Thunderbolt .22

[HamsterStyle]

Love it or hate it, my old bolt action eats this stuff right up and I just cleaned out the greenwood gander mountain on their Saturday morning special. $1.29/50.

 

[jmildoc]

1.29 for 50!! That seems pretty good.. how many did you buy? is this every saturday?

 

[DarkRose]

Right on, I'll have to check up that way next time I'm there, down to my last couple boxes, all I've been shooting for years... Didn't even know it was still around since I haven't bought any in quite a while...

 

[slacker]

One of my 10/22's will eat thunderbolt all day, but the other one chokes on it. I have had mixed luck with it in my AR with CMMG conversion kit.

I have better luck with Remmington or Federal bulk packs, or if I care about accuracy mini-mags.

 

[stilllearning09]

I was there at 9:30 and picked up 10 boxes! My Mark 1 loves the stuff.

 

[rimfire_crazed]

Runs fantastic in my 795 and is the most accurate high velocity load in that particular rifle. Unfortunately it's dirty and misfire rate is higher than the federal i've been running. At $1.29/50 i'd clear 'em out too.

 

[HamsterStyle]

I got 26 boxes and I'm glad to say that the p22 eats it like its going out of style. I think I went through 400-500 rounds of thunderbolt and had 0 misfires. I'll report back with how dirty the gun is in a few when I get home.

 

[HamsterStyle]

The p22 wasn't in too bad of shape. The inside of the barrel has a little buildup but not terrible like the golden bullets or anything.

 

[04DarkShadowGT]

I bought 3 bricks. Cant beat it at 12.99 a brick.

 

[HamsterStyle]

After this weekend I only have about 10 boxes of it left. The p22 got a workout. Lol

 

[Jack Ryan]

Love it or hate it, my old bolt action eats this stuff right up and I just cleaned out the greenwood gander mountain on their Saturday morning special. $1.29/50.

That's cool. I'd scarf those up in a heart beat. I shoot them in my single six a lot. I've never had much luck with them for very long range or high accuracy but they go bang and in a revolver dirt of jamming is never a problem.

You can even use one for a pencil in a pinch.

 

[Regionnus Rattis]

All .22lr ammo is really cheap ammo...tried the thunderbolts but had a couple problems in my 10/22. I only use CCI Stingers or Mini Mags now

 

[4TheResistance]

had more misfires from thunderbolts than any other 22's ive tried, i personally like federal

 

[HamsterStyle]

The federal I shot out if the p22 thi weekend failed miserably. Granted it was 6-7 years old. I have a new box of it I need to try out still. I Also need to get one of the newer magazines as I have the old one. That should make a difference I would think.

 

[rcjack86]

I used this stuff in my Walther p22, even though people say that gun is picky on what ammo it likes... no issues at all with 200 rounds through it.

 

[Audie Murphy]

My ATk-98 eats those up with out a hiccup.

 

[Bendrx]

I hadn't ever heard of feeding issues with Thunderbolts, I've always avoided them do to the excessive fouling. That is a good price but too much hassle to empty out all the powder and then melt down the led and recycle the brass for me.

Kudos to the OP for spreading the word on the cheap ammo. Cheap ammo is typically something I like.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

I used to love the thunderbolts, and golden bullets. Last few years, not so much. Of course, part of that is the fact that they've been sitting around waiting for Mr. O. to get elected, hysteria to take over, ammo prices to skyrocket, and me to decide to say hell with that, I'll shoot .22s! Long story short, it seems .22 does seem to have a shelf life, and the older it is, the less reliable.
I've been shooting the Winchester 555 and the Federal 550 packs from Wally world lately, and having good luck. Almost as reliable as CCI, and a lot less expensive.

 

[HamsterStyle]

Saturday only special!!!!!! $1.49/50 on the thunderbolts again at Gander mountain. Greenwood has a ton of them. At least 20 bricks as of 20 minutes ago. My P22 loves these.

 

[billt]

I've shot a ton of Thunderbolt over the years. Now I've got literally close to 30,000 rounds of Federal 550 round Hi-Speed Plated Solid Bulk Pack to shoot up. I paid less than $8.47 a carton for it back in the 90's.

What happened was this. We were living in Lake Havasu City, Arizona at the time and I went down to the local Wal-Mart and the sporting goods manager was dropping a pallet full of Federal 550 Round Bulk Pack in the isle. I wanted some because it was priced really low, ($8.47). He told me he couldn't sell me any because he hadn't entered it into the system yet. He told me if I came back in a couple hours he would have the shrink wrap off, and would be happy to sell me as much as I wanted, (no limit). So I went back home and a few minutes later my retired neighbor who was into guns and shooting came over and we got into the beer.

I told him about the ammo and he wanted to buy a bunch. The more we drank the more we thought we should buy. We went down there after polishing off a 12 pack and I bought 11,000 rounds, (20 boxes), and he bought 16,500 rounds, (30 boxes). Actually, after the beer wore off I was really glad I did it because the stuff never goes bad.

We ended up moving to Phoenix the next year, and a few months later I got a call from my friends son to tell me he had passed away. He shot almost none of the ammo he bought, and his son wasn't interested in guns and asked me if I was interested in the ammo because he didn't know what to do with it. I told him sure, I would take it. After the funeral I went over to his house to pick it up and he wouldn't take a dime for it! I told him I would be happy to pay what he did for it because it was a good deal, but he would have none of it. So the bottom line is I lost a friend and wound up with a total of 27,500 of .22 ammo for $ 169.40 + tax. I'll be good in the .22 ammo dept. for a while!

The stuff shoots good in all of my .22's except I don't like to use it in my S&W Model 41 because it is high velocity. If I can find a stiffer recoil spring I might give it a shot, but I have enough guns to use it up. Now with .22 ammo priced so high, I know I made the right move. I never thought when I was buying that stuff I'd see the same ammo for over $20.00 a box! Bill T.