thanks for the info on the Thunderbolts.  I bought a brick of them at WalMart when they were the only ammo available.  I think that I will use them for trading thanks to the info.  I have had very good accuracy and reliability with Federal Lightnings shot in single shots and a Winchester 9422.  They were also from WalMart and were cheaper too!

[mbopp]

I bought a brick of WW bulk Dynapoints at Dicks. The pistols don't like it but DD fired 100 round out of the bolt gun with no FTF's. 25 yard (indoor) accuracy wasn't bad.

[Graybeard]

Tried them perhaps 20 years ago, wasn't happy with them and haven't tried them again since. Can't say how they might work today.

[MGMorden]

I've used them before with no issue.  YMMV though.

[SteveHawaii]

Thunderbolts work the best of all the ammo I've tried in my Rossi Trifecta single shot.  At 50 yards it shoots 25 shot groups at just over an inch.  No misfires.

[Ken ONeill]

Thanks for the info on the Thunderbolts.  I bought a brick of them at WalMart when they were the only ammo available.  I think that I will use them for trading thanks to the info.  I have had very good accuracy and reliability with Federal Lightnings shot in single shots and a Winchester 9422.  They were also from WalMart and were cheaper too!

That's interesting to me for a couple of reasons. That Federal Lightning must be OLD ammo. I haven't seen any for sale around my area (western N.C.) for 25 years. I've shot many cases (not bricks) of it over the years and still have about 3500 rounds of it. It will be gone this year. In my own experience as a bullseye and metallic silhouette competitor, I found the dependability and accuracy of Lightning in handguns to be outstanding. It was the very best performer in my Anshutz, a 9 1/2"  and 2 4 5/8"Single Sixes, and a 10" Mk. II Target, as well as a superior performer in several others.
If you (or anyone else reading this) still have a source for it, I would greatly appreciate getting that info from you via posting or PM. I'll be a ready buyer.

With regard to Remington .22 LR ammo, I won't use it...period. We used to see more alibis in bullseye matches locally due to Remington Target failing to fire, than with any other .22 ammo. The testing I did with it many years ago showed W-W and Federal accuracy to be superior. I once had a Remington pump fire out of battery using Remington ammo. Add all that info up, and I don't want any .22 ammo from Big Green. Anyone else is certainly free to use what they want.

[woodchukhntr]

The Federal Lightning I use was purchased at WalMart within the last 6 months, and they had one box of it in stock last night.  The box is marked "F.C.C. 2009", the number is 510B,  and is brand new ammo.

[GRIMJIM]

I'll buy them for cheap plinking. Certainly isn't a target round but my 10-22 doesn't mind them.

[Ken ONeill]

Thanks, Woodchukhntr. They've obviously run some promotional ammo last year. I'll start having local dealers ask.

[Dand]

I have 4-6 bricks of Thunderbolts. Have never noticed any problems with it but I do think the Fed lightning I have shoots better in my Ruger Mk II. I believe I used Thunderbolts in my Marlin 39 to take several problem beaver a couple summers ago. In my Win/Browning M 52B, some very old (1970's) winchester superspeed is the best shooting followed by Fed Champion and/or Lightning.  In that gun I tried everything I could find including that ultra expensive Fed Match with the dimpled base, RWS Match, Biathalon, nearly every version of Rem, CCI, and new Winchester. A lot were indistinguishable. IIRC, Thunderbolts were on the lower rungs of that test but still went bang. My bricks are anywhere from 12 to 3 years old. Its what I let the boys shoot. Even with single shots a box of 50 is gone in about 15 minutes!

[clum sum]

I bought a brick of them last year and tried them out using a Marlin Model 60. Every time I pulled the trigger the sound was defferent, didn't have any FTF I gave over half of them away and I will never buy anymore.

[1marty]

tried them in my winchester 77. the lead tips bent as they fed into the chamber. Never had that happen with any other brand.

[mdi]

The T-bolts don't feed reliably in any auto I tried them in (Ruger MkII. Rem. 522, and I.J. Pocket pistol), but they have all made noise in my bolts and single shots. Can't say much about accuracy as I only shot them indoors at 50'.

[jlwilliams]

  Years back I spotted what seemed like a great deal.  10,000 rounds of 22 for about a hundred bucks, something like that.  It was long enough ago that I don't really remember the details, only that I got a ton of 22 plinking ammo.  It was Thunderbolts.  Dirty, dirty ammo.  I still have quite a few bricks of it in my ammo locker.  Some of my rifles just won't cycle it, others will.  Accuracy is only OK.  I bring some along if I'm going to be shooting with a few people.  It's OK as "go bang" ammo but I wouldn't hunt with it.

[Dand]

Well shucks after posting that I thot thunderbolts were OK last night, I took my kid to the range today.  There was a kid's competition for our winter carnival. In the first round at 25 yards he hit every target using Federals. Next was 50 yards and he missed every one - using Thunderbolts. It was about 0 degrees and some of them sounded like they barely got out to the target. I did some test firing with his gun and missed every time at 50. Tried some Blazers that I had - hit fine. DRAT. I sure feel like I messed my kid up for taking bum ammo. He might have won a trophy if I'd been more careful. Guess we'll burn that stuff up on plinking. I never noticed a problem before. How ironic it happened today.

[NickSS]

I gather unfired ammo at my club and dispose of it safely.  Night before last I was disposing of 22 RF duds.  There were about 200 of them and almost all had multiple hits around the rims.  I pull the bullets, dump the powder and recycle the brass and lead.  The powder gets burned up on the 4th of july in one giant flair.  Anyway of the 200 duds that I processed 150 of them were Remintons. Most of the rest were either off brands or Federal bulk.  There was only one CCI and two WW in the lot.  This is pretty typical and I have been doing this for my club for over 20 years.  My own experience with Remington RF ammo is not good.  About 30 years ago I shot on a small bore league and also coached Junior shooters.  The club got a real buy on SV Remington ammo and as I had to supply ammo to the junior shooters I bought a couple of cases (10,000 rounds).  I used a lot of it up with the kids but I tried some in my Anshutz rifle.  The stuff would not reliably hold the 9 ring at 50 feet.  I had abot a case of it left over after the league folded so I used it for plinking.  It was so bad that you could hear snap crackle and pop differences in the sound of the rounds going off.  I have never bought any Remington RF ammo since then except when it was extremely cheap and I was buying it for plinking only.

[Bigeasy]

I have shot a few bricks of it over the years.  No real issues, just not that accurate in any of my .22's.  I have found CCI Velocitors to be quite accurate in several of my hunting rigs.  All most all of my 22's like Eley ammo when shooting for accuracy, with Federal Gold Medal being a close second.  I picked up some cheap Federal bulk ammo at Walmart, and have not been impressed with its reliability - Jams sometimes in guns that never jam, and get a few failure to fires now and then.

Larry

[threepdr]

I guess my experiances are different.  I shot a bulk pack "can" of Thunderbolts out of my new S&W 22A and a Ruger 10/22 yesterday without a hitch. The can was about 5-8 years old and some of the rounds were pretty dingy.  No FTFs.  A little diry, but not much more than other low priced 22s.  I was getting 50 yard quarter-sized groups with my bull barrel 10/22, but there were a few unexplained flyers.  Not the most accurate, but for basic plinking just fine.

The old Federal hollow point HV bulk pack was a different story.  Also some older ammo in storage for sometime.  About 2-3% FTF, but accuracy was as good as the Thunderbolts.

[bilmac]

I notice the difference in sound, I think it is because some go over the speed of sound and some are under,  not good. I also have more than the usual number of misfires than I expect when using bulk ammo. I found a misformed bullet once, a large cavity in the side of the bullet. What kind of quality control lets a thing like that slip by?

[trailwalker]

Rem Thunderbolts "Spit & Spud"  everything else I shoot goes "pop" like it's supposed to.

[joeinwv]

My 10/22 likes them just fine. Accurate and I cannot recall having a FTF in the last 300 I have fired.

Rem Golden Bullets were the most reliable in my P22 until I broke it in well.

To those who don't like T-Bolts - feel free to send them to me, I'll dispose of them.

[lil_hunter12]

i shot a brick or 2 of them never had a problem. accuracy was fine i killed man squirrels with them. i still shoot alot of them in m western ranger revolver.

[Swampman]

They work great in my 39As.  I try to only use Remington ammo.  I will use other brands if I get them in a trade or dirt cheap.  The bulk Goldens will out shoot everything else in my rifles.  I do get a dud every once in awhile.

[Ron 1]

+1 on the thunder duds   newer rounds may be better i havent bought them in a long time
                     rw

[skarke]

"Thunderbolts" are Hands down, the worst, poorest accuracy, most unreliable thing that I have ever put in a 22.  I have 3 boxes of them on my gunsafe that I think are just going to be chunked.  I've been shopping around, and it looks to me that decent ammo starts at a little over 2 bucks for 50, and $2.75 will get pretty good stuff from a lot of manufacturers.

[bunkysdad]

I use the Thunderbolts and have not had any real failure issues but notice that is seems dirty. I really like the Federals that I get at Walmart, when I can find them. The most recent have been in the brown box, for 14.70 a brick. I Shoot them mostly in a Ruger 10/22 and a Remington Nylon 66. I also shoot them in a Walther P22. They are the identical rounds that used to be in the blue box, only the name and box changed. Even the SKU number is the same. I don't imagine that these Lightnings are the same as the old lightnings.

[Spirithawk]

When it comes to Remington .22's, of any kind, I wouldn't use them if they were free. Their quallity control is worse than pathetic. I stick to Federal's or CCI's and never a problem. Well, take that back, I did have one problem with a 50 round box of Federals. They barely had any powder in them. But, I notified Federal and recieved a sincere apology. The fellow asked for the lot number off the box.Three days later I had a package in the mail. They sent me  a 500 brick of .22's free.

[skarke]

I just threw out $35 worth of "Thunderbolts".  Pathetic, Remington should be ashamed, I would never put my name on anything of that quality.