Alexander Arms’ 17HMR Titan AR15 upper/rifle

[OutlawDon]

http://www.tactical-life.com/online/exclusives/tiny-17-hmr-titan/

http://www.alexanderarms.com/siteshopper.htm?cat=16

[damon1272]

Yea! They found a way for me to burn through 17 even faster! Me likey!

[shadowofnight]

Too bad it's still a blowback design, without a bolt locking mechanism you will get case rim blowouts...it's guaranteed.

When the case rim blows you get broken parts and bullets lodged in barrels, the gas vents out of the action ( Hope you are wearing industrial glasses, also watched my friend picking brass shards out of his face more than once , He is a lefty...at least when they blew with me it was just the corner of the face and hands/arms in harms way...he was looking directly into the action while firing ...blood at the range not a good thing ) ...when the gas vents rearward the bullet loses its push and stays in the barrel.

The 17HMR is no good for a blowback design, because no matter how well you design the timing of the action...cheaply made rimfire cases will still have failures...which ruins magazines...blows ejectors away...sends high velocity gas and brass shards out of the action ...and lodges bullets in barrels.

Even in the article the writer experiences all of this, and contrary to popular belief...it just doesnt happen when the gun is dirty...it can happen at anytime with rimfire cases. I have put thousands of 17HMR's through 2 different autoloaders ( Ruger and Magnum Research ) , and would LOVE a gas operated bolt locking autoloader...but with a blowback design I can guarantee you will know what lodged bullets ...blown mags/ejectors...and what a mini hand grenade in front of your face feels like when it goes off.


Here is the piece from the writer on this AA upper , like I said it can happen anytime not just from neglected cleaning...






" After 300 rounds down range as fast as I could fire, load and change magazines, the gun was both dirty and hot. Case heads started blowing on the case rim on at least three rounds. It “stove piped” the blown cases and the gun spewed smoke through the ejection port. Several magazines later I had a full-blown case rupture that lodged a bullet in the barrel. The magazine suffered from the experience, but I didn’t. The plastic on the magazine’s feed lips took a beating, which reduced the feeding reliability of the magazine. Pieces of the magazine also fell in the trigger well preventing the trigger disconnector from working properly. Removing the offending debris quickly solved the problem. The extractor took a beating, too. It was bent up and locked the bolt back. A quick field stripping got the magazine well insert out of the gun. Some minor surgery with a Gerber Multi-tool bent the extractor back into position. Since I didn’t have a .17-caliber cleaning rod at the range, I had to wait to dislodge it from the barrel.

The following day I telephoned Bill Alexander to report my progress in wrecking his new rifle. Always the inquisitive engineer, Alexander suggested that he make a “house call” to inspect the rifle, and bring me another one to wreck in the process. And wreck it we did. The day Alexander arrived we went to the range and ran the gun fast, hot and dirty. (By the way, Alexander Arms suggests that their .17 HMR rifles be cleaned after 200 shots to keep it functioning properly.) We got the gun to repeat its cartridge failures without any major mishaps. Blown cases had the penchant for bending the ejector bar, but this was fixed on the range with a pair of pliers. "