I just bought a smith and Wesson 22A-1 gun and I was shooting this ammo out of it and had a lot of ftf's and one cartridge completely blow up on me. Where the the casing comes off to the rim of the cartridge completely erupted and blew a for ball out of the side. Has anyone else had any problems like this with this Remington ammo? I JUST bought this gun so I hope there isn't any serious damage to the internal parts
remington 22lr thunderbolt problem
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Deltaboy1984
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It is nicked named ThunderCrap over on Rimfire Central . It was a good round back in the late 70's and 1980's.
Oldman1151
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I never had any problems with it. Shot quite a few a rounds of it over the past 30 years. The most recent stuff I shot was purchased in past few months. No problems with that either.
I have had misfires or duds but have that with other brands too.
I have had misfires or duds but have that with other brands too.
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Seven High
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I'd call Smith and Wesson about this incident. They will probably want to know what the lot number of the Remington Thunderbolt ammo. was. They will probably send you a prepaid label so that you can send it in for inspection.
yamahawarrior89
Member
I had the same thing happen in a remington 597 (rifle)
Using a remington golden bullet. Blew hot gas right down the magwell
Using a remington golden bullet. Blew hot gas right down the magwell
Yarddog
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i'm still shooting some from early 2000's,, every now and then you will hear a smaller report than normal. Other than that they shoot pretty good IMO.
Y/D
Y/D
oneounceload
member
Have purchased case lots of 6250 of this stuff and except for an occasional dud, they all work well in every one of my .22s
wally
Member
Yup! Its why I quit buying Remington .22lr several years ago. Its not a new problem.
Thunderbolt used to be good but after they switched from the "old fashioned" waxy lube to some new slick polymer coating the ammo as been crap and if you manage to run a few hundred rounds of it expect barrel leading
PJSprog
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Yes. I've never had good luck with Thunderbolt. I still have a partial brick that I'll only shoot if I'm in a dire supply situation. Too many failures-to-fire for me.
Owen
Moderator Emeritus
When I worked at the S&W Shooting Sports Center, Thunderbolt was the only ammo we wouldn't allow in our guns: pistols revolvers or rifles.
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It is absolutely terrible ammunition: inconsistent and low quality.
The only other brand of .22LR I have used which is worse is Magtech.
The only other brand of .22LR I have used which is worse is Magtech.
Arkansas Paul
Member
No worries. I'm from Arkansas, I knew exactly what you were saying.
I've never had the issue you describe with the Thunderbolt ammo, but I'm not a huge fan either. Accuracy is good enough, but it does seem to have a higher number of misfires than other .22 ammo.
My wife put a bunch of it in my christmas stocking because it was all she could find. Hey, if that's all there is, I'll take it.
SFreed
Member
Yep. Plenty of problems with it in my Ruger Mark III. Bad enough that I saw some on the shelf at Cabela's a couple weeks ago and didn't buy any.
22-rimfire
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What is the approximate age of this Thunderbolt ammunition? I have stuff that is 10 years old. Have not seen any in stores in a long time, but I suppose places like Cabelas, Bass Pro and similar might get some in new.
jimmyraythomason
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I quit buying Thunderbolt and Yellow Jacket a long time ago because of SO MANY duds!
bannockburn
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I also stopped buying any Remington rimfire ammo years ago as it was consistently bad in any gun I tried to use it with. Way too many duds, failures to feed or eject, misshapen bullets, and poor accuracy on the off chance I managed to fire three rounds in a row.
wally
Member
Ten years ago it was good ammo, somewhere around 2005-6 stores here started getting lots with a dry polymer lube instead of the traditional "waxy" coating. Liked it better initially when loading the mags, but was very PO'd about 200 rounds later when my MKII barrel was full of lead
Safetychain
Member
I didn't read all the replies to the OP, so somebody may have already said this, but I would suggest that one of your previous misfires/FTFs likely was a squib that lodged a bullet in the barrel. Then the next one does fire and a catastrophic case rupture happens which also clears the barrel obstruction.
Safetychain
Member
Also I add, I have shot extreme amounts of 22's in the past using all brands, cheap as well as expensive, and have experienced a very, very little number of problems. And yes, even the real expensive stuff has a few problems, just not quite as often. I save all misfires to try in a S&W K22 revolver if that isn't what I'm using at the time. I estimate that 80% of that shoots on its second try.
I experimented with shooting powderless rounds in a 60+ year old Savage-Stevens bolt action rifle. 4 out of 10 rounds exited the barrel. I would think that all should exit a pistol/revolver if the round had its full charge of primer compound,
I experimented with shooting powderless rounds in a 60+ year old Savage-Stevens bolt action rifle. 4 out of 10 rounds exited the barrel. I would think that all should exit a pistol/revolver if the round had its full charge of primer compound,
Icky The Great
Member
A friend of mine bought a brick of 500 about 10 years ago. We shot loads of rimfires in an indoor range after work. His new (then) ammo would not feed into the chamber. We tried several rounds from all the boxes. He called Remington the next day and they wanted him to send the entire brick to them. At the cost of shipping and handling he could have bought several new bricks, so he didn't send it. He called Remington again and told them he was not sending it but he would pass along the lot #. He said they didn't seem interested at all. Wouldn't even send out a coupon for him.
I took the brick off him and pulled most all the bullets and made fishing sinkers with them, wouldn't give the bullets the dignity to even be used as a bullet. I saved a few and put them into an original box. We went to the NRA convention and I spoke with Remington Reps there. They were speculative of the claims. I also handed them a note with data and pics of several bullets measuring .236-.241. I asked if they changed the caliber of their rifles without telling anyone. Lets just say I was not received well. I also have a .270 Win and .308 Win from Remington with bad shoulders and wrinkled case, both bought around 2002. I am pissed and will be damned to purchase any of their ammo again.
On a side note, my friend recanted the happening to the Federal Reps and they handed us each a coupon for a free box of 550 rounds from them. And we did get an invite to come tour the factory, So we kind of made out even if it wasn't from the original manufacturer.
I took the brick off him and pulled most all the bullets and made fishing sinkers with them, wouldn't give the bullets the dignity to even be used as a bullet. I saved a few and put them into an original box. We went to the NRA convention and I spoke with Remington Reps there. They were speculative of the claims. I also handed them a note with data and pics of several bullets measuring .236-.241. I asked if they changed the caliber of their rifles without telling anyone. Lets just say I was not received well. I also have a .270 Win and .308 Win from Remington with bad shoulders and wrinkled case, both bought around 2002. I am pissed and will be damned to purchase any of their ammo again.
On a side note, my friend recanted the happening to the Federal Reps and they handed us each a coupon for a free box of 550 rounds from them. And we did get an invite to come tour the factory, So we kind of made out even if it wasn't from the original manufacturer.
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