Marlin 917V .17 hmr mis-fires

Bow Hunter

New member
I bought a Marlin 917V in .17hrm within the last six month. I took it sage rat huntin in Oregon the first week of June. It did wonderfully but I did experience 3 mis-fires in about 500 rounds. It wasn't the ammo, Federal 17 gr V-Max because when I re-chambered each of the 3 rounds, they fired the second time. Also, there didn't seem to be any firing pin marks on the casing rim the first time.

My buddy bought the same model this past week and had 3 or 4 mis-fires in about 150 rounds.

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm suspecting it's a firing pin problem.

I intend contacting Marlin in the near future about this.

Thanks,

Bow Hunter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
There are tolerances on the rimfire ammo. The rim thickness varys from shell to shell. I saw a gauge to check this in a magizine. I will try and look for that tonight. The headspace on rimfire bolts is big to allow for some inconsistincy(sp). Headspace depends on rim thickness. The gauge was a dial indicator that measured rim thickness. Find out what works and chuck the rest.

My ruger 10/22 was doing this quite a bit. I found that the bolt has a pressed in grove to hold the front of the firing pin down. This had wore down and allowed the pin to rise up and nearly miss the shell. I took two pennies and tapped them into the front of the bolt until the firing pin barely moved up and down. Probably a little over 1/16 before the fix. I took a hacksaw and trimmed the excess penny and filed from there.
 
I've never had it happen to me but Ive read about it before, alot of times there just too much oil and crap so i would clean it out really good.
 
Never a problem with my Marlin. The only problems like that that I've heard of were from not cleaning the sticky shipping gunk off the rifle real good before firing. It collects dirt. I clean my new rifles real good 1st thing outta the box. HTH
 
Thanks fellas' for the replies. I did clean the gun after I got it home. However, I did not dis-assemble the bold. I was wondering about headspace.

I contacted Marlin today and was told to "ship 'er back" and they'd take care of it. So back she goes in the morning.

I do appreciate your info. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Don
Bow Hunter
 
Good to hear Marlin wants it back right away. Didn't mean to insinuate you didn't clean your rifle but it's just that some people don't realize the importance. Let us know how things work out with their repair department.
 
Glen,

No offense taken. It would have been easy for me to overlook cleaning since I was in the middle of a sage rat massacre. Thanks for taking the time to send your advice.

Don
Bowhunter
 
I am having a problem with misfires with mine (Marlin 917V). I think it is the ammo. My firing pin is hitting the brass consistently and # of misfires varied from brand to brand. Keep us posted on what you find out please. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
heelerdog,

When I contacted Marlin, I was told that there should be no difference nor problem with ammo brand. I believe my mis-fires were with Hornady brand but in all fairness I was shooting Remington also and don't remember if the problem was with one or the other. I tend to believe I had mis-fires with both - more with Hornady only because I shot a far greater number of them. I intend to keep shooting the Hornady brand (17 gr. V-Max) as they did remarkably well, other than the mis-fire issue which I believe to be the rifle not the ammo.

In your case it may be a headspace issue as yippi suggested above.

Marlin was fairly emphatic about returning the rifle to them, sighting my liability. I was told that hangfires can discharge several moments after the trigger is pulled. I knew that but wasn't too concerned since it didn't appear that the pin had ever struck the cartridge rim. (When I re-chambered each of the mis-fires, they fired perfectly the second time.) I certainly don't want any hangfires or mis-fires if I have a nice coyote or bobcat in my scope, so I sent it back yesterday.

If/when I receive any further info from them, I'll be glad to post it here for sure. Best of luck!

Don
Bow Hunter
 
I just got my 917V back from Marlin. They replaced the firing pin and the striker. Haven't had a chance to run any lead through it yet. Hopefully, soon!

Bow Hunter
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
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