Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I purchased some Remington Thunderbolt ammo for the MKIII pistol I recently purchased, and then I read some reviews online. There's lots of talk about the lead and wax lubrication causing build-up in chambers/barrels. I used to shoot a lot of lead rounds out of a 10/22 and I don't recall this being an issue. Anybody have first-hand experience with this? I ordered some copper jacketed ammo and I'm trying to decide if I want to run the Thunderbolts through my new pistol. Thanks in advance!

Clean regularly, use brush, you're fine.

I know guys who only shoot lead through their glocks. Lead was used exclusively until recent times. Its not such a big deal.

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Lead bullets are no problem in .22s. After all, all of the match-grade .22LR ammo I know of uses plain lead bullets. But I'd be careful of Remington quality control. I have seen more FTF, even a couple of squibs, from Remington over the past year than from all other brands combined. If you are using them in a semi-auto, listen carefully for any anomalies before taking the next shot.

^^ agreed. Thunderbolt sucks it.

There have been recent recalls, and I've seen many a bullet separate from the cartridge before even loading.

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Not sure if this answers your question, but there is some relevant content here: http://www.rrdvegas.com/rimfire-cleaning.html

(found it to be good reading)

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Remek wrote:Clean regularly, use brush, you're fine.

+1

I think the MKIII is noted about lead bullets because:

1. People shoot a lot of them in a single range session. It's .22lr and I know I've gummed up mine even though it was clean before I started with a big brick of ammo. Not so much these days given the price of ammo.

2. MKIII are a good target gun and those tighter tolerances make it a bit less forgiving.

I have an MP5 that is chambered in 22 LR. I have put almost 1,000 lead rounds through it in a single session before starting to see feed problems. 30 seconds of cleaning and I was error free for another few hundred rounds by the time I went home. I usually don't clean or lube it until I run about 800 rounds through it.

I have heard the thunderbolt rounds are garbage. I got a heads-up from another forum member a couple days ago and researched it. I use Federal and American Eagle lead target rounds and JHP's as well as Remington Gold JHP's

Some firearms won't feed/chamber lead correctly.. It really depends on the angle of the ramp and how clean/smooth it is.. Some firearms need copper due to this.. If the pistol loads ok with lead then shoot away..

Keep some copper coated ammo in the range bag.. If the lead starts to fail to load/chamber then switch to copper and see if you have the same issue... If the ramp is really fouled with lead or wax even the copper will hang eventually..

Isn't the copper you are talking about just copper-washed or am I living in the past?

Depending on the manufacturer, they are electroplated or washed. The plating is much better then a wash. It has a smoother surface compared to lead or copper washed so the drag is less, thus feeds better.

Like others have mentioned. Some guns eat anything and others are a little fussy.

This thread was just started last Wednesday on the Utah Concealed Carry forum:
Remington Thunderbold Extreme Leading - 22/45 Lite

The OP claims massive lead build up and provides photographic proof.

Wow! That is pretty bad.

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Thanks for the feedback all, I saw a similar article to the one on Utah Concealed Carry forum and that is what made me toss the question out there.

Gents;

The postings about Remington 22 rim fire ammo. Many years ago when I was first starting to shoot bulls-eye matches I found and bought some Remington target ammo, something like 2,500 rounds.
With my High Standard Citation I had at least one failure to fire in every box of 50. After a few matches I switched to Winchester Super X and gave the remainder of the Remington ammo to those who always scored higher then me.

Jim

OTOH, the Remington milspec target ammo that I got from the CMP (before all the trouble started) has worked fine. But it is nothing like the bulk stuff they try to pass off on us today.