First, the player must press the key to launch the Silver Bolt. When the bolt misses the target (or the target dodges the bolt), that outcome is not always clear, and the player may believe that the bolt did hit the target. Regardless, the player must press the key again to repeat the attempt to hit with the bolt.

Further, it is not always clear when the bolt does hit the target. Nevertheless, after the bolt hits, the player must press the same key again to execute the Pull to the target.

So, yes, the ability doesn't function "smoothly". It takes some time to get used to the way that the ability evidently works. Worse, sometimes the bolt apparently misses twice in succession. That said, unless something has changed since my PCs started using another ability instead of the Silver Bolt, I can't say that it appeared to be bugged, just unreliable.