BANG, OUCH...what was that!?!?

PIR8 Hook · 04-08-2007, 08:32 AM

Yesterday, (Saturday), My big brother & I had driven to Christmas valley to shoot 'rats

. In the motel room I told him of a post I'd read here where someone had had two rifles split the cases and weld the base to the front of the bolt in one day with Winchester ammo.

Big brother, (Steve_the_ nailer), had purchased a new Magnum Research "race rifle" in .17 Mach II. THIS was supposed to be the bee's knees made by the folks that build the Desert Eagles. It was grouping REALLY well at the range and he's broken in the barrel with several hundred rounds by shooting 20 then cleaning, then shooting 20 then cleaning.

We saw our first possible target and like the subjectline.... BANG like it rang my ears as bad as a friend's .280 had when I stood too close to the muzzle. I looked at him & he was wiping his eyes. (This gun looks a lot like a Ruger 10/22 action.) He pulled back the bolt and the case was still in the chamber. The base had been flattended and smashed. Since he had brought enough rifles to bottom out the springs on my truck, I told him to switch rifles....He was a bit gun shy at this point. But since he's the big brother and LOVED this new rifle he shot a couple more rounds....nothing. So I decide I'll get my new Savage .17 HRM out of the back so I can shoot. Next thing I knew I heard another LOUD POP and it had done it again...this time the case was split clear to the rim!!!! He was using Hornady 17grain ammo.

NOW he listened to me and put the split empties in the rest of the box and gun away. He spent the rest of the day putting drops in his eyes and looking in the mirror at his eyes. At this point, he was so gun shy that he couldn't hit the floor with his hat.

(Good time for a plug to always wear eye protection!!!)

He will be contacting Hornady & Magnum Research and I'll let you know the results as they come in.

McBaine · 04-08-2007, 03:26 PM

He might get a quicker responce if he goes to CCI. Speer/CCI loads all 17 HMR ammunition, heck just about all rimfire ammunition made. This includes the Remington, Federal and Hornady named boxes.

scottishsetter · 04-08-2007, 04:02 PM

Clean and DRY your chambers. I defer to the ammo Manuf.

GSD · 04-08-2007, 04:41 PM

Could we be seeing a recall soon on the .17 HM2 similar to the Winchester .22 recall?

Winchester Recall

WAID · 04-08-2007, 05:39 PM

One issue that I've been hearing on all the semi-auto .17s is that as the chamber gets dirty the rounds don't fully chamber but the gun can still fire. As Scottishsetter said cleaning is important. Most semi-auto rimfires that I have seen with fire with the bolt as little as halfway closed. The .17 ammo is for now all loaded with higher quality control than the cheapo winchester .22 that is being recalled. Not that doesn't guarantees anything.

PIR8 Hook · 04-08-2007, 06:48 PM

You guys don't know my big brother.......he has stock in Hope's #9. I believe in the flouling shot

. BUT he treats his guns better than most people treat their kids

. I swear that he could clean a gun 'til the bluing came off & some times tucks them into bed.

scottishsetter · 04-08-2007, 07:18 PM

But does he dry his chambers after using it?

Ifishsum · 04-08-2007, 10:10 PM

He's talking about 17HM2 not 17HMR. I have read of several converted 10/22s with this problem, usually firing slightly out of battery. In fact I think several autoloaders in HM2 and HMR have been discontinued for similar problems.

WAID · 04-08-2007, 10:47 PM

Both the .17 HMR and HM2 has similar issues especially in guns that really weren't designed for bottlenecked cartridges. Rimfirecentral would be a good place to do some research if you haven't already. Some batches of .17 ammo and guns just don't seem to have all the bugs worked out yet. There have been reports of split necks but nothing that bad that I've seen.

Steve_the_nailer · 04-09-2007, 02:51 PM

The gun was indeed clean (as my little brother said) the chamber was dry, the barrel was broken in. All good ideas, but...

I talked to Magnum Research and they advised they are getting more reports about Hornady and CCI ammo more than any others. They said the brass being used had the sides too thin.

I plan to call Hornady in the morning with the lot numbers and discuss the situation with them.

Rimfire Central had several posts about the same thing, no mention of my particular rifle.

I'll continue this thread with any info I get.

Steve

Hunt'nFish · 04-09-2007, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WAID

Both the .17 HMR and HM2 has similar issues especially in guns that really weren't designed for bottlenecked cartridges. Rimfirecentral would be a good place to do some research if you haven't already. Some batches of .17 ammo and guns just don't seem to have all the bugs worked out yet. There have been reports of split necks but nothing that bad that I've seen.

Biut I think we're getting two differant problems mixed up here. the origianl post was talking about std 22LR in a 10/22. The 22LR is a heel type bullet design were the case and bullet are the same length. Other than extraction issue w/ tight match chambers, there are no "issues" with the rifle/chamber. It's just a ammunition (double charge) issue.

The 22mag/17HMR/17M2 issue in auto's is a whole nother issue entirely.
Hunt'nFish

PIR8 Hook · 04-09-2007, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_the_nailer

The gun was indeed clean (as my little brother said) the chamber was dry, the barrel was broken in. All good ideas, but...

I talked to Magnum Research and they advised they are getting more reports about Hornady and CCI ammo more than any others. They said the brass being used had the sides too thin.

I plan to call Hornady in the morning with the lot numbers and discuss the situation with them.

Rimfire Central had several posts about the same thing, no mention of my particular rifle.

I'll continue this thread with any info I get.

Steve

Told Ya....He's my big brother of whom I am VERY Proud and look up to like some kinda GOD....He's "the greatest" & "the Best"

WAID · 04-09-2007, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_the_nailer

The gun was indeed clean (as my little brother said) the chamber was dry, the barrel was broken in. All good ideas, but...

I talked to Magnum Research and they advised they are getting more reports about Hornady and CCI ammo more than any others. They said the brass being used had the sides too thin.

I plan to call Hornady in the morning with the lot numbers and discuss the situation with them.

Rimfire Central had several posts about the same thing, no mention of my particular rifle.

I'll continue this thread with any info I get.

Steve

Welcome to ifish. You wouldn't happen to have any pictures would you? I was thinking this was a little different issue(out of battery fire) on my first post until I reread the first post and what I was thinking is pretty unlikely since the gun was clean.

Steve_the_nailer · 04-10-2007, 07:12 AM

I have the cases and will try to get a picture uploaded today or tomorrow.

Steve

crabbait · 04-10-2007, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSD

Could we be seeing a recall soon on the .17 HMR similar to the Winchester .22 recall?

Winchester Recall

Kinda doubtful since this was a Mach II .17, not the .17 HMR.

WAID · 04-10-2007, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crabbait

Kinda doubtful since this was a Mach II .17, not the .17 HMR.

Why would the .17 Mach II be immune to problems that the .17 HMR experiences?

PIR8 Hook · 04-11-2007, 10:55 AM

Sorry for the confusion. I own the Savage .17 HMR ....bolt gun NO problems.

The problem is the Magnum Research .17Mach II with Hornady ammo. Both companies are blaming the other right now. Hornady says the spring on the auto .17 Mach II is too weak causing the explosions. Magnum says it's a crappy batch of ammo with cases made too thin......