My ex turkey rifle

[kix]

  Hello all. This post is long in coming so here goes. About 2 yrs. ago I bought a Marlin 917V in .17 for a turkey rifle. I wish I could say I have slayed them but my best chance would be to sneak up and beat them with it! The problem is constant mis-fires. Some go off on the second try,some on the third and some never. I have studied the duds with the "fired" and the rim "strikes" look exactly alike. I changed ammo,same thing and then learned that CCI makes them all so that was to no avail. I have cleaned the bolt with several solvents and blew it out, also to no avail. And here's the rest of the story. My cousin came in from Colorado with his 917 (bragging it up of course) and we went to the range. Lo and behold-he was having misfires and has had some since going home. What's the deal? I know I will hear from many owners about their 917's being deadly but I have seen two rifles and ammo bought 1200 miles apart that do the same thing. I have thought many times about selling it but cannot pass on junk and if I'm honest who would want to buy it?  I would like to hear if any else has had this problem and what's the fix. Thanks for your replies.  Kix

[Keith L]

Contact Marlin.  This is not normal.

[Oldtimer]

I once bought some Squires- Bingham .22 LR at Kmart, along with two rifles.  I had to clean metal shavings out of the rifles to get them to operate, and I still had a lot of misfires.  I pulled down some rounds and found that the priming mixture was overly brittle and had broken away from the rim.  Despite buying the ammo over 1,000 miles apart, you may have bought some out of the same lot.  I would report the failures, along with the lot numbers, to the ammo manufacturer, so they can figure out if there was a problem in their manufacturing process.

[Tunaman]

I bought a 917 about 2 years ago, and I hate to say this, but I have not had a misfire yet. I have probably put about 800-900 rounds down the tube thus far. I would send the gun back to Marlin for an inspection. Good luck

[Wynn]

I'm up to 500 rounds of CCI & Hornady in my 917VSS & no misfires... yet.

[221fireball]

I have a 917vss no misfires over 500 shots.

[kix]

  Thanks for the replies guys. I forgot to say that both of these rifles were bought new so I am more than a little frustrated. I have thought many times about sending it back to Marlin but I even inspected the duds and fired with a magnifying glass and can tell no difference in strikes. A friend recently ran into money problems and since he sold his .17 Henry he gave me a box of V-Max but I have yet to go to the range. I must say when it does shoot it will put 3-5 shots into one hole at 100 yds. with the CCI H.P's while the V-Max's open up a bit. I highly respect the name Marlin but I have seen some problem rifles in the past-Marlin 39 a friend bought new and was a single-shot due to jamming and a lever .44 I bought used and was also a one-shot rifle. To this day that .44 is the one firearm I cannot remember what I did with; I was just glad it went away. Anyway, not bashing Marlin, I will go to the range soon and see what happens and will let you know the results. I just want to own a "deadly" .17!   Thanks again.   Kix

[Keith L]

Why put up with problems.  Marlin will fix it for you.  To not use their services doesn't make much sense with any of these problems. 

[Arizona Jake]

I've had a few .22 rimfire hunting rifles over the years, and they've come an gone, except for my Sako Model 78 and my Savage Model 23AA.

[alsaqr]

Savage Model 23AA.

That Savage is a very good gun.

[coyotejoe]

As you describe the rim indents is sounds like it may not be a fault of the rifle, unless, of course, ALL indents are a bit light, in which case it would not be the fault of the ammo. Try some other ammo and if you still have the problem then you'll have "ammo", so to speak, in presenting the problem to Marlin.