I just got back from the range from firing my Thunderbolt for the first time.
I'd have to summarize the experience as nice, but not overwhelmingly so. The gun needs work, or possibly just working-in. Or I need to know how to operate it.
The action is slick. No problems there. Trigger is good. I'm still impressed with how nice the thing looks; fit and finish are about as good as these things come, save that the checkering on the foreend isn't too sharp. Probably machine-impressed. But it serves its purpose of making the foreend easier to grip and operate.
I don't know how accurate the weapon is, because the sights are excerable. Even with glasses, my aging eyes can't pick up the notch on that buckhorn monstrosity of a sight. That's easily fixed-- I might either mount a leftover rear sight I have from a Winchester 94, if it will fit, or else use the Dremel to flatten the buckhorns and then file in a rear notch to my liking. Except that I was on the phone to Taurus a week or two ago, and they said they have a tang peep sight for this model. It's not in their catalog yet, but they're getting it. I am a big fan of tang peep sights, so likely in the end I'll take the rear sight off completely, replace it with a blank, and use a rear peep only. (How do you think I got that leftover rear sight from the Winchester?)
What concerns me more is that I managed to jam the rifle three times in about fifty shots. On two of those, the cartridge popped up above the lifter and jammed on trying to enter the chamber. I may have short-shucked the action. While slick, I'm sure it's not as slick as it will be after I shoot it more, and besides, I haven't figured out how hard to rack the action yet.
On the third jam, I think I tried to put 15 cartridges in the tubular magazine. Its capacity is supposed to be 14, but I think I lost count. I pushed the fifteenth cartridge in. It didn't go, and then when I pulled it out of the loading gate Cartridge No. 14 snapped backward under the cartridge lifter. The action wouldn't close, the loading gate wouldn't open. There you are, jammed up good.
Fortunately there is a slot in the lifter which seems to have been made for just this emergency. I was able to insert the screwdriver blade of my Swiss Army Knife into this slot and push the case forward, HARD.. eventually getting it far enough forward that I could close the action. Then Cartridge 14 was where it was supposed to be, and everything worked perfectly again.
I'm going to clean, oil, shoot, and repeat, of course. I may even try Bill's Patented Zero Cost Lever Rifle Action Job-- work the action a few thousand times without letting the hammer fall. Slicks things up wonderfully on a lever gun, without causing excess wear.
But that's not going to be easy on the Thunderbolt. Being a pump, it operates differently. If there's a way to rack the action without letting the hammer down-- something quite easy with a Model 92, for example-- I haven't found it yet. The pump rifle locks up until the hammer falls to prevent firing out of battery, which would be Bad.
The front sight on this puppy is also dovetailed to the barrel, which should make it possible to replace. I would like a gold or silver bead there to go with a tang peep sight, but I do believe CASS doesn't allow those. I'm a range plinker, though, so perhaps that isn't a problem for me.
No way I can see to mount a scope on this rifle. Nor would I want to; it would kind of defeat the whole lightweight, quick-handling theme this rifle has going.
I think this is going to be a good one, once I've shot it some more. Oh no, I have to go pump ammo through a rifle to get it to slick up! More shooting! What a terrible thing!
PS: If I were redesigning this rifle to my liking, I would give it different sights. I would also give it a magazine tube that twisted to unlock and pulled out forward, so you could load cartridges from the front if you wished. The loading port works, and is authentic, but at least with the .45 cartridges it is awkward, slow, and a bit painful. (Don't worry, the cut didn't bleed much.
) It is mostly so when you try to load it to its full 14-shot capacity; 10 shots for CAS shouldn't be so much of a problem.