Remember when Outdoor Life published stories in the back of the magazine titled "This Happened To Me?"
My story is not quite that melodramatic. While shooting my new Ruger American rifle in .17 HMR, I noticed the bolt gradually became more difficult to open until I got closer to an 80 round count. I also had a round that lost its crimping force on the bullet such that it rattled into and back out of it's brass casing.
Then, as I was shooting at a ground squirrel, the rifle discharge sounded completely different and it felt like someone had thrown sand in my face. After wiping my face and blinking my eyes a few times, I looked down to find my magazine "grenaded" and beside it on the ground lay the head-stamp end of a .17 HMR round. A quick glance in the chamber showed the rest of the rimfire casing. I packed everything up a returned to my cabin to inspect more closely.
A closer inspection showed the bore to be obstructed with the bullet. It tapped out with a wooden dowel. Also, I noticed the ejector was damaged and bent so as to be non-functional. The extractor and bolt appeared to be okay to my naked eye. I removed the now baseless cartridge casing from the chamber. It came out pretty easily and had a longitudinal split running the length of the case neck into the shoulder. This made me curious, so I recovered and examined more fired brass casings and they showed the same split along the neck from case mouth to shoulder. Next I examined some unfired rounds in the cartridge box and they showed what looks to me like a scored groove (possibly a tool or die mark) in the same location I was finding splits cases.
I could find no recall on this ammo so I photographed everything and have contacted Winchester for resolution.
This is Lot #1NH30 of 20gr jacketed hollow point ammo.
My story is not quite that melodramatic. While shooting my new Ruger American rifle in .17 HMR, I noticed the bolt gradually became more difficult to open until I got closer to an 80 round count. I also had a round that lost its crimping force on the bullet such that it rattled into and back out of it's brass casing.
Then, as I was shooting at a ground squirrel, the rifle discharge sounded completely different and it felt like someone had thrown sand in my face. After wiping my face and blinking my eyes a few times, I looked down to find my magazine "grenaded" and beside it on the ground lay the head-stamp end of a .17 HMR round. A quick glance in the chamber showed the rest of the rimfire casing. I packed everything up a returned to my cabin to inspect more closely.
A closer inspection showed the bore to be obstructed with the bullet. It tapped out with a wooden dowel. Also, I noticed the ejector was damaged and bent so as to be non-functional. The extractor and bolt appeared to be okay to my naked eye. I removed the now baseless cartridge casing from the chamber. It came out pretty easily and had a longitudinal split running the length of the case neck into the shoulder. This made me curious, so I recovered and examined more fired brass casings and they showed the same split along the neck from case mouth to shoulder. Next I examined some unfired rounds in the cartridge box and they showed what looks to me like a scored groove (possibly a tool or die mark) in the same location I was finding splits cases.
I could find no recall on this ammo so I photographed everything and have contacted Winchester for resolution.
This is Lot #1NH30 of 20gr jacketed hollow point ammo.