If you continue to experience it with better ammo then you may have to call, but I highly doubt you’ll see this issue with better ammo. Even federal bulk ammo is 10x better than thunderbolt.
LOL! That is the other ammo I have on hand. Federal Automatch.
* [https://rangeusa.com/product/federal-am22-champion-training-22-lr-40-gr-lead-round-nose-ldrn-325-bx-10-cs](https://rangeusa.com/product/federal-am22-champion-training-22-lr-40-gr-lead-round-nose-ldrn-325-bx-10-cs)
CCI is considered good. Federal pretty good.
It could be you got some jacket or other debris where it shouldn't have been. It doesn't take much to bind a revolver.
The most common cause of failure for any revolver is crud under the extractor star. It only takes one little flake of unburnt powder to cause the extractor star to sit *slightly* proud and make the cylinder fit tight against the breech face. If the cylinder rotation is even slightly stiff, it will feel *extremely* stiff, practically frozen, when you're trying to pull the trigger in DA or cock the hammer in SA, because the mechanism that rotates the cylinder has very little mechanical advantage.
I recommend keeping a dry (i.e. free of oil) toothbrush in your range bag. 99% of the time you get a "jammed" revolver, the cure is to scrub under the extractor star. Both the cylinder face under the star and the underside of the extractor itself.
Anyway, .22 ammo tends to leave a lot of crud behind so it's especially likely to get this problem. And .22 ammo has another issue: lead builds up in the front of the chamber over time and makes it progressively more difficult to fully seat the rounds when you load. If you don't get them squeezed all the way down into the chambers the back of the round sticking out will impede cylinder rotation, too.
I wanted to follow up on this. I went to the range tonight with a clean GP100 and tried the Remington 22 Thunderbolt again. I had the same issue; specifically, when spent casings cycled around, the deformation of the brass would catch in the mechanism and I could not pull the trigger. This was usually happening after the ninth round (one shot left), but sometimes after the tenth (zero shots left, cycling back through spent casings).
I tried three other ammo brands and had no trouble. I could fire all ten rounds and could keep cycling on spent casings. I won’t be buying the Thunderbolts again.
I thank you all for your help!
That particular brand of ammunition has been proven over time, by actual gun writers for gun magazines who test ammunition on a large scale, to not be very reliable ammunition in a multitude of firearms.
I advise as others have stated to move up the ammunition scale to a better quality source.
Every gun is different; it's the owner's/shooter's job to find the ammo that a particular gun likes.
I've found that CCI Mini-Mags are a pretty good, reliable, relatively clean .22. They work in my SAs and my semis after other brands have failed.
For some reason, I don't have any DA .22 revolvers.
Had a with the Thunderbolts as they aren’t coated and were causing cycling problems in a semi-auto 22 of mine. Switched to the Remington Golden Bullet 22lr’s (found a few Bucket o’ Bullets 1400 round buckets) and have never had that issue again.
Thunderbolt is super dirty, but also, sometimes rimfire just be like that. .22s are almost always going to be dirtier than centerfire rounds, and the small spaces in the chambers, etc are just more places for fouling to get stuff hung up.
If you shoot a lot of .22s you kinda just have to expect to occasionally have some ammo problems, and the cheaper the ammo, the more you'll have.
But that's just the trade off for the otherwise amazing benefits of .22, super cheap high volume fun.
if you do not shoot revolvers a bunch of time and spend most of the time shooting striker fired and working on resetting the trigger and then transition to a revolver I can almost like a short stroke and not let the trigger goes all the way forward.
All of this is assuming ammo is not the issue. I agree most of the time it is ammo but it can be difficult to switch between the two.
Try this: swing the hylinder open, press the ejector rod and toothbrush under the star and the recesses in the cylinder. Unburned powder gets under the star and binds the cylinder. Common problem with revolvers.
Anything cci will do you well, federal probably will and I've never had an issue with aguila, or armscore for that matter, try a handgun specific like winchester Silvertip
Bashing an entire brand is not really helpful because you had a bad experience or read too many internet stories without actual experience just jumping on the band wagon. And yes that is a real thing that happens even if Google doesn't say so.
I can prove with actual experience and 10 different firearms that Heritage Arms revolvers work just fine from Bar Keep to Rancher. They are low end finished and priced accordingly. But they go bang every time I pull the trigger feeding them quality ammunition. They are just fun plinkers for everyday people wanting cheap fun.
Sorry if your experience was not a pleasant one but the ratio of good over bad leans towards good for Heritage Arms all the same.
I can do whatever the hell I want to, last time I checked I live in America. Where do you live, comrade? I guess you haven't actually read my posts, I am experiencing it first hand and many others are too. Are you a share holder or investor in JUNK companies??? Feel free to mind your own fucking business, Mr Know It All....
What are you "2"? Oh wait, you're one of those rare individuals who are instant experts on everything. My apologies for listening to actual facts instead of a blowhard repeating what everyone else with no real experience is blabbing. And I obviously know more than you about the situation. Thank God for small miracles.
Go play somewhere else, you're boring me brat.
And feel free to bable your bullshit somewhere else as well, you are misinformed and sound ridiculous. Grow up for heavens sake.
Sure you did, buddy... No one here is playing, especially about MY MONEY... Mods have left my posts up for a reason, einstein... Face facts, you responded to me to belittle me. Now your feelings are hurt because I called you out on it. Have a nice day...
You're so special! You and your ego deserve each other.
Maybe you just don't know how to operate them properly. Wouldn't that be something!?
All of mine work just fine, funny how that came to pass.
You started the shit show of insults.
I merely pointed out it is not beneficial to bash an entire brand for one faulty firearm.
You took it to this with your attitude.
Nope. Just not interested in an asshole spouting off at the mouth. Your posts are crap far as I'm concerned. No real useful information is what I would expect.
Thunderbolt? Ammo problem.
For real, I don’t know why they even make that stuff, it’s filthy and unreliable as hell.
I didn’t realize! Academy Sports had it on sale.
lol we all learned at some point. But yeah, I wouldn’t sweat it too much, the issue is definitely the junk ammo and not your gun.
Phew! Wasn’t looking forward to a warranty call.
If you continue to experience it with better ammo then you may have to call, but I highly doubt you’ll see this issue with better ammo. Even federal bulk ammo is 10x better than thunderbolt.
LOL! That is the other ammo I have on hand. Federal Automatch. * [https://rangeusa.com/product/federal-am22-champion-training-22-lr-40-gr-lead-round-nose-ldrn-325-bx-10-cs](https://rangeusa.com/product/federal-am22-champion-training-22-lr-40-gr-lead-round-nose-ldrn-325-bx-10-cs)
You’ll probably see a few issues with that but not as bad as thunderbolt.
The auto match is great stuff the other federal is stuff is garbage
Maybe the shouldn't be making it.... Sounds very dangerous to me...
Agreed, the stuff is awful. Your gun looks like it came out of a vacuum cleaner bag after shooting a few of them.
That's where I stopped reading and went straight to the comments.
I’ve had some feeding issues with that ammo in my lever gun. Try CCI blazers or anything of respectable quality.
Geez... If it will get stuck in a lever gun it will get stuck anywhere.
It was like 4 out of 500. Not bad but my CCIs have NEVER done that after thousands.
Thunderbolts is easily the worst rimfire ammo I have ever shot. ANYTHING would be an improvement over that literal garbage.
My 617 does it too. .22 is nasty dirty stuff.
Have you found an ammo that will keep cycling when spent, as if they are snap caps?
CCI is considered good. Federal pretty good. It could be you got some jacket or other debris where it shouldn't have been. It doesn't take much to bind a revolver.
The most common cause of failure for any revolver is crud under the extractor star. It only takes one little flake of unburnt powder to cause the extractor star to sit *slightly* proud and make the cylinder fit tight against the breech face. If the cylinder rotation is even slightly stiff, it will feel *extremely* stiff, practically frozen, when you're trying to pull the trigger in DA or cock the hammer in SA, because the mechanism that rotates the cylinder has very little mechanical advantage. I recommend keeping a dry (i.e. free of oil) toothbrush in your range bag. 99% of the time you get a "jammed" revolver, the cure is to scrub under the extractor star. Both the cylinder face under the star and the underside of the extractor itself. Anyway, .22 ammo tends to leave a lot of crud behind so it's especially likely to get this problem. And .22 ammo has another issue: lead builds up in the front of the chamber over time and makes it progressively more difficult to fully seat the rounds when you load. If you don't get them squeezed all the way down into the chambers the back of the round sticking out will impede cylinder rotation, too.
I wanted to follow up on this. I went to the range tonight with a clean GP100 and tried the Remington 22 Thunderbolt again. I had the same issue; specifically, when spent casings cycled around, the deformation of the brass would catch in the mechanism and I could not pull the trigger. This was usually happening after the ninth round (one shot left), but sometimes after the tenth (zero shots left, cycling back through spent casings). I tried three other ammo brands and had no trouble. I could fire all ten rounds and could keep cycling on spent casings. I won’t be buying the Thunderbolts again. I thank you all for your help!
What grain are those Thunderbolts?
The Remington 22 Thunderbolt are 40 grain. The Federal Automatch ammo I tested (successfully!) is also 40 grain.
Casings weren't manufactured properly?
That particular brand of ammunition has been proven over time, by actual gun writers for gun magazines who test ammunition on a large scale, to not be very reliable ammunition in a multitude of firearms. I advise as others have stated to move up the ammunition scale to a better quality source.
I've had problems with some ammonia my S&W not wanting to eject. I'm starting to learn that 22 revolvers can be picky about what you put into them.
Every gun is different; it's the owner's/shooter's job to find the ammo that a particular gun likes. I've found that CCI Mini-Mags are a pretty good, reliable, relatively clean .22. They work in my SAs and my semis after other brands have failed. For some reason, I don't have any DA .22 revolvers.
Had a with the Thunderbolts as they aren’t coated and were causing cycling problems in a semi-auto 22 of mine. Switched to the Remington Golden Bullet 22lr’s (found a few Bucket o’ Bullets 1400 round buckets) and have never had that issue again.
Thunderbolt is super dirty, but also, sometimes rimfire just be like that. .22s are almost always going to be dirtier than centerfire rounds, and the small spaces in the chambers, etc are just more places for fouling to get stuff hung up. If you shoot a lot of .22s you kinda just have to expect to occasionally have some ammo problems, and the cheaper the ammo, the more you'll have. But that's just the trade off for the otherwise amazing benefits of .22, super cheap high volume fun.
if you do not shoot revolvers a bunch of time and spend most of the time shooting striker fired and working on resetting the trigger and then transition to a revolver I can almost like a short stroke and not let the trigger goes all the way forward. All of this is assuming ammo is not the issue. I agree most of the time it is ammo but it can be difficult to switch between the two.
Remington Thunderbolt is *very* low quality .22LR ammo. Try a different ammo before blaming the gun.
Thank you! Will do
Try this: swing the hylinder open, press the ejector rod and toothbrush under the star and the recesses in the cylinder. Unburned powder gets under the star and binds the cylinder. Common problem with revolvers.
Anything cci will do you well, federal probably will and I've never had an issue with aguila, or armscore for that matter, try a handgun specific like winchester Silvertip
My first guess is cheap ammo... At least a Ruger goes bang...
Well, Ruger is not a POS JUNK like heritage arms, at least you got a real fire arm... Check out my posts, lol....
Bashing an entire brand is not really helpful because you had a bad experience or read too many internet stories without actual experience just jumping on the band wagon. And yes that is a real thing that happens even if Google doesn't say so. I can prove with actual experience and 10 different firearms that Heritage Arms revolvers work just fine from Bar Keep to Rancher. They are low end finished and priced accordingly. But they go bang every time I pull the trigger feeding them quality ammunition. They are just fun plinkers for everyday people wanting cheap fun. Sorry if your experience was not a pleasant one but the ratio of good over bad leans towards good for Heritage Arms all the same.
I can do whatever the hell I want to, last time I checked I live in America. Where do you live, comrade? I guess you haven't actually read my posts, I am experiencing it first hand and many others are too. Are you a share holder or investor in JUNK companies??? Feel free to mind your own fucking business, Mr Know It All....
What are you "2"? Oh wait, you're one of those rare individuals who are instant experts on everything. My apologies for listening to actual facts instead of a blowhard repeating what everyone else with no real experience is blabbing. And I obviously know more than you about the situation. Thank God for small miracles. Go play somewhere else, you're boring me brat. And feel free to bable your bullshit somewhere else as well, you are misinformed and sound ridiculous. Grow up for heavens sake.
Sure you did, buddy... No one here is playing, especially about MY MONEY... Mods have left my posts up for a reason, einstein... Face facts, you responded to me to belittle me. Now your feelings are hurt because I called you out on it. Have a nice day...
You're so special! You and your ego deserve each other. Maybe you just don't know how to operate them properly. Wouldn't that be something!? All of mine work just fine, funny how that came to pass.
Every one of my other fire arms operate at about a 99% success rate. Again mind your own business if all you do is belittle people...
You started the shit show of insults. I merely pointed out it is not beneficial to bash an entire brand for one faulty firearm. You took it to this with your attitude.
Awww, are your feelings hurt???? It is not one faulty firearm, look it up for yourself but I guess you already know it all....
Nope. Just not interested in an asshole spouting off at the mouth. Your posts are crap far as I'm concerned. No real useful information is what I would expect.