Several years ago(actually over a decade ago), I had plans for a prairie dogging vacation in Colorado. With that in mind, I bought 20-30 boxes of Hornady 17HMR ammo but the PD part of the trip got bumped. I've noticed reduced accuracy from this ammo over the last few years and it has also developed "hang fires". I'm at a fork in the road so to speak as to what to do with the ammo. For the last couple of years, I'd open a box and shoot from it until I got a hang fire then try another box. The other issue is necks splitting when fired. Not sure how much of this it takes to damage the chamber.
I can live with a hang fire now and then while shooting from the bench and even consider them to be "pop quizzes" for shooters. If you're developing bad habits, having a delay will show that mistake. What concerns me is the possibility/probability of a squib. I'd most likely notice but Grandkids probably would just load another round and BOOM.
I guess I have 8-10 partial boxes that have shown hang fires and at least 12-15 boxes of the same lot (or at least similar production period). I don't want to run this "stuff" through my 77/17 but the RAR 17 is more expendable. Haven't tried contacting Hornady due to the age of the ammo but maybe should try that before wanking up a rifle?
I can live with a hang fire now and then while shooting from the bench and even consider them to be "pop quizzes" for shooters. If you're developing bad habits, having a delay will show that mistake. What concerns me is the possibility/probability of a squib. I'd most likely notice but Grandkids probably would just load another round and BOOM.
I guess I have 8-10 partial boxes that have shown hang fires and at least 12-15 boxes of the same lot (or at least similar production period). I don't want to run this "stuff" through my 77/17 but the RAR 17 is more expendable. Haven't tried contacting Hornady due to the age of the ammo but maybe should try that before wanking up a rifle?