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10/22 Takedown becomes inaccurate after a hundred rounds?

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Now I know why I never picked up any of that junk, what a chore to have to clean up, I'd throw whats of the T-bolts in the dumper ! No matter how expensive .22's get, won't be dragging any of this crap home.
 
I have shot more than my share of Thunderbolts in at least a dozen different guns and never had that happen.
 
I had a similar issue related to a bad batch of Blazer. 22lr a few years back. It was ammo related, a batch of soft lead caused the excessive leading. It happened in 2 pistols I was shooting.
 
I have never seen that kind of leading in a 22 before, and the last time I cleaned a 22 rimfire bore was in the 70's.

A 22 rimfire barrel should be able to go literally thousands of rounds without cleaning at the same level of accuracy. Something is seriously wrong in this circumstance.
 
I wouldn't condemn the barrel or the ammo. Your rifle doesn't like that load. It's no more complicated than that.

.22LR ammo shouldn't deposit anything but lube and some powder residue in a bore. They really never need cleaning unless they are leaded. Next time, when accuracy degrades to that degree, stop shooting and figure out why.
 
That's a chunk of lead alright! I've never pulled anything like that out of a bore.

I'm thinking there's a rough spot in the bore; something had to be snagging that lead. I've shot just about every kinds of .22 rimfire available through many different rifles and handguns, never seen anything like that.
 
I guess I'll quote from the article I mentioned above. Again, I falsely believed that my rimfire barrels were evenly coated with wax from breech to muzzle and that all powder residue was swept away by the next round fired. I believed "over-cleaning" was harmful and would ruin my bore.

From the article, perhaps pertinent to the present situation:

In this image, I was able to capture a photo of a lead ring; an uncommon sight during inspections.

The story is that this shooter was out with his semi-auto Ruger 10/22, heavily modified for precision target shooting.

He had adjusted the recoil spring and other parts to reduce the amount of bolt bounce during cycling, with the idea that it would help accuracy.

During one session, he complained that a certain batch of target ammunition, pulled from a stash long forgotten about from decades ago, was giving him some low strikes on the target.

The ammunition appeared to be degrading due to time or storage conditions, and there were enough “duds” and low strikes that it was obvious there was something wrong with the ammo.

Of course he continued to use it and noticed that at times the bullets never made it to the target, or maybe they passed through a preexisting hole in the paper. As he continued to shoot, the accuracy of the rifle really fell off and started to send shots wildly on the target.

He asked me to take a look at this rifle to see what was wrong with it, and sure enough I found a lead ring, and as I looked at it, I knew exactly what happened. He got a bullet stuck in the barrel from a light round – we call it a “BIB” or bullet stuck in the barrel. More than likely he thought the bullet just struck low or passed through a group, so he fired another round. The following lead bullet plowed into the stuck bullet, slightly bulging the aluminum tension-sleeved barrel, and then continued on.
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If I were the OP, I'd fit a tight patch and run it slowly down the bore to feel for consistent resistance.
 
The next time you clean try some JB Bore Cleaner paste. This paste is a mild abrasive that will help in smoothing the bore. I usually use it on a new rifle in my first cleaning before I fire the rifle because I believe that it helps with smoothing the barrel plus helps in getting anything that maybe left over from the factory.
 
I guess I'll quote from the article I mentioned above.
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I don't see that as an argument for cleaning .22LR's more often.


I'm thinking there's a rough spot in the bore; something had to be snagging that lead. I've shot just about every kinds of .22 rimfire available through many different rifles and handguns, never seen anything like that.
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I've had it happen before and it was with Federal bulk that is usually recommended over Remington. Doesn't necessarily mean a rough spot in the bore. Sometimes all it takes is for one to smear some lead in the bore and it snowballs from there. If there was a rough spot in the bore, it would happen no matter what load was used.


This paste is a mild abrasive that will help in smoothing the bore.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't do this unless absolutely necessary. The paste doesn't know the difference between the good spots and bad spots. It can take the edges off your rifling.
 
I have had a couple regular 10/22s that regularly fire over 1,000 rounds of Remington Golden Bullets (the cheapest, dirtiest .22 ammo money can buy) between cleanings without any of these problems. They get used with Thunderbolts sometimes too. I would say this is a problem with the barrel.
 
I have shot more than my share of Thunderbolts in at least a dozen different guns and never had that happen.
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When was the last time you bought and shot any? How many rounds in a session? It used to be good inexpensive ammo that I used regularly but sometime around 2006 they changed from a waxy "old fashioned" lube to some kind of polymer coating, seemed like an improvement (hands stayed much cleaner loading mags) until I shot it :(

Pistols were fine before the Thunderbolt lube transition, leaded badly afterwards, by dumb luck I never stockpiled any of the new stuff and pretty much started shooting it as soon as I got it and noticed the problem first time out with it (normally 200-400 rounds per gun per session shooting steel plates, the guns run hard), but I did buy five bricks initially. :( I was able to use it up by limiting each gun to 50 rounds of Thunderbolt per outing.

No other ammo has ever leaded any of .22lr guns, and nobody would ever accuse me of cleaning too often.
 
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I searched on Google on how to get lead out of the barrel, and found a few people on different message boards that had this same exact problem using the same ammo, Remington Thunderbolt .22s.

Went to Walmart and bought Hoppe's 9 cleaner and Hoppe's copper and lead remover, as well as a few new .22 caliber brass bore brushes. I ruined mine last night going through all that lead.

I spent a long time trying to clean the barrel and I looked inside with a bore light and it's like a mirror finish. I was looking for some pits and imperfections figuring maybe that's what's causing the lead build up because there was a ton of it close to the chamber. Couldn't find any imperfections. I'm going to go to try it out again next Tuesday and this time, with nothing but CCI mini mags. We'll see what happens.
 
wally said:
When was the last time you bought and shot any? How many rounds in a session?

.
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Well, I didn't write the date on the calendar, but know it's been since 2006. I also didn't put the round count in my diary, but can safely guess it was at least a couple of hundred.
 
When was the last time you bought and shot any?
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Two years ago when I watched some idiot on YouTube running them down as "ruining his gun". I bought 300rds and blasted through them with zero malfunctions, zero duds and no leading. People love to take these isolated issues and blow them way out of proportion.
 
Two years ago when
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The key issue is if they were the old "waxy" lube of the new dry polymer coated bullets.

Its not isolated I'm not alone with having leading issues only with Thunderbolt and no other ammo in the same gun.

Function of Thunderbolt was always better than the Remington Golden Bullet bulk pack which is why I used to shoot so much of it when Academy had it priced competitively with Walmart bulk packs.

I'm to the point I won't buy any Remington .22lr ammo -- more for you, have at it!
 
sappyg said:
You know. If that barrel was worth a hoot it wouldn't lead up like that.

I'll admit thunderbolts are shabby but I've never seen leading like that in a good barrel Regardless of ammo used.
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exactly. it is the barrel. fired a ton of that ammo in different rifles never a problem more 22's have been ruined by cleaning then shooting. I know guys and I do also never clean the barrel for life of the gun just clean the action
 
CraigC said:
I don't see that as an argument for cleaning .22LR's more often.



I've had it happen before and it was with Federal bulk that is usually recommended over Remington. Doesn't necessarily mean a rough spot in the bore. Sometimes all it takes is for one to smear some lead in the bore and it snowballs from there. If there was a rough spot in the bore, it would happen no matter what load was used.



I wouldn't do this unless absolutely necessary. The paste doesn't know the difference between the good spots and bad spots. It can take the edges off your rifling.
Click to expand...
JB Bore Cleaner a barrel makers best friend
 
Be sure that you get REAL copper "chore boy" and not the steel-plated imitation from China.
I have NEVER seen leading in a .22 at all, and certainly NOT like that. THAT is a problem that goes beyond ammunition.
I fire thousands of .22LR rounds without cleaning the barrel and never see any leading. I would suspect the throat/lede has a serious problem and is damaging the bullet.
 
Before going hog wild, mix a 50-50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar. Plug the chamber and being VERY careful not to get any on the bluing (I use a plastic tube or a soda straw) fill the barrel and let it stew a few minutes. Then pour the resulting gray sludge directly down the drain. Repeat as necessary.

Then dry the bore with patches, clean as normal and lubricate.
 
Experienced the same problem with Remington target.

Didn't want the kids shooting up the good stuff so I picked up the Remington. Hundred rounds in they were no longer hitting the target. Could not drop a bore snake through so I packed it away and later found severe leading.

This barrel does have a Bentz chamber and shoots a lot of Wolf and CCI sv with no problems.
 
Every time I read about a .22 with severe leading issues, Thunderbolts are to blame. That can't be mere coincidence. I'll shoot other Rem rimfire fodder, but I won't touch thunderbolts
 
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