a17 feeding problems

Just picked up the new a17 and took it out to the range today. However, almost every time I fire, the magazine releases and falls on the ground and another round wont chamber. I also noticed that it was denting the next casing that it would try to chamber. I'm using the Hornady ammo. I know they recommend the CCI, but all they had was the Hornady and they claimed other ammo should work fine. Any idea what's wrong? Someone told me they thought it may just be the magazine. It's a 10 round rotary mag. The place I bought it from has a return policy, thinking I may just take it back and let somebody else be the guinea pig.

It sounds like your best bet is to take it back.

TC07 What kind of accuracy where you experiencing. Any new model that comes out have their glitches.

Same issue. Every round, both CCI and Hornady caused the magazine to drop out and the case was dented. It appears that a .17 HMR may be difficult in semi-auto. I have sent a service request to savage, but I suspect they have an issue with the magazines. I was very hard to load, so it appears defective. I'll post what Savage does to resolve the issue.

have not shot mine yet, but the clip snaps in with a loud click and feels good on mine, hopefully get to shoot a few rounds this weekend .. we will see then

So in other words, you're getting this as well...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...o.jpg~original

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...o.jpg~original

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...o.jpg~original


I'm not having an issue with the magazine popping loose, but here's what is happening. In my case it's a magazine issue in that the nose of the round is sitting to high which is allowing the rim to dip down. In doing so the rim is now sitting to low and the bolt isn't catching it when it cycles. As a result the bolt catches the round about 1/4 the way up the case and puts that nice dent in it. When the bolt does catch the rim to strip a round from the magazine, the nose of the bullet is still sitting to high and ends up jamming into the breach of the barrel above the chamber causing a jam. Very frustrating in both instances.

Savage has a couple replacement magazines on their way to me for my review gun so I'll report back as to whether or not they resolve the issue. In terms of the mags falling out, I have noticed that you can put the mag and think it's in place but it doesn't actually click into place.

still have not had time or good weather to try mine yet :( but got a couple extra newer mags ordered and on the way.
one way or the other I am shooting it this weekend I hope

Weather has kept me from getting back out as well. If it's not pouring down rain it's wind gusts up to 40-50mph. Gotta love spring time in Ohio.... :rolleyes:

spoke to someone at Savage a while back. without going into too much detail I said I am leerey about buying this rifle before the bugs are worked out. that person said "you might want to wai a little while"
apparently they knew what they were talking about.

I wish they would stop rushing these new products into production before the bugs are worked out/

I am having the same problem that J. Baker is having. Savage sent me a new magazine to try, but the issue is not the magazine. The slot in the stock that the magazine goes into is 1/16" too big and it fits sloppy. If you position the magazine just right you can get it to work, but you shouldn't have to do that! I have sent my gun back to savage so we'll see what happens. For those of you who haven't shot yours yet you can load the magazine and manually try to cycle the rounds by pulling the slide back to see if you are going to have issues with your gun.

Good news: New magazines have pretty much solved the feeding issue depicted in the photo's above. I only experienced four jambs out of 140 rounds fired yesterday with the three new magazines Savage sent me.

Bad News: I'm still getting a failure to strip a round from the magazine on occasion with the A17 ammo, and much more frequently with the CCI TNT ammo and Hornady V-Max ammo which I suspect is a short-cycle issue. When it happened with the older ammo in most cases it not only failed to strip/chamber a new round, but it also failed to recock the hammer.

That said, the latter might have been due in part or full to the gun being dirty as I now have approximately 210 rounds through it without a cleaning. Going to give it a good scrubbing, lube up the bolt and see if that changes anything.

I will say this though...this thing slings spent brass like nothing I've ever seen before. I'm talking 15-20 feet!

You need to make sure that the mag clicks into place when the dog on the front of the mag latches with the rifle. I'm having FTF issues I think because the rear end of the cartridge drops too low so the bullet tip hangs-up on the top of the chamber entrance. I have the original mag and an extra. I don't know if one works better than the other but I will do a test and report the results. It didn't make a difference if I Used the special A17 ammo, Hornady Vmax or Winchester Vmax.

I just returned from a varmint hunting trip and fired about 600 rounds. Overall performance of the rifle was good but the FTF problem was a source of irritation.

Looks like Savage is getting a lot of these guns back, mine included, I had a lot more problems than just feeding though.

The magazine was the issue. One mag worked flawlessly, the other jammed at least once in 10 rounds. Will Savage send me a replacement mag at no charge?

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Originally Posted by blaster49

The magazine was the issue. One mag worked flawlessly, the other jammed at least once in 10 rounds. Will Savage send me a replacement mag at no charge?

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Only way to find out is to call them, but I imagine they would.

talked to savage last Monday they were just finishing up my gun. He rattled off a whole list of parts they swapped out and said it performs flawlessly now. Hopefully when I get home today UPS will deliver it. They had my gun for two weeks.

Second one Savage sent me for review (guess they didn't like my first review too much) is running fine. I've only had two FTF's in 160 rounds and both were a failure to strip a round from the magazine when running some really early CCI 17gr TNT ammo. This one really wants to be a one-holer to at 50-yards, but with most every group I seem to lose the fight with the stock on rounds 4 and 5. The trigger on this one is worse than the first one with a major "hitch" in the pull that makes it almost feel like a 3-stage trigger (blade, hitch, break).

I will say this though - If you're a left-hand shooter and plan on getting one of these, make sure you always wear eye protection when shooting it. On two or three rounds from most every magazine I feel something hit my face just under my right eye. All the cases look good (no bulges or cracks), so no indication of the bolt opening to early. Best guess it's a granule of unburnt powder or something, but whatever it is it's moving fast and you don't want it in your eye.

Thanks for the leftie tip!. That is why I quit shooting right handed semi auto's a long time ago. It's just not worth the risk plus the safeties are always backwards for me.

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Originally Posted by Rooster 50

Thanks for the leftie tip!. That is why I quit shooting right handed semi auto's a long time ago. It's just not worth the risk plus the safeties are always backwards for me.

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Never had an issue before now, but most of my semi-auto experience is just with 10/22's and AR's.

What's a clip

I'm having exactly the same issues that J. Baker is having on the first page of this thread where the misfeed pictures are posted....I've emailed Savage with the problem but it's only been 24 hours so no response as of yet....Anyone have any ideas or thoughts on this, I'd sure welcome the input!

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Originally Posted by B52GRobins

I'm having exactly the same issues that J. Baker is having on the first page of this thread where the misfeed pictures are posted....I've emailed Savage with the problem but it's only been 24 hours so no response as of yet....Anyone have any ideas or thoughts on this, I'd sure welcome the input!

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You will need to send the gun back to savage. They will replace the stock and a few other parts. I called them and they emailed a return label and I had my gun back in about 18 days.

You have to visually watch the mag latch into place In front. You can hear it click. I did not try opening the bolt first but that should help. My current problem is related to the trigger not returning. I think the bolt is short cycling. The gritty trigger is related to the weird accutrigger spring. It is smooth without it, but the gun had to be hand cycled for some reason.

The weird thing about this whole A17 ordeal, is that if I reach underneath and hold upward on the magazine and don't allow it to drop down (especially in the rear), it works like a fine Swiss watch! If I don't, I get the same results as the pictures posted by J. Baker....

As long as i make sure mine click
In no failures at all but can be decieved if not checking everytime. I called savage was told 2 mfg formagazines one had wrong geometry . Sending new one out. They want mine back . Been waiting. 2 weeks so far

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Originally Posted by Oafeng

talked to savage last Monday they were just finishing up my gun. He rattled off a whole list of parts they swapped out and said it performs flawlessly now. Hopefully when I get home today UPS will deliver it. They had my gun for two weeks.

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Took a good look as my issue with the mag was up too high and bolt slightly striking the magazine resulting in short stroke no pickup of round on a few occasions. The top of the mag being worn down at the rear by the bolt striking and rubbing it was fixed with a file to radius the rear of the mag. The relationship of the trigger group in the stock locates the magazine at the rear with the spring that locks it in place and the stock itself locks the front of the magazine in place when the plastic release clip snaps into the stock itself. No click then no lock into proper location. The action fit to the stock is critical as the magazine in no way is connected to the barrel bolt assembly. If the stock is loose then the relationship of barreled action to magazine is wrong and if too tight then its wrong again. Big difference on the action working or not. It seems to me that as the magazine is used more and more that the stock will wear down and will lose its relationship with magazine placement. Barreled action a bit too far forward or rearward makes for the same problem. I really like the rifle and the way it shoots but see so many ways that feeding malfunctions can happen and it may not be the magazine and may change each time you clean and assemble the rifle. I too have a new mag on the way but think the mag should have locked straight to the barreled action for perfect placement each time. Just a guess on my part as I hope this keeps shooting as it does.

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Originally Posted by B52GRobins

The weird thing about this whole A17 ordeal, is that if I reach underneath and hold upward on the magazine and don't allow it to drop down (especially in the rear), it works like a fine Swiss watch! If I don't, I get the same results as the pictures posted by J. Baker....

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I finally gave up on the email I sent Savage because I never received any response....I called them and they are sending two magazines to see if that is the problem....If not, it'll have to go back for repairs....I'm not very happy with the A17 right now, needless to say!

Oafeng,

Well did Savage make you happy on their returned rifle, I'm curious as they told me about the same as they told you I think for repairs, this is what they told me they did to mine:

I spoke with Rebecca, a very nice women at customer service, she informed me that the rifle had been sent to shipping for delivery as it had been repaired and test fired with 40 Rounds with no failures.

Listed below is what has been done to the rifle for repairs:

1) REPLACED THE STOCK

2) REPLACED FIRE CONTROL/TRIGGER HOUSING ASSEMBLY

3) REPLACED RECOIL ASSEMBLY

4) REMOVED BURRS FROM CHAMBER AND POLISHED CHAMBER.

5) REPLACED MAGAZINE

6) CLEANED GUN THOROUGHLY, THEN LUBED.

7) TEST FIRED FORTY ROUNDS WITH NO MALFUNCTIONS!

Hopefully after that amount of work the gun should work flawlessly and the trigger should do what it is supposed to do.

Will get back to you after I take it to the range, keeping my fingers crossed.

JDR

Finally, got time and a chance to shoot mine. I have 3 clips and ran each thru 3 times and I had no trouble with jamming or the clips falling out. :) I must be lucky. it also shoots fairly well for not having my shooting bench set up to use

I felt all your pain.
Mag kept falling out, either when the bolt catch was released or after the first round fired. Very disappointed but I did manage to get the scope sighted. Took it home and took a closer look. Even though it was making a good audible click the mag catch lever was not engaging all the way. I gave it a firm slap with the heel of my hand like you might do with a semi auto pistol and it caught, every time. Took it out to the field out back and a dozen or so bushy tailed ground rats paid the price of my success. Never a hiccup after that. Also ran a full mag at rapid fire too, no problem. I am happy.

It took me a long time to get the bugs worked out of my a-17 but I really have a shooter now. I was having all the problems shown in the pictures on page one. First I thought the bolt was not moving back far enough. I bent the hammer spring and weakened the pressure till the firing pin barely dented the case. I cannot stress enough the importance that you DO NOT DO THIS. You will get burnt powder in your face almost every shot.
After several more tries I finally think I have hit on the fix. I took the front pillar spacer out. I made three spares. I filed a few thousandths off of one and tried it. After filing several times and scraping just a little of the plastic off the stock where the front pillar meets the barrel I got the mag fit where there is no play when snapped in. It almost won't go in at all with the bolt closed. This helped immensely but was still getting about one failure per mag. I took the butt plate off and filled the pistol grip with a little mortar mix. I then put mortar mix in the front of the stock under the cover plate.
Now has the weight and rigidity of a good wooden stock. I have not had one failure to fire with ANY ammo I have put through it. I don't want to be stuck shooting only some special ammo. I have shot at least 100 rounds of every ammo type I can get my hands on, including the 15 grain California no lead stuff. The only misfire I have had was 1 fail to fire. Tried that shell in my bolt and it failed to fire it also. My son and I have put at least 500 rounds through this gun in the last 4 weeks and love it. Have cut playing cards in half at 100 yards. Can't do it every time but that is mostly the shooter. I don't sand bag but I do use a bipod.

Hi, just joined the forum. And, I just bought myself a new A17 today, and then ran up on these 'problem' threads, lol. Anyway, I won't get a chance to get to the range for at least a week to try it out

I'm hoping these issues were confined to earlier s/n's, and have been rectified on the newer rifles. What s/n range are the rifles that have experienced issues? Mine is J94xxxx, which I'm assuming is pretty recent(?).

I bought my A17 2 wks ago, shot it over the wkend. I manually loaded the first round and fired it, the gun would try to cycle the next round and dented it like the other posts. This happened many times, was really T'd off about this. Had bought 3 extra mags, happened with everyone. One thing I noticed was the back of the mag didn't fully seat up into the bolt bed, and could see the notch on the bottom of the bolt was sliding over the ammo round. I'd push up on the mag and the round would cycle properly. You can see the smallest of a gap when you slowly slide the bolt over the mag.
When I had the gun apart, on the trigger assembly, I noticed that a wire type of mag ejector spring wraps around the area where the clip slides up & into, I assume to secure it in place. My thinking is that this spring is restricting the upper mag notch from resting on the ledge where the spring is laying across.
I haven't contacted Savage yet, and with hunting season in, sending it back to them and waiting for whatever they will do is disheartening. I honestly don't think it's the mag, but I could be wrong.

Any thoughts on this matter since this thread is a bit old.

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Originally Posted by J.Baker

So in other words, you're getting this as well...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...o.jpg~original

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...o.jpg~original

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...o.jpg~original


I'm not having an issue with the magazine popping loose, but here's what is happening. In my case it's a magazine issue in that the nose of the round is sitting to high which is allowing the rim to dip down. In doing so the rim is now sitting to low and the bolt isn't catching it when it cycles. As a result the bolt catches the round about 1/4 the way up the case and puts that nice dent in it. When the bolt does catch the rim to strip a round from the magazine, the nose of the bullet is still sitting to high and ends up jamming into the breach of the barrel above the chamber causing a jam. Very frustrating in both instances.

Savage has a couple replacement magazines on their way to me for my review gun so I'll report back as to whether or not they resolve the issue. In terms of the mags falling out, I have noticed that you can put the mag and think it's in place but it doesn't actually click into place.

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After experiencing the same problem, dented cartridge, I examined the mechanical issues and decided to test my theory. I modified the magazine to prevent cartridge "see-sawing" while in the ready position. It worked and no further issues. Let me know if you would like the solution. BTW, a new magazine won't necessarily solve this problem. My first post, so not sure if this has been done properly.

Lock the bolt back before inserting the mag.

I now use the Butler Creek mag. The extra length allow a good grip when inserting, and it's easier to load then the factory mag.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/93...-polymer-black

1/15/2019 Savage has not improved the QC in the past few years on the A17 HMR rifle. Took mine to the range and the first round fired and the trigger locked and could not pull. Then ejected and fired the new round same thing. Called customer service while at the range. The lady told me adjusted the trigger a 1/4 turn clockwise, which I did. The rifle did cycle a second round and then a third firing without pulling the trigger. I am really disappointed that Savage Arms has not fixed all the problems with the A17 rifle. Mags and cycling and the poor design of the mag holder. The Butter Creek mags are a great improvement except the latch on the rifle is a poor design. I sent the rifle back to Savage for repair. I called customer service for progress report and was told was in for repairs and Savage would sent repair sheet with the rifle return with what was done to rifle. Well, they did not. Called Customer service again and ask what was done to my rifle, said would email me and she did. I guess am pis about the hold thing. I have never bought a firearm, pistol or rifle in over 40 years that did not function property right of the box. Will never buy any Savage Arms Product again.