Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Rifle or ammo problem?

Just bought a brand new 77/17 Hornet and brought it to the range today for the maiden voyage. After shooting the first round I noticed it had pretty heavy bolt lift but thought being brand new maybe I had to work through some of that as these 77s aren't the smoothest out of the box. I had loaded five rounds in the magazine and figured I'd finish them up. All fed fine but all had a heavy bolt lift. On shot five I pulled the trigger and got hit in the face with I'm assuming gasses and such. I ejected the case and this is what I found. After examining all the cases closer I noticed they all had a ring around the same spot but nothing like this one just a shiny spot on the brass.

Holy Headspace, Batman!

Bob hosed you on your ammo.

looks bad! better get that headspace checked. that said i have had more trouble with hornady ammo then all other combined.
had some leverevloution 3030 that had splits from 1/16 below the mouth to the shoulders.
mic the remaining ammo and see if the shoulders are set back.
wear glasses!

Looks like a trip back to the factory.

Lol. Unfortunately Bobs is the only one local who has the ammo and that's where I bought the rifle so......

Ruger has already responded with a pre paid label and instructions to return the rifle for service. I will definitely mic the ammo before sending the rifle away though.

It is always a good idea to inspect brass when anything new is added to the equation.

Good on them.

It is just amazing what happens sometimes when so much ammo was made so fast.

Wonder if they used bullseye powder.

Glad no one was hurt. Would appreciate very much if you kept this thread up to date as you get answers. Folks need to know if there are problem rifles out there or problem ammo. Heck could be both but I doubt anyone would have that kind of bad luck. I will say in the past I have found Ruger's customer service second to none. I just hope it stays that way over time.

Is it just me, or does it seem like there's been a bit of bad occurrences with Bill Ruger's stuff lately?

doesn't the hornet headspace on the rim?
looks to me like an ammo problem.

After some searching on the webs I see this lot number on my Hornady ammo is a popular one. Not good either. A call to hornady is in order before shipping the gun off. I'll update as needed. Lot number is in the photo but for searching purposes it is 3151646

I guess I've missed a bunch, please enlighten us/me.

looks like one of those rounds (black ring) actually had a case head seperation.

Rifle to Ruger...and...ammo to Hornady. This is not any where near normal.

How's it shoot?

Good enough is good enough.















Not really. You have a major issue.

Probably headspacing on a too thin rim with not enough shoulder. Hornet brass is wimpy anyway. But apparently you have some stacked tolerances on BOTH ends.

I'm going to get some different ammo today and try again. It seems in the reading I've done that the ammo is the whole problem. Guys with CZs and Savages have experienced this same issue of heavy bolt lift and in extreme cases like mine they too had case head separation. I'll report back.

You just as well have written / typed, " I'm going to get some different ammo today and try again. Maybe this time I'll feel something beside gas on the side of my face,....Molten supersonic particles, knock an eye out,....who knows "

You've had REPEATED good advice here regarding having that thing checked out for bad headspace.

.........WTF come here and ask advice at all ?

GTC

I appreciate your concern but I'm comfortable trying this based on the reading I've done. This identical situation has been explained by others with all types of rifles. The common denominator is the lot number on the ammo I have. I'll verify the lot number is the one with issues with Hornady before proceeding.