Remington Thunderbolt ammo jamming 10-22 magazines

[the_leper_colony]

Lack of "Quality Control"...

That's a common problem with foreign ammo. Years ago, I decided to try Aguila .22LR, and bought a brand new 50 round box. One of the cartridges looked like it had been grabbed with Vise Grips and twisted! And my first (and only) box of Russian steel-case .223 or 5.56 contained a cartridge with the primer seated sideways & smashed flat in the primer pocket! As my good friend Captain Obvious always says, "Look 'em over BEFORE you load 'em in the mag!"

As far as Thunderbolt goes, it's been great in some of my guns; as @gunman42782 pointed out, .22s are finicky things! I keep as many different 'flavors' in stock as possible, because you never know if a .22 is going to prefer something expensive or something from the bargain basement.

As always IMHO, FWIW, YMMV, etc.

 

[kentucky yeti]

If picking the worst 80's ammo from the manufacturers,as expected- it always was the cheap stuff. Remington Thunderbolt, Federal Lightning and Winchester Wildcat. These were the dirtiest, least accurate and least dependable to go "pop" when shooting them in my experience.

 

[GasGuzzler]

People talk about 22's being finicky but none I ever had were. None of them like Thunderbolts, Stingers, or Winchester anything but would shoot the exact same with everything else. Never had feed problems with Thunderbolts, Stingers, or Winchester anything but they just don't shoot well.

 

[krw]

Every 22 ammunition has its place. As I hav stated before, Dad gave me a 10/22 in '72 and I got "pd" a brick 22 shells wk for feeding cows. That ol 10/22 has a gazillion +1 rds through it. Mainly it got fed the cheapest ammo that WalMart had. Gernerally speaking Lightening, Mohawk, Thunderbolts. It wasnt the best but it went bang. Then I graduated up to the Rem Golden 22 ammo. Hav shot cases of it. Then started shooting 22 IR50/50. That was when I got taught what a crackshot I wasn't!! Shot Fed Um1B, Lapua Midas, Eley Tenex, RWS R50. Would even weigh them to try to eleminate an off shot. Moral of the story, you give a Kid single shot 22 and 100rds Thunderbolts and they will have a good afternoon shooting

 

[the_leper_colony]

People talk about 22's being finicky but none I ever had were. None of them like Thunderbolts, Stingers, or Winchester anything but would shoot the exact same with everything else. Never had feed problems with Thunderbolts, Stingers, or Winchester anything but they just don't shoot well.

It's definitely a case of "your mileage may vary". Since this is a Ruger forum, I'll mention a heavy-barrel 10/22 I used to own. When the target barrel was installed, it got a nice laminated wood stock - in that configuration, it shot best with CCI Green Tag. When I swapped out the wood stock for a Bell & Carlson synthetic stock, the Green Tag groups opened up. I retested with a dozen or two 'flavors' I had on the shelf, and it liked Winchester T22 best (which made me happy because it was cheaper than Green Tag :^). My 77/22 Magnum definitely preferred 30 gr .22 WMR loads over 40s or 50s; after rebarreling to .17 HMR, it prefers heavier bullets over lighter. And I've owned a couple of handguns (a S&W and a Kel-Tec) that definitely did better with the cheap Remington ammo than more expensive options.

So FWIW, YMMV, IMHO, etc., etc.

 

[kmoore]

Just my opinion, as a kid cheap .22lr of any brand was fine. I dealt with jams, duds and lack of hitting a target that I should be. That was in semi autos, pumps, bolt action repeaters and single shots. Rifles, revolvers and semi autos. If you want to try the cheap stuff from any of the brands, go for it. As an adult, I don't. Even when .22 stuff was missing from store shelfs, I passed on cheap O ammo. Been there, done that, don't need the trouble.
Another point, if you find a box of L cheap O .22 that works don't assume the next box from another lot will also.

 

[Mobuck]

Regardless of the performance of Rem Thunderbolts, there is almost certainly some issue with the magazines. No amount of 'ammo bashing' is going to alleviate that issue.

 

[the_leper_colony]

... If you want to try the cheap stuff from any of the brands, go for it. As an adult, I don't. Even when .22 stuff was missing from store shelfs, I passed on cheap O ammo. Been there, done that, don't need the trouble...

Kind of unusual, maybe, but I had a .22 auto pistol once, that wouldn't feed anything I tried, except CCI SGB and Remington Thunderbolt - and I think CCI had just stopped making the SGB (I tried it because I had a box sitting on the shelf). As I remember, that pistol was really sensitive to cartridge length, plus bullet profile. If I hadn't been willing to try "L cheap O" ammo, I would have been dead in the water, but since I had a brick or two of the Thunderbolts, I used those in that gun. If it works, don't fix it!

As always YMMV, FWIW, IMHO, etc., etc.

 

[Old and grumpy]

Never had feed problems with any ammo in 10/22 that was not dirt related (except low velocity rounds). It may be time to clean your 10/22 mags. At best 22 is filthy. It helped with the old used mags I got from the 70s. At the same time use some 600 wet/dry paper on the feed lips. Just lightly it's only to polish them. Also a little extra "twist" may help with spring tension on old springs.

 

[Old and grumpy]

This will work for polishing the "LIPS" and feed ramp. Watch the video on the page. https://www.mcarbo.com/feed-ramp-polishing-kit.aspx

 

[Sam Summey]

That's a common problem with foreign ammo. Years ago, I decided to try Aguila .22LR, and bought a brand new 50 round box. One of the cartridges looked like it had been grabbed with Vise Grips and twisted! And my first (and only) box of Russian steel-case .223 or 5.56 contained a cartridge with the primer seated sideways & smashed flat in the primer pocket! As my good friend Captain Obvious always says, "Look 'em over BEFORE you load 'em in the mag!"

As far as Thunderbolt goes, it's been great in some of my guns; as @gunman42782 pointed out, .22s are finicky things! I keep as many different 'flavors' in stock as possible, because you never know if a .22 is going to prefer something expensive or something from the bargain basement.

As always IMHO, FWIW, YMMV, etc.

Mentioning Aguila 22 LR ammo, the current product coming from South of the Border seems to be of acceptable quality. I stock in my shop a goodly amount of their product, especially 22 LR SV. My "crabby/picky" customers/friends have been buying it by the case. After the COVID-19 "pandemic/delusion" Aguila was the first company that could supply 22 LR in quantities enough to give some relief from the 22 LR shortage.

 

[Fox Mike]

Thunderbolts are the worst 22's out there...... that being said....they worked quite well in my Henry lever 22.....
I'd use them up in something different if they jam in your 10/22

Exactly. They were junk in my revolvers (those that would actually go in the cylinders). On the other hand my Henry loved them.

 

[Mobuck]

I shoot Aguila sub-sonic in my RAR with a can. Must be some clean shooting ammo since I've never felt the need to clean the suppressor--just not much crud buildup.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I agree Thunderbolts are pretty much bottom-of-the-barrel as far as quality, consistently, and reliability. I still have a brick or two of them but just shoot them in my K-22 or Single Sixes where they don't cause feeding problems.
Oddly, I once had a highly accurized 10/22 that would shoot tiny groups with them - besting Federal Match, Eley Tenex, and a couple of other pricey target offerings. Go figure...

 

[hittman]

Seems like 22LR guns can be as particular as some ammo.
For me, Thunderbolts cycled fine in semi-autos but left piles of lead as another poster mentioned above.

 

[Sam Summey]

I agree Thunderbolts are pretty much bottom-of-the-barrel as far as quality, consistently, and reliability. I still have a brick or two of them but just shoot them in my K-22 or Single Sixes where they don't cause feeding problems.
Oddly, I once had a highly accurized 10/22 that would shoot tiny groups with them - besting Federal Match, Eley Tenex, and a couple of other pricey target offerings. Go figure...

Any of you folks ever owned a SIG Mosquito? One of the few firearms I ever heard of that would only work (90% of the time with CCI Mini Mag) with a single brand of ammo. In around 2006-2010 I had many brought to me to fix. After some experimentation I found that the configuration of the chamber and the lack of extractor inward travel were the culprits. In researching 22 LR chambering reamers there are at least two iterations, maybe three, Match, and Semi-auto,. I disassembled the extractor from the slide and lowered the bump that stopped/limited how much pressure exerted on the case/rim, I rechambered the chamber with the semi-auto chambering reamer, viola! The handgun would then work better than 90% of the time with any ammo including Remington Thunderbolts. The only ammo that was less than satisfactory was Ely which has a rim, that appears to me, only a suggestion.

 

[hike]

I probably wouldn't use it if it was free. I remember finding coils of lead working their way out the end of the barrel.

When brands/model run poorly in my firearms, I set them aside and use them in my revolvers. Revolvers are very tolerant of finicky ammo and is a good reason to have revolvers in your collection.

Also, .22lr firearms have ammo preferences. Your's is not the first account of magazines not liking certain ammo. Dealing with two sets of tolerances (magazine and cartridge), tolerance stacking can occur. (Each item is at one side of the tolerance scale.)

 

[Friedrich24]

I've had mixed results with a couple new(er) Ruger 10 rd mags - but definitely more troublesome with some ammo. Glad I saw the this read. Now to see if there are any burrs inside.

 

[althor]

I'll gladly take all the Thunderbolts that I can get a hold of. They have proven accurate in my kid's RARs and I consider them fairly clean compared to many others that I've tried. I don't have problems with them in my semi-autos either. The worst rounds I've used have pretty much all been Federal.

 

[GasGuzzler]

I'll gladly take all the Thunderbolts that I can get a hold of. They have proven accurate in my kid's RARs and I consider them fairly clean compared to many others that I've tried. I don't have problems with them in my semi-autos either. The worst rounds I've used have pretty much all been Federal.

I have no need for something as new as an RAR and I'm glad two people in the universe found a gun that likes Thunderbolts.

Ammo bashing? Sure. Thunderbolts are trash. But good for the 0.0000007% of the population that can use them. They're winning.