Reloading aluminum pistol cases

[DizzyJ]

Anybody ever tried it? I've got a bunch that were mixed in with the range pickup brass. These are boxer primed, not berdan.

Was just curious if anybody has ever tried to reload these one time. Seems a waste to throw them away if they could be used down the road in a case of brass becoming difficult or extremely expensive to come by.

More of an experimental reloading type question.

Thanks!

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[No_Regerts]

Don't. Aluminum isn't as stretchy as brass. It won't respond well to being resized and then fired again.

 

[Member 5605]

It's to the recycle bin. Loses its temper. Brass gets work hardened and you anneal to soften to prevent cracks. Aluminum work softens.

TEOTWAWKI maybe. America in 2020... no.

 

[P7M13]

Aluminum work hardens and becomes brittle, much sooner than brass.
When it ruptures, it is catastrophic, not cracking first, like brass.
I have heard of guys reloading it. I wouldn't try - why risk your health and a several hundred dollar gun to save 4 cents?
If you knew metallurgy, knew the exact alloy and the exact forces exerted with each shot, you *could* calculate exactly how many loadings you could do before the risk was too great. While an interesting engineering exercise, just the time it would take setting up the calculations would blow up any value proposition.
AND, you cannot just anneal it like brass. If you don't know the process by which the case was made, not a good idea to try to reuse. Aluminum alloys, when hardened, usually are heated in an atmosphere and then dropped directly into a quench without exposure to air. Commonly used for aircraft parts, they call them "solution" or "Drop-bottom" furnaces.
Caveat, my information may be old, as it's been 30+ years since I designed heat treating equipment.

 

[CLT65]

What the other guys said, pretty much. It can be done, but brass is so cheap and plentiful that it's just not worth it.

I've actually reloaded a fair amount of it over the years, just because. My experience has been that higher pressure rounds like 9mm will crack nearly every time, whereas lower pressure rounds like 38 and 45acp, you can get maybe a couple loadings out of them before they crack. Either way, they will crack much, much sooner than brass. Also, neck tension is simply not what it should be. I've never seen or heard of a catastrophic failure from reloading aluminum, but I wouldn't rule it out. It's just no good for reloading in general. End of the world and you can't find anything else? Sure, load 'em up.

 

[Rickenbacher39]

Please don't.
Think of the children.

 

[tac]

I was told by the man at IMI that their Blazer alOOminum cases use a different size primer so as to STOP people taking advantage of the 'cheap' ammunition. I remember that both my Lahti and m/40 used to throw the stuff about ten yards /metres.

Even over here in yUK I've never been so short of empties that I even considered reloading with alOOminum cases.

 

[eb in oregon]

There is a guy in my gun club that has reloaded 9mm Blazer cases for several years. He wanted it to see if it could be done. He has reloaded them several times, and yes they are more brittle than brass, won't last as long, and have a tendency to crack the necks after more than one reloading. His loads were medium to light, he didn't think the higher range of loads was a good idea. Just enough to function the action. The chances of the case base blowing out isn't much different than brass and they mostly do take a standard small pistol primer. While CCI once used a smaller primer for their aluminum cases I believe they stopped that years back. The diameter of their smaller primer was visually smaller than a standard pistol primer and I haven't seen one of those for years. They also used a berdan system those cases, that apparently went away also.

However I myself agree with the others, only to be used in a case of emergency as brass isn't that hard to find and it is cheap if bought new in lots of 1000. Save them for the "pockylypse."

 

[Jory45acp]

Stop whatever you do and DO NOT attempt to reuse Aluminum casings under any circumstances!!!! This will only result in a dangerous failure sooner or later.

 

[alv7722]

I inherited a bunch of WWII surplus .45 ammo in aluminum cases. Reloaded several times, no issues. YMMV.

 

[KaiserShooter]

I did reload them 9mm aluminum cases and like the posts above said it will crack, I had to replace my HK USP barrel after shooting those reloads due to the fire etching in the chamber and constant FTE's as a result.

 

[RVTECH]

Been doing it for years myself as one time only, let fly field rounds.

Use only 'fresh' recent range drop stuff and for light to medium loads only.

 

[CLT65]

I inherited a bunch of WWII surplus .45 ammo in aluminum cases. Reloaded several times, no issues. YMMV.

Those are actually zinc-plated steel, not aluminum. I've reloaded USGI steel cases too. They hold up better than aluminum, but I still much prefer brass.

 

[RVTECH]

I was told by the man at IMI that their Blazer alOOminum cases use a different size primer

Never heard this but could he have meant they were Berdan primed? (which some are) to prevent easy depriming.

 

[dmacman]

I find it hard to believe we are even having this discussion. I would venture to guess that if you read the box, it would tell you not to.

 

[RVTECH]

I would venture to guess that if you read the box, it would tell you not to.

Read most new gun owners manuals as well - most recommend to never use reloads at all - regardless of the cases used.

 

[eb in oregon]

I find it hard to believe we are even having this discussion. I would venture to guess that if you read the box, it would tell you not to.

And of course the manufacturers of such ammunition most surely want to continue to sell you ammunition and protect themselves from a lawsuit from somebody that injures them self actually reloading aluminum cases. And you never ever violate the instructions for anything, right?

 

[I594 Sucks]

Anybody ever tried it? I've got a bunch that were mixed in with the range pickup brass. These are boxer primed, not berdan.

Was just curious if anybody has ever tried to reload these one time. Seems a waste to throw them away if they could be used down the road in a case of brass becoming difficult or extremely expensive to come by.

More of an experimental reloading type question.

Thanks!

There is a really good reason why that ammo is so cheap...DON'T!

 

[CLT65]

I like to tinker and figure out how things work. I've also been reloading for over 30 years. I've done a lot of non-standard reloading stuff in that time, some of which I won't talk about because it was either a stupid waste of time, or potentially dangerous. In all that time I've never damaged or blown up a gun, but I don't tinker or push the limits so much anymore, nor do I recommend such things. I'm just saying I did it, not that it was necessarily right or safe.

There are certain kinds of reloading that I've always though of as "advanced techniques", though I realize that's not a good term for them, because true advanced techniques are things such as what bench-rest shooters do to optimize accuracy. These are more like odd-ball techniques, stuff that can work well if you understand what you're doing, but can be dangerous if you don't. These are things like reloading aluminum and steel cases, converting berdan cases, reforming cases in all kinds of ways, using pistol powder in rifles for light loads, cast bullets in Glocks, etc..

There are a lot of things that can be done, but shouldn't be done, unless you really know what you're doing.

 

[trevi]

Read most new gun owners manuals as well - most recommend to never use reloads at all - regardless of the cases used.

I think all gun manuals say not to use re-loads, but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...........