17 hmr bullet stuck article

[ksb]

just reading the july issue of sporting rifle and came across a letter to the editor on page 10. It describes a bullet getting stuck in the breech of a 17hmr after what sounded like a misfire. This has happened to me on two occassion with a cz 452 and winchester , just a word of caution as this seems to be more common than i thought.

keith

 

[macberran]

I have heard this from two other people as well, though it was thought to be down to a paricular make of ammo. One bullet siezing in the barrel and failing to exit. He then thinking he had missed, fired of another round, very lucky not to have been hurt. He was lamping at night so checking was not really an option, besides there was no indication to the bullet having jammed. Brand new Sako quad if I remember corectly.

 

[wildpig]

i have a 17 cz452 although i have not had a problem will definitely be checking barrel if any sign of missfire from now on,do you know what brand ammo it was?

 

[Munty1]

The same thing happened to a mate of mine in the South of England. He also had a sako quad and was very lucky not to be hurt. Not sure what the answer as it is impractical to check the rifle while lamping each time you miss.

 

[ksb]

The good thing in my case was that the bolt wouldn't fully close as the bullet hadn't moved far enough into the
barrel. If you normally slam the bolt closed I imagine the next round would chamber ok. Doesn't bestow confidence. I have never had any problems with hornady rounds but I have also heard from a few people that 17gr ammo is all the same brand, is this the case.

 

[finnbear270]

.17HMR is all off of the same machinery,in the same factory, regardless of the colour of the tip, the label on the lid , or the weight of the bullet.

 

[Sako Twin]

Happened to me last week when I was lined up on a rabbit. Just heard the click of the firing pin and for a moment thought that I'd somehow not chambered a round, but then on withdrawal of the bolt & closer inspection, there was the case with all the powder was still inside it. Seemed a bit damp & clagged together as it wouldn't come out when I tapped it and even hesitant on prodding with a bit of wire..
The bullet was lodged about half inch up the barrel.

Was a Remmy round if that has any significance..

 

[bewsher500]

surely if you have a misfire and withdraw an empty cartridge the first thing you do is check the barrel?
especially easy on a bolt action.
even when lamping just shine your torch on the ground, aim rifle at beam and look through breech.
no light = not clear!

never had a squib but have had plenty of splits cases

 

[LSF]

Hello guys,i use a cz 452 and have had no problems other than necks splitting on remmie ammo which i wont be buying again , but i heard of this problem with the round being left in the barrel and then the shooter reloading and firing at which point the back blast blew off the magazine and totally wrecked the rifle.The question is what is the cause of this and how do you prevent it,lee

 

[maffs]

I had a few misfires with a cz 452 that i sold.
I've never had a bullet stuck in the breach but its a gentle reminder to me to be checking in future on my other rifles

 

[macberran]

"surely if you have a misfire and withdraw an empty cartridge the first thing you do is check the barrel"

ANSWER

"One bullet siezing in the barrel and failing to exit. He then thinking he had missed, fired of another round, very lucky not to have been hurt. He was lamping at night so checking was not really an option, besides there was no indication to the bullet having jammed."

Bewsher read the post before bashing of a correction. He fired and all seemed to have gone as expected as in squeeze, crack ,schwit.....ah I must have missed, squeeze BANG f-----g ouch.

 

[Triggermortis]

Anyone having this problem may want to look back at the thread from Dodge1942, he had a problem with a sako quad and hornady
ammo that let go on him, for the record, i use a CZ452 with hornady blue tip ammo, probably done 5 1/2 to 6000 rounds through it with absolutley no problems

Tikkat3

 

[merlin]

I've never had this happen in my Anschutz 17hmr - but my mate has had this in his CZ .

Luckily he didn't bang another round out. Back to the farm, tap out with a cleaning rod, presto hey - job's a good 'un.

BUT - Did make us wonder what the outcome might have been if another round had gone out behind the lodged one....

If in any doubt, check. NO rabbit is worth losing my fingers and half my face for!

 

[8x57]

Guys it's got nothing to do with the make of the rifle.
It's got nothing to do with the colour of the ballistic tip.
It's got nothing to do with the name of the ammunition supplier or the name on the box.
It's got nothing to do with the colour of the wellies you are wearing.

The problem is due to poor quality control with the sole manufacturer of this ammo.

As others have already said if you suspect that something is not quite correct with a shot the obvious thing to do as with all calibres is to check your bore for obstruction.

 

[FlyBoy270]

I always use 20gr Gamepoint, never any issues with correctly stored ammo, only problems have been with rounds that got very wet out shooting, then they failed to go or produced hang fires when chambered at a later outing. Very important to keep this stuff dry, it must be prone to taking on water.

Worst ammunition I have used was Remington, black plastic tip 17gr, poor accuracy, bullet blew up in eye socket of rabbit at 100m and failed to penetrate skull, rabbit still alive when picked up, I will stick with 20gr Gamepoints excellent results on Fox, or so I believe , hmm.

Just to correct my very good friend Finnbear270, CCI make all the 17 HMR ammo, but some manufacturers provide their own bullets (17 gr, speer TNT, Hornady V max, Remington ??) ( 20gr. Gamepoint, CCI and Winchester) Winchester proved very good, late to the party ammo was very well priced and I bought 3000, still working my way through it ! Tried some 17gr CCI TNT Hollowpoints, accurate but poor knock down even on rabbits.

my contribution
FlyBoy270

 

[Bertie Dastard]

I bought 750 of the same batch no EO4Q06, Hornady blue tip.
All was well for the first 500 but then had numerous miss fires with bullet stuck in the barrel.
I got some from a different batch and no problem with the miss fires, but the consistency is terrible.
You can tell by the report that the bullet will miss the target by several feet.
They are taking the pi$$ with the price of this ammo.
If you chamber a round and just get a click. CHECK THAT THE BARREL IS CLEAR.

 

[liongeorge]

.17HMR is all off of the same machinery,in the same factory, regardless of the colour of the tip, the label on the lid , or the weight of the bullet.

I believe this used to be true in the early days and may still apply to the BT bullet itself but not the assembly of the complete round itself. I descovered this through research after I (and I believe many others) had Remington rounds cracking at the neck. It turns out this brass is manufatured else where/differently from Hornady.

 

[8x57]

I wouldn't worry about split necks as the case has done its job and you aren't going to reload it.

 

[Laurie]

This is very interesting (and worrying!). The .17HMR is using a much larger and slower burning charge of powder than the .22LR / .17M2. It suggests there is insufficient priming mix and/or under some circumstances priming compound ignition doesn't get the main charge going. The primer bit has obviously ignited as it's produced enough pressure to push the bullet into the barrel.

What is odd is that the HMR uses a necked down .22WMR case and similar powder charge weights - but probably a bit slower burning to suit a smaller calibre. Both cartridges use jacketed bullets which produce more bullet-barrel friction than lubed lead examples. .22WMR has been around a long time and misfires aren't spoken of so far as I know, so why .17HMR problems? Slower powder making the primer mix / quantity only marginally effective? Poor quality control vis a vis amount put into the case-head? Bad batch of priming compound?

The other possible answer / contributor is firing pin strike in the rifle and/or headspace issues, excessive headspace needing a longer pin reach and reduced energy, and/or harder than spec brass in the case-rim needing more energy for firing pin strike. Rimfires are very sensitive to striker energy and consistency variations. In .22LR it affects MVs / groups. In this bigger cartridge maybe ignition full-stop ..... but then again, why .17HMR and not .22WMR?

 

[bewsher500]

"surely if you have a misfire and withdraw an empty cartridge the first thing you do is check the barrel"

ANSWER

"One bullet siezing in the barrel and failing to exit. He then thinking he had missed, fired of another round, very lucky not to have been hurt. He was lamping at night so checking was not really an option, besides there was no indication to the bullet having jammed."

Bewsher read the post before bashing of a correction. He fired and all seemed to have gone as expected as in squeeze, crack ,schwit.....ah I must have missed, squeeze BANG f-----g ouch.

not giving him or anyone else a hard time but if the bullet didnt leave the barrel you wouldnt get any muzzle report or a crack from the supersonic bullet.
It must have sounded like a squib