.17 Aguila anyone?

[Hogfan1911]

Anyone have experience w/the .17 Aguila round? It's similar to the Hornady .17 Mach 2, but you're supposed to be able to convert a 10/22 just with a barrel swap, no changing the bolt/springs etc. My dad bought a barrel & some ammo from Midway & put them on a beat-up 10/22 I found at a pawn shop. So far, out of ~40 rounds fired there have been 2 case ruptures, both just above the rim. On one the case head completely seperated, nearly so on the other. Both bullets cleared the barrel. Not sure where/if they hit the target, too many holes the first time, wasn't present for the second. Nobody hurt fortunately, just some powder blowback on the face. Just trying to figure out if maybe the return spring on the rifle is too weak, closing the bolt enough to allow it to fire w/o completely sealing the chamber? Or does it just sound like bad ammo? Dad's contacting the company, don't know if he's heard back yet. Any ideas?

 

[zinj]

As I recall .17 Aguila was designed prior to the development of the .17 HM2, but lost out because HM2 was chambered by a number of companies while the Aguila was chambered by almost none. I don't think it was designed to operate in the 10/22 without mods. Rather, it can be safely fired in HM2 guns (the shoulder just blows forward like a .300 H&H in a .300 Weatherby).