A17 Ruptured Case

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this site and I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue. I recently purchased a a17 to plink/hunt with. I have a marlin bolt 17 but wanted a semi auto for a little faster shooting. Was out shooting today testing some different ammo (cci 20gr game points and hornady 17gr vmax). When I had a case rupture (happened with the hornady 17gr never a problem with the 20gr game point). Lucky nobody was hurt, but it popped the magazine out and jammed the bolt. This was near the end of shooting and ended it there. Once I was able to pop the casing out the bolt seemed to function normally and loaded and extracted properly. I did not fire it after this incident just moved bolt back and forth by hand. There was no bullet stuck in the barrel but I noticed when I broke it down to clean the black metal piece that holds the case on the left side of the bolt near the face had a burr that was causing a scratch in the action. Firing pin appeared okay and looked normal.

I'm going to send it back to savage for warranty work as I think there is some kind of issue. I don't know if it was the hornady ammo or the gun but I thought the delayed blowback design was supposed to prevent this from happening. Previously shot close to 300 rounds of the CCI game points without a hiccup. Also clean the gun and lube every 150 rounds and when this occurred to had less than 100 rounds through it. The case ruptured at the back and split the neck. It would appear that the blowback lock wasn't fully locked or didn't stay locked long enough.

First issue of this sort I can recall reading about. It could possibly just have been a matter of the action gunking up as different ammo can cause more or less fouling than others. Other than reviewing one (well - two, but that was due to a different issue) when they first came out I don't have much experience with them, but given my experience it really doesn't surprise me. Being a lefty, on most every shot I would feel a few specks of what I assume was unburnt powder pepper my right cheek when shooting the A17.

I've also always viewed the A17 as a rather finicky/high maintenance design with the momentary lockup system. The fact that Savage took the time to create a video specifically on how to clean/lube the model before it even started shipping tells you they knew it was a rather finicky design as well.

I read this thread with interest. I have had the same experience. Shot a bunch of CCI of two different types both 17 grain through it with no problem. Then, tried Remington Premier Magnum Rimfire 17 gr boat tail ammunition and the rifle didn't cycle a few times in the string of shots. Then, upon examining the casings later I found one that was split from the front to a liitle past the shoulder of the case. Another case was bulged at the base where the firing pin hits, the bottom was a little convex and not flat anymore.

Wondering if the person who started this thread got an Answre from Savage. The Remington ammo is actually about 100 fps slower than the CCI so unless it is something to do with how quickly the pressure builds up it dosn't seem like it ought to be generating more pressure.

Oh, by the way, all the Remington shots grouped to the right of where the CCI hit.

It would be a huge pain to send this gun back to Savage. Anybody have any comments or suggestions? Just shoot the CCI ammo and forget aboiut these nifty Remington boat tails?

17 hmr has always been finicky in semi autos. Most manufacturers discontinued them and others have had various (fixes) for the problem. I changed my favorite and most accurate rifle I ever shot into 22 mag because they couldn’t make it run. Idk what Savage did to make theirs run but I will probly buy the A22 because of the problems that have been had. I understand it is a pressure inconsistency. With all that being said you’re probly smart in letting Savage check it out. I’ll probly never have another 17 Hmr but they are a lot of fun. I have a 17 fireball for my encore. The 17 wsm looks interesting but I can shoot my Fireball cheaper.

Split necks on 17 HMR cases is nothing new as the necks are so thin, most people just never notice they split because they don't ever look at their spent rimfire brass. I almost always get a few split necks per box of 50 rounds in my bolt gun so it has nothing to do with semi-auto function.