My SW22 Victory is missing something

[RGVshooter]

I was at a 22 pistol match this morning & couldn't figure out why my shots were no where near the 3" steel plates that were 15 yards away. Stepped off to the side & tried to see where my shots were going on paper, was way off... Went inside to bore sight my Ultra Dot, made a few sight adjustments and still couldn't hit nothing. Ended up walking away frustrated. Came home to unpack & clean my SW22 Victory when I noticed that the extractor is gone! The spring, plunger everything, gone. I never heard or seen a extractor on a 22lr break away. Then of course when I tried to clean my barrel, it was so fouled with lead that I can't even put a cleaning rod thru it. So right now I got it soaking in Ballistol for a day or so to see if that will loosen up the lead. I'm guessing that the rounds going off w/o an extractor led to excessive lead buildup in the barrel. I mean I was shooting Remington thunderbolt 22's which run great in all my 22's...

 

[murphydog]

If it cycled properly without the extractor (some .22 LR pistols don't have one on purpose), my guess is the fouled bore is responsible for the accuracy loss. How many rounds since the last cleaning?

Give factory customer service a call, they 'should' send you a prepaid mailing label and fix the gun.

 

[Old_Cop]

My experience with Thunderbolts has been lots of fouling and poor accuracy. I don't use them anymore.

 

[Carl Bill]

I just purchased a 525 count box of Thunderbolts and was at the range last night. Very disappointed in how they shot. Was using a SW22 Victory. I have been using CCI mini Mags. Got the Bolts because they were on sale. Haven't had a problem yet with the barrel leading up, but will keep an eye on it. Then again I only shot about 50 last night.

 

[yellowtr]

I use Federal Auto Match in my SW22 and have never seen any lead build up.
Barrel is always clean and shiny. I run a patch with Otis solvent before running the brush through and is somewhat dirty but not too bad. After the bore brush, a few more runs with the patch and very clean.
Now I also used Thunderbolt for awhile, since I had some in the box, but they did not feed that good, so I stopped. Had the same problem with my Marlin model 60 with failure to feed. I use Federal, CCI only in my semi-autos now.
The big problem with Remington I see is the bullet seems to be not as tightly crimped to the cartridge. They seemed to be wobbly. Not so with the Federal or CCI.
Maybe that is causing the lead build-up and malfunctions?

 

[RGVshooter]

What shocked me the most is I clean my pistols after every trip to the range. I keep a bore snake with me and if in the event I run into reliability issues, I'll run the bore snake down it a couple times & that usually fixes it for another couple hundred rounds. But, I only ran 150 rounds trying to figure out where it's hitting and I couldn't even run the bore snake thru it. The inside of the barrel looks like a rotten sewer. Normally I use Federal automatch but my last trip to Walmart had the Remington thunderbolts on sale for $19.99 so like a sucker, they reeled me in... I'm off to the store to grab some "shooters choice" lead remover.

 

[RGVshooter]

I sent the pistol out to S&W right after Thanksgiving.


Finally got a repair quote from S&W yesterday and I wasn't expecting this.


They're charging me $184 bux!?

Ok, the extractor (on the bolt) went missing during normal shooting, that should be covered under warranty and I felt I shouldn't be charged labor for warranty work. The barrel was my fault so I'll eat that.

Labor - $67.50
m&p15-22 extractor/spring - $2.51
test fire for function (charging me to shoot my gun?) $45
New barrel (this was my fault) $53
return shipping $13

and finally.....tax $3.47.



I should have bought that Browning Buckmark

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

hhhmmmm........

 

[SVT28]

What was their reason for the need to replace the barrel?

 

[RGVshooter]

What was their reason for the need to replace the barrel?

I blame myself for that. The Remington Thunderbolt I was shooting caused excessive lead buildup. I attempted to clean the barrel using a brush/cleaning rod however the brush got stuck in the barrel. In my failing attempt to get the rod out, it snapped...

The pistol was cleaned, the barrel was cleaned. I field strip & clean all my firearms after a day at the range. I only shot maybe 100-15 rounds of the thunderbolt however looking down the barrel I couldn't see any rifling. It looked like a sewer pipe. It was that bad.... The barrel was spotless before shooting. Remington Thunderbolt may be ok in my 10/22, but in a pistol? no way...

 

[wproct]

That is unfortunate, and I really don't know what to say. I know that based on my own experience and what I have read in forums, I will never use Thunderbolts in anything.

 

[gwpercle]

Avoid the Thunderbolts and blowback 22's don't need an extractor on fired rounds. Unfired rounds remain in the chamber. I had a Ruger 10/22 that fired just fine without one, I usually shot all the rounds loaded in a magazine , except for the day I failed to fire the last round. Retracting the bolt left the round in the chamber , gun loaded and cocked!
About then I realized ...no extractor. I don't know how long I had been shooting that gun with NO extractor....it operated just fine without it.
Be sure and visually check 22 chambers, they can fool you.
Gary

 

[Semper Fi Charters]

Tandem cross makes an extractor

 

[SailDesign]

I sent the pistol out to S&W right after Thanksgiving.


Finally got a repair quote from S&W yesterday and I wasn't expecting this.


They're charging me $184 bux!?

<snip gorey details....>



I should have bought that Browning Buckmark

Or better yet, the Ruger Mk IV.

<creeps away chuckling gently .......>

 

[Barrie]

I suspect if the owner of this Victory had wanted a Ruger product he would have bought one in the beginning.Its mostly Garbage ammo that has caused this problem for him and not the brand or model of it as his handgun.

 

[SailDesign]

I suspect if the owner of this Victory had wanted a Ruger product he would have bought one in the beginning.Its mostly Garbage ammo that has caused this problem for him and not the brand or model of it as his handgun.

Oh, I realise that. I had hoped a good-natured jibe would not go amiss, however.

 

[GT_80]

I blame myself for that. The Remington Thunderbolt I was shooting caused excessive lead buildup. I attempted to clean the barrel using a brush/cleaning rod however the brush got stuck in the barrel. In my failing attempt to get the rod out, it snapped...

The pistol was cleaned, the barrel was cleaned. I field strip & clean all my firearms after a day at the range. I only shot maybe 100-15 rounds of the thunderbolt however looking down the barrel I couldn't see any rifling. It looked like a sewer pipe. It was that bad.... The barrel was spotless before shooting. Remington Thunderbolt may be ok in my 10/22, but in a pistol? no way...

I don't know why others have such bad luck with thunderbolt- I shoot it in all my .22lrs and short of a few light loads, I have not seen excessive leading that others have and I have never had a squib...

I think they coat them in something anyway, they smell like antifreeze, but i don't know...

I use Pro-shot 1 step for all my guns (I have to use hoppes #9 in my Mosin after shooting mil surp ammo to get the corrosive stuff out).

I'm sorry you had that bad luck with it- I have made trips to the range with my Ruger SR22P and shot like 150 rounds of thunderbolt, and usually after 50 or so I run a mag of some copper jacked through it just to keep it relatively clean, but I have never seen "buildup" in the barrel only what looks to me like dust or lead shavings from a lead round nose "shaving" a tiny piece off on the feed ramp... I think I still have close to 2000 rounds of thunderbolt, and have no issues plinking with it. I do not use it for accuracy tests however...

 

[RGVshooter]

I've shot Remington Thunderbolt's before thru my 10/22 and my Victory. Never had a problem. In fact, Thunderbolt is one of a few 22's out there that I get consistent reliable cycling. But it's filthy stuff. This last box, like I said I'm not even convinced they used lead. No joke, my Victory barrel was scrubbed out with a brush & Hoppe's #9 before heading to the range. One drop of Rem-oil on a few spots on the bolt. I've ran maybe 50-60 rounds thru it before I started having accuracy issues. A few mag's later is when I noticed the extractor/spring assembly missing on the bolt. I took it home and cleaned it. It was then that I saw the barrel was completely leaded up so bad, that there was no rifling. it looked like a clogged sewer pipe. I have never seen anything like this in my life. I've been shooting 22's since the late 70's...

 

[flagman1776]

A trick I saw in a gun mag back in the 1970s... was to Breakfree CLP shake well & run a patch through the barrel, chambers, & exterior of the gun PRIOR to shooting... then wipe off with a dry patch, leaving only a film. Fouling is then on top of the film & almost wipes off with a paper towel.
When the Dept Armorer saw me do... he tried it. At the next qualification, there was a pump sprayer of BF-CLP. Back in those days we used soft swaged "low bid" reloads for practice & they leaded badly.

 

[Barrie]

Every handgun is different as to how they re-act to cheaper ammo such as the Thunderbolts. I have used them but my m41 and m46 would not cycle them at all. Plus my guns were the dirtiest I had ever seen them as well. I know that useing the 41 and 46 are poor examples as they are very ammo selective by design. Its basically CCI-SV or nothing else in my two in order to get them to cycle correctly. Even in my Anschutz rifle the Thunderbolts really fouled it up in about 40 rounds as well so I do not use them any further. Either Federal Bluebox in it or the CCI-SV. Even my accuracy improved with those two brands.