Oh nos! New Mark III shoots wild after 175 rounds?

Just as an add-on, the Remington 'Golden Bullets' aren't much better.

Federal's AM22, a (comparatively) inexpensive match load uses a solid lead bullet, costs around $16 for 325 rounds, and is accurate and trouble free. I use it for my pistol league and do not clean the gun once the league starts. I've never had an FTF, or FTE, no stovepipes, and no leading.

The less expensive Federal Champion bulk packs, about $20 for 525 rounds is perfect for plinking. I've picked it up on sale for $15. I believe this is the same stuff Wally World sells with 550 rounds. You'l get an FTF once in a while, but so far no jams or cycling issues.

While it is possible the ammunition was at fault, it is also possible with a new gun that the bore was a little less than perfectly polished. It wouldn't take much roughness to start leading, and the problems multiply from there.

I have had good luck with the Winchester 333/555 bulk packs. I also use CCI Mini-Mag with no problems. The Thundercraps are absolutely the worst I have ever tried to use. They won't properly go into battery in my MK IIIs and will not fit the cylinders of my Single Sixes. I have not tried them in my 10/22 so I cannot say what would happen there.

Baldy said:

If you wish to stay with lead I highly recommend Blazer at about $400 a hundred. Very accurate in three pistols and my 10/22.

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$4.00 a shot? Are they made of gold or platinum? :shock:

Short9 said:

Just as an add-on, the Remington 'Golden Bullets' aren't much better.

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I've actually had pretty good luck with the 20,000 rounds or so of the Rem GBs I've fired in the last three or four years. I have several guns that simply won't function on anything else, in fact. Aside from a very consistent 1-2% dud rate, they're not bad at all. Good practice/training/plinking ammo.

A new gun will have all sorts of very small burs/nicks(almost mircoscopic) that will build up lead(Dunderdolt especially, as Snake 45 pointed out). You might want to shoot some copper plated/washed ammo the first 1000-2000 rounds or so. I like Federal Bulk at Wally World. Copper plated/washed ammo doesn't lead-up new barrels as quickly as all lead bullets(IMHO). Also you might was to google "fire lapping" to smooth up the bore, some like it and some don't. After you get your barrel "seasoned", Dunderdolts won't be quite as bad about leading. Try and shoot as many different brands/types of ammo(that goes for pistols & rifles) as you can to find out what you weapon likes the best and is easiest on the old pocketbook.


http://www.google.com/search?source...lz=1T4ADFA_enUS378US378&q=fire+lapping,+.22LR

Thanks for all the great replies. The CCI mini mags seem to have solved the problem. Posted a short review of the gun here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuuLJgXfKC4.

Add another negative review of Thunderbolts from me. They're disgusting. I've been using Federal bulk packs from Wally World. Don't clean the gun really at all.... and haven't had a single issue.

joeyaverage said:

Thanks for all the great replies. The CCI mini mags seem to have solved the problem. Posted a short review of the gun here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuuLJgXfKC4.

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As already pointed out, they're great rounds but can get expensive. At $7 or so per hundred, that's $35/500. Try some of the Federal rounds we've named, you can get them on sale for half the price of the CCI and they'll work well.

I have shot the wallyworld ammo federals mostly for years and never had a problem with leading in anything. Now they don't sell just federals like they used to in the bulk ammo and I have several different brands of 22's none give me a problem. I usually buy whatever they have in stock and just bring it home. I keep a crown royal bag in my truck with 500 or so bullets in it and when it gets low I add another box into it whatever I come to next off my shelf. The last I dumped in it were remingtons. I have 2 MKIII's a single six a 10-22 hb and a cz 452 I shoot regularly one of the mkIII's stays in the truck all the time with the ammo and gets shot a lot whenever I'm out and see something to shoot. I have shot as much as 500 rounds a day. sometimes only 20 to 30 just depends on where I go and what I see.

I've shot a lot of .22 bullets over the years...hundreds of thousands actually. Hard to beat the bulk Federal for most everything IMO. Sure there is better ammo, but it works well in pretty much anything you run them in and is usually easy to get in a pinch. I shoot a .22 almost everyday...average about 50-100 rounds. Some days I'll shoot a thousand or more...just depends.

MKII said:

I've shot a lot of .22 bullets over the years...hundreds of thousands actually. Hard to beat the bulk Federal for most everything IMO. Sure there is better ammo, but it works well in pretty much anything you run them in and is usually easy to get in a pinch. I shoot a .22 almost everyday...average about 50-100 rounds. Some days I'll shoot a thousand or more...just depends.

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Gander Mountain has Federal Champion Bulk Pack 525's on sale now for $14.99.

Since 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjbsuJhr_zE&feature=related

I had this exact same issue with Thunderbolts in my Mark II.


This was after several years of shooting many bricks of copper washed stuff, like Federal bulk, through it.

One day at the range I grabbed a few boxes of thunderbolts and was shooting on the falling plate range. After a while I couldn't seem to hit a plate. So I shot at some paper, and I was keyholing. The bore was so full of lead it was alarming.


Unless Remington has used a harder lead alloy since my experience, thunderbolts are junk.

Federal is my go-to bulk ammo and CCI gets the nod for hunting and target shooting.

That aint no joke either. One day ole Chuck got ahold of one my nicely tuned Rugers 32s. I started to get worried when I looked over and my barrel was glowing red....good thing he ran out of my ammo...