Cas City Forum Hall & CAS-L
CAS TOPICS => Gun Reviews => Topic started by: Slamfire on December 17, 2012, 06:52:12 PM
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I were look'n on the gun broker, last night and noticed prices anywhere from 400.00 up to 600.00'sh. they were all .45lc,,do they even make one in 44/40 Thunderbolt,?? Am i missing something,, or is there a problem with this Taurus model ,,cause the pricing seemed a bit lower than the last time i checked on them.
Hootmix.
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Problems? Do some web searching and you will find that the Thunderbolt has a terrible reputation. Taurus discontinued them some time ago and the warehouses are trying to get rid of them. They only came in .357 and .45.
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$400 to $600? I'd say that's about $300 to $500 too much. :D
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Yeooooow! Thaaaannnnnk! ya'll. Do they bend ,fold ,spindel,or mutlate ? I didn't keep up on them since they were out of my price range back when i thought i wanted one,,and if i find one cheeeep enought i'll still try one,357/45lc don't matter, i can always make a water fall decoration with it(lol).
Hootmix.
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Yeooooow! Thaaaannnnnk! ya'll. Do they bend ,fold ,spindel,or mutlate ? I didn't keep up on them since they were out of my price range back when i thought i wanted one,,and if i find one cheeeep enought i'll still try one,357/45lc don't matter, i can always make a water fall decoration with it(lol).
Hootmix.
Yes, they do all that. Only thing they don't reliably do is function. Most people use them for tomato stakes. I would like to see how your waterfall idea works. :D
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I LOVE THIS PLACE, HA,HA HA,AAAAAA. Wait! hey petti ,would it take 6 or 8 to make a water wheel???
I really didn;t know they were seriously flawed,i probly would try one at a couple of hundred .
Hootnix.
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I think they've always been inexpensive, like $500 range. That is why a lot of folks bought them, since other Lightnings tend to be double that cost or more. Like anything, if you ask around you may find a few people who say they have one and it works well, but those are the exception. There's one 'smith, Deadeye Dallas, that spent a lot of time figuring out the various and multiple problems and how to fix them and he was able to make a few of them work pretty well, but it took a lot of time and effort and a while back he mentioned having other commitments so he wasn't able to take on any more work with these.
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Didn't NC RANGER have a 45lc he shot some matches with and had a pretty good report,?
Hootnix.
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I know a guy that had a Yugo and gave it a good report. The issue isn't whether there is an occasional good one, the issue is that the good ones are few and far between.
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Well that just shows ua what i know,i didn't even know taurus made car's,,,,go figure.
Hootnix.
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There are a few positive reports on the Taurus T-bolt; but there are more negative reports.
They can be made to function. If you want one, you could track down this guy:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wNsA9hKC58[/youtube]
I think there have been some who reported them to work out of the box; because they were far and few between, I bought a Pedersoli
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Bill that were worth seeing, thanks. I have been check'n& reed'n on here and again if the price is right i'm goin give one a try.
Hootmix.
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Slamfire,
Here are more from a SASS member that can tune the Taurus to work:
http://www.youtube.com/user/HarryJeffcoat#g/u (http://www.youtube.com/user/HarryJeffcoat#g/u)
Good luck and keep us posted as to how you make out.
I queried and found that the Pedersoli works best out of the box. I saved my $$ and was able to get one.
I love that thing! I hope that you get a Taurus T-bolt and find it works just fine out of the box.
With the Taurus, in .45 I'd stick with smokless loads and start with a 230gr RNFP with a heavy crimp to help reduce blowback
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Thanks , Abomi .,Bill Good info.,i'v noticed almost every one who shoots a pumper echo's your remark,,,,they shoot dead on and " I love this gun",, may have to sell some of these one-eyed cats i'm feed'n ,or trade'm off.
Hootnix.
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I have a Taurus that I bought about 8 months ago. Sat in front of the TV and cycled it 200 times before i ever shot it.
It is in 45LC.......Using round nose bullets it has never jammed. But it blows back gas something awful. I need to try different powders as I'm not getting a good seal on 45LC brass. Brass comes out near total black. Not fun to shot when it is doing this.
I wanted one in 38-40, but no longer available.
I probably will rebarrel this one this winter.
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I have a Taurus that I bought about 8 months ago. Sat in front of the TV and cycled it 200 times before i ever shot it.
It is in 45LC.......Using round nose bullets it has never jammed. But it blows back gas something awful. I need to try different powders as I'm not getting a good seal on 45LC brass. Brass comes out near total black. Not fun to shot when it is doing this.
I wanted one in 38-40, but no longer available.
I probably will rebarrel this one this winter.
The Taurus was never available in .38-40. Thus, you will never find a factory barrel for it. Having a custom made barrel will cost more than the gun is worth unless you really like it and just have to have the only .38-40 in existence.
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I do my own smithing so all I need is a .401 barrel blank and away I go!
Any other 38-40 will be a vintage rifle with a shot out barrel for upwards of $3000.
I paid $400 for my Case colored Taurus. $200 for a barrel blank and I'm home for $600. The Thunderbolt is a fantastic rifle for CAS. If you ever get the chance to run one, do it. Amazingly fast and easy to keep on target. But they are very complicated firearms with lots of small moving parts. They need to be tuned properly and then maintained.
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I do my own smithing so all I need is a .401 barrel blank and away I go!
Any other 38-40 will be a vintage rifle with a shot out barrel for upwards of $3000.
I paid $400 for my Case colored Taurus. $200 for a barrel blank and I'm home for $600. The Thunderbolt is a fantastic rifle for CAS. If you ever get the chance to run one, do it. Amazingly fast and easy to keep on target. But they are very complicated firearms with lots of small moving parts. They need to be tuned properly and then maintained.
Run one? I have 12 of them and have worked on a bunch more. (Colt, AWA, USFA, Taurus, Pedersoli and Uberti.) I have an original 1st Gen Colt Lightning with a mint bore that I will sell you have a lot less than $3,000.00. AWA also made .38-40s and I have one of those laying around somewhere.
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Pettifogger, I didn't mean "you" when I suggested "run one"........that was for general consumption ;D....
I've seen you speak of the Colts and was well aware on your familiarity with them.
If you have a 38-40, either vintage or repro, for sale...I'd be interested.
Send me an email on what ya got and what ya asking.
rvb100@comcast.net
THANKS!
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Pettifogger, I didn't mean "you" when I suggested "run one"........that was for general consumption ;D....
I've seen you speak of the Colts and was well aware on your familiarity with them.
If you have a 38-40, either vintage or repro, for sale...I'd be interested.
Send me an email on what ya got and what ya asking.
rvb100@comcast.net
THANKS!
I'll look for them and see if I can get you some pictures in the next couple of days.
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Sounds good! Thanks
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Look what came in the mail today......
A nice new Green Mountain barrel in 38-40.
(http://images108.fotki.com/v360/photos/2/36012/11507133/DSC_4791-vi.jpg)
(http://images61.fotki.com/v249/photos/2/36012/11507133/DSC_4794-vi.jpg)
Tore the Taurus Thunderbolt apart and hopefully I'll have the barrel on by this weekend.
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R LOTTO!!! you have ,,my attention ,w/ that barrel ,,and by the way, a friend of mine has a colt lighting in 38-40, best i remember mfg. date 1901-or 1911 ,,he shoots it quite a bit,tight patterns. IF i may ask the price of "said" barrel i might look into one in 44-40 ( my choice ),.
Hootmix
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Product Name Price Quantity Item Total
Centerfire Rifle Barrel .38-40 Bore 1:40 Twist Item: WL383028 $165.00 1 $165.00
Total $165.00
Tax Total $10.31
Shipping Total $15.95
Grand Total $191.26
No idea why I was charged tax as Green Mountain does not have a footprint here in Massachusetts, but whatever.....the barrel is superb! The flats will only need a pit of draw filing and polishing if I wanted it to be gloss blued. But I might go with a rust blue matte finish. Or I might go with an antique finish in a brown...........
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Looks like a great project. You will definitely have the only .38-40 Taurus in existence.
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But the threads on the barrel are metric....I've never cyt metric threads. I changed the gears on my lathe and it seems to be cutting 1mm threads, but I can't figure out how to use the thread indicator so I stay in the same groove........AGHHHH!
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I just love it when a plan comes together,,,,truly yours " murphy's law". I for one have faith in your ability.
Hootnix.
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I figured it all out. I forgot that I have an "Imperial" lead screw on my lathe (as most lathes in North America do) and therefore you need to leave the half nuts engaged. You can't use the thread indicator like you can when cutting Imperial threads........Hey, it's been a while!
I'm starting another thread on rebarreling this Taurus Thunderbolt. But here are a few preview pictures of what the factory barrel's chamber was like.....No wonder this thing had huge blowback. The chamber is huge. This is the reason no rifle back in the day were chambered for 45LC as they simply won't feed well without an oversized chamber. The 38-40 and 44-40 with their bottleneck design are much better at feeding.
Talk about unsupported case! If this was a 1911 with a feed ramp like this, it would be criminal...
(http://images20.fotki.com/v189/photos/2/36012/11511552/P1030627-vi.jpg)
Here is a 45LC case wrapped with electrical tape:
(http://images59.fotki.com/v112/photos/2/36012/11511552/P1030629-vi.jpg)
It fit in the chamber with room to spare:
(http://images57.fotki.com/v139/photos/2/36012/11511552/P1030630-vi.jpg)
The barrel was glued in with some type of "pipe dope"...
(http://images55.fotki.com/v1618/photos/2/36012/11511552/P1030625-vi.jpg)
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Reply to Pettifoger #24,,you stated taurus didn't make the thunderbolt in 38/40 ,,,what about in 44/40??
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Reply to Pettifoger #24,,you stated taurus didn't make the thunderbolt in 38/40 ,,,what about in 44/40??
.357 and .45 only.
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Thank ya, .
Hootmix
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Just curious if anyone has had good luck with the Taurus right out of the box? I know that people generally only post "reviews" for bad experiences and very rarely report good experiences. Have a small hankering for one of these rifles but dont need headaches.
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As was stated by someone earlier, I have had pretty good luck with mine. It did lock up on me this past summer when I took it out of the safe to clean/re-oil. I pumped it twice and it locked up tighter-n' a tick. I sent it to Taurus and they turned it around in a week. They had to adjust the locking block for excessive play. It was covered under the lifetime warranty.
With a stock unmodified one, I have found that it takes a good stroke to work it but if the forearm is stroked too hard the shell carrier can flip the cartridge up where the bullet hits the top of the chamber. I have learned when that happens, I can back up the forearm a hair an push the cartridge down onto the carrier and chamber it an shoot it. Once one gets the feel for pumping it, it works fine.
I would love to send it to that Jeff fellow and have it tuned up. When it works, it is fast. I alternate between it and my Winchester 73.
Rbertalotto, you wouldn't be interested in putting together some disassembly instructions for the Thunderbolt would you? Taurus doesn't recommend disassembly by anyone other than them and are pretty mum on the subject. I do some of my own gunsmithing work, but I have no idea where to start disassembling the Thunderbolt.