17 hmr stuck in barrel

[mustfish]

Purchased a new savage bolt action 17hmr yesterday. I took it out today to get sighted in. I was shooting a half used box of Remington 17 grain bullets. Let me start by saying that the first half of this box went through my Marlin 917 without any problems. I tried loading a round in my savage after having fired a few shots and found that it would not chamber all the way. I was like what the ****. There must have been a dead round in the box and when the primer fired it shot the bullet about a quarter inch into the barrel. Good thing I was'nt able to shoot another bullet into it. I had ear plugs screwed almost to the brain so i did not notice the difference in the shot compared to the others. I hope the dead round was just a fluke and not a problem for the future. I also noticed that the rounds that I did fire had split cases. I don't recall that the marlin had split cases with this ammo. What would cause one rifle to split cases and one not to?

 

[horsefor4]

Check to see if any of the case necks are cracked in the rest of the box.I have had this happen.

 

[Browninglover1]

Supposedly CCI makes all the 17 HMR ammo and just puts different labels and different colored tips depending on what "brand" of ammo it is. That being said, Remington ammo has always sucked in all the 17's I've tried it in. I get terrible accuracy and more split necks with the Remington stuff than any other brand. I'd stick with Hornady or CCI because they simply have worked better for me in every 17 I've shot them in. Just my 2 cents.

 

[codyjoe1128]

My savage likes winchester and hornady ammo....I never had a problem with the Remingtons cause i never shot them....even tho cci makes most of the ammo the cci brand ammo didn't group like I like my 17 grouping...(10 in a dime size hole prone from a bipod at 100) measure the rim thickness on the Remington vs the hornady ammo.....my brothers marlin don't care what brand it is it'll shoot, my savage will shoot any brand that I've fed it but a buddies savage won't shoot anything other than hornady....

 

[codyjoe1128]

Supposedly CCI makes all the 17 HMR ammo.

CCI used to make it all, a lot of companys are now making their own but I can't remember who was other than winchester...

 

[bowhunthard88]

Hornady is definitely the best out of my Savage BTV, and I've tried just about everything brand/bullet-wise except for the new NTXs. I've also seen a few split case necks in various 17 HMR ammo, but never had one lose pressure because of it. They usually split on the pressure increase, so I don't think that one was charged with enough powder.

Something to note, Remington is the only company that had a 17 HMR and 17 HMR 597 rifle recall. I know they said it shouldn't be fired in semi-auto firearms, but why did they have a recall and no one else?

 

[dbhostler]

What would cause one rifle to split cases and one not to?[/QUOTE]

One problem could be the rifle chamber is out of spec, slightly too large allowing the brass to expand too far and then split. I don't know if they make go no go gauges for the hmr, but you could ask a smith.
db

 

[Topgun 30-06]

bowhunthard---As I recall the Remingtons were firing out of battery and they didn't have much of a recall. They only wanted to give a coupon or some such thing and I believe it was only good if you bought another Remington rifle. The splits may either be from lousy brass they are using or a headspace problem with the gun, but my guess is the former.

 

[bowhunthard88]

bowhunthard---As I recall the Remingtons were firing out of battery and they didn't have much of a recall. They only wanted to give a coupon or some such thing and I believe it was only good if you bought another Remington rifle. The splits may either be from lousy brass they are using or a headspace problem with the gun, but my guess is the former.

You're right, crappy brass is definitely most logical. Assuming everyone isn't headspacing this caliber wrong, or producing all the ammo wrong .

Thanks.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

FYI I quit buying Remington 22 LRs because there was a terrible problem with a high percentage of them not firing in my semiautomatic Winchester rifle. I think their QC sucks big time and now use CCIs. I reload for all my centerfire rifles and swear by Hornady components! I also think their manufactured ammo is hard to beat.

 

[Max Heat]

FYI I quit buying Remington 22 LRs because there was a terrible problem with a high percentage of them not firing in my semiautomatic Winchester rifle. I think their QC sucks big time and now use CCIs. I reload for all my centerfire rifles and swear by Hornady components! I also think their manufactured ammo is hard to beat.

I'm not saying that rem .22lr brass is anything great. The priming charge formulation might be somewhat less sensitive other brands. But the high percentage of duds that you say you are experiencing with it shouldn't be happening. I would suggest trying the "hardware upgrade" approach, with the rifle's firing pin spring being what needs to be replaced/upgraded.

There are are 3 possible options:

Replace the spring with a new stock one. The current one may have become too weak

Replace the spring with a beefier one.

Remove the spring, stretch it out a bit, and put it back in. This is the no-fuss/no-muss "poor man's" method of beefing up an existing spring)

The other possibility is that someone has been dry-firing the rifle, which should NEVER be done, with any firearm that uses rimfire ammo. It will damage the firing pin by blunting/mushrooming/shortening it's reach. In THAT case, it is the firing pin itself that needs to be replaced.

One last possibility is that the rifle's firing mechanism is simply so dirty and fouled up, that it results in the pin not being able to move fast enough to consistantly set off the round's priming charge, when the spring releases it's tension on it. This is far more likely to happen in recoil-operated autoloaders. In this case a simple, but very thorough, cleaning (followed by re-lubing) is what is called for.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Thanks for all that information, but I've been hunting for 60 years, have 2 safes full of guns of all different calibers and the gun in question hasn't had any problems whatsover after I quit using those Remington duds!!! PS: Noone uses my rifles but myself and all look brand new because of the way they are cleaned and properly taken care of.

 

[Max Heat]

What would cause one rifle to split cases and one not to?

One problem could be the rifle chamber is out of spec, slightly too large allowing the brass to expand too far and then split. I don't know if they make go no go gauges for the hmr, but you could ask a smith.
db[/QUOTE]


I'm going to have to go +1 on this one. BUT - it could be (and in my opinion, probably IS) a case where headspace gauges aren't going to indicate any problem. That would be a case where the chamber is OOS in a dimension that HS gauges don't measure: chamber diameter. I'll go out on a limb here, and make the call that the savage's barrel is probably a victim of shoddy "smithmanship", which likely occurred during the chamber reaming process. That barrel should never have been allowed to get out of the factory door. Have this spec checked, and then invoke the manufacturers warranty.