First one I've seen...

[glenwolde]

The range I go to has some very attentive RSOs. When they see me start to pick up my brass they just start sweeping it into a pile for me in a large dust pan. Then they pour it into a bag for me.

They sweep up a lot more than what I shoot. Lately I've been shooting 9mm and there's always some non-9mm in the pile. A couple of .40's. A .32 ACP. A handful of .380. An occasional .45 ACP. But since I come home with four times as much brass as I went with it's not like I'm going to complain.

This popped up in the last batch. Just one of them. I've read about these somewhere. I don't think I'll reload it but if I remember they are reloadable.

[44specialfan]

Is that a sim case ?

[glenwolde]

I found it.....google "Shell Shock Technologies". Live ammo.

So the base is aluminum and the rest is nickel plated stainless alloy. Fancy.

[44specialfan]

Interesting and thanks!

NAS3 Two-Piece Shell Case Technology: Best In Class
Features

Engineered for the future: 50% lighter and 2x stronger than brass
Outperforms nickel-plated brass on every level
Uniform wall thickness + proprietary assembly techniques = reliable and consistent velocity, 0.93 fps standard deviation achieved in Independent Test Report.
Reloadable
Ejects cool to touch
Made in the USA

[glenwolde]

Originally Posted by 44specialfan

Interesting and thanks!

NAS3 Two-Piece Shell Case Technology: Best In Class
Features

Engineered for the future: 50% lighter and 2x stronger than brass
Outperforms nickel-plated brass on every level
Uniform wall thickness + proprietary assembly techniques = reliable and consistent velocity, 0.93 fps standard deviation achieved in Independent Test Report.
Reloadable
Ejects cool to touch
Made in the USA

I found another article that says it's even cheaper than brass. But it requires special dies to reload ($100).

[Ivan the Butcher]

Due to the massive quantities of copper used in ammunition, during WWII, "they" started making steel pennies and steel cased 45 ACP ammo. As soon as the war was over they went back to copper pennies and brass 45's!

Back in the 80's steel cased 45's were the cheapest surplus you could buy! I tried reloading a dozen of the cases. I could not quite get the primer crimp all the way out! The cases never went all the way back to completely sized, and the taper crimp didn't grip the bullet tight.

Just because they can make ammo some cheaper way doesn't mean they should!

Ivan

[mikerjf]

Steel pennies and silver nickels. Did they make any 45acp out of silver? No such luck... (Maybe some 45 Colt for the Lone Ranger?)

[teletech]

Any shell casings lighter than brass are interesting for carry use as far as I'm concerned. I'd be even more interested if I were LEO / military as a way to reduce fatigue on patrol and/or carry more rounds at the same weight.
For military use even better if it's not reloadable or needs special tools as it is less potentially useful to one's adversary.
I'm interested to notice that plastic-cased ammo keeps being an "any day now" proposition. I did buy a box of plastic-cased 38spl years ago and it ran fine though I recall the bullets were a rather boring plated-truncated-cone.

[mikld]

Special sizing dies are needed. A "normal" sizing/decapping die will separate the two pieces. Some say they are cheaper than standard brass, but I find it hard to believe a chunk of brass being run through a machine in one or two operations is more expensive than machining/stamping stainless steel, two pieces and assembling them.