Done with Rem Thunderbolt. For real this time!

[Caliper_Mi]

Crazy thing is I've got a box of duds that I save to fire in my Romanian M69 because it can usually get anything to fire by crushing the rim flat. Most of the ammo in that box is Remington... Worst irony is that my Rem 597 throws Thunderbolts like a shotgun but makes tidy little groups with CCI (especially std vel)

I do like Federal bulk pack, but it runs $19 at WalMart around here, and my g/f's MkI doesn't like to eject it so well. So, for $1 more per brick, CCI Blazers are better packaged and function 100% in everything. Doesn't hurt that Dunhams has been putting Blazer on sale for $1.50 lately, so we're stocked up for a while.

 

[Hardtarget]

I was shooting..two weeks ago. I loadded a revolver with six. BANG!, BANG!,..splut... The bullit DID get out of the barrel...barely. We had a laugh and went on. They were Winchester bulk pak. Happens.

Mark

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

not really looking to pile on, but I noticed the quieter reports and lower velocity shots last time out. i was using a 5 shot savage mk2 rifle and opened a new box and had 1 in each of the first 2 magazines...... a FTF a few magazines later.

They really need to fix that. A few Years ago, remington was one of the brands I liked better for .22.

 

[SaxonPig]

This is the crappiest ammo ever made. I chronographed a bunch and it was underpowered (like 200 FPS slower than other brands) and amazingly erratic... like 100 FPS variation.

 

[JTHunter]

45 auto - you're getting a good price on that ammo. Here in Illinois near St. Louis, they are charging $18.97 for both the Winchester 555 bulk and the Federal 550 bulk.
Remington is $19.97 for their 550 bulk.

 

[borrowedtime69]

havent used Remmies for years

Havent used Remmington bulk (except im still shooting Rem. Sub-sonics that i had stocked up) since the early 1990's. I went to Kmart and bought some that were in a milk carton like box. when i got to my car i opened it to take a look at the quality, what did i find ?? from the ones i spilled into my hand most all had the bullets spinning VERY freely in the shells, ie: bad seal and allows moisture into the powder and primer. walked it right back in and returned it. never again

 

[belercous]

I've had so many duds from Remington .22 ammo that I'll never buy any of their .22 ammo again. Even the $8.00/box match ammo is unreliable. I learned that 4 years ago.

 

[GlockFan]

I no longer buy their rimfire. Way to many issues with them in my Buckmark. Have had none with the bulk federal.

 

[Gordon_Freeman]

I won't shoot Remington .22 anymore either. Federal and Winchester are much better. It's funny how the Remington is more expensive.

 

[Mick_W]

My favorite .22 ammo I have tried. is the federal automatch. It is the cleanest and most consistent of all I have tried. The brands I know I have tried are rem thunderbolts, RGB's, federal bulk pack(this and the thunderbolts were the most dirty of all I have tried), Fiocchi(also fairly clean and consistent), CCI blazers and minimags. There have been a few other brands I have tried but fiocchi and fed automatch are my main go to brands followed by CCI.

 

[writerinmo]

I have a local sporting goods that puts the CCI Blazer on sale for $13.99 a brick about every three months, I tend to buy three or four then...I'm ending up with quite a bit of .22 ammo, the wife notes.

 

[pharmer]

Remington used to be some of the best ammo available. But that was when Remington was a company. Now it's an afterthought of some conglomerate whose last worry is the satisfaction of shooters. Joe

 

[xfyrfiter]

Nothing but cci blazer for plinking, as it is the same as mini mag with lead bullits, rather than copper coated. For serious target work use wolf or lapua.

 

[Mike Sr.]

rem .22

Glad I read this...was trying to sight in my Ruger 77/22 with a suppressor and every 4th round was a DUD! Those Tbolts have bolted into the trash.

 

[pazz]

Done with Rem Thunderbolt. For real this time!

I switched over to Federal bulk long ago. Not too many ftf's

 

[egyas]

I use CCI Blazer almost exclusively. It works well in everything. Even a super picky High Standard.

I can get 5000 rounds for $170 from my LGS so....... WIN!

I agree. I have a Walther P22 that I LOVE, and use to teach my children to shoot. But she is the MOST PICKY beast I have ever owned. The olnly 22LR ammo it shoots reliably is CCI Blazer. Rem Thunderbolt is good for at least 2-3 failure to feed or other issues, per 10 round mag.

Not commenting on the ammo, I'm guessing it's my Walther since my buddies Ruger fires the Rem with no issues.

 

[340PD]

Long thread but the theme is the same. I work at a range and at least 90% of the "dud" ammo we dispose of is Remington 22. We now warn people to use something else if at all possible. We do not want live ammo in our scrap brass.

 

[JTHunter]

340PD - good point! That problem hadn't occured to me.

 

[scythefwd]

Even the $8.00/box match ammo is unreliable

The box I looked at today of this stuff said it was Eley manufactured stuff. I'd give it a try but I still have some of my aguila lying around.

 

[Deus Machina]

Hate Thunderbolt. Smokey, dirty, inconsistent, and while it does fire most of the time, it's worse in that regard than anything else I've tried. Even the Wildcat that was kept in a closet that my dad had before he taught me to shoot. That was eighteen years ago.

For cheap, I like the Federal 550 pack (around $15 a brick), for accurate I like Winchester Dynapoint GT ($25 a brick).

 

[Duvel]

Of the bulk paks I've tried, only Federal Champion and Auto Match are consistently reliable in my 10/22 & 22A.

I only get to shoot four or five times a year, and my 1st (and 2nd, 3rd) outing with the Ruger and Smith were very frustrating - thanks to Golden Bullet, Peters, and 333.

My only experience with rimfire was 15 years prior - a used Model 60 that would eat 1K rounds of anything before needing a blast of brake cleaner. Guess ammo quality has changed.

With proper maintenance and Federal, my 22s are quite happy.

 

[Davek1977]

Guess ammo quality has changed.

Possibly, or maybe your marlin 60 was just a lot less "finicky" than the Smith and Ruger are. Not every gun will handle the same ammo in the same way. That's why, esp. with rimfire, you simply have to keep trying ammo until you find one that has a blend of the accuracy you want and reliability in your particular firearm. I have a Browning Buckmark that I love....but it will NOT feed Federal's "510" loading. Thats the ONLY ammo I've found that it doesn't like, but I've never gotten through a ten rd mag when using it without issues. The same ammo is both reliable and accurate in every other .22 I own. Sometimes, its the gun,and not the ammo, thats the issue. Some guns just dont like some ammo.

 

[skoro]

Remington 22lr ammo: worst on the market.

Years ago I regularly used Remington's "golden bullets" in my Remington 552 semiauto, figuring that a Remington rifle would logically work best with Remington ammo. . Then I started having all kinds of problems. Sent the rifle back to Remington, convinced the ftf and fte problems were weapon related. They did some minor firing pin and extractor work and sent it back. Same problems as before. A friend suggested I try Winchester Super X or Mini-Mags.

Problem solved!

That 552 runs like a Swiss watch on anything besides Remington ammo.

Sounds like Remington's still satisfied with selling defective ammo, though.

 

[wally]

Every .22 I own (about a half dozen pistols and a dozen rifles of various brands) loves the cheap Federal bulk .22 ammo, $15/550 at Wal-mart. Never had any problem at all with it.

Haven't bought any other .22 ammo in probably five years, nt experience matches.

The Remington Golden bullet used to be as good or better until about five years ago, about the same time they changed the lube on the Thunderbolt that caused horrible leading in my Rugers -- so bad couldn't hit an 8" plate at ten yards with it after about 200 rounds through the gun. I'd stocked up on it during the change over as Academy was selling it for $8.99/500 before I'd discovered how bad it had become. Eventually shot it all up 50 rounds at a time followed by 2-300 rounds of the Federal.

I've pretty much lost all faith in Remington ammo after seeing bullet setback issues in their UMC .223.

 

[medalguy]

If you have a chronograph, and still have some Remington .22 ammo left, check it out. We did last year and were frankly amazed at the variation in one box of 50 all fired out of the same 10/22 rifle. I didn't write down the recordings but I recall anywhere from around 600 fps to up to over 1500 fps. Standard deviation? You gotta be kidding. No way to measure it.

And one more thought-- I shoot a lot on public land where everything from .22 to .50 gets shot. We spent some time one day picking up all the .22 duds lying on the ground just for safety because lots of kids come out there with dad. The count was immensely in favor of Remington. There were a couple of Winchester, Federal, and CCI duds, one or two of each, but we found several HUNDRED Remington duds.

I too will not buy Remington .22 ammo any longer. It's trash.