Thunder Five

Kenneth L. Walters

Someone is making the Thunder Five 45Colt/410 revolver again but I lost the bookmark. Anyone know which company is going it?

snake284

Taurus, the Taurus Judge.

Kenneth L. Walters

snake284 wrote: »

Taurus, the Taurus Judge.

No! Definitely not. Someone is actually making the Thunder Five again but I've lost the bookmark to the company.

Jayhawker

Can't help you there...but the original Thunder 5 was chambered in .45-70 Govt.

SimpleMan

Jayhawker wrote: »

Can't help you there...but the original Thunder 5 was chambered in .45-70 Govt.

The 45-70 govt. is a little extreme but still would be a fun gun to own ! It would make a perfect Hog hunting backup gun.

Hondo

Here is what I found:

The MIL, Inc. Thunder 5 is a large, double-action revolver chambered in the .410-bore shotshell cartridge. It is also designed to fire the .45 Long Colt revolver cartridge. The revolver, somewhat unusual for the type of weapon, features a manual safety lever.[1]

As the barrel is rifled, the Thunder 5 is not considered a short-barrelled shotgun under United States federal law, but is under California statutes. However, a variant was produced in .45/70 Government that is legal in the aforementioned state. Production of the .45/70 variant started in 1994.

Sub-caliber sleeve inserts in 9mm Parabellum, .38 Special/.357 Magnum and .38 Super were produced and available until 1998.[2]

Kenneth L. Walters

There were two versions. One was 45 Colt/410 and the other was 45-70/410. Didn't know about the sub-caliber sleeves. I owned the 45-70 version.

A few months ago I saw an announcement of a new revolver. Looked exactly like the Thunder Five. So I e-mailed the company and asked. It was a reintroduction of the Thunder Five. But I lost the bookmark. I think maybe it was Charter Arms. I've e-mailed them but not heard back yet.

bullsi1911

Kenneth L. Walters wrote: »

I think maybe it was Charter Arms. I've e-mailed them but not heard back yet.

It is Charter. They had the prototypes of the "Charter Big Dog" at the SHOT show last week. I saw one pic online, and it looked just as hideous as the Chunder Five, but I can't find the pic online right now.

Dan1955

Charter Arms has come out with an exact copy of the THUNDER FIVE. It is called the BIG DOG. bullsi1911 is correct.

Spk

Here's the MIL Inc Thunder Five.

https://www.gunsamerica.com/914545479/Thunder-Five-410-45LC-Snub-Nose-Revolver-NIB.htm

Charter Arms Big Dawg

https://www.tombstonetactical.com/catalog/charter-arms/14520-big-dawg-revolver-410-ga-45-lc-2in-5rd-black/

My only question is why? Were the Judge and Governor too expensive?

🤔

Spk

Found a nice article on the T5. Learned me something new today, thx.

https://www.guns.com/news/2013/04/10/before-the-judge-there-was-the-thunder-5

zorba

Must be good for 1 DOA (as opposed to MOA) shots with that tiny barrel!

Jay

 Guess confirming the information for the long gone OP 7 years later is a case of better late than never...    Google searchers pulling up old threads.  On the plus side, brings in new members, I guess...

Kenneth L. Walters

this came from Charter Arms just a few minutes ago

Ken,

Not everything on the  web is true, we are not making the Thunder 5.

Thank you

.

Jay

  Kenneth L. Walters said: January 2012

There were two versions. One was 45 Colt/410 and the other was 45-70/410. Didn't know about the sub-caliber sleeves. I owned the 45-70 version.

A few months ago I saw an announcement of a new revolver. Looked exactly like the Thunder Five. So I e-mailed the company and asked. It was a reintroduction of the Thunder Five. But I lost the bookmark. I think maybe it was Charter Arms. I've e-mailed them but not heard back yet.

Kenneth L. Walters said:

this came from Charter Arms just a few minutes ago

Ken,

Not everything on the  web is true, we are not making the Thunder 5.

Thank you

.

Took them a while to get back to you...

Welcome back..

Spk

Kenneth L. Walters said:

this came from Charter Arms just a few minutes ago

Ken,

Not everything on the  web is true, we are not making the Thunder 5.

Thank you

.

It's interesting that several websites have a listing for the Big Dawg model 14520 but a search for a Charter Arms model 14520 doesn't come up. There's a model 14420... It comes back as the Bulldog. 😁

Here's the kicker, the websites that have the Big Dawg listed show a picture of the Thunder Five. It's on the top strap. 🤣

I guess the jokes on us.

Thunder Five 1

Big Dawg 0

Kenneth L. Walters

The Thunder 5 I had was the one that fired either 410's or 45-70's.  I never had the nerve to shoot a hot 45-70 in it.  I used half the normal powder charge but even that was a handgul.