[DoctaGlockta]

I fired a reloaded Aluminum 45ACP case today at the range without incident.

I used a once fired Blazer case, a Remington small rifle primer, and a 200g MG plated flat nose bullet sitting on top of 6.0 grains of Unique. This was loaded on my LNL AP.

It was shot out of a G36. Fed from the magazine into the chamber perfectly and fired properly. I did not chronograph the round. The case ejected and looks to be in the same shape as it had before it was fired.

I'm not going to get in the habit of doing this all the time. But I wanted to find out in a pinch if all I had was aluminum cases that I could manufacture functioning ammunition (think SHTF scenario). I'm not advocating that anyone else do this.

If anyone else here had done the same thing please comment and share your experiences. Thanks. Art

[willie_pete]

Aren't Blaser aluminum cases Berdan primed? Remington doesn't make Berdan primers. What am I missing here?

WP

[hdbob]

I always thought you Dont reload them.

Originally Posted by DoctaGlockta

I fired a reloaded Aluminum 45ACP case today at the range without incident.

I used a once fired Blazer case, a Remington small rifle primer, and a 200g MG plated flat nose bullet sitting on top of 6.0 grains of Unique. This was loaded on my LNL AP.

It was shot out of a G36. Fed from the magazine into the chamber perfectly and fired properly. I did not chronograph the round. The case ejected and looks to be in the same shape as it had before it was fired.

I'm not going to get in the habit of doing this all the time. But I wanted to find out in a pinch if all I had was aluminum cases that I could manufacture functioning ammunition (think SHTF scenario). I'm not advocating that anyone else do this.

If anyone else here had done the same thing please comment and share your experiences. Thanks. Art

[manderson525]

Would you explain how you did this?

[Glock2008]

I've reloaded a single round of .223 remington into some boxer primed steel cases. As with your experience it worked fine.

[PCJim]

but I believe the problem with reloading aluminum casings is that the "springback" is not the same as with a brass case, thus it is more difficult for the case to get a proper purchase on the bullet to keep from incurring bullet setback. There also may be a longevity issue - those aluminum cases will not hold up to the repeated reloadings of brass cases.

You did not say whether this was a single bullet inserted into a magazine and fired as such. A better gauge of whether the practice could be sustainable in your scenario would be to insert it first in the magazine, followed by additional rounds to max capacity. Fire all rounds except the aluminum cased round, remove it and check for bullet setback after experiencing the recoil of the weapon.

I suppose that an alternative solution might be to use a very little bit of crimp to help hold the bullet in place.

[Boxerglocker]

Originally Posted by PCJim

but I believe the problem with reloading aluminum casings is that the "springback" is not the same as with a brass case, thus it is more difficult for the case to get a proper purchase on the bullet to keep from incurring bullet setback. There also may be a longevity issue - those aluminum cases will not hold up to the repeated reloadings of brass cases.

You did not say whether this was a single bullet inserted into a magazine and fired as such. A better gauge of whether the practice could be sustainable in your scenario would be to insert it first in the magazine, followed by additional rounds to max capacity. Fire all rounds except the aluminum cased round, remove it and check for bullet setback after experiencing the recoil of the weapon.

I suppose that an alternative solution might be to use a very little bit of crimp to help hold the bullet in place.

Your taking great risk reloading aluminum cases. You are work hardening the case each time you resize it. Aluminum cases are heat treated prior to loading them new at the factory. Firing them once changes the crystaline grain structure of the metal, then resizing them does so once again, making them more brittle. Just one reloading alone flaring and then crimping the case would seriouslly weaken the case. NOT good.....

[dogmower]

i did the same experiment about 20 years ago. same result. it was a cci berdan primed aluminum case. just used the regular desizer and knocked out the primer (made a new hole in the base of the case), and reloaded as normal.
it loaded and fired just like a brass cased round.
i only did it once, just to see if it would work.
i don't reccomend doing it, however, just because we got lucky, doesn't mean the practice is safe.
lefty.
ha-ha, just kidding.

[GioaJack]

Loading Berdan primed brass is not difficult... it's just a pain in the butt and not worth the trouble.

You simply need a Berdan de-capping tool and the appropriate sized Berdan primers. Both items are still for sale and available. (Boxer style primers will not function in Berdan brass)

It can be done easily... but why would you?

Jack

[Bultx1215]

I tried it with 9mm and a bunny fart load. Worked just fine. Mine were Boxer primed, too. I lightly crimped them and had zero setback. Shot them reloaded one time only and then cleaned and inspected them for cracks etc out of curiosity....and then pitched them. The experiment was over. I have several thousand brass cases waiting and really don't need to be worrying with the alu cases anymore.........although I do save them still because you just never know.

[PBKing]

No aluminum thru my dies. No way.

Interesting read though, thanks

[mteagle1]

For your SHTF scenerio you can do as I did and acquire enough brass, primers, bullets and powder to last through the conflict.

[Colorado4Wheel]

Seriously, Your SHTF shooting needs should have ultra reliable ammo. All you need is a blood trail from your own gun hand to lead the Zombies straight to your secret bunker. I'm not letting that happen to me. No way.

[jaybirdjtt]

I drove without my seatbelt fastened and nothing happened. Reloading has enough variables to worry about and brass is the cheapest component! 45 ACP is a low pressure round so you got away with it. I figure my cost for 45 ACP brass to be $.0085 to .015 per round max allowing for losing a few or bad brass. Powder runs around 2.2 cents or less.
Save money on bullets instead!

[El_Ron1]

If you search, both aluminum and steel have been reloaded with the results documented here in the past.

[DoctaGlockta]

Originally Posted by willie_pete

Aren't Blaser aluminum cases Berdan primed? Remington doesn't make Berdan primers. What am I missing here?

WP

Now they are boxer primed. Thanks for all the feedback and discussion.

[jaybirdjtt]

Just wondering.....can you recycle them with the aluminum cans? I'm going to check because they are always getting pitched at the range. Then I can afford to buy some new Starline brass instead of bags of mixed range cases. I still bend over to pick up pennies and soda cans also. "Born to Reload!" Hmmm. Could be a hit song!?

[DoctaGlockta]

Originally Posted by El_Ron1

If you search, both aluminum and steel have been reloaded with the results documented here in the past.

Did the search. Didn't find much here but elsewhere on the internets. Yes it has been done before. I'm not claiming to be the first.

[PBKing]

I gave it some thought and I guess I'll just have to save my
last Brass Case for me. After all...is there life after brass???

[PBKing]

Originally Posted by El_Ron1

If you search,

No offense to DoctaGlockta

[PBKing]

dbltap

[shotgunred]

When they first came out blazer reloaded and fired the same cases repeatedly at displays to show how good they are.
Just because it isn;t done all the time doesn't mean it is not safe. People tend to be set in there ways.
But I enough brass not to bother.

[unclebob]

Originally Posted by El_Ron1

If you search, both aluminum and steel have been reloaded with the results documented here in the past.

And last year thousands of people jumped out of airplane. Out of those thousands 50 people died. How many of those did you hear about?
Yes aluminum and steel cases have been reloaded, Is it safe too do? IMHO NO. The cases were never designed too be reloaded.

[DoctaGlockta]

Originally Posted by shotgunred

When they first came out blazer reloaded and fired the same cases repeatedly at displays to show how good they are.
Just because it isn;t done all the time doesn't mean it is not safe. People tend to be set in there ways.
But I enough brass not to bother.

Interesting. Do you know if this was with the berdan or boxer primed cartridges?

[Bob2223]

Originally Posted by unclebob

And last year thousands of people jumped out of airplane. Out of those thousands 50 people died. How many of those did you hear about?
Yes aluminum and steel cases have been reloaded, Is it safe too do? IMHO NO. The cases were never designed too be reloaded.

Ya know there were other very interesting statistics of those 50 people that died.
48 of them owned a blue press
and 47 of them didn't have a parachute.

Anyway back on topic, I wouldn't load aluminum or steel cases myself.


Bob