While my 25 is by no means a target rifle, these rifles do way better. 1) Thunderbolts wouldn't be my first choice to use to check accuracy. 2) It may need a good bore cleaning. Lead, copper and rimfire powder garbage accumulates and bakes on. 3) Check the scope. Many years of being banged around can take their toll. It may be loose or the integrity of the internals may have given up the ghost.

We love pics!

 

25 Clean it well!

Mine shoots awesome! Wild west trigger cost more than the gun did in 1979.
Your barrel is leaded, thunderbolts are known for this. Clean it well with a brush and use better ammo and you will surprised just how good that gun can shoot. In the addition of the new trigger I free floated the barrel and glass beded it. Shoots almost as well as my 10/22s!

 

Clean the chamber . Use a better scope. And use better ammo, if you can find any. But at 100 yards , im betting its the wind. Shoot it at 50 yards, on a windless day. Thats the best it can be. Just too many butterflies, causing too much weather and check the crown, if its dinged up, take it to a gun smith, or watch Youtube and diy.

 

:Welcome:
Your group with the kind of ammo in my opinion is worthy..I've got the same model in 72 vintage:t

I'd clean it good, bolt as well..maybe even soak it overnight, scrub..blowout..reoil. Wet patch the bbl. heavy and let sit over night with your favorite solvent, patch out next morning.

Above in the stickey's there is a trigger mod that makes them way more shootable for not much time or money.

Try some different ammo of SV load and then move up to the HV.

Enjoy-


:waveipestone

 

The results you got with Remington Thunderbolts is about what I would have expected with that ammo.
I have a Glenfield 25 and it is EXTREMELY picky about ammo. I thought it was a lemon until I found the ammo it liked best. Free floating, bedding, re-crowning did nothing to help. I tried 20 different kinds of ammo until I finally found what worked in this rifle. It liked SK Standard Plus the best, with Wolf Match Target a close second.
My accuracy standard is to hit 1.5" groups or less at 100 yards. With the right ammo I have done under an 1" at 100 yards. With the SK Standard Plus, I have shot a ragged hole at 50 yards. Your results may vary. Every rifle has its quirks, even if it is the same make and model.
I also have a Marlin 20, which is exactly the same as a model 25, but with a different stock. It shoots everything accurately. They were built within a year of each other. One rifle is picky, the other shoots everything, go figure.
I have not tried Remington Thunderbolts because of reviews from others that were not encouraging.
Here is a list of what I have tried:
CCI Mini Mag
CCI AR Tactical
CCI Blazer
CCI Velocitors
CCI Stingers
CCI Standard Velocity
CCI Green Tag
Federal Champion Bulk 36g
Federal Auto Match
Federal HV Match
Federal Target SV
Aguila HV Super Extra
Aguila Interceptor
Aguila Rifle Match
Norma Tac 22
Norma Match 22
SK Standard Plus
Wolf Match Extra
Wolf Match Target
Eley Match
Remington Golden Bulk 36g

I realize that some (all?) of these brands may not be available and/or affordable currently. It is just what I have acquired over the years.
I use a 3-9X Nikon scope. I like the fine cross hairs on the Nikon. I find that anything less, at 100 yards, it is really hard to see the center dot of the target. The cross hairs completely cover the center dot with lower power scopes that have thicker cross hairs, making it difficult to center the scope over the target dot.
Both the model 20 and the 25 prefer standard velocity ammo the best.

 

My 1974 mod 25 Glenfield will consistently shoot minute of chipmunk at 50 yrds all day long, 4x9 simmons ($9.99) about 1982 or so, and federal bulk ammo.

 

Higher quality ammunition is a must for that distance. But check your action screws make sure they aren't lose check the mount screws. But more magnification better ammo.

 

If you're using the crappy 3/4" scope ...

If you're using the crappy 3/4" scope that typically came on these rifles, then I'm impressed w/ a 3-4" group at 100 yds. I'd def upgrade the scope.

 

Thanks guys for the info about the Mod 25.

I appreciate the suggestions on upgrading the bedding, scope, etc and with this rifle I want to keep it as it was when I was a kid. Although I did still add a beartooth cheek riser and stock extender....because I'm bigger now and it at least needs to fit.

I'm interested in seeing how well I can get it to shoot as is. Shooting it brings me back to my childhood a bit. Heavy trigger, cheap Silver Antler Tasco scope and all 🙂

Sounds like I'm close to as accurate as it gets with the ammo and wind. Need to shoot in serious calm with this thing. After posting this I plugged in the setup into Hornady's ballistic app and a 6mph wind changing directions will influence the bullet over 6 inches horizontally. So I have to take that into account. I've only taken it out twice now, maybe next time is better

Appreciate the info.

I'd embed a picture if I could figure out how

 

I'd embed a picture if I could figure out how

In the message box, click on the icon that looks like a yellow box with mountains and a moon in it.

 

I'm on an android phone, I don't have this icon

 

Lighten that trigger return spring. Mine was horrible.

 

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum.

The rifle is not new to me, I've had it for over 30 years now but haven't fire it since I was a kid. With the low accessibility for centerfire rifle ammo, I pulled out my old Glenfield. It has a fixed 3x or 4x scope on it. Have never fired it for groups before a month or so ago.

Using Remington 22lr thunderbolt ammo, I haven't gotten better than 3.5 inch, 7 shot (magazine size) groups from 100 yards.

What expectations should I have from this rifle using this ammo?

Try some decent or even some adequate ammo. Thunderbolts are crap. You should notice that every round has a different sound. Even Federal bulk ammo will shoot better than Thunderbolts.

But first, clean out the barrel after shooting Thunderbolts. I had to soak my barrel once with Hoppes #1, before I could even get a brush through it.

And, btw, that scope sucks. you can pick up a cheap Bushnell that is at least 10x better for it.

 

Hey Smometgeclay,
Another thing to try and what I do is shoot 10 rounds of Thunderbolts at a test target then shoot for groups.
Sometimes it takes ten rounds for the rifle to settle in.

 

Thanks for the replies. I figured I'd follow up here with some results.

Decided to pull out the Marlin again. I replaced the trigger spring with one from a ball point pen because the stock trigger was really heavy. Also added a cheek riser and extended the length of pull as seen in the image.

Here are some groups from today at 100 using SK Match ammo.

 

Great shooting!

Thanks for the show:t


pipestone

 

The trigger is fairly stiff. Which means it's more difficult to shoot good groups.

The action is held in place by one single take down screw. You will have to fool with screw torque as well as perhaps experiment with a pressure point somewhere on the barrel. Personally, my 25 does not shoot well with the action torqued down tight.

Next is ammo. How much do you want to pay to shoot more consistently? Are you interested in buying match ammo that runs > $25/50 rounds? Are you willing to buy and test 10 or 15 different flavors of quality ammo to see what the gun likes? Hint - bulk pack isn't quality ammo.

In terms of expectations, one limiting factor on these barrels is the fairly roomy sporting chamber. Good for reliability, not so much for gilt edged accuracy. A couple members here have posted very good results after setting the barrel back a bit and cutting a match chamber. Unfortunately, that's often surgery requiring a gunsmith. It frequently costs more than the gun.

In the end, you can make things quite a bit better, but it's never going to be a benchrest match rifle.

 

The trigger is fairly stiff. Which means it's more difficult to shoot good groups.

The action is held in place by one single take down screw. You will have to fool with screw torque as well as perhaps experiment with a pressure point somewhere on the barrel. Personally, my 25 does not shoot well with the action torqued down tight.

Next is ammo. How much do you want to pay to shoot more consistently? Are you interested in buying match ammo that runs > $25/50 rounds? Are you willing to buy and test 10 or 15 different flavors of quality ammo to see what the gun likes? Hint - bulk pack isn't quality ammo.

In terms of expectations, one limiting factor on these barrels is the fairly roomy sporting chamber. Good for reliability, not so much for gilt edged accuracy. A couple members here have posted very good results after setting the barrel back a bit and cutting a match chamber. Unfortunately, that's often surgery requiring a gunsmith. It frequently costs more than the gun.

In the end, you can make things quite a bit better, but it's never going to be a benchrest match rifle.

I realize this is an old thread but I'm curious about the roomy sporting chamber. Are you saying it's just not a match chamber? Or it's actually a bit on the large size in general. I've owned my model 25 since I was a kid and got it brand new in 1988. Being a kid I got bored with the bolt action and the fact the trigger was super heavy so I quickly moved on to a Ruger 10/22 and didn't bother with it again until this past summer. I put a $100 adjustable trigger which is amazing at 1 lb super crisp etc. But I have been having the strangest time sighting it in at 100 yards. I am on my second scope and was about to try a third one. Yesterday I was trying to shoot a KYL target with it at 100 yards and didn't have much success thinking I was having a bad day. LOL. Then I got out my Ruger 10/22 and Marlin 60 and was whacking all 8 spinners over and over. So obviously something is not right with the model 25 I have.

 

I’ve never shot mine past 50 yards it a dedicated Squirrel gun… I’ve shot a lot of 3/4” groups at 50 yards with mine using CCI std velocity

replaced trigger spring with a nice pen spring… gun shoots ragged hole a 25

 

Thunderbolts are the worst ammo ever made and dirty,

 

To follow up with my last post. I think there is something wrong with my 1988 Marlin 25 it was shooting 5 inch groups at 100 yards with a 3-9 scope on it. Which was like the 3rd scope I tried. LOL. I tested my grandpa's 1973 Marlin Glenfield 25 that I inherited and it was shooting great with the original 4 power scope and stock trigger. So I put the Rifle Basix trigger I had bought for my model 25 and put a 3-9 power scope on my grandpa's. I was able to shoot 5 shots into a 0.164 inch group with Eley Match at 50 yards. The trigger is at about 8 to 10 oz. It shoots as well as the Ruger 10/22 with Kidd bull barrel that I built. I'm so excited. It shoots great with Aguila standard velocity as well. This rifle is outstanding. It was the rifle my grandpa taught me how to shoot on when I was 10. I wish he was still alive and could've seen the groups I shot the other day with his rifle. He would've been so pumped.

As far as my model 25 I think the crown is missing. I compared the two rifles and you can clearly see the crown on my grandpa's but it is non existent on mine. Maybe a batch of barrels didn't get crowned that day at Marlin. LOL. I definitely didn't brush the crown off by doing the rod and brush into the muzzle end. I got it new when I was a kid and always brushed it from the breech end like I was taught to do. Anyways, a gunsmith said he'd re-crown it for $40. Then I'll have another super shooter!