It's happened again, an HMR bullet stuck in the barrel.

[kenj]

About two years ago I suffered misfires and a bullet jammed just up the barrel using Remingtons in my CZ452 HMR. The cartridge case was badly split, with most of the powder unburned. Checking my pocket at the time for used cases, several had various sized splits. Also an unfired bullet had a long crack from the bullet past the neck. I stopped using them and went back to Hornady V-MAX and had no trouble. Before Christmas I was out shooting rabbits, when the fourth shot went click-pop and smoke came out of the breech. I took out the bolt and saw the barrel was blocked and had to pack up

 

I was able to knock the boat tail through from the breech using a 5/32 inch brass rod at home. Unlike the Remingtons that had longitudinal cracks in the cases, the one removed and three more cases out of twenty in my pocket had a small crack/hole right in the corner of the neck. The ones that had fired OK had a burn mark at the hole, where gases had escaped. I had noticed a few flat sounding shots, when out before. The Hornady rounds appear to have a slightly bigger radius at the start of the neck down compared to the Remingtons.

 

I've just checked the remaining 13 rounds from the box of 50. One has a long crack as per the Remingtons, three others have heavy crimp marks at the neck, one looking like a short crack. The next 50 I checked all seem OK. That fourth cartridge could have been in the magazine for months, as I tend to shoot two, or three rounds, then switch to a full mag. Topping up as I go along, so it's possible damp could have got in. My ammo is stored in the gun box, which is mounted in my modern house.

 

It's a pity that this problem hasn't been fully sorted. Sitting down with a magnifying glass going through every bullet is not ideal.