winchester 17HMR ammo problem

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Pinard

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Hi folks, ran into some trouble this week end while trying my newly aquired savage 93R17 heavy barrel

first 15 shots were amazingly accurate at 50 yards, then it began to spread a little with flyers.

Then I tried to cycle the bolt, no ejection. The casing (fired) was stuck in the chamber. Took a spent casing and pried it out (not without quite some difficulty). Once it got out I was surprised to see it was cracked... the casing split. I checked the other fired casings and inspected them, they all were fine.

Could it be bad ammo? Should I be worried about the rifle? I'm gonna test it with some CCI next week but could use some of your opinions.

Ammo used is this: red box on the left.

 
There's been a lot of noise about the win. ammo and split cases. Do yourself a favour & stick to Hornady or CCI.
 
will do ! I wanted to try some different stuff to see what the lady liked but I'll stick with quality ones ! that one frightened me a little...
 
I had problems with winchester .17 HMR ammo. Grouped poorly and some split necks. Sold it to a guy witha savage that ate it up no problem. In looking at my ammo it appeared that the winchester brass is slightly thicker. The rims were fatter and more rounded. It was only a few thou but definitely measurable. I think some chambers work ok and others don't. I only use Hornady or cci which are the same brass.
 
ha ! also forgot to mention, had three FTF ... ejected and rechambered them, fired just fine. hope I won't need a new firing pin / spring and it's just the ammo, I'll stick with CCI and hornady ! they have a nice bundle at low cost (A17 CCI) I might try them.
 
good news is I'm not the only one and my rifle is not broken haha

I ordered some A17 from CCI ... maybe I'll try hornady when it shows up locally
 
Last edited:
ronnie01 said:
If you do a little searching you will discover that there is only 1 supplier of 17hmr brass CCI.

R
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I have heard that, but I have also heard that the only difference in the various 17HMR loads using the 17gr V-Max is the color of the tip. That doesn't match up to my own testing, as the Winchester loads were consistently heavier, and when I weighed the fired casings, they were heavier by the same difference as the ammunition, so the difference is the casings. A well the velocity was different for the Winchester loads, and they did shoot more accurately in my Cooper rifle. I fired a couple of thousand Winchester loads in that rifle with zero issues, and the present owner of the rifle has fired thousands more of the same loads with zero issues. In my present Cooper rifle, the CCI 17gr V-max are much more accurate than the Hornady loads, but I haven't tried the Winchester loads in this rifle.
 
I'm not sure that all the brass is CCI. From measuring up my ammo stash:

dimensions in inches, Base Diameter, neck diameter, rim thickness as measured by my crappy tire caliper.

Fired Hornady: .2905, .1935, .0550
20gn hornady: .2890, .1915, .0520
Wichester Super x 17gn hp: .2915, .1930, .0550
CCI 17gn hp: .2900, .1915, .0515
Winchester Varmint HN 17vmax: .2925, .1930, .0565
Hornady 17gn vmax: .2885, .1910, .0510

For me anyway it would appear that the Winchester ammo is slightly larger in the neck and could be the reason it doesn't work well in my rifle. If it is made in the same plant I have no idea why it performs so poorly- the super X at 50 yards a 2-3" group while everything else is tight. I tried hard to like it as I bought a bunch from Lebaron for $10/box, but I ended up selling it because it wasn't worth shooting.

ronnie01 said:
Read post#10

http://17hmr.net/index.php?topic=6865.0

R
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I've only ever shot hornady. Some boxes the accuracy is better than other boxes it seams, but that could just be me. I shot one box of winchester 17 gr and it worked fine but the accuracy in my CZ was terrible. If I ever run into cci around here, I would love to give that a try.
 
My CZ hates Winchester and splits them badly. I also had some split Hornady, but not nearly as bad, and they all would eject. I also have , NEVER FIRED split Hornady's!!!!!
 
langbanger said:
I've only ever shot hornady. Some boxes the accuracy is better than other boxes it seams, but that could just be me. I shot one box of winchester 17 gr and it worked fine but the accuracy in my CZ was terrible. If I ever run into cci around here, I would love to give that a try.
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go check london bullseye... just bought two bricks of A17 200rounds from CCI, they also carry hornady slightly more expensive by the 50s.... like 3$ more

Lead hammer said:
My CZ hates Winchester and splits them badly. I also had some split Hornady, but not nearly as bad, and they all would eject. I also have , NEVER FIRED split Hornady's!!!!!
Click to expand...

I find it funny that they say it's all the same brass but they do not behave the same... anyways happy to learn it wont hurt the rifle and its no big deal.
 
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