Doc's design idea with the Thunderbolt was/is a good one but implementation of that idea is difficult. I had one of the first of the Thunderbolts and had some issues with the bolt/breechplug. I know the guys at SplitFire were working on the problems taking into account suggestions from us early owners and may have solved those problems. You might want to go to the talk forums at splitfireguns.com to read some of the comments from owners such as myself. There is a whole section devoted to the Thunderbolt http://www.splitfireguns.com/discussion/posts.cfm?t=14. My initials are RT if that helps you interpret.

I wouldn't say do not buy the Thunderbolt by any means, but I would suggest you look for implementation of the fixes on the rifle you buy. The pity is that mine seemed to be a real shooter and I would like to have kept it. I have ZERO complaints about my 98 in the synthetic stock.