Remington Thunderbolts Buds Guns shop

I had a Ruger single six with fixed sights that shot to POA with the Thunderbolts. I used to keep a good supply of them for it. I get a lot more duds with several brands of 22LR than I ever did with the Thunderbolts from back in the day. Perhaps they are as unreliable as the rest these days I don’t know.

amd6547 said:

Thunderbolts are absolutely the last rimfire ammo I would pay money for. Junk.

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I don't understand all the hate for that ammo. I've never truly paid attention to failure rates with it, but it has never been enough to make me notice and think "sure area lot of duds in this box." (JINX!)

larry7293 said:

Crazy prices!
View attachment 984199
Remington TB22B .22 LR 40...
$84.99*
Add to Cart 4932 Left at this Price

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5,000- left? not like they're hurting for inventory.

I'm not one to bitch about a fella making a profit other than to keep my money in my pocket but, I will say this:

I've a sense that a whole lotta fools are garnering long-lasting ill-will on the parts of consumers over some of these prices.

I won't mention the names but many of us know and DON'T forget one, if not two, major National retailers with strong internet presences that hammered their customers on every opportunity in the last *emergency*.

Just yesterday - to highlight a comparison - I spoke with a fella that will not even begin to entertain buying from a major car company (2, actually) for their behavior during the *economic crisis* relative to hand-outs, their own workers and share-holders. THR related for the potential lingering animosity that some folk almost beg for thinking Americans are as short of memory as a gnat - the myth that keeps getting regurgitated by any given industry's *market experts*.

Todd.

I have enough .22 LR to last a few years. Not bragging -- I'm actually worried that that's not enough, that there will be another insane panic-driven drought on the heels of this one.

I have to be extremely frugal with my centerfire ammo. I have enough .223 for the two rifles I own that use it, but not nearly enough 9mm or .380, which are my carry gun calibers.

Two stupid things I did in this shortage:

1. I drastically overpaid for a couple of hundred rounds of 9mm, even though I wasn't totally out. Then I went and burned up the equivalent amount in one range trip. Back to Square One.
2. I paid to join a large online retailers "Buyer's Club" to get free shipping on all purchases, thinking that even if they ran out of the major calibers, I could still feed my "oddball" firearms -- .327 Federal Magnum, 6.5 Swedish, 7.65x25 Tokarev -- and keep shooting. Wrong -- there's zip, zilch, nada in those calibers, just like everything else. Oh well ...

I can beat this from today. Local gun superstore in Tampa had 50 rd boxes of Norma .22lr for $20

Some of those target specialty rounds were about that price before the insanity began.

Here is just one Thunderbolt experience I had.
My friend came out to my rifle club with me, bringing his Charter AR7...and Thunderbolts. He’d put 1000’s of rounds of other ammo (non-thunderbolt) through that AR7.
He was sighting in a scope at 100yds. I was shooting my 10/22, using CCI Blazer, my favorite bulk ammo.
I could hear the variations in power when he pulled the trigger.
With that, and his perception of various power levels, he didn’t notice the round that left a bullet in the bore, near the front sight.
The next round blew the squib out, and bulged the barrel, knocking the front sight and the top half of the aluminum cast over the steel bore liner...
I looked over and said, “hey, why did you take the front sight off?”...he was shocked. He disposed of the rest of those rounds, and not by shooting them.
Now, I shoot a lot of rimfire...pistols, rifles, one or both are always with me on range trips. I’ve shot plenty of Thunderbolts in the past, and they were always the worst. Rem Golden Bullets are better..I bought some of those during the last rimfire shortage. They showed up at Walmart, and I bought three milk cartons, in order to save my better ammo. They shot fine.
CCI-anything is great for me. I’m partial to Velocitor and MiniMag. I’ve had good luck with Aguila. Bought a brick each of Aguila Interceptor and SuperMax, their two high speed loads, and they really shot well in everything I tried them in.

I have a collection of 10/22's and a couple other mag fed 22lrs. I also have a few tube fed including a Marlin 60. I shoot at least 3000rds a year of .22lr and have had FTF from almost all of the bulk ammo including CCI. But if I had to rate them worst to best: Fed, Rem, Win, CCI. I've shot a lot of Armscor, Aguilla, and Norma, but not from bulk boxes. Still, the FTF rate from those three seems to be less than the first four I mentioned.

As a result of previous lunacy I likely have more .22 LR than I will shoot the remainder of my lifetime. About the only thing I may need during the next decade is some pistol powder like Bullseye. I really think I'll pass on $85.00 for a 500 round brick of Thunderbolts.

Ron

Prices are a sign of the times, stopped by Rural King today not a box of ANY kind of ammo for anything, the shelf that use to have ammo they filled with gun cases for now.

Regarding Thunderbolt, it's bulk ammo, but it doesn't really do much worse than Bulk Federal 550 or Winchester 555. Here is a target test I did with my Savage 62 and cheap Simmons 22 Mag scope at 50 yards. Out all the bulk ammo Federal target match in a 325 round box does the best, but these days finding it at Walmart or Rural king ect. is like hitting the lotto.

Savage 62 $99 to $150
Simmons 22 Mag scope $35
box of bulk .22 for $20
budget plinking

My Marlin 60 shoots better than the Savage

My best target from our 100 yard .22 match this morning. The X ring is 1”, the 10 ring is 2”
CZ 455 with a Nikon Buckmasters 4.5-14x40 scope from a rest
SK Standard Plus ammo. $92.99 per brick from Midway
Just ordered 10 boxes from Natchez for $7.99 per box

Forget ThunderDuds for $85 per brick!

ApacheCoTodd said:

...I spoke with a fella that will not even begin to entertain buying from a major car company (2, actually) for their behavior during the *economic crisis* relative to hand-outs...

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Yup. My truck was built tough without my tax dollars. lol

2ndtimer said:

My best target from our 100 yard .22 match this morning. The X ring is 1”, the 10 ring is 2”
CZ 455 with a Nikon Buckmasters 4.5-14x40 scope from a rest
SK Standard Plus ammo. $92.99 per brick from Midway
Just ordered 10 boxes from Natchez for $7.99 per box

Forget ThunderDuds for $85 per brick!

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Good point. There is .22 LR ammunition out there worth $7.00 to $10.00 a 50 round box but not Remington Thunderbolts. SK and Eley come to mind as match target ammunition.

Thanks for the reminder. I have a CZ452 LH I bought several years ago that I have yet to take out and shoot. I forget what scope I put on it but that's as far as I got. Nice target BTW!

Ron

amd6547 said:

Thunderbolts are absolutely the last rimfire ammo I would pay money for. Junk.

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I typically see about 5-7 duds per 500. That's not optimal, but for plinking ammo it's not unacceptable. IIRC I've had some bricks that didn't have but 1 or 2 duds. I think maybe it's gotten better, idk. I recall not liking it many years back but out of the last few years and 10 to 15 bricks of it I've shot, I've been pleased.

ApacheCoTodd said:

I've a sense that a whole lotta fools are garnering long-lasting ill-will on the parts of consumers over some of these prices..

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The ill will should be reserved for those responsible for the shortage in the first place. All the Chicken Little types buying up everything they can, far beyond what they'll ever need. Not the retailers. If they don't raise prices, only the hoarders will have any. People also shouldn't assume that it's all on the retailer anyway. Prices have gone up for everyone in the supply chain. Including manufacturers struggling to cope with COVID.

CraigC said:

The ill will should be reserved for those responsible for the shortage in the first place. All the Chicken Little types buying up everything they can, far beyond what they'll ever need. Not the retailers. If they don't raise prices, only the hoarders will have any. People also shouldn't assume that it's all on the retailer anyway. Prices have gone up for everyone in the supply chain. Including manufacturers struggling to cope with COVID.

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I agree about the general cause, just saying that dragging it out will be remembered by some too.

Again - I don't begrudge a profit but I seldom forget an action. Be it corporate, political or social.

Todd.

I bought a bulk pack of .22 at Cabela's last week for $25 dollars , not that I needed another reason to dislike Buds gunship , but now I have another.

I too have long memory for crap like this. I was in a lgs just the other day, one of the employees was repricing all of the Sierra, Lapua, and Berger bullets. I know for absolute fact these bullets have been on their shelf for over 6months and price has gone up from $33 for a 100ct box of 6.5 Scenars to $49 now.

amd6547 said:

Thunderbolts are absolutely the last rimfire ammo I would pay money for. Junk.

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Same here...I know of many others that think the same. Probably why they are available. Still better than nuttin' if you have nuttin'.

Hugger-4641 said:

I too have long memory for crap like this. I was in a lgs just the other day, one of the employees was repricing all of the Sierra, Lapua, and Berger bullets. I know for absolute fact these bullets have been on their shelf for over 6months and price has gone up from $33 for a 100ct box of 6.5 Scenars to $49 now.

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Let me ask you a question, if the prices remained the same, would they have any in stock or would the hoarders have them all?

I don't understand the hatred for Thunderbolts. I get probably 3-5 duds per 500. Usually if I try them again, they go off. I'm not going to pay $85 for a brick of them though. But for what I paid, I'm not complaining. I do hear that a few rounds seem weaker than others but the tin cans, etc really don't care. I'm not shooting matches. My Thunderbolts are run through 10/22s, m&p 15-22 and various semi pistols and run great in them. Exception is a mk4 22/45 lite that just won't.

The thunderbolts are dirty and inconsistent. Terrible variation round to round. I wouldn’t pay $25 for 500 of them. Heck, I wouldn’t pay $10 for them.

lionking said:

Regarding Thunderbolt, it's bulk ammo, but it doesn't really do much worse than Bulk Federal 550 or Winchester 555.

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Pretty much my experience. Just about any ammunition maker who manufactures .22 LR makes a wide range of the stuff accompanied by a wide cost range. I have found good and bad with just about any ammunition manufacturer. However Remington seems to have a cult like following of their Thunderbolts and Golden Bullets as to hatred. Would I pay $85 for a 500 round brick of Thunderbolts? Hell no but I sure as hell would not pay that same $85 for a 500 round brick of low end Winchester, Federal or other bottom end 22 rimfire. The low end Remington shoots as well as any other low end stuff in any of my guns.

Ron

Reloadron said:

Pretty much my experience. Just about any ammunition maker who manufactures .22 LR makes a wide range of the stuff accompanied by a wide cost range. I have found good and bad with just about any ammunition manufacturer. However Remington seems to have a cult like following of their Thunderbolts and Golden Bullets as to hatred. Would I pay $85 for a 500 round brick of Thunderbolts? Hell no but I sure as hell would not pay that same $85 for a 500 round brick of low end Winchester, Federal or other bottom end 22 rimfire. The low end Remington shoots as well as any other low end stuff in any of my guns.

Ron

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Remington golden bullet a whole different situation, my experience it tends to be very accurate ammo for budget bulk ammo. Here is target test with my Savage 62 again and you can see the golden was among the best performer. The problem these days you get what ammo you can get for now, I have A LOT of TB and Federal 550 so regardless of not being so accurate it is what I'm shooting for now. This target was done with iron sights at 50 yds