ANSWER TO: Are aluminum cases a gamble

Alk8944 · Jun 18, 2023

It would be nice if everyone would quit guessing about Aluminum cartridge cases!

Aluminum cased Blazer ammunition was introduced by CCI in 1981, 42 years ago. It has a well established track record when used as intended!

The only Aluminum cased ammunition available is from CCI/Speer and Federal. The reason is they are all the same company!

Simply heed the warnings of the manufacturer and there will be no problem. Aluminum cased ammunition was never intended to be anything other than one-time-use, and CCI made this abundantly clear in its documentation!

The principal reason for this is the material does not have the ductility of the brass commonly used for ammunition. Originally this ammunition was loaded with a metric Berdan primer so that it could not be reloaded with common components. In more recent years the cases have standard Pistol primers, size depending on caliber. The case headstamp includes the capital letters N R, which indicates non-reloadable! A clear warning by the manufacturer!

The reason Aluminum cases ammunition is not to be used in lever action rifles is because it results in frequent head separation. I don't know why this is true, but I do know that it happens!

Used as intended there are no problems with Aluminum cased ammunition, and if you simply observe the manufacturers warnings and recommendations there will be no problems.

326MOD10 · Jun 18, 2023

I feel I missed a debate here.

But thanks for your explanation.

VictorLouis · Jun 18, 2023

I've never had a single problem with CCI....and come to think of it, there was probably a box or two of Federal alloy in the mix, also.

THE PILGRIM · Jun 18, 2023

Have fired aluminum case Ammo in several calibers, like 9mm, 38 Special and 357 Mag.
Don’t recall having any problems.

Alk8944 · Jun 19, 2023

326MOD10 said:
I feel I missed a debate here.

But thanks for your explanation.

The following link is to the original thread. I assumed the title would be recognized since it was quite recent, but apparently not. I started the new thread because there were already 30+ replies and I didn't want it to get lost in the shuffle: Are aluminum cases a gamble?

Ranger17 · Jun 19, 2023

I never had any issues with the small amount of alum cased ammo I have used; except most of the indoor ranges I have used all did not allow it. So I just passed in buying it.

Miracle Man · Jun 19, 2023

The only issue I've really heard about is some semi-autos don't like ejecting them all the time. Never experienced that myself so not sure on any details?

Skeptic 9c · Jun 20, 2023

But what happened to the aluminum case .22 LR?
Geoff
Who is curious.

cmj8591 · Jun 20, 2023

There's no good reason to do this....but

There's no good reason to do this...but, part 2

46er · Jun 20, 2023

When CCI first came out with the AL cases I reloaded one in 9mm. The primer was actually standard small pistol without the anvil, so the anvil was removed and seated. Upon firing the case split 1/2 or more of the length, I never tried another AL case reload.

mckenney99 · Jun 20, 2023

I have fired 1000's, upon 1000's of blazer rounds, .380acp, 9mm, 40 S&W and .45acp. Some was provided for department firearms training, some I bought and used in "lost brass" (as a reloader I just can't bring myself to leave my brass behind) firearms training classes I have taken since I retired. I can say, I don't recall ever having a bad round of Blazer Aluminum ammo, while I have encountered quite a few rounds of defective brass cased ammo. The only Blazer aluminum cased ammo that I have found to be iffy, was some .38 special loaded with 158gr lead conical bullets, where the cases did not have proper tension on the bullets and you could rotate the bullets in the case with your fingers.

sjmjax · Jun 20, 2023

Only time I’ve expected problems with aluminum cased ammo was shooting it in open bolt subguns. Frequent case ruptures and jams. Some designs handled it better than others.

sjmjax · Jun 20, 2023

The only time I’ve experienced issues with aluminum case ammo was shooting it in submachine guns.
Occasion ruptures and jams. Some designs handled it better than others.

sjmjax · Jun 20, 2023

Sorry about the double post.
Didn’t realize the original posted. Meant to edit.
Occasional more accurate than Frequent.

cmj8591 · Jun 20, 2023

46er said:
When CCI first came out with the AL cases I reloaded one in 9mm. The primer was actually standard small pistol without the anvil, so the anvil was removed and seated. Upon firing the case split 1/2 or more of the length, I never tried another AL case reload.

When CCI started manufacturing aluminum cases for the sporting market, they used the Berdan priming system which uses two flash holes. In Berdan priming, the anvil is part of the case. That's the case you have. The Boxer system uses a primer that contains the anvil and generally has only one flash hole. They did that because the Berdan system is difficult to reload and they were trying to keep shooters from reusing the cases. Somewhere along the way, they changed the aluminum cases to Boxer primers, just like the brass cases. I'm sure it was to save in manufacturing by having a common primer. I think their main reason at that time for not wanting people to reload those cases is that the coatings used on the aluminum to prevent burn through didn't last for more than the initial firing and compromised the strength. There have been advances in the aluminum and the coating process since they first came on the market so the cases being produced today give them enough of a safety cushion to make the commonality of primers work for them, from a liability standpoint, if someone (I wonder who?) decides to experiment with reloading. In the civilian world, aluminum cased ammo is a solution looking for a problem. In most calibers, the cost difference is negligible and there is no performance upgrade so there doesn't seem to be much point to it. The military is another issue and they use aluminum cases in a lot of different weapon systems, although they never really had very good luck trying to apply it to the 223.

oink · Jun 20, 2023

I have experienced sticky extraction with Blazer aluminum in some revolvers. And some that required a little extra touch to seat fully. I've had some that didn't chamber reliably in semiautos. Once chambered it always ignited reliably. In all instances it was quite a few years ago. Because of that I've never bought any. The Dept didn't provide them for training for very long. I assumed it was because others experienced some issues with them too. If I was given fairly fresh box for range fodder I'd use them up.

martyd · Jun 21, 2023

I have never had any problems with shooting alum cases in my 9mm auto and 38 spec. revolver.

FYI

I do not recommend reloading alum cases.

However, I had to try it.

I reloaded 50 rounds of CCI Alum. 9mm with no problem of function in my Model 39-2.

The majority of the cases cracked at the lip after firing.

These reloads were with cast lead bullets at around 1000 fps using Win 231 and standard sm. pistol primers.

Note: There was more effort working the alum cases in the carbide dies. Probably due to the alum being stiffer than the brass. I think the cases are tempered by the factory.

Due to only getting 1 reload out of the alum cases I did not feel it was worth continuing with reloading alum cases.

BKLooney · Jun 21, 2023

I have shot thousands of Blazer aluminum cased ammo, only ever had one issue with it. I had a model 19 that would lock up tight after the first shot, the cylinder would not turn until I got it open and pulled the fired case. Close the revolver back up, fire another round..same result after each shot.

That revolver never had any other issue with thousands of rounds of brass or nickel cased ammo.

I wouldn't hesitate shooting cases of aluminum cased ammo in a pistol, wouldn't think of putting it back in any of my revolvers.

cmj8591 · Jun 21, 2023

When I did my little experiment, I got 9 loadings out of the small sample I used. When I ended, most of the cases were cracked. Several had very nasty cracks and some had multiple cracks. It was just getting difficult to maintain any kind of tension on the bullet. The head and primer pockets were unchanged. The photo below is a sectioned Blaser case next to a Federal brass. You can see the difference in the case wall thickness. The aluminum was much thicker from the web right up the side of the case. My measurements showed that there was about 10% less volume in the aluminum than in the brass. The load I used was well off the max but I think that if you put a max load in that aluminum case, you would have some pressure issues. The other thing I found was that after 9 loadings, the aluminum seemed to have become quite work hardened.

rockquarry · Jun 21, 2023

Hard to imagine why there is even a discussion on this. Most brass cases are not that hard to find nor are they unduly expensive. They last through a number of safe loadings in the hands of a competent handloader.

Why would one want to use aluminum cases for reloading? To do so is a potentially dangerous stunt rather than a safe handloading practice; it's more along the lines of something a YouTube crackerjack would recommend.

ANSWER TO: Are aluminum cases a gamble

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