Another 22 ammo issue

[BeeMan]

Below is my less than favorable rimfire account, prompted by Buckshot's comment on the thread Molly started.


"I have read of a few incidents with centerfire rifles and factory ammunition having had various issues. Invariably the maker issues a UPS call tag and asks to have both the balance of the ammo and the firearm shipped to them. It seems that CCI's customer service dept simply took a pretty cavalier attitude."

I previously favored Remington bulk pack 22 hollowpoints, since local availability and price helped offset the rate the kids went through them. I regularly picked up another box when we got below a couple on hand.

Last year feeding issues and light strikes started occurring with several rifles and pistols, with various action types. All are domestic guns of good quality and none have match chambers. I wondered if dirty firearms might have been partly to blame so everything was thoroughly cleaned. No change. Next I tried some Federal bulk stuff and every gun functioned fine.

A micrometer revealed the problem. The Remington lead is knurled and diameter varied significantly between boxes (different lots). It was as large as .228 on quite a few samples from one box in particular.

I sent a detailed note to Remington explaining the issues with multiple guns, cleaning to eliminate other causes, the dimensions I found with one lot of their ammunition, and requested assistance. They replied to send the stuff in at my expense, marked as ORD(?), and they would look at it. That was it. There was no offer to pay shipping, no suggestion to dispose due to safety concerns, or much less replace the lot with oversize knurling.

Since the hassle and shipping expense exceeded the cost of new Federal, I set the remaining Remington aside. I will personally use it in a bolt action with a more generous chamber, so my kids don't have to clear jams and misfires.

I'm in manufacturing and understand tolerances. No heartburn from here if the manufacturer just takes responsibility. I also take gun safety seriously. With 2 to 3 kids on the line, regular misfires and feeding jams create an undue level of risk. Remington showed little interest in helping, so their 22 ammo is history for me.

Your experience may differ.

BeeMan

[Cherokee]

The Remington Bulk stuff "Thunderbolt" works great in every one of my very old to relatively new 22's. Its even the most accurate in several.

[jh45gun]

I had some Thunderbolt ammo that I left on the front seat of my truck in the summer later when I shot it, it really leaded up my barrel of my Ruger Pistol I had at the time. I mean to the point of being a smooth bore!!!!!! I figure the lube must have melted off in the hot truck enough that it leaded the barrel. Now I know that is not Remingtons fault as I left it in a hot place, though they could maybe use better lube ??? on these cheap bullets why I am posting this is so no one else has the same problem.

[KYCaster]

Model 597™ Rimfire Rifles
Imagine a 22 autoloader with perfect balance, its weight anchored solidly between your hands. Picture an innovative action design that features a rugged, nickel-plated bolt with two steel guide rails for strength and flawless functioning. These are the kind of traits normally found in expensive centerfire rifles.

But with all the design innovations we've incorporated in the Model 597, including its unique barrel attachment system and patented dual stack detachable magazine box, we've created a family of rimfire autoloaders with the looks, feel, handling, and performance of centerfire rifles. Model 597 autoloaders - rimfire the way it ought to be.


I coppied this from the Rem. website (probably breaking some kinda copyright law). This 597 really sounds like a nice rifle.....looks great too. Obviously Rem's aim at the Ruger 10/22 market.

Well....several years ago Rem consolidated all their R&D operations and built their new facility right around the corner from me. A couple of their techs started coming to the IPSC matches where I was match director at the time, so I asked them if they could provide a 597 and some ammo to run a side match. They jumped at the chance.

They showed up match day with a laminated stocked, blued 597 and a case of Thunderbolt ammo. It was a really sharp looking rifle. The match was six steel plates at 25 yds., fastest total time of three runs wins.

Being the HMIC....I had to be first in line just to see that everything worked as planned. NINETEEN runs later, I had three six round strings without a jam (not consecutive)....some failure to extract.....some failure to feed. Three different types of ammo didn't help. The cure was....flood the chamber and action with lube before every string.

Needless to say, I was very disappointed, and the two techs were very embarassed.

A couple of months later they offered to do the same thing with shotguns. Same plates, one run with 870 pump and one run with 1100 semi auto, best total time wins....Equally disastrous results. We finished the day with a borrowed Mossberg pump and a 25 YO 1100 ***. truck gun that a couple of guys just happened to have with them.

You'd think that with the entire Green Machine behind them these guys could come up with at least one gun and a box of ammo that would work.....you'd be wrong.

Now, I still have the first 1100 I ever bought. I've tried Win, Barreta, Browning, Mossberg and Benelli and I still think Rem beats them all for the kind of shooting I do with it.(YMMV) So I'm not completely soured on Rem., but I think my experience with them just reflects the current state of corporate America....make a product that appeals to the masses and to hell with the individual consumer.

Enjoy
Jerry

[fecmech]

KY--somwhere along the line Remington found a way to screw up a good thing. I've chrono'd their thunderbolt ammo and the extream spread on many 10 round strings is in excess of 300 fps! It's so bad you can hear the difference. Now I shoot Federal bulk pack, accurate and uniform. The older 1100's were good guns I had one in the late 60's and could go 600-800 rds easily between cleanings. Bought an 1187 a few years back and it would'nt do 100 rds of sporting without screwing up. Just picked up an older (little used) 12 ga framed 20 ga 1100 a few months back and it is just like my old one, reliable and just keeps on ticking. Remington does'nt make anything I want to buy today.

[Freightman]

I ordered some super colibri for my tree rat problem (pestelence) and ordered some Aguila super to get more for the freight. I have been very surprised by it and when this brick is gone I will order more.

[J Miller]

jh45gun said:

I had some Thunderbolt ammo that I left on the front seat of my truck in the summer later when I shot it, it really leaded up my barrel of my Ruger Pistol I had at the time. I mean to the point of being a smooth bore!!!!!! I figure the lube must have melted off in the hot truck enough that it leaded the barrel. Now I know that is not Remingtons fault as I left it in a hot place, though they could maybe use better lube ??? on these cheap bullets why I am posting this is so no one else has the same problem.

Sometimes just going out in the open to shoot will expose ammo to extream heat.
I had that problem when I lived in AZ. I got in the habbit of putting my ammo in an old IGLOO ice chest so the heat wouldn't get too it.

If you still have any of that ammo left, or I this happens to anyone, get some Lee Liquid Alox lube, thin it down and dunk the .22 bullet into it. It's a pain in the butt, but less so than cleaning lead out of a barrel.

Joe

[lovedogs]

Fortunately, I've had relatively few problems with my guns. But I have had a few with Remingtons and Rugers with mixed results. I've sent a few Rugers in for correction and have had good results. If you call or write them (at least in my experience) they'll give you the run-around and piss you off to no end. But if you just send it in with a polite description of the problem it usually gets fixed. With Remington I've never had anything but the run-around. They give every excuse they can think of but never offer to give any service. I still own some Remingtons and love them but I'm no longer a "Remington man". I look for the features I want and will buy anything that meets the need. Surprisingly enough I've had very good results with "cheap" Howa's. Nowadays it's hard to get real service from any of the big makers, in my opinion.

[redneckdan]

DO NOT SHOOT THUNDER BOLTS IN RUGER MKII PISTOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The MTU pistol club owns a flock of MKIIs, we tried thunderbolts cause they were cheap, quickest way I've ever found to turn a pistol into a smooth bore. They were so bad we wore out a brand new outer's foul outer tryin to clean the things. I'm not gonna mention how we had to get the lead out, would make the profession gun cranks amoung us slightly squeemish.

[wiljen]

I had some Thunderbolt ammo that I left on the front seat of my truck in the summer later when I shot it, it really leaded up my barrel of my Ruger Pistol I had at the time. I mean to the point of being a smooth bore!!!!!! I figure the lube must have melted off in the hot truck enough that it leaded the barrel. Now I know that is not Remingtons fault as I left it in a hot place, though they could maybe use better lube ??? on these cheap bullets why I am posting this is so no one else has the same problem.

This is a classic problem with thunderbolt ammo in Ruger pistols - do a web search - you are not alone.

Wiljen

[monadnock#5]

When I first started out in 4 position smallbore rifle, I was told that Federal 711B was the way to go for ammo. And I did shoot 711B quite happily for a couple years. Then, I started getting misfires. Anyone who shoots in competition can tell you how disconcerting it is to have the perfect position, perfect hold, clear concentration, and....CLICK. I checked the dud rounds, all had good hits on the rim. Sometimes in practice I would reorient the round, try it again, and most times get it to fire. So I gave up on 711B. (So did Federal a couple of years later.) Meanwhile, fellow shooters questioned my use of more expensive ammo. I could not get them to understand that good ole 711 B wasn't good enough for me. To them it had to be a problem with my rifle, and that I couldn't get it to a gunsmith soon enough. I never did go to the gunsmith. Instead I purchased various flavors of Wolf, RWS, and Eley ammo, and haven't had a misfire since.

So, I guess the point for me is not to buy a case of ammo until one has tested a brick from the lot, to make sure that it's up to standard. And that a fellow shooters satisfaction in an ammo for his/her application, does not mean that you will be equally as satisfied.

The last two 50 round boxes of 711B I had got left behind at the range 2 or 3 summers ago. I sure hope whoever picked them up had better luck than me. Good luck, and good riddance.

Ken

[Bullshop Junior]

I WILL NEVER USE THUNDER BOLTS FOR ANY REASON WHAT SO EVER!!!!!

I shoot a Marlin Model 60. I have tried


Remington bulk H.P.

Remington Thunder bolts

Remington sub-sonic H.P.

Federal bulk

Federal lightning

Federal game-shok

Federal American eagle H.P.

CCI stingers

CCI mini mag H.P.

CCI standard vel

I shoot left hand, and the only thing that will not spit fire in my face is the Federals, and the CCIs. ALL REMINGTONS ARE JUNK!!! I got several kinds of match ammo from the local 22 range, that fell on the carpet, and they would not use it. It all was JUNK And I hated every bit of it, especially the Elys because they stink when they are shot. I can still smell them. I am getting rid of the marlin, and am going to get a charles-daly superior 2 bolt gun.
Any way if you want to rune your gun and your face, go head and shoot the remingtons. If you want to keep your rifle shoot something else.
DANIEL/BS Jr.

[fiberoptik]

I also have a long history with remington .22 ammo. It seems that I always find the rem. bulk plated .22 LR ammo on sale. It also seems that I have a Minimum of 7+ duds in every hundred rounds. They don't fire, even when tried repeatedly. They also have the biggest spread, the worst accuracy, and the highest P.O. factor of anything I've ever shot. I stick with CCI's (blasers work great & cheap), WW (dynapoints), and on occation, Federal. For hunting, I usually stick with Dynapoints. I've got both of Paco's tools for .22's and LOVE THEM! Even the shorts drop squirrels now!

[joeb33050]

I have a Ruger MKII that I shoot from the Miraclerest at 50 and 100 yards. I've tried a lot of different ammunition including many of the bulk packs and Federal was-red-is-now-blue-box. I've settled on CCI Standard Velocity and Remington Target blue-and-green. I'm trying to find which is more accurate, both will AVERAGE under 2" at 50 yards and under 4" at 100 yards for five 10 shot groups.
Some days Rem, some days CCI is better = more accurate.
I have not tried the very expensive Eley, Lapua, etc ammo, except for a part of a box of Eley pistol, that did not do great.
I've never shot any of the HV 22s in this gun, they don't work and haven't worked in any 22 target rifle I own or have owned. Not accurate.
Funny how experiences vary.
joe brennan

[Freightman]

My brother in-law brought me two old 22's and said get rid of them I do not want them around anymore! Well one was a Marlin M60 and the other was a 190 Winchester with no skuffs or wore blue on eather, so I took the M60 apart and I have never seen a gun so caked up with gunk. Got it clean and back together and went to the range with three boxes of Aquila extreem speed shot them as fast as possable without overheating not one failier.
The Winchester was missing a part so I am waiting for it , but it also was very dirty and the barrel was about off it was so loose. Will see how it does when I get the part , tightned up the barrel fine.

[ray ott]

In the mid 60's I switched from WW Leader to CCI std.vel. Worked fine in the Rem.510, occasional misfires in the M53 S&W. Told CCI (gave brick lot #),they sent me a fresh brick,noting they'd had other feedback on that lot and asked me to return the opened brick all @ their expense. They backed up their product,I still buy that brand.

[Tom Herman]

I sent a detailed note to Remington explaining the issues with multiple guns, cleaning to eliminate other causes, the dimensions I found with one lot of their ammunition, and requested assistance. They replied to send the stuff in at my expense, marked as ORD(?), and they would look at it. That was it. There was no offer to pay shipping, no suggestion to dispose due to safety concerns, or much less replace the lot with oversize knurling.

I'm in manufacturing and understand tolerances. BeeMan

I've been having fits with .22 RF in my Mark II as of late as well. LOTS of failures to fire. I pulled the heads, and most of the rounds had partial or missing priming.
I checked, and sho'nuff, they are Remington Golden Bullets.
Your experience reminds me of an incident I had with Hornady: I was loading ammo for the M1 Garand, and bought about 500 (5 boxes) of one type of bullet.
I couldn't believe my eyes! there were three different types of bullets in the packages! They were similar, but distinct. You could tell they had different shapes and ogives.
I called them up, and the idiot at the other end of the phone said that this is common, and it's OK... I couldn't believe my ears!
Needless to say, I used that crap for plinking and bought better bullets elsewhere.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Bret4207]

I have not had real bad experiences with Remington CF, but the RF is another story. Yes, misfires are common in multiple guns that feed and fire Fed and Win fine. My favorite was the Win white box Dyna Points when Walmart still had them.

[Junior1942]

If you buy 22 ammo because it's the cheapest Wal-Mart sells, you get what you pay for. It's the cheapest because the factory unloaded a boxcar(s) full of it on Wal-Mart. The factory got rid of it cheap because of (1) misfires; and (2) high SD.

One round will go over the Chrony at 1150 fps, and the next round goes over it at 850 fps. If you're shooting an autoloader, the 850 fps round usually fails to eject.

[BD]

I've had 2 or 3 duds per hundred in both the Federal bulk pack and the Remington bulk pack purchased at Walmart for 3 or 4 years now. I'd been blaming the ammo makers, not the retailer. I think I still blame the ammo makers. If the stuff is crap, and they knew it and still wholesaled it, I blame them even more.

+1 on the Thunderbolts leading my ruger 22/45.

BD

[44man]

I remember the good old days when all .22 ammo was accurate. I shot 3/4" groups from a Marlin Mounty at 100 yd's with WW high velocity HP's. When the WW Wildcats came out they were super and I shot and won many IHMSA matches with my Mark II.
Remington was the preferred match ammo. Then many changes were made to boolits and priming methods to speed production and they all stink now.
Bulk Federals are my choice for plinking but there will still be a few bad ones. WW bulk ammo sucks and Remington is the worst.
For the best accuracy today, CCI Mini Mag HP's are the best. I hoard them for squirrel hunting.
I need to try some of the foreign ammo.
By the way, the Mark II does not like any target ammo or any super velocity stuff. The twist is wrong for them.

[Randall]

Remington "Golden Bullet" used to be the best stuff going until about 20 years ago.WW was good for awhile and then Federal,CCI is the best US ammo now I believe. PMC from Korea used to be really good. Aguila is now probably the best from what I can tell unless you are into serious target shooting.YMMV
Randall

[9.3X62AL]

I'm another one who has sworn off low-cost 22 LR ammo. CCI Mini-Mag HP works in every firearm I have in 22 LR caliber, and the convenience of having one ammo type that functions in all is worth the extra cost to me. The CCI MMHP is quite accurate in my rifles, and in a couple of them is the single most accurate round I've tried.

Life is too short to endure aggravation to save pennies.

[StarMetal]

When I was a teen and hunted groundhogs the Remington gold's were the best for me. Then as mentioned they went bad. The "only" duds I've had in my life time have been with Remington exclusively. Currently I'm shooting the Federal milk carton gold hollow points and haven't had one bit of trouble with them. I've been shooting them for a good number of years. The are very accurate out of my Remington 341-S custom sporter. I've had a lot of the PMC's and think they are really good. I'm surprised anyone hasn't mentioned the Russian stuff.

Joe

[oldhickory]

The Remington Thunderbolt .22 ammo is a joke to the term, "quality controll", then again the only brick I ever tried of this stuff was bought on sale at a department store for $6.00...For the brick! Some of it went "bang"...Some of it went "piffftt". I ended-up just shooting it at rocks on a bank at 100yds, seemed to do fairly well at that.


As for Remington ammunition's customer service... A year and a half ago I bought 500 factory new Remington .30 Carbine brass from Midway USA. I left them lay around unopened for several weeks and when I finally did open them, the rim and head area looked more like gas furrels than cartridge brass. They had no rim to speak of and were beveled and rounded at the rim area.

I called Midway, they would have me send them back at my own expence. I called Remington's ammunition plant in Arkansas and described my problem to a fellow in customer relations. He said, "I'll get a call tag out for them right away. DO NOT send them back to Midway! I want those mutants on my desk asap!"

All in all I had a very nice conversation that lasted probably 1/2 hour or more, and learned more aspects about ammunition manufacturing than I thought possible. They admitted the mistake and made it right quickly, and in a pleasant manor. No problems what so ever with Remington ammunition's customer service.

[Mtman314]

I still have a few bulk packs of remington golds, I use them for butchering. when I get into serious shooting in 22's I use federal if I can't find cci. I've gotten one or two miss fire out of cci in about 25,000 rounds, federal I've gotten 1-2 out of about 5000, remington I get about 3-7 per bulk pack. which is a pain in my glenfield semi when I'm out with the kids. I still haven't bought any 22's in about 7 years. This year my youngest will be starting up in learning gun safety and shooting as part of her home schooling. So I do appreciate this thread giving me the heads up before
I go out and started buying 22's again. I've owned my semi since I was 15 and I've replaced the mainspring 3 times since I owned it. I doubt I can complain my family has used it extremely hard.

[.45Cole]

not to throw a wrench in your gears, but the rem golden bullets 550? rd pack is one of a few makes that hold up to cycling in my 10/22. They are dirty so I don't use them in anything else. Fed bulk pack was my favorite for bolts, levers, and my Mk1's. recently my brother and I shot through about half a fed blue box and couldn't chamber anymore. There was so much wax on the bullet that it coated the chamber. Fed's never cycled in the 10/22. Thunderbolts were dirty but the only thing that cycled in my jennings (hey it was cheap ($50) and is a real challenge to shoot the same popcan at your feet, plus I can hold it in my hand and you can't see it from the knuckle side). Now the winchester autoloaders are my best bet, but at $14 per 325 they aren't cheap. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE AMERICAN EAGLE 550 PACK!!!! $9 and perfect.

[Maven]

Oh boy, does this open a can of worms! I guess there are several things to say about .22RF ammo. First, the diameter of the swaged bullets varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and maybe even from run to run of the same brand of ammo (Wouldn't that be a bummer!). Second, as you know prices run from dirt cheap, with some diamonds in the rubble to extraordinarily expensive (some of the Eley match ammo), which may not shoot well in all rifles. The trick is to find which ammo fits your chamber (Their dimensions vary too.) and bore. Frankly, I never thought to slug the bores of my .22's until just now, but it may be worth it both in terms of accuracy and narrowing an almost infinite number of ammo choices.

Choices: For just plain plinking and pretty impressive accuracy, I've long used Win. Wildcat and Fed. Lightning, mostly because I could get them at $9.99/brick. Win. Dynapoints were also impressively accurate, but not as inexpensive as the other two.

Choices II: There are a myriad of brands, none of which is inexpensive. The already mentioned standard velocity Remington in the green & blue box (supposedly linked to Eley) has a good reputation as does its Winchester counterpart and CCI Green Tag. Then there's Wolf match and Match Extra, which are diamonds in the rough. Eley is even better, but the prices will shock you. Fiocchi match ammo is also very good, but it's hard to find. The guys who shoot .22 bench rifles with 36x scopes pay LOTS of $$$ for their ammo, usually Eley, but sometimes Lapua.

Ammo to avoid: I bought 2 bricks of Aguila match ammo (made under Eley supervision) that didn't deserve that classification. On a tip from another shooter, I weighed just about every one of the ~700 remaining rounds (used several boxes for practice and competition) and found a lot of variation. Even after sorting and repackaging, only ~3 boxes were match quality. The rest were inconsistent.

I wish Federal would bring back 900A and 900B match ammo, which was by no means cheap ($6 - $8/box of 50 ten yrs. ago), but very accurate. Over the years, their quality control slipped because it wasn't uncommon to get as many as 3 misfires/box. Not quite the thing you'd expect from match ammo at a premium price.

[dabsond]

I am in the process of ordering my wife a new Savage Mark II 22lr left hand bolt action rifle. I am getting her the youth model due to the fact she is about 4'10". Does anyone have any suggestions on ammo. She shoots a Ruger 10/22 now that swallows just about anything.

[StarMetal]

Oh boy, does this open a can of worms! I guess there are several things to say about .22RF ammo. First, the diameter of the swaged bullets varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and maybe even from run to run of the same brand of ammo (Wouldn't that be a bummer!). Second, as you know prices run from dirt cheap, with some diamonds in the rubble to extraordinarily expensive (some of the Eley match ammo), which may not shoot well in all rifles. The trick is to find which ammo fits your chamber (Their dimensions vary too.) and bore. Frankly, I never thought to slug the bores of my .22's until just now, but it may be worth it both in terms of accuracy and narrowing an almost infinite number of ammo choices.

Choices: For just plain plinking and pretty impressive accuracy, I've long used Win. Wildcat and Fed. Lightning, mostly because I could get them at $9.99/brick. Win. Dynapoints were also impressively accurate, but not as inexpensive as the other two.

Choices II: There are a myriad of brands, none of which is inexpensive. The already mentioned standard velocity Remington in the green & blue box (supposedly linked to Eley) has a good reputation as does its Winchester counterpart and CCI Green Tag. Then there's Wolf match and Match Extra, which are diamonds in the rough. Eley is even better, but the prices will shock you. Fiocchi match ammo is also very good, but it's hard to find. The guys who shoot .22 bench rifles with 36x scopes pay LOTS of $$$ for their ammo, usually Eley, but sometimes Lapua.

Ammo to avoid: I bought 2 bricks of Aguila match ammo (made under Eley supervision) that didn't deserve that classification. On a tip from another shooter, I weighed just about every one of the ~700 remaining rounds (used several boxes for practice and competition) and found a lot of variation. Even after sorting and repackaging, only ~3 boxes were match quality. The rest were inconsistent.

I wish Federal would bring back 900A and 900B match ammo, which was by no means cheap ($6 - $8/box of 50 ten yrs. ago), but very accurate. Over the years, their quality control slipped because it wasn't uncommon to get as many as 3 misfires/box. Not quite the thing you'd expect from match ammo at a premium price.

Paul,

One thing I like about the Rem 541-S custom sporter I have is it has a tight chamber (may be match not exactly sure) but it cams the long rifle bullet nose well into the rifling. It shoots just about everything very accurate from the super high velocity stuff on down. I can literally shoot staples out of the target paper at 100 yards with it using Federal bulk cartridges.

Joe

[KCSO]

When W/W Wildcat's first came out I bought a carton and thought I would try them in my target rifle. They worked so well I sorted the carton by rim thickness and used it for match ammo for a long time. It actually out shot Ely match in my rifle. Lately with the cheaper stuff a misfire ever 50 rounds is par for the course. It reminds me of when S and W were going to get in the ammo business in about '73. Their 22's were so bad that we got 20 misfires from a box of 50 and ended up returning 10 bricks.

[oldhickory]

Some of the best .22rf ammo I've ever found was the PMC Sidewinders, acurate in all my .22s, but try and find it! Either Cheaper Than Dirt, or The Sportsmans Giude had it for $109.00 per case a while back...I bought 2 cases, (10,000rds). There's a fellow named Paco, (Kelly?) that makes a die set for uniforming and even hollow pointing .22rf ammo, I'll find a link and post it later.

[OldBob]

My wife and I use our 22's a lot, we shoot in the NYS Sporter Rifle league with them so I have spent a bit of time finding out what works for us . We have tried Wolf, PMC, DynaPoints, etc and finally settled on the Federal Champion #510. In a side by side comparison test with the other 3 at 50 yds. these gave the best groups in our Savage Mark I rifles ( slightly modified :D). I found that tension on the mounting bolts is critical, even in the 22's, wrong tension can double the size of your group. I do get failure to fire with maybe 3-5 rounds per brick, but even they will fire if rotated, apparently the priming compound doesn't distribute evenly. Nice plus to these is my Ruger Mark I likes 'em too and so does my 10/22. Some of the other shooters are using CCI's, Wolf, Federal Gold Match, Remington Target, Eley, one thing I never have seen is Remington golden bullets..... wonder why ????

[Westwindmike]

Bee Man,
I had 2000 rounds of Thunderbolts that were 8-10 years old. They had been in my safe for that long. I tried to shoot them but the bullets were rough and corroded looking. It appears the lube had dried up and the bullets were swollen to the point they would not chamber.

I talked to a nice lady at the Remington factory in Arkansas. Gave her the lot numbers and she confirmed the age of them. She sent me a shipping tag, UPS picked them up, and in a couple of weeks I had 2000 brand new Thunderbolts. All no charge.

So, don't give up on Remington. Call the factory and try to get a customer service type to help you.
Mike

[JW6108]

The Remington "milk carton" Golden Bullet .22's (36 grain HP) have gone down in quality within the last year or two. When shooting them, I am reminded of the Rice Krispies commercial: snap, crackle and pop. The lowest powered ones seemed to be little better than CB longs, and I have actually glimpsed the bullet as it dropped about 1 foot below the normal sounding ones at 25 yards. This from a Henry .22 lever, a Rossi 511 and a S&W 22A. In the S&W, they were worse than useless; failures to feed, fire, eject. Federal "Value Pack" 36 grain HP, on the other hand, seem to be what .22's should be. The first time I tried them in the S&W, I ran through 200 with no malfunctions and they are exceptionally accurate for their cost. They are not as accurate as Aguila Match and some others, of course, but they are also not $3.50+ for 50.

This S&W likes the Aguila Golden Eagle Match Rifle. I have a Millett 3MOA dot on it and the group is 50 shots off the bench.

It makes me wonder what it would do from a Ransom Rest.

[oldhickory]

Here's the link to Paco Kelly's "Accurizer" I haven't tried this thing myself, but the claims are in the article...Just one of the many things I haven't gotten around to yet.

If anybody has tried this thing, I for one would like to hear an independent report.

http://www.gunblast.com/Paco.htm

[mainiac]

I am in the process of ordering my wife a new Savage Mark II 22lr left hand bolt action rifle. I am getting her the youth model due to the fact she is about 4'10". Does anyone have any suggestions on ammo. She shoots a Ruger 10/22 now that swallows just about anything.

I have had my very best luck with federal 510,s from walmart. Have shot thousands upon thousands of these,and cant recall ever having a misfire.They shoot real well also. I dont use semi-auto 22,s and thats probaly why i have no troubles with 510. The walmart up here stopped carry fed 22,s a few months ago,and has no plans to offer them again. What a bummer! P.S. they will shoot 10 shot groups at 50 yards under an inch with a marlin 39 open sights, and will shoot around half inch with my ruger 77/22 with scope.

[DLCTEX]

A few years ago I thought the scope on my Marlin Mod. 60 had gone bad as bullets were sprayed all over at 25 yds. I then tried some Federal ammo and was suddenly back on target. The bad ammo was Rem. Thunderbolt. I couldn't believe that ammo could make such a difference, but the difference was repeatable. I get the best results from Win. Dynapoints, when I can find it. I've had trouble finding any ammo at Wally World lately.

[TAWILDCATT]

do they still make super x I had a paper where they actually were beter than most and equiled eley.I used federal lightning in com and did as well as any one.we used to use win expert.I have about 50,000 of 22s most federal but alot of rem.its older stuff.I use in marlin 60 and mossberg 44s target rifles. [smilie=1:
:coffee::coffee:

[Bert2368]

Mike:

Thanks for that tip. I've got 8 bricks that are doing the same thing... Will call Remington and see what they can do.

Bert

================================================== ====


Bee Man,
I had 2000 rounds of Thunderbolts that were 8-10 years old. They had been in my safe for that long. I tried to shoot them but the bullets were rough and corroded looking. It appears the lube had dried up and the bullets were swollen to the point they would not chamber.

I talked to a nice lady at the Remington factory in Arkansas. Gave her the lot numbers and she confirmed the age of them. She sent me a shipping tag, UPS picked them up, and in a couple of weeks I had 2000 brand new Thunderbolts. All no charge.

So, don't give up on Remington. Call the factory and try to get a customer service type to help you.
Mike

[KevMT]

Recently the mostly empty shelves for 22lr have started filling up again. Among the new offerings were CCI blazers. I can't remember trying them before but at $16 a brick I had to give them a try. They seem to be a very accurate round and cycle my finicky marlin model 60 better than just about anything else. Previous to the hoarding frenzy I was able to by federal champions for $1.20 / 50 rounds at Wal-Mart. These really shine out of my sons cz-452. Better than any match ammo we have tried. The blazers seem to be a close second.

[Shiloh]

Remington Thunderbolts consistently FTF, and are inaccrate when they do. .22 RF are dirty by nature, but these would foul any firearm in short order. Gave away the last brick years ago.

Shiloh

[Wally]

Remington Thunderbolts consistently FTF, and are inaccrate when they do. .22 RF are dirty by nature, but these would foul any firearm in short order. Gave away the last brick years ago.

Shiloh

I have been using them; they and Rem Golden Bullet will cycle in all my S/A .22 RF rifles. They also tend to be as accurate if not moreso than most other .22 RF bulk brands. As far as FTF--yes I do have an that happen occasionaly... I have not found them to foul my guns, but the fired cases do get smudgeyd with gunk... Many laud the Federal Bulk Valu-pack--I get more jams in all my guns with them including a hard to jam Ruger 10-22.

[atr]

CCI blazers work really well in my 22 semi auto high standard rifle...this rifle hates Federal ammo but never jams with CCI in either LR or shorts

[JIMinPHX]

For years, I used to hear people complaining about problems with Thunderbolt ammo & I just didn't understand it. I had gone through several bricks of the stuff with no problem. Then I got a bad brick & about 3 or 4 rounds out of every 100 were duds. At one point, I disassembled a dud that I had tried to fire around 10 times with no luck. It had no priming compound in it.

I've since had a similar issue with a bulk box of Golden Bullets too.

I guess that quality control on the rimfire stuff just isn't what it used to be.

I also see performance variation in .22 rimfire ammo more than any other caliber. Lately, I've been doing OK with the 400 (not 500) round bricks of American Eagle.