Thread: 17hmr faulty ammo

Hi guys has anybody had hornady 17gn ammo just go pop and the projectile lodged in barrel .had 2 on the same day .Problem was my nephew was having a turn and did not realise and chambered another round and pulled the trigger.resulting in back of casing blowing off ,destroyed the magazine and blew the stock apart. I had the pop but realised something was wrong and stopped .i have several batchs of ammo and im not sure what batch it was as was running out of a couple of boxes. So now i am on the hunt for a ruger american stock to replace if any body has one or who does aftermarket to suit ruger american.cheers sig

mate had some that was splittting the cases...but they were doing what they were supposed to otherwise.

There was a a run of bad HMR ammo that was splitting cases and causing issues. All HMR ammo was made by CCi back then.
Hornady and Winchester fixed the problem by making their own.

I fired over 200 rnds of Hornady 17gr in the weekend and didn't have any dramas.

Fuk yeah that would of been a very narsty surprise sig, lucky no one hurt themselves. The old projectile getting stuck in the barrel trick happens more often than you think with hmr apparently.
Never had it happen to myself but as the others said did have plenty that split their cases.

I have fired thousands of HMR rounds in the last three years on pest control here in Central.

CCI has produced the highest numbers of mis - fires and for my rifle the least accurate plus split cases on occasions.

Hornady , Winchester and Federal have all performed very well with low mis - fire rates and very good accuracy and a rare split case.

That projectile in the barrel is a real concern but I've never struck it , thanks for the heads up.

How old was the ammo?I find the older stuff gives some prob. Have had one round in the thousands I fired do what your did, "pop" and projectile lodge just down the barrel. powder had a primer burn hole through it, taught me to listen to every shot

that would have been a hell of a fright

thank fuck he still has his eyes and fingers

a primer popping on a too hot load was enough to give me a flinch for quite some time

out of interest did the second shot clear the barrel?

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

mate had some that was splittting the cases...but they were doing what they were supposed to otherwise.

Ive owned 4 different makes of 17 HMRs, case splitting varied with each rifle, older ammo split more often, but different chamber sizes/machining must cause the prob? My Anschultz was the best performer for no split cases

It's quite a common thing. Seen a few blown up rifles here. Worst one the guy had flash burns to his hand and face.
The case starts of as a 22mag round where they add the primer compound which is spun in the case and rests in the bottom at the rim.
It's then necked down to .17 obviously they can't anneal the case as it's got the primer compound in it. So you end up with a few split cases. Used to be quite bad but seems there getting better at manufacturing the stuff.
I've seen them split even before firing. I'm sure if you have a look through your unfired ammo your sure to find a few.

Had heard of split cases before (not too concerned with what look like after) but having a projectile stuck down the barrel.... That's a whole new issue especially considering I have a stock of 17gr hornady and cci from 6-18months old

Ive had to hammer one out of the barrel after one failed to fire. I ejected and reloaded without checking the dud and rammed the first bullet which had come out of a split case well into the rifling.
A trip home to get a carbon rod resulted. I was suprised how much force was needed to get it out.
The rest of the box was checked and there were 7 with split necks.

With these split neck cases, I think that the issue then comes down to wear the ammo has been stored before firing.
If in a damp environment then the damp is more likely to get into the powder through the split. This maybe what is causing the semi discharge?
With my shotgun ammo in the winter I bring it in from the garage the day before and stack it on a warm radiator.
Was out pigeon shooting two Saturdays ago in the snow. It was one of those last minute things so no warm ammo the shot was definitely more sluggish.
Anyway maybe store ammo in a damp free environment could be worth the go.....sorry for those that live on the west coast guess your out of luck

I've had several 'pops' and projectiles stuck just in the barrel. But not far enough in to enable another round to be fully chambered.

This was older hornady vmax ammo that id had for a couple of years.

I Also found up to 20% of the unfired rounds had cracked necks. Took them back to the retailer who replaced them via the wholesaler.

Havnt had the issue since.

Originally Posted by Sideshow

With these split neck cases, I think that the issue then comes down to wear the ammo has been stored before firing.
If in a damp environment then the damp is more likely to get into the powder through the split. This maybe what is causing the semi discharge?
With my shotgun ammo in the winter I bring it in from the garage the day before and stack it on a warm radiator.
Was out pigeon shooting two Saturdays ago in the snow. It was one of those last minute things so no warm ammo the shot was definitely more sluggish.
Anyway maybe store ammo in a damp free environment could be worth the go.....sorry for those that live on the west coast guess your out of luck

Yep I bought a heap of old 17HMR Hornady had many split cases, Now I use fresh-ist, I think your right about age and storage, The washing machine does help, specially when the boss doesnt tell you shes washed it!! and the ammo!!

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Ive had to hammer one out of the barrel after one failed to fire. I ejected and reloaded without checking the dud and rammed the first bullet which had come out of a split case well into the rifling.
A trip home to get a carbon rod resulted. I was suprised how much force was needed to get it out.
The rest of the box was checked and there were 7 with split necks.

Watch those carbon rods dont fracture when using them, mate had slivers of carbon peeled by the barrel and enter the bad of his hand, really bad infection and doc cut and pulled out some large pieces, they cant get it all and it doesnt show up on X rays