Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Ruger American 17HM2....

I shot it yesterday. It shot reasonably accurately with some older Remington ammo. Switched to CCI and every case split. This same ammo shot out of my Marlin HM2 doesn't split cases. Any idea what is causing this?

That's disturbing.

Just got mine on its way here. We shall see.

The guy doing my transfer said he and a pal shot one not long ago and had a blast. Hoping for the best, but trust Darrik and Ruger to get it right in the end.

No idea on the splits. That appears to be somewhat common with the Hummer, based on internet chatter. Not sure if it's dangerous; I suppose it depends on where the split is. My Kimber 1911 conversion used to bulge cases just ahead of the rim, which was scary, so I dumped it.

If you contact Ruger about the splits, please let us know what they say.

A quick search turned this up; not Mach 2, but HMR, and not CCI, but Hornady. The principal is the same I think, however.

This is from another forum and is the response a guy got from Hornady CS:

Well after 2 weeks of not hearing anything I finally called them. I left a voice mail to a Cindy and got an e-mail back the next day. They supposedly lost my package and below is a Copy / Paste from the E-mail I got back from Cindy.

Mr. Pearson,
I'm sorry, sir, but we have no record of receiving a package from you. It must have been lost in the mail.
The 17 HMR cases may crack because of the annealing process when they are made. The annealing process is what makes the material brittle or flexible depending on the length of time and degree of the process. This is a precise procedure with any other case that can be reloaded, as we want the case to be hard enough to do the job but soft enough to stand up to several reloads. The 17 HMR case is dispensable and can not be reloaded, therefore the annealing procedure isn't quite as strict as with other cases. When the case cracks, it's because the neck was annealed a little harder than it needed to be, making it more brittle. This does not affect the accuracy or performance of the ammunition. Normally, the fired case will eject the same as any other, and unless they are picked up later, the shooter may never even know they had a case with a split neck. We would prefer that none of the cases split, (and the majority of them don't), but it seems redundant to spend the time and money on perfecting the case when it isn't practical or necessary. Our lab has evaluated cases with cracked necks, and the powder is fine, the case necks are just more brittle.
I hope that answers your questions. Please feel free to contact one of our techs who are much more familiar with our bullets, cases and ammunition than I am. Most of our technical personnel are at the Grand in Ohio this week, but will be back next week. They can be contacted by email at webmasterhornady.com or by phone at 1-800-338-3220.
Cindy

How did it shoot with the split-cased ammo? If it shoots okay, just go with it and quit worrying about it. I've shot scads of HMR in my Marlin, some cases split, some didn't, but it shot them all just fine. Since I'm not going to reload them, I don't care about it. I just use it happily.

I didn't measure but it eyeballed at about 1.25-1.5 at 50. Remington eyeballed at about 3/4.

That won't cut it for me. The draw of the Mach 2 is supposed to be the easy accuracy. I have a brick of CCI. If it disappoints, it'll get the fast-shuffle and I'll get a Hummer barrel for my CZ, which is probably what I should have done in the first place.

You may want to hold off on investing in lottery tickets for a while. Sounds like you've contracted whatever virus Steve Redgwell has been suffering with of late.😱

BTW, was that CCI the VMax or Speer VNT? Yellow tip or black, if you don't recall the labelling.

Black tip.

Curses! Foiled again!

The sole review for the VNT (orange tip) on Midway was one star. My ammo is VMax too.

Back to hope and prayer.

Thanks for the quick response.

I finally got out to the range before it snowed yesterday.

I shot 25 5-shot groups, 20 groups with 17 grain ammo and 5 groups with 15.5 grain ammo. The 17 grain ammo was from 1 lot of CCI, 2 lots of Hornady, and 1 lot of Eley. The 15.5 grain ammo was from 1 lot of Hornady.

I was pretty happy with the outcome. While the Ruger doesn't shoot groups quite as small as some of my other 17HM2s, it is a new rifle with no rounds fired through the barrel and I think, or at least hope, that it will do a little better once it is worn in.. Groups ran from 0.36", Eley, to 0.62", Hornady NTX, with the 17 grain Hornady and CCI falling between 0.45" and 0.52". Once the leaves come off the trees I think that this rifle and any 17 grain load will prove itself to be a good tool for harvesting fox squirrels for Brunswick Stew and Mepps.

Glass?

Distance too please?

Bushnell A7, 3.5-10x36 AO

50 yards

Does it take an unusual amount of effort to close the bolt on yours compared to other rimfires you own?

Not particularly so, but in terms of fit and finish, this Ruger is more like a Marlin, Mossberg, or Savage than an Anschutz, Krico, Remington 37/40/540/580, or Winchester 52/320.

Thanks. Haven’t owned or shot anything 17HM2. Got the itch just haven’t scratched it yet. Good info.

I have 11 of them, the best tree squirrel round yet to be introduced.

I'm not expecting fancy, just functional, and hopefully accurate. If it's a flop, I'll burn up the brick of ammo and pass it on to someone else.

There are still Savage bolt guns and A17s to be had, but a Hummer barrel for my 455 still is the best deal in .17 stuff.

Well Paul, if I didn't feel your pain before, I do now. Picked mine up today and the rifle and bolt were loose in the factory box, and the trigger guard snapped off. Called Ruger and a new stock is in the works. Called Whittaker and Cody assured me that their packing job was done properly, but that UPS has been mishandling stuff a lot. I still think that if the factory box had been taped shut before placing it in the outer carton this would have been prevented, but maybe they have a reason they can't do that.

My bolt is snug, but not overly so. A little moly truck-bearing grease will take care of that. Trigger is usable, but I'll futz with it anyway.

Broken stock aside, I'm mostly okay with the rifle for the price. One minor concern is the "positioner" (I think that's what it's called) that retains the extractor. Looks a bit frail and cheesy to me. If this thing sticks I'll buy a spare or two as well as an extractor, just in case. The whole attraction of this thing is the chambering. If not for that, I'd happily pay a bit more for a CZ457 after seeing one in the flesh. If it shoots, then I might pony up for a better stock, though I'm generally against lipstick on pigs.