I was near Whittakers today for work so I swung in. Typical mid week crowd and plenty to look at. One item kind of interested me and I was hoping some might have input.
They have several Taurus Thunderbolt pump action rifles on the shelf, "X" guns having been factory refurbished. One was priced less than the rest as it had some obvious white streaks or marks on the stock. It was also in .38/.357 which would be a fun caliber to plink or hunt with.
I have read a lot of online horror stories about these, especially from several years ago, and I was hoping to get some first hand info. I have a Marlin I can hunt with but a fourteen shot 26" barrel pump carbine sounds like a lot of fun.
Range Update: Well I got to the range this past weekend and put about 50 rounds through the Thunderbolt. Good and bad to report.
The Good: very pleasant to shoot. The 26" barrel puts a lot of weight forward and the recoil from 158 gr .357 magnum loads was minimal. The very short pump throw was comfortable and the trigger was a little heavy but broke well. Accuracy was surprisingly good given the rough buckhorn sights. I was shooting offhand at 50 yards and a typical group was 3"-4". When I loaded some 130 gr .38 spl. it was like shooting a suppressed .22./ NO recoil and very quiet. My first couple rounds of .38 turned heads on the range, they were that moderate.
The Bad: Loading this thing is a masochistic exercise. I am missing some flesh from my index finger now as pushing the narrow, long .357 rounds into the tube through a short gate is difficult. I would guess this is magnified by the fact that the rifle is designed around a .45 load so the receiver is wider that needed, making the loading angle awkward.
The Suck: The most negative thing though is the cartridge stop did not operate reliably. The pump action was smooth but 75% of the time no cartridge was released from the tube. Thus there was a lot of unintentional dry firing.
Overall I like the rifle. If I can get the action to reliably function I will likely keep this and it will make a fun rifle. Easily could be a range toy, hunting rifle or even home defense. Fourteen rounds of .357 mag is something. However, It is a little unwieldy and, again if I can get it working well and thus making it worth while, I will have the barrel shortened to 18" or so which should still leave a capacity of 8-10 rounds in a much handier rifle.
They have several Taurus Thunderbolt pump action rifles on the shelf, "X" guns having been factory refurbished. One was priced less than the rest as it had some obvious white streaks or marks on the stock. It was also in .38/.357 which would be a fun caliber to plink or hunt with.
I have read a lot of online horror stories about these, especially from several years ago, and I was hoping to get some first hand info. I have a Marlin I can hunt with but a fourteen shot 26" barrel pump carbine sounds like a lot of fun.
Range Update: Well I got to the range this past weekend and put about 50 rounds through the Thunderbolt. Good and bad to report.
The Good: very pleasant to shoot. The 26" barrel puts a lot of weight forward and the recoil from 158 gr .357 magnum loads was minimal. The very short pump throw was comfortable and the trigger was a little heavy but broke well. Accuracy was surprisingly good given the rough buckhorn sights. I was shooting offhand at 50 yards and a typical group was 3"-4". When I loaded some 130 gr .38 spl. it was like shooting a suppressed .22./ NO recoil and very quiet. My first couple rounds of .38 turned heads on the range, they were that moderate.
The Bad: Loading this thing is a masochistic exercise. I am missing some flesh from my index finger now as pushing the narrow, long .357 rounds into the tube through a short gate is difficult. I would guess this is magnified by the fact that the rifle is designed around a .45 load so the receiver is wider that needed, making the loading angle awkward.
The Suck: The most negative thing though is the cartridge stop did not operate reliably. The pump action was smooth but 75% of the time no cartridge was released from the tube. Thus there was a lot of unintentional dry firing.
Overall I like the rifle. If I can get the action to reliably function I will likely keep this and it will make a fun rifle. Easily could be a range toy, hunting rifle or even home defense. Fourteen rounds of .357 mag is something. However, It is a little unwieldy and, again if I can get it working well and thus making it worth while, I will have the barrel shortened to 18" or so which should still leave a capacity of 8-10 rounds in a much handier rifle.
Last edited: