The concealed carry market is crowded. Pocket guns are one of the fastest-growing segments of the firearms industry, and there’s no sign of slowing down. (Even Mossberg – Mossberg! – offers a subcompact 9mm, for crying out loud.) In such a dense environment, Standard Manufacturing’s new S333 Thunderstruck stands out. For better or worse, the Thunderstruck isn’t a gun you’re likely to see every day, and I’ve had a blast putting it through its paces.
The first things you’ll notice about this double-action-only revolver are the dual barrels chambered in 22 Magnum. But unlike a double-barreled shotgun, the Thunderstruck fires both cartridges simultaneously with a single pull of the trigger. This, according to the company, allows for quicker, more effective shooting in a self-defense situation. Four trigger pulls should be faster than eight, no matter which gun you’re using.
I tested that theory and, as you can see in the video below, found that it depends on the gun and your proficiency with it (probably more the latter than the former). The Thunderstruck isn’t far and away faster, but it is faster – and those milliseconds might end up saving your life.
Discounting the draw, here’s how the Thunderstruck stacks up against a Springfield Armory XDS and a Taurus TX22:
- Thunderstruck (8 shots): 1.3 seconds
- XDS (8 shots): 1.5 seconds
- Taurus TX22 (8 shots): 1.25
I’m not the fastest shooter, but my results should be relatively true for you. In other words, if you’re a fast shooter, you’ll shoot both guns faster, but their relative speeds should be about the same. If you shoot eight rounds from an XDS in X seconds, you should (with practice) be able to shoot the Thunderstruck in -X seconds.
The second thing you’ll notice about the Thunderstruck is the trigger. The dual finger grooves are designed to pull the ultra-heavy firing mechanism, and the lack of an under-guard (bottom guard?) might look like a safety concern. I found that the weight of the trigger combined with the articulating trigger safety makes accidental discharge unlikely. Still, it’s not something I would want to pocket carry without some kind of trigger holster.
The heavy trigger is one of the gun’s most important safety features, but it also slows down quick follow-up shots. The trigger pull is also extremely long. The need to fully reset the trigger in order to properly cycle/rotate the cylinder adds even more time to the firing process. This is a concern with any double-action-only revolver, but the Thunderstruck’s trigger is especially challenging. I included some footage of me running into this problem in the video below.
I want to be clear: my struggle speed shooting wasn’t due to a failure of the firearm. The Thunderstruck performed exactly as designed. You might question that design, but, as I say in the video, practice will undoubtedly increase speed.
The Thunderstruck’s accuracy is about what you’d expect from a gun with a 1.25” barrel shooting a cartridge designed for rifles. Mine shot about three inches high at three yards, and the fixed sights mean that I’m stuck using Kentucky windage (or, in this case, elevation). Many of the rounds tumble, and beyond five yards the groups open up so much that I wouldn’t be comfortable using it anywhere except a shooting range.
Still, the Thunderstruck shoots a perfectly acceptable group at the distance it’s designed for: namely, three yards or less. Standard Manufacturing named the Thunderstruck the S333 because they wanted to build a gun around the theory that most self-defense situations take place in three shots or less, in three seconds or less, and from three yards or less. The Thunderstruck is tailor-made for that type of scenario. Firing eight rounds in under three seconds isn’t difficult, and it’ll hit what you’re aiming at within three yards.
You might question whether the 22 Magnum is a suitable self-defense cartridge. I can’t say I’m 100% sold myself. But it’s certainly better than nothing, and if you put the rounds in the right place, I can’t see any type of threat sticking around to find out how many more rounds the Thunderstruck holds.
Check out my full review in the video below.
Specifications
| Caliber | .22 Win Mag |
| Capacity | 8 Rounds |
| Barrel Length | 1 ¼ |
| Cylinder Material | 4140 Steel |
| System | Double Barrel Double Action Revolver, Two Rounds Fired With Each Pull of the Trigger |
| Frame Material | 7075 Aircraft Grade Aluminum with Anodized Finish |
| Safety | Integral Articulated Trigger Safety, Transfer Bar Blocks Firing Pins From Hammers |
| Barrel Material | 4140 Steel |
| Grip | Polymer |
| Weight | 18 oz |
| MSRP | $369 |
After 42 years behind the badge I was looking for a light weight concealable handgun. When I first saw the Thunderstruck my first thought was who would ever buy this. Then I had the opportunity to play with one and I had to have it. Within 10 feet this thing is a self defense beast. Putting 2 40 gram 22 mag rounds in someone with each trigger pull is deadly. This weapon is built for close in self defense. At 20 feet not so great and at 30 feet, good luck hitting the paper. Yet my 42 years experience showed me that most self defense shootings are within 10 feet as are most police shootings. I have a Houston Holster for $25. and it is a perfect concealed carry weapon. Don’t let it’s ugliness deter you.
Took mine out for the first time today. What a disappointment. I read some of the glowing reviews above and I don’t get it. I shot one box of 22 mag, and out of the 50 rounds I had 20 light strikes, I also had to pop out the cylinder 8 times because it locked up and wouldn’t cycle. I could live with the heavy trigger and shell extraction but the above canceled all that out. I was looking forward to this gun for it’s light recoil and hard hitting 22 mag but I can’t trust this gun. I feel I now have a $400 paper weight. my advice don’t buy save your money for better.
How much?
As soon as I saw a picture of it, I knew I had to have this revolver. I have plenty of traditional revolvers — S&W Performance Centers and Ruger Match Champions, among others — but I’m always drawn to the strange and unique, like this and the Heizer Pocket PKO.
I can’t tell you how it shoots because I haven’t fired it yet, but it looks fun. Is it a gimmick? Yeah, but give me a gimmick over another polymer Glock knock-off.
What am I going to use it for? Well, Standard sells holsters on their site. I plan to wear this in an ankle holster as a backup to my backup.
Original ad I seen said one barrel shot shell other barrel hollow point that would make sense,short range two bullets ,one with bb’s
A .22 magnum is not a self defense round. Get real Mr. Smith.
Am I the only one LMAO here?
no
Just when you thought you’d seen everything that someone thought they could get a sucker to buy!
Looks like an accident waiting to happen! I have never seen a weapon with so many things to snag clothing or other objects on. Apparently someone in D&D thought it would be a good idea to design something that would miss with two shots instead of just one. Shoots 3″ high at 3 yards! Probably better to use that weird looking “trigger guard” as an eye gouger in hopes that you could run away before your adversary recovers.
This looks like something that was in development far too long, and someone from corporate pulled the plug, and told them to get it out on the market regardless of how ridiculous it ended up being!
This is a a gun you will pull out of your safe to show a friend, and will have a quick laugh as you put it back in, never to be seen again until your beneficiaries start rummaging through your things.
An answer looking for a question.
Why do many of the rounds tumble? They couldn’t quite manage to get good rifling of an appropriate twist in both barrels?
They ar not tumbling, target paper is tearing.
You can reload with .38/.357 and stack 3 small wad-cutters. More reliable. The cylinder scars so deep concern me considerably that this would be a dependable revolver when needed.
Different diameters cause the case to split.accuracy will suck and you could be injured by gas leakage from the split case. Id not recomend it
I’ve often wondered why someone hasn’t come out with a double barrel 38 special revolver. I’d like to see it made with an eight round cylinder that fires four individual bullets with one firing pin and four with the other. This higher capacity would be great for people who prefer revolvers over semi-automatics. I realize it would probably take an engineering genius like John Brown to design something like this
Not sure why the cylinder has a scratch on it, but, if i have to shoot someone because my life or someone elses is in danger, i’m going to do it with something that has alot more power than a 22!
can i shoot 22 lr in this gun
I received mine the other day and took it to the range and fired it 3 times with a full cylinder each time and then it broke and the cylinder would rotate with each trigger pull but the hammer did not function and the trigger pull went from very stout to less than half of what it was. It is en-route back to the manufacturer now. Hopefully they will be able to correct the problem.
What do they sell for? HOW MUCH DO THEY COST?????????????????
Hey, Joe! Great question. MSRP is $369. We’ll include that in the write-up.
The new gun looks and sounds like a total kludge to me. If they gave me one I\’d sell it. I\’m going to stick to my GP100 with factory loads, 125 grain JHP at a nice high velocity. If I can put a round in your chest, center of mass, I don\’t need two smaller rounds there. If I can follow up with a head shot to the forehead, I don\’t need two smaller rounds there.
Why not made a .223 revolver in standard configuration. Should work great with a bit of powder research to get the most out of the short barrel of a revolver. I\’ve seen .45-70 revolvers, a 223 aught to be a picnic to design and use.
Yup, those GP100s sure do make good boat anchors!!
I respectfully disagree. I love the GP100. I’ve put thousands of rounds through mine without malfunction.
Compare’n this thing to a GP100 is like compare’n apples to chickens – sure, you eat both of ‘em, but that’s where the similarities end. That said, I’d rather lug that hand-cannon around any day as opposed to this modern day pepperbox.
I thought the ATF considered 1 trigger firing 2 bullets a machine gun. The AR platform that did this was required to add a second trigger to be compliant. How does this gun get a pass?
Hey, Nic. There’s a good comment below that explains this. I can tell you that the ATF passed on this gun — it doesn’t qualify as a machine gun.
2 words…RANGE TOY. Buy yourself a rattle and binkey it would be way cheaper.
Hey Big John, It Is probably a lot cheaper, But not nearly as much Fun!!!
hey JORDAN, great video and demo. congratulations on marrying a TEXAS girl & going DOUBLE MAG. you are ahead of the THINKING GAME with both choices. sorry, i am a little biased. born raised & married a TEXAS girl in my past & now on a hunt for a good 22 mag revolver. thank you sir.
Lol. Great minds think alike.
Received mine last week. Had to send it back because the cylinder wouldn’t open.
I\’ve carried a 5 round, 22 magnum North American Arms Black Widow in my right front pocket for over 5 years. It is stainless steel, does not print and is so light that I never feel the weight of it. I also carry a small dispatch shoulder bag that I rotate a backup .45, 10mm, 9mm or .357 magnum. At the range, I can hit bullseyes 90% of the time at 7 yds, so it appears to be much more accurate, less costly and carry friendly than the Thunder Struck. I\’ve only had to use it once to chase away an aggressive big raccoon.
My first thought was why did they do it that way, meaning side by side? Would make more sense to make it over and under, a double row cylinder with more paired rounds, and slimmer design.
Two .22 bullets has to be better than one…. two of anything would! For the designed intent it seems to be good, but wouldn’t work well outside those parameters. As for sights, this should be a point and shoot weapon at three yards, not something you pull out and take careful aim with. Practice point and shoot and forget the sights! The heavy trigger pull and lack of a guard across the bottom are issues I’d like to see taken care of. Might not be able to do much to reduce trigger pull, but I do wonder why not guard across the bottom of the trigger… just because most people would be more comfortable with it.
I carry a Kel Tec PMR 30 which also shoots 22 caliber magnum ( hollow point) rounds x30 per mag) and I have several loaded mags at the ready. Its a neat gun that definitely can do some damage and enough rounds to not worry about reloading much. 👍👌😎
I’ve owned (2) Krapteks – the little pocket .380 and a PMR. The .380 simply wouldn’t return to battery every few shots – you hand to “bump” the rear of the slide. The PMR simply would NOT feed reliably – I mean at least a dozen failures per (30)rd mag. Tried everything with both guns – oils, brands/types of ammo, cleaning, not cleaning…..everything !!! Get me once, shame on you. Get me twice, shame on me. There won’t be a “strike-3”. I know people that love and swear by ‘em, but I’ve had my 1st, 2nd and only Krapteks.
My PMR 30 so far functions well.
From the first 500 rounds fired from 4 magazines in the gun, only one round was Failure to feed and it only needed a light tap on the slide to get it to go into battery, the other was a Failure to fire, but the rim had a solid, normal firing pin strike dent so I fed the round in on a fresh part of the rim and it fired so it was a bad priming job on the rounds rim.
I do think that 0.4% failure rate is not bad on a brand new rimfire gun, the first time out shooting it.
Although both my “affordable” Filipino made 1911’s, (45 acp and 9mm) have fired thousands of rounds since new with zero issues from day one.
I really wanted the PMR to work. I had every intention of it becoming my EDC gun. Light as a feather and (31) rounds of .22mag before a mag swap is required. Serious firepower. There have been other attempts at a .22mag semi-auto handgun before the PMR and they were just as unreliable. It’s simply not what the round was intended and designed for. Great gun for target shooting or plinking, but I could never count on it for personal protection.
I will probably buy one to keep on my coffee table for a conversation piece. I may need another table because I’m running out of room on mine with other interesting items. All of which are fully loaded in a secure hideaway room.
Wouldn’t 2 rounds with 1 trigger pull classify it as a machine gun?
I mean Trump has even outlawed 1 round per finger pull, if it is too fast.
It works under the “volly fire” “loophole” where it’s perfectly acceptable to have two rounds go off per trigger pull so long as there is a seperate “chamber” for each round. This is the same for older pepperbox guns as well as double barrels that can fire both shells at once. STD manufacturing apparently asked the atf about this very weapon, as well as individual states and it apparently clears them all.
We’ve had a variety of weird double barrels guns with two triggers (1911 for example) which begs the question why they went that route other than sheer lazyness of design, as it’s easier to simply “weld” two guns together with a custom frame. No doubt a cylinder is easier to feed two Chambers than a double mag as well.
So under that theory of “separate chambers” a gatling gun would qualify as a single shot weapon ???
Hi Steve. Lots of folks have had this question. All I can tell you is that Standard Manufacturing sent this to the AFT, and the feds signed off on it. It doesn’t qualify as a machine gun.
Ruger makes a 8 shot lcr in 22lr.
It’s far more accurate and with 40gr aguila interceptors the same velocity as 22wmr with the ability to practice with $.03 ammo.where the 22wmr shines is as a contact gtf off me gun.the muzzle blast will do more damage than the 2 bullets and accuracy doesn’t matter.
Anyone that questions the legitimacy of .22mag round for defensive purposes is being foolish in my humble opinion. Or you’ve seen way too much crap put out by Hollyweird. As for this attempt at a defensive handgun, I’ll pass. The trigger and action (of same) being why. If it had a more traditional design: less required trigger-pull, a trigger-guard and make it SA/DA, I’d be a prospect. Kinda goes against their design concept, so unlikely they’ll listen. Hence the reason I won’t own one.
As a foot-note: pitched my thoughts on their S333 to the company – more traditional design: less trigger-pull, exposed and shrouded hammer models, SA/DA, a trigger-guard…..
I received a form-email response: basically telling me to develop/market my own gun.
Spot on. I love American ingenuity.
Market forces does the rest.
🙂
Capitalism baby, it works. I know it’s an outdated economic system in our “woke” society of today, but as I just said, IT WORKS !!! Never thought I’d see the day in my lifetime that a major party U.S. presidential contender was a damned socialist. Hell, we have TWO that are admitted and several that are still in the closet.
At 5 yards the 8 shot “Groups” landed 3 Feet high on the target. Myself and 2 range officers shot multiple 8-round tests and we all had the same results. The sights or something on mine are way off. Zero chance I’d rely on This ‘gun’ as a CCW. I put in a call and email to the company for some explanation or resolution last week and am waiting for a response.
Ugly revolver, terrible trigger. The side of the revolver says .22 Mag, but he ammo shown is .22 WMR. Different cartridges, not interchangeable.
FYI: .22 WMR (Winchester Magnum Rimfire) is a .22 Mag
They are the same.
Like saying “40” instead of .40 S&W.
I think you’re mistaken. WMR is a .22 mag.
same cartridge, dummy.
.22 Mag and .22WMR are the same cartridges and are interchangable. WMR = Winchester Magnum Rimfire
.22WMR and .22mag (for short) are indeed the same round. WMR stands for Winchester Magnum Rimfire and I believe they developed and introduced it around 1959. I’m not quite that old yet thank God, but I’ve owned a bunch of ‘em over the years and still do. Effective, lethal round even for (2) legged varmint.
Seriously? 22 mag and 22 win mag are exactly the same.
Like the idea of a double barrel.Love the the 22 mag. Summer EDC is a 351 PD. Now this ….thing? Nope. Too fugely even for this old weirdo. Go back to the cad and come up with a more conventional revolver look and get rid of the vertical appendage and I might be interested. Maybe I should buy one anyway seeing it will be a curiosity and financial dud it may have some collector interest….naw.
What weight is the trigger pull?
Hey Bill, I’d put it at something north of 12 pounds. It maxed out my trigger gauge, and the two-finger trigger design make it almost impossible to test weight with a standard gauge. I do lots of dry firing in the video, so you can check that out to get a sense of the trigger.
The Gimmick alert sign is lit. Even if someone wanted to carry a .22 cal handgun, there are others that are better and don’t have a heavy trigger that ruins any gun.
Sounds like a fine defensive/offensive system but you have to carry tweapon on you at all timestobe effective and know how it works and to practice several times a month to be proviscent. So the goldbug wins and the lowlight looses God pless and save you, if it Gomes down to a firefight
Could you rewrite that in English?
I read a lot of fan fiction and some of the authors on my favorite site ruin their stories by not proofreading and correcting all the errors. Call them on it, even politely and they get all angry and insulted feelings instead of \”oh, thanks, I\’ll fix that. You can\’t do that here and this posting is proof in my mind at least that some people just don\’t understand how important syntax and using the correct wording. If you don\’t use the right words and arrange them correctly nobody will be able to understand what you\’re saying.
Charlie Chan (nom de plume?) is correct.
Everyone today is so dependent on their damn electronic crap and related software/app’s – iPhones, laptops, tablets, spellcheck, punctuation pal, etc. As a result, no one knows how to communicate properly or effectively – not verbally and most certainly not in written form. Yet everyone is entitled or has the right to attend college today and the government (taxpayers) should pay for it. Ahh yes, they deserve that free higher ejewmuhkashun and duhgree.
Very nice
This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. Almost creative but complete fail. No one’s going to buy this. Ridiculous.
sorry jeff i ordered one 13 week delivery time that pretty well tells you how popular this thing is ..
The gun I got was ordered at 7am on the first day of release. I just received mine 7 weeks later. Now they are 12 weeks plus back ordered. These are selling like hot cakes.