Thunderbolts

[newbie1234]

$125 for 5000 rds, so it is 2.5 cent per round. Man, you make lot of guy crying today ........

[angrybell]

[Pofoo]

I like them because they are not as waxy as a lot of other brands.
They have a harder coating on the bullet that doesn't goop up a semi auto after a few hundred rounds.
They work fine in my Walther P22 which is ammo sensitive.
The absolute worst 22, is Aguila. You can hear and feel the inconsistency of the rounds, and a lot of soft wax on the bullet. I get 3-4 fail to feed per box in the Walther because they won't cycle the slide all the way back.

[TrappedinCalifornia]

As with many other things, the reputation of ammunition can be true, false, or something in between and whatever the individual's experience, it becomes religious faith that the individual experience represents 'universal truth.'

I haven't had any problems with Aguila (yet), but others think it's just "the worst." I tend to rely on CCI Mini-Mags, Stingers, and my CZ absolutely 'loves' Velocitors, for the most part. Yet, I've had firearms where they wouldn't work reliably. (Then again, some of those firearms wouldn't work reliably with just about anything. So...)

Back in 2017, rimfirecentral had a thread... Remington Thunderbolts-Apparently the Quality is Improved

As with many things "rimfire," I suspect a lot of it comes down to the individual firearm. If it works in your gun, go with it.

[bergmen]

Yep. They originally sold for $90 (5000 rounds) in water-proof, sealed packages. Great for long-term storage.

Worked great for me and have 'some' left.

Yeah, I bought one of those from the CMP several years ago when you could have ammo sent to your front door in CA. The price was right. I forgot about them until I did an ammo inventory this past March. Still unopened, haven't tried any yet.

Dan

[bergmen]

As with many other things, the reputation of ammunition can be true, false, or something in between and whatever the individual's experience, it becomes religious faith that the individual experience represents 'universal truth.'

I haven't had any problems with Aguila (yet), but others think it's just "the worst." I tend to rely on CCI Mini-Mags, Stingers, and my CZ absolutely 'loves' Velocitors, for the most part. Yet, I've had firearms where they wouldn't work reliably. (Then again, some of those firearms wouldn't work reliably with just about anything. So...)

Back in 2017, rimfirecentral had a thread... Remington Thunderbolts-Apparently the Quality is Improved

As with many things "rimfire," I suspect a lot of it comes down to the individual firearm. If it works in your gun, go with it.

Remington did have a problem with uneven priming in their .22 line causing FTF (can't remember the specific type) and acknowledged the issue at the time. I had experienced similar issues and disassembled a few rounds to inspect. Sure enough, the priming compound had gaps in the circumference. If the firing pin hit where there was compound, no issues. If it hit in a blank space, FTF.

I have a photo that shows this but since we cannot attach photos, can't show it. The date on the photo is May, 2011 so that is the time frame.

Dan

[Sheldon]

The CMP Remington 22 was from the 90's and is standard velocity. The Thunderbolts are a high velocity round, not the same. I bought 10 cases of the stuff and still have some left.....for $11.50 a brick shipped to your door, I loaded up!!

[TrappedinCalifornia]

Remington did have a problem with uneven priming in their .22 line causing FTF (can't remember the specific type) and acknowledged the issue at the time. I had experienced similar issues and disassembled a few rounds to inspect. Sure enough, the priming compound had gaps in the circumference. If the firing pin hit where there was compound, no issues. If it hit in a blank space, FTF.

I have a photo that shows this but since we cannot attach photos, can't show it. The date on the photo is May, 2011 so that is the time frame.

Dan

I get that. They even recalled a couple of lots. But, that was a decade ago.

Can we agree that over the course of a decade things might have changed and the problem may not have even been as 'universal' then as many perceive it now? (Note that I provided a 2017 thread from rimfirecentral over whether 'the problem' had been effectively addressed.)

As I said, individual experience, even if it is legitimate, often becomes 'universal truth' and that 'truth' often becomes ensconced as 'permanent' in terms of a belief the individual holds. (I have some beliefs in relation to firearms/ammo which no longer hold true, but it's tough to shake them.) The point is that when someone is asking advice, contextualize your objection; e.g., "A decade ago, Remington had some issues with..." (Okay. I guess the recall wasn't quite a decade ago as it happened in 2013.)

Virtually every ammo company and many gun manufacturers have periods where something goes awry. A couple/four years ago, it was Remington's Golden Bullets. If I were to search the site, I'd bet I could find "someone who had a problem with" just about every brand, particularly those used heavily for plinking, at some point. As was said back in April on another thread in relation to .22 LR...

Every gun is different, every barrel is different, ammo is different, and even every manufactured lot of ammo is different.

It's up to you to figure out what's best for your rifle. Once you find the best, buy as much of that specific lot of ammo as you can. Because you may be back to square one once you've run out of that manufactured lot.

As I responded to that post at the time...

That's always been the rule of thumb, particularly with rimfire ammunition.

It's also why so many never take the time or go to the trouble of figuring out what is "best" for their rifle. Why? Because not everyone is in a position to be that picky, particularly if they aren't competing for group size. Even if they are, discovery of, as you say, a specific lot and being able to access a sufficient quantity of the same lot isn't always a practical possibility.

That doesn't mean the "search" itself isn't fun in and of itself. But, as alluded to in the video, it can become expensive and there's always the 'concern' rattling around in your head of... "Is this really 'the best' or is it simply the best of what I have tested or on this day, in this place, based on my present ability in this moment?"

In other words, there are reasons I hesitate to deem any rimfire ammunition as "the best," even for/in a specific firearm. Not the least of which is that I don't shoot for 'the smallest group' so much as 'consistent groups' in that I hunt with rimfire, I don't 'compete' with it. For me, it comes down to, roughly/approximately in order...

• Reliability
• Consistency
• Affordability
• Availability

After that... Well...

For the same reasons, I hesitate to deem any rimfire ammunition as "the worst," even for/in a specific firearm. The short version is...

If it works in your gun, go with it. That seems to be the case for the OP at this time...

...So I went out on Saturday after work with my lcrx 22 lr, and a box of those Thunderbolts. They all went bang, and were decent enough for plinking...