RedneckFur
Smith & Wesson is a religion of peace.
When my father passed, he left me several 50cal ammo cans filled with bricks of Remington Thunderbolt 22 ammo. Over the years, I've been trying to shoot it up, and replace it with better quality ammo. It's no secret that thunderbolts are dirty and prone to jamming, but I've finally had enough.
Recently, during a range trip, I was shooting my Marlin model 60, and I'd brought along a few 50 round boxes of thunderbolts to shoot up. Loaded up my gun, and fired. First round fired ok. Second one failed to eject, but fired. Heard the round hit the cardboard target. Third round? I heard a loud pop and got burned powder blown back into my face. Looked into the action and found the back of the cartridge case blown out. Checked the bore, and sure enough, about 8 inches from the chamber, the round was lodged in the barrel. Got to spend last night with an old cleaning rod beating that stuck round out of the gun.
What makes it worse, this is the 2nd time this has happened to me with thunderbolts. The previous time was about a year ago. Quite possible both rounds were from the same brick. The ammo looks ok. No corrosion, no dents, etc. But I've had such bad luck with it, and now its proving to be downright dangerous to the shooter.
I've never had any issues with CCI or Federal Automatch, my go-to's for 22 ammo. I guess dad must have got quite a bargain to have bought so much of this stuff.
If anyone has a sense of adventure and wants some questionable 22 ammo, I'll probably be parting with the rest of the stash in the coming months. But I'm not shooting any more of it.
Recently, during a range trip, I was shooting my Marlin model 60, and I'd brought along a few 50 round boxes of thunderbolts to shoot up. Loaded up my gun, and fired. First round fired ok. Second one failed to eject, but fired. Heard the round hit the cardboard target. Third round? I heard a loud pop and got burned powder blown back into my face. Looked into the action and found the back of the cartridge case blown out. Checked the bore, and sure enough, about 8 inches from the chamber, the round was lodged in the barrel. Got to spend last night with an old cleaning rod beating that stuck round out of the gun.
What makes it worse, this is the 2nd time this has happened to me with thunderbolts. The previous time was about a year ago. Quite possible both rounds were from the same brick. The ammo looks ok. No corrosion, no dents, etc. But I've had such bad luck with it, and now its proving to be downright dangerous to the shooter.
I've never had any issues with CCI or Federal Automatch, my go-to's for 22 ammo. I guess dad must have got quite a bargain to have bought so much of this stuff.
If anyone has a sense of adventure and wants some questionable 22 ammo, I'll probably be parting with the rest of the stash in the coming months. But I'm not shooting any more of it.