SmallCaliberCentral

I know this is off topic but I know many of you shoot .17HMR's.

When shooting my .17HMR and .204 yesterday I opened a new box of Hornady .17's, 17g, and in the first 5 rounds split two cases sending "fliers" down range.

This is not the first time this has happened. I know it is not my rifle (Ruger) as my buddy's Savage did the same thing.

I bought a case of Hornady .17's a year or so ago and I believe these were from that batch that both of us were shooting. We had this same issue a month ago.

I also noticed, when I went to Bass Pro Shop 8/30/10 they no longer carry Hornady .17HMR and the employee there could not remember the last time he saw Hornady 17's on his shelf (they had Winchesters)

Anyone else experience this issue on cases?

I am sending the split cases and the 45 rounds left in the box to Hornady's quality control.

I've shot (and still have a ton of it) without a problem. Let us know what they say and if they give a lot number. Thanks. Gary

I shoot the sweet little 17HMR a lot and have never had such a problem. I only shoot Hornadys 17gr vmax and love that lil bullet. I shoot a Ruger and my buddies shoot the savages. They havent had an issue either. Bad batch of brass??

I shot again yesterday and had no problems with a different box. My buddy also was shooting his rifle with no problems.

I went back to the range (private) and retrieved brass under the bench from my shoot on Saturday and found 6 more split casings. This tells me my previous box was also splitting and would explain why I got so frustrated hunting cottontails on 8/30. I was missing very easy 60-100yard shots.

I am guessing Hornady had a bad batch. I am calling them today to get return instructions so they can look at the remaining rounds in the box. The number stamped on the bottom of the box is E22P13.

I will keep you posted.

I see that this thread is over a year old, but since I'm new here I'd like to share as well. Two weekends ago i was target shooting with my father's Taurus .17hmr revolver, using Hornady factory ammo. I noticed that about every other round was splitting the brass. We then tried some CCI factory ammo and had no further issues with splitting...We assume we had a weak batch of brass. Dad said he was going to try to contact Hornady, but i'm not sure if he ever did. If I find out more, I'll post an update.

Wow, been off this forum for a while and just got an e-mail you posted this thread.

I sent the split ammo to Hornady plus the remaining rounds in the box last September. They did not not respond so I sent the letter again and called. They sent me (1) new replacement box with no other correspondence with the shipment.

I figured we had at least (5) boxes affected. We threw them all away as it was getting pretty frustrating missing easy shots because of "flyers".

Since then we bought new Hornady ammo.

I was shooting a couple of weeks ago and again noticed (1) split case. I don't think I had too many in this batch as I was shooting quite a bit and did not notice an excessive number of easy misses (ground squirrels, not paper). I did not examine all my shot brass.

I am shooting next weekend and will pay closer attention to the brass.

Sometimes you can hear the case split, sounds different than a regular round, kind of a "poof" vs. a sharp "crack".

BTW - I believe CCI manufacturers Hornady's .17HMR's per Hornady's spec.

Your not the first to have problems.
My theory.
Rimfire brass is not annealed as well from the factory. Its designed to be thrown away after first firing.
Add the fact that somewhere along the line priming material is added (Not sure where or when in the process) making annealing illogical. Then the last step down to .17 cal and the brass is now work hardened to the point of failure.

I'm not saying it can't be done properly. Just that it has'nt been done correctly.
Still in theory I think much of this trouble still stems from the major shortage all manufacturers found themselves in starting 3 yrs ago.
Quality control probably took a large hit as they scrambled to keep up with demand. Rimfires, centerfire and components. Expect to see some problems until this rush stuff is off the shelves.

YEP!! But it was only with the Hornady 17gr BT ammo. The Wife's Savage splits a few more than my Marlin. No fliers tho from either rifle. Just the split brass. And it's from a lot # that shoots 5/8" 5 shot groups at 100yds off the bench.

a quick Google search on "split .17 HMR brass" turned up this thread:

http://www.shooting.com.au/forum/index. ... ase-split/

sounds like a pretty common problem with this round.

Well, there's certainly some good info there, and some derogatory people as well. It makes sense that my dad's Hornadays may have been from the old batch and the CCI was newer. My pop stock piles his ammo like crazy.