The Saga of My .... Taurus Thunderbolt

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[John Boy]

... Stay Tuned!  Gonna see how friendly it is with both Black and Heathen powders.

[John Boy]

... Stay Tuned!  Gonna see how friendly it is with both Black and Heathen powders.

Got a call this afternoon ... the rifle is at the store.  Well, ya know I zipped right over and picked it up.

Here's the Taurus PR words about the rifle and my feelings if they are throwing a line of bull:
Beautiful Hardwood Stock and Forend
Figured stock wood and figured wood press checkered forearm.  They did a real nice job.

Solid Metal Curved Crescent Butt Plate
It is a nicely deep blued hooked end plate
 
Stock Sanded and Finished to Match Each Individual Rifle
They did a perfect job.  Wood and finish is silk smooth, nice grain and fitted to the tang PERFECTLY

Authentic Long Horn Adjustable Rear Sight
You may want to do a modification to the sight.  It is a half moon botton with no notch to line the front sight up in.  I'm gonna file a V into the sight

Easy Function Feed Gate
Light pressure only needed to open the gate

14 Round Capacity
Yep

Super Fast Short Action Pump
The travel distance is 2" to open and close the bolt.  A friend has this rifle with a serial number of YFxxxx.  Mine and another friend's have a serial number of YKxxxx.  The YKxxxx rifles have much smoother actions.

Great Trigger
Trigger pull is 3.07# and there is ZERO creep.

Button Rifled Barrel
I believe them ... see below

Excellent Balance and Natural Feel
Balance point is 23" from the muzzle at the rear end of the forearm.  Rifle OAL is 43"

Beautiful Blue or Polished Stainless Finish
The bluing is drop dead gorgeous

Taurus Security System Lock
When one pulls the hammer back a 1/2", the bolt unlocks and slides back out of battery.  At this point, the trigger engages the security 'safe' and the bolt is locked open out of battery.
 

OK,  our Club range is on the way home, so ya know I had to stop in   The sun was below the horizon, but I could see with the truck headlights on the target.

I single loaded 5 smokeless.  POA was 6 o'clock and POI was 3" right and 5" low at 25 yards-offhand.  Cranked the sight up 1 notch and single loaded 5 rounds of FFFg.  POA was 6 o'clock and POI was horizontal to the X - 3" to the right-offhand.  Both groups were a tad over 2"... and remember, the sun has gone completely down by now.  Loaded 5 rounds of BP (all bullets were DD/PRS 250 grainers) and now sad news ...

The Thunderbolt does not like any bullet with an OAL greater than 1.580 - 1.590.  Mine were 1.60's and they would not feed.  There is an extended lip on the bottom side of the forcing  cone that will hang your over length bullets up in the receiver and they cannot be dumped out from inside the receiver (See Hint 1 below)

So, home, I'ze goes!

Hint 1:  Always carry a screw driver to fit the magazine tube screw.  Disconnecting the magazine end plug and dumping jammed rounds is the only way to remove them from the receiver.

Hint 2:  Always have a pair of tweezers handy if you use a jag to run the patch through the barrel.  The lifter (at full cock) is at the top of the reciever and the patch will fall off the end of the jag ... underneath the lifter

Hint 3:  Clean the rifle thoroughly when you first get it.  It has a dark tarish coating inside and outside on all the metal.

Hint 4:  Call Taurus for a manual.  Don't disassemble the rifle unless you are a guru or have the manual.  I'm not a guru and there is no manual in the box.

Hint 5:  Shoot the dickens out of the rifle, it works and is well worth the 400 bucks.  In fact, it is a bargain!

[Hedley Lamarr]

The sun was below the horizon, but I could see with the truck headlights on the target.

Are you sure you didn't learn to hunt originally in Loiuisiana? 

I can't wait to get mine, but I'm holding out for the stainless.

[John Boy]

First off, I changed the subject of this thread to 'Range Reports' ... no sense starting a dozen threads.
 
Anyway, took the Model C45 (offical name on the barrel of the Thunderbolt) for it's maiden voyage today - In the Daylight!

It shoots like a dream!  With the proper bullet OAL; chambers great, is accurate and once you learn the rythm of racking the 2 inches of the forearm - is fast and just a sweet rifle.  Nice deal also is - all the empties fall to the ground in a nice small pile!

Now for the bad news.  Out of 75 rounds (250 gr DD/PRS bullets using heathen powder and CCI 300 LP primers ... I had 17 misfires.  All 75 rounds had light primer hits.  The firing pin face is flat and it has a light main spring for the hammer.

I called Taurus about the light primer hits and they said this was the first such report.  Their reply was "Send it in if you have a problem."

OK, now your going to say 'but CCI's have the hardest cup of any primers on the market'.  True, but a CAS buddy has had misfires too with his Thunderbolt using Winchester primers.  His rifle is the YFxxxx serial that was made one month before the YKxxxx

Anyone else have this experience!

PS 1:  The front and rear sight ... have to go!  Real hard acquiring the target with the original sights... Yo Manatee, ya listening?
PS 2:  Keep your finger off the trigger when you are racking the forearm.  With the light trigger pull and your finger on trigger ... it's a semi automatic rifle 

[L.G.]

I've only had 3 hicups with mine so far.  1st, somehow double stacked cartridges on top of lifter, one backwards.  2nd, had a casing split, that locked her up until I really firmly racked the slide - that shell when flying then!  3rd, a stovepipe - my fault, racked the slide to softly.  The sights are kinda funky, but I did some small and long shooting and it did it's job.

[Big John Wyatt]

Yes, experienced the same thing with light primer hits on my reloads. Pulled the hammer back and pulled the trigger again, boom. Winchester primers, maybe not seated well, but no problem with any other guns. Didn't have detonation problems with factory ammo, but had a few feeding problems with factory and reloads. Probably just me learning how to use it.

[John Boy]

Gents, so far the number of C45 owners reporting light primer hits is 6.  Rifles with serials YFxxxx and YKxxxx.

[John Boy]

There are now 9 owners of the C45 having light primer hits that I know of.  Called Taurus again, and again 'It's the first we have heard of this.  Use only factory ammunition."

Asked what the factory specifications are for the length of the firing pin that should extend from the bolt.  They said only Brazil has this information ... Hmmmm

So I asked them to record the issue for follow up.

Was told that warranty repairs have a 3 week turn around.  Plenty of time to send it down and have it back for us folks in Cold Country - with the first match in March 

[Hedley Lamarr]

YJxxxx
No problem with over 150 rounds and Federal primers.
I will be trying some with Winchester WLP's  next week.
The only serious things I noticed were that you MUST slam the pump action back or your empty will be laying there on the top of the lifter laughing at you, and that I had way more soot of the brass than I get from my revolvers or my 1873's using the same load.
I'll reserve judgement on the speed part once I get a few more rounds shot out of it.

[John Boy]

Hedley, is the YJxxxx firing pin - a 1/8" flat point too v a ball point?
Couldn't wait for the stainless could ya!

[Hedley Lamarr]

Well, it's not mine, ya see... I'm only borrowing it to use at Winter Range (Why yes, I am a masochist).
It's kind of hard to tell with the pin in the bolt. It is sort of flat and sort of rounded.
If you can tell me how to get the trigger assembly and the bolt out, I'll have a better look at it and can compare it to my '73 pin.

[John Boy]

Sorry, should have phrased it better ... the end of the firing pin.  The YFxxxx and YKxxxx pins have the pins with the flat ends

[Hedley Lamarr]

Nope, I understood.
The end of the firing pin isn't flat but it isn't really round either, but it's hard to see clearly while it's still in the gun.
If I can get it out, I'll be able to tell you exactly what it's like.
I gotta clean all the goop out anyway, from the over-zealous use of oil by the last pard that used it (it's dripping black goo 'cause he likes a lot of oil in his guns. About a gallon, I think).

[E.R.Beaumont]

Howdy Pards/Pardettes.

Hedley, Pard that ain't oil it is tetra grease.    filling up the bolt seem to distribute it evenly all through the action.  Also the arm has worked everytime it has been shot, no light hits etc maybe that grease is the cause?    You can lube it as you wish, but it has been working just fine so far.  I would say that it has about 5 or 6 hunert rounds threw it now, so it should be starting to get broke in might not need as much now.

That is all I think I know.
Regards Beaumont

[Hedley Lamarr]

Well I don't know what Mudflat did to it when he shot it Thursday, but boy it was dripping with black gooey stuff. Dripping.