CZ 527 Varmint in 17 Hornet Feeding Issues - 09/29/20
Finally had a chance to take my new CZ 527 Varmint chambered in 17 Hornet to the range to sight it in. I was primarily there to sight the scope in using Hornady factory ammo before I started doing load work ups.
Let me tell you, that was by far the worst experience I've ever had with a firearm—new or used. When she performed correctly it was an amazing experience to shoot the 527 in 17 Hornet. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the time she did not perform well. My issue stems from the fact that it would never feed the round properly. It appeared that as the round was being pushed from the magazine, the round would be directed and jammed into the shoulder of the barrel just before the neck. Even when the bullet would properly align with the neck/throat the bolt would seize up as if something was binding. I tried two different lot numbers of loaded Hornady ammo and the issue didn't change. Unfortunately, I didn't save a loaded round to measure the OAL. Ultimately, this forced me to single feed multiple rounds, which is a challenge in-and-of-itself with such a small round and tightly cut bolt opening.
Did I just get a dud of a 527 and should contact CZ or is there some trick to feeding the 17H in 527 that I'm unaware of?
Let me tell you, that was by far the worst experience I've ever had with a firearm—new or used. When she performed correctly it was an amazing experience to shoot the 527 in 17 Hornet. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the time she did not perform well. My issue stems from the fact that it would never feed the round properly. It appeared that as the round was being pushed from the magazine, the round would be directed and jammed into the shoulder of the barrel just before the neck. Even when the bullet would properly align with the neck/throat the bolt would seize up as if something was binding. I tried two different lot numbers of loaded Hornady ammo and the issue didn't change. Unfortunately, I didn't save a loaded round to measure the OAL. Ultimately, this forced me to single feed multiple rounds, which is a challenge in-and-of-itself with such a small round and tightly cut bolt opening.
Did I just get a dud of a 527 and should contact CZ or is there some trick to feeding the 17H in 527 that I'm unaware of?