Another .17 HMR incident : HSE Informed

Cyres

Well-Known Member
Yesterday lunchtime I had a call from a shooting mate who is also a SDF member. He was out sighting in his CZ American using Hornady ammo and suffered a barrel blockage, result was a badly twisted bolt and a 2" piece of the stock from behind the bolt shattered off, so another ruined .17 HMR. Very luckily he was unhurt.

I am unclear of the exact events but clearly the prev round was a mis fire and the bullet lodged in the barrel far enough up for the next round to be chambered and fired.

I have done a quick search on the net "Faulty .17 HMR ammunition" and it brings up reams of stuff.

I am also aware of the posts on SDF.

Clearly this is an ongoing and serious problem which is not being resolved so I have written to the HSE and asked them to investigate.

Its not really their issue, however if any Gamekeeper or Pest control officer who uses a .17 HMR as a part of their job suffered the above then it could be reported as a Dangerous Occurance and if the shooter was injured it might also be reportable as a RIDDOR if it was a seven day injury.

I await the HSE's response.

D
 
Yesterday lunchtime I had a call from a shooting mate who is also a SDF member. He was out sighting in his CZ American using Hornady ammo and suffered a barrel blockage, result was a badly twisted bolt and a 2" piece of the stock from behind the bolt shattered off, so another ruined .17 HMR. Very luckily he was unhurt.

I am unclear of the exact events but clearly the prev round was a mis fire and the bullet lodged in the barrel far enough up for the next round to be chambered and fired.

I have done a quick search on the net "Faulty .17 HMR ammunition" and it brings up reams of stuff.

I am also aware of the posts on SDF.

Clearly this is an ongoing and serious problem which is not being resolved so I have written to the HSE and asked them to investigate.

Its not really their issue, however if any Gamekeeper or Pest control officer who uses a .17 HMR as a part of their job suffered the above then it could be reported as a Dangerous Occurance and if the shooter was injured it might also be reportable as a RIDDOR if it was a seven day injury.

I await the HSE's response.

D

What type of Hornady ammo? any photos of the damage ?
 
"I am unclear of the exact events but clearly the prev round was a mis fire and the bullet lodged in the barrel far enough up for the next round to be chambered and fired."



Pedantic I know, but part 1 of the sentence I have taken from your post doesnot support the second part and why did your friend not write?- after all he has all the facts
 
I totally agree with the OP further investigation is required into ammunition batches that are dangerous, or could lead to the potential serious injury or incur death of someones life
If the manufacturers Hornady are aware of the occurrences then a factory recall of all faulty goods made should be issued.
I have also had something very similar happen to me ,only I did manage to do a final check before engaging the second round.
I use .17 hmr hornady red tips

On Misfiring, I ejected the round ,The head or tip of the bullet became dislodged from the case after ejecting the case ,expecting the bullet to be intact,this was not the case.
The bullet tip was still in the barrel

I luckily had a rod in the car and dislodged the bullet tip and still keep it as evidence if required.to prove the ammo is faulty

The report was made to the gunshop and the answer that I recieved back was ,"nothing to do with me mate" its a manufacture issue

Now I treat each round with caution ,pre inspecting the neck for any damage before I load into the mag

Keep us all posted on what the manufacturer or importer intends to do

Good Luck
 
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Yesterday lunchtime I had a call from a shooting mate who is also a SDF member. He was out sighting in his CZ American using Hornady ammo and suffered a barrel blockage, result was a badly twisted bolt and a 2" piece of the stock from behind the bolt shattered off, so another ruined .17 HMR. Very luckily he was unhurt.

I am unclear of the exact events but clearly the prev round was a mis fire and the bullet lodged in the barrel far enough up for the next round to be chambered and fired.

I have done a quick search on the net "Faulty .17 HMR ammunition" and it brings up reams of stuff.

I am also aware of the posts on SDF.

Clearly this is an ongoing and serious problem which is not being resolved so I have written to the HSE and asked them to investigate.

Its not really their issue, however if any Gamekeeper or Pest control officer who uses a .17 HMR as a part of their job suffered the above then it could be reported as a Dangerous Occurance and if the shooter was injured it might also be reportable as a RIDDOR if it was a seven day injury.

I await the HSE's response.

D

So lets get this clear.Your mate has had a misfire for whatever reason,not checked the rifle and then loaded another round in the rifle and fired it.
 
So lets get this clear.Your mate has had a misfire for whatever reason,not checked the rifle and then loaded another round in the rifle and fired it.

I took what he said to mean that the person doing the shooting was unaware of the misfire, rather than that he knew and fired the gun a second time anyway.

This is the fifth .17 HMR "blow up" story I've seen in as many months. Clearly something about this round /batch / manufacturing process / whatever is not right. Most people manage to fire thousands or millions of rounds (collectively) in other calibres without reading stories about them blowing up / misfiring / failing to function every week.
 
Not had any experience like this, I have 2 x CZ 452 Americans in 17 HMR. 1 night vision, 1 day scope, I've fired 1000's of the 17 grain Hornaday red tips. I'm always cautious due to these reports & believe the biggest issue is when the ammunition goes "bang" the bullet is propelled into the barrel without the power to exit the end, leaving the bullet far enough for the next round to be chambered & fired. If I fire & miss or can't confirm bullet strike I check before pulling the trigger again
Wingy
 
This problem is not just Hornady ammo it is Remington as well there was a bad batch of cases produced which have small cracks in the neck of the case which can let moisture in and the powder gets damp causing just the primer to go off but not the powder charge, we have had several guns returned to our shop for replacement due to this happening all of the new ammo is fine but there is still a lot around in other shops. We returned all of ours last year.
But the main thing if you have a partial detonation do not re chamber another round take the bolt out and check the barrel (common sense really).
 
A further update from the brief conversation I had yesterday.

It now appears there was not another bullet stuck in the barrell, Dave has now extracted a solitary bullet which was about 10 mm into the rifling. What exactly happened is at best unclear but when the round was fired the bullet only went a short way up the barrel the bolt somehow moved back and in doing so has broken off a panel of wood on the bolt handle side approx 2" long, there is also a crack through the stock on the other side.

Dave cannot find the case.

The round was a Hornady red tip

I did think that an explanation could be that the bolt was not fully closed when the round was fired hence causing the bolt to move backwards. Dave doesn't think this is the case and as I have no experience with .17HMR or this rifle I am unable to comment any further.

In the view that there have been numerous other reports of misfires and alike with .17HMR going back years it is extremly worrying that nothing is being done to investigate the problem, hence the letter to the HSE.

I have pics of the stock damage and bullet on my phone but cannot upload at present.

D
 
I've fired a few CZ rifles, and have never found one where the firing pin can fall forward without the handle being fully down. The cam action that closes the final section of bolt travel is designed to lock the bolt forward so the force required to push it back is far greater than the force of a normal bullet firing.

The retailer who told someone "it's the manufacturers issue" needs to be reminded that the buyers contract is with the retailer, who is responsible for goods supplied under that contract.
 
I have seen a hangfire on a CZ that might have been on account of the bolt never being cleaned of it heavy cosmoline grease(from the factory) and it maybe? not hitting the cartridge quite hard enough. SO one idea is to have all CZ's bolts disassembled and reassembled lightly oiled as a matter of course.

Another issue is a lot of split case ammo swilling about. I would not have believed this had I not inspected all of my .17 HMR ammo and found 7 rounds with the split neck in the box! So check all .17 HMR ammo and be advised. If one of these was exposed to moisture or other it could so misfire. I am happy with my .17 HMR Anschutz, but I double check the ammo. Of course if there is any weirdness to a shot pull the bolt and look(I know this is not always possible to detect)....
 
The chances are that there was a bullet wedged in the bore, and the second one fired cleared it, but left that one jammed.
A CZ will not fire if the bolt is not right down.

Neil. :)
 
P4070029.JPGP4070034.jpgThis happened to us again this year. while out lamping

Last year I had one bust my gun I now take great care with this calibre rifle.

I pulled the trigger nothing heard but it was in the winter with big woolly hat on I took the magazine out empty. I put another in and it loaded ok bang completely racked the gun I was lucky. The farmer who was driving couldn't believe how loud the bang was.

The gun was replaced by the ammunition manufacturer FOC. woodfordfallow
 
So lets get this clear.Your mate has had a misfire for whatever reason,not checked the rifle and then loaded another round in the rifle and fired it.
why are we beating each other up on here? he may be a novice... it could be the first time he ever used a rifle! i have said for years there's a serious problem with hmr ammo! somebody needs to sort it!!!....
i would never recomend a hmr to anybody...
i don't want to start a war on here but point your views to the ammo manufactures. Or it will cary on untill someone gets hurt...
 
I too have had several misfires and one bullet jam in the barrel, luckily I knew something wasn't right and stopped shooting.

After speaking to the importers I found out the following;
because the .17hmr has a shoulder, the brass would normally be annealed after this has been formed. BUT the primer has to applied to the rim first so annealing doesn't take place.
If the composition of the brass isn't perfect it can lead to cracked necks, this in turn allows moisture in which can cause the misfire's, hangfire's, squib loads ect.

Here's some of my dodgy rounds.....
Vermin 10 008.JPG
 
It isn't just HMR, HM2 has suffered just the same, Eley being the only one that I had any success with, and that wasn't 100%

Neil. :)
 
The low felt recoil, widespread use of moderators, and internal noise of the striker igniting the primer and partial combustion of the propellant, along with the shooter's attention being focused on the target, and the frequent lack of "splash" from rounds that miss their target, all contribute to making it more likely that a shooter will fail to notice a squib round, assume a miss, and quickly send another to compensate when using an HMR than with pretty much any other cartridge - which is a pity because only the HMR has this problem [and maybe the HM2, though as almost nobody uses this it's less of an issue].

Only prior awareness of this problem is likely to make a difference and protect shooters and their equipment from its consequences.

Distributors' and retailers' claims that "it is just a bad batch of ammo" and "the problem has now been fixed" are somewhat undermined by the manufacturers' excuses that it is in the nature of the manufacturing process that necks are prone to splitting.

Of course, putting a "health warning" on all .17HMR rifles and ammunition with cautionary advice might hurt sales, but it might also leave the posteriors of those in the trade a little less uncovered than they are now, and help shooters avoid "disappointment" when using what is otherwise a handy little round.

I sold my HMR and moved to a .17-cal CF because faulty ammunition was not something I wanted to have to deal with any more: a nuisance that ultimately outweighed any of the HMR's virtues.
 
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I've recently had an issue with my CZ452 .17hmr, cycle the bolt, squeeze the trigger and click, no fire?!?!? Hold it in a safe direction in case it's a hang fire, nope not happening, lift the bolt and recock the bolt without extracting the round, drop the bolt squeeze the trigger and bang it goes off second time round.

This happened with the next 5 rounds, all failed on the first and went on the second attempt. Anyone who, like me, strips and cleans the mod off their hmr after each outing will know what a dirty round it is, filthy.

So it got me thinking maybe the firing pin was dirty and not striking properly, with no enough force to ignite the primer. I stripped the bolt, cleaned it up and lightly lubed before wiping it almost dry with kitchen roll. Reassembled I took the rifle out and stuffed 3Nr 5 round mags through it without issue, problem solved.

So I would say cleaning the bolt on your hmr every 500-750 rounds isn't a bad idea.
 
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