.17Hmr Case Issues

[rimmer 33]

Anyone have any ideas on why the .17HMR has case issues and what is causing the blockage issues some lads are having.

[dadioles 68]

Without wishing to sound complacent......

 

The .22LR and .17HMR are probably (I am guessing) fired in their millions and in the main by "amateur" shooters using a wide combination of rifles in various states of cleanliness and repair.

 

They are cheap mass produced rounds using "rimfire" technology with primer distributed around the rim rather than a centrefire percussion cap.

 

The .22LR is known for great variation in accuracy and reliability and we all know how some makes / batches are "good" in our rifles and some virtually unuseable.

 

.17HMR ammunition, on the other hand, has proved to be accurate and stable and surprisingly consistent (all things considered) from batch to batch, manufacturer to manufacturer and rifle to rifle.

 

Why do people expect perfection and make mountains out of mole hills if something is not quite right?

 

There will be duff rounds or even duff batches from time to time.

 

How many of the problems are truly caused by bad ammo and how many by bad storage or bad riflemanship - who knows.

 

The chances of being injured by a faulty rimfire round are remote even if you are complacent enough to fire one into a blocked barrel. There just is not enough pressure generated. Scary though!

[rimmer 33]

All very true.

I started this Thread because another member suggested it, because the issue was raised in another thread started for somethng else.

[Deker 3,478]

The question of split cases was covered in an email response from Hornady on another thread, but to repeat.

 

This goes back to an article in Shootinguk from 2007, direct from Hornady. It has also been reported on this and many other sites since...

 

Bob Palmer at Hornady, in an e-mailed reply to George's (Shootinguk) enquiry about split HMR necks:
CCI makes the cases for all the .17 HMR ammo and loads it for the different companies. When they make the cases they draw the case out to a .22mag case that has a straight wall. Then the priming compound is put in the rim of the case. The case is spun to put the primer evenly in the rim.

After the priming is complete the case mouth is reduced to the .17 calibre to hold the bullet. The reduction process, however, puts stress on the neck of the case. They obviously cannot anneal the neck of the case to relieve the stress because of the compound in the rim, so from time to time you will get a case that cracks. Some batches may produce more splits than others. The chamber pressure on .17 ammo is so low that it does not hurt the chamber on the rifle.

They have tried to anneal the cases more before it's formed to .17, but this did not eliminate the cracks altogether. If the cracks were minor I would continue to use the ammo. The cracks do not affect the accuracy of the round and the brass is not reloadable.

 

 

 

Squib loads are very probably unrelated and will commonly come under manufacturing fault or poor storage. Commonly no powder in the cartridge or wet. Now and again no primer in the rim, interestingly I have had this with .22lr but never with HMR and the fault manifests itself with a COMPLETE NON FIRE, so no bullet is expelled from the cartridge, so that is unlikely to be the cause in HMR!

 

As I have also said, this is not to be taken lightly and any fault in rifle or ammo (although these issues appear ammo related) are serious.

 

Due care is needed with everything, if you don't look where you are going the proverbial bus will get you!

 

The tales of doom and gloom and horror stories are not manifesting themselves in ANY injuries that I am aware of or ANY blown up guns, some mags have been blown out or damaged.

 

I am not promoting the HMR or slagging it off, but a lot of emotive language is being used panning the HMR and isn't backed up with anything.

 

Show me a blown up HMR, show me an injured shooter and I will apologise.

 

Lets keep this in perspective whilst obviously showing due diligence.

 

Edited April 18, 2013 by Deker

[paulus 26]

The question of split cases was covered in an email response from Hornady on another thread, but to repeat.

 

This goes back to an article in Shootinguk from 2007, direct from Hornady. It has also been reported on this and many other sites since...

 

Bob Palmer at Hornady, in an e-mailed reply to George's (Shootinguk) enquiry about split HMR necks:

CCI makes the cases for all the .17 HMR ammo and loads it for the different companies. When they make the cases they draw the case out to a .22mag case that has a straight wall. Then the priming compound is put in the rim of the case. The case is spun to put the primer evenly in the rim.

 

After the priming is complete the case mouth is reduced to the .17 calibre to hold the bullet. The reduction process, however, puts stress on the neck of the case. They obviously cannot anneal the neck of the case to relieve the stress because of the compound in the rim, so from time to time you will get a case that cracks. Some batches may produce more splits than others. The chamber pressure on .17 ammo is so low that it does not hurt the chamber on the rifle.

 

They have tried to anneal the cases more before it's formed to .17, but this did not eliminate the cracks altogether. If the cracks were minor I would continue to use the ammo. The cracks do not affect the accuracy of the round and the brass is not reloadable.

 

 

 

Squib loads are very probably unrelated and will commonly come under manufacturing fault or poor storage. Commonly no powder in the cartridge or wet. Now and again no primer in the rim, interestingly I have had this with .22lr but never with HMR and the fault manifests itself with a COMPLETE NON FIRE, so no bullet is expelled from the cartridge, so that is unlikely to be the cause in HMR!

The only problem i have ever had with 22lr ammo was witha batch of cci mini mags virtually every couple of rounds was a popper. hmr rounds should be consistant from batch to batch supplier to supplier as its all made by cci or at least they were. thats for the post 2 above this one

[andyf 144]

Hi!

I had a 17HMR for 2 years back about 5 years ago.

I experienced a problem 3 times in maybe 1500 rounds, primer fired but the main charge didn't

at least I was experienced enough to notice, the bullet went about 2" up the barrel and that was

that. I was able to clear it with a cleaning rod.

All of the above were 17gr Remington product.

Oh dear!!

Anyway I found the 17 a 'whimpy' but extremely accurate cartridge with no practical use in 'my world'

so I binned it and got a 22.250 instead, I load all my centre fire ammo so no quality issues these days.

Unlike the 17 I have had NO RUNNERS on the 22.250.

AndyF

[bob_mullis 0]

Anyone have any ideas on why the .17HMR has case issues and what is causing the blockage issues some lads are having.

i bought 100Hornady Vmax and there were split cases though out the 100 so i swiched to Federal and have not found one since 3years on!!

[Deker 3,478]

 

Anyone have any ideas on why the .17HMR has case issues and what is causing the blockage issues some lads are having.

 

i bought 100Hornady Vmax and there were split cases though out the 100 so i swiched to Federal and have not found one since 3years on!!

 

 

 

Bob Palmer at Hornady, in an e-mailed reply to George's (Shootinguk) enquiry about split HMR necks:

CCI makes the cases for all the .17 HMR ammo and loads it for the different companies.

[dadioles 68]

He who seeks may find.....