Dos anyone reload aluminum cases?

[shagg]

I'm sure this has come up in the past but i'm curious, can you reload aluminum cases even just once? The range i shoot at has tons of 45 acp aluminum cases laying. I was thinking if you could even reload them once it would be nice to not worry about losing my brass. I noticed they have small primers, are they standard small pistol or something non standard?

Ron

[George Tucker]

Yes it can be done, but its not worth fooling with, George.

[The Dove]

Don't tell my amigo that it's not worthit!!!

The Dove

[geargnasher]

No. It can be done, but only once or twice. Issues range from case splits on the second firing to loss of neck tension.

Gear

[mpmarty]

As has been said, not worth the effort. Most alum. cases are berdan primed so first you have to figure out how to remove the primer and then find the correct size primer to install in the case. Aluminum is a really poor metal for cartridge cases as it is abrasive and not soft enough to obturate the chamber on firing.

[DukeInFlorida]

1) Even if you find boxer primed aluminum cases, they are NOT made or reloading
2) The manufacturers put "NR" on the head stamp + NON RELOADABLE
3) The aluminum that is used is 7075, which while strong work hardens instantly when subjected to firing pressures.
4) 7075 would have to be very carefully annealed prior to using again
5) You don't have an atmosphere controlled annealing oven sufficient for controlling the annealing temperatures for these thin walled aluminum structures.
6) It would NOT be safe, therefore, to try and use aluminum cases for reloading.
7) All of the above was confirmed a while ago with Speer, the primary manufacturer of the boxer primed aluminum cases.
8) There's certainly enough brass out there to reload with.... why bother with alum anyways?
9) Blame only yourself when your gun and fingers go KABLOOIE!!

you have been warned.....

[shagg]

Thanx, that's why i asked

[turbo1889]

I reload aluminum cases for 25-ACP and 32-ACP all the time; especially the 25-ACP. Yes, it is true that you should only reload them once since they usually split or head separate on a third reload and occasionally on a second so once is enough to be safe.

I don't do it with the larger cartridges, isn’t worth the trouble; but with the itty bitty poppers it’s really hard to get brass for in quantity it’s worth it to me.

So far regular small pistol primers have worked just fine for me. Maybe they don't think anyone even loads those itty bitty cartridges so they don't bother using a non-standard primer size with them.

[Shiloh]

Tried it.

I am not comfortable doing it. I have done it so I can fire the 1911 in the winter without losing brass in the snow. I fire wheelguns in the winter when the temps get above 25 and the wind isn't steady and stiff. Rare in these parts.

The cases often split.

Shiloh

[XWrench3]

i will try reloading ANYTHING, ONCE! aluminum, brass, steel, heck, if somebody made cases out of cardboard, i would at least try. the 45 acp aluminum cases that i have reloaded, usually work at least once before they crack. if you are very carefull, and keep the flaring and crimping to a minimum, i have gotten 4 loads out of some. in my 380, i have loaded some of those in aluminum 7 times, and they are still functioning. but i do NOT use heavy or even full charge loads. with full 45 acp loads, all you can expect is one load. drop the charge roughly 30%, and you will get several loadings from them. my gun cycles fine, whether your will or not is???? i have thought a few times that it is to bad cases are not made out of sping steel (you can tell i have no education in metalurgy) so they would expand to seal, then spring back to their original shape. and all you would have to do is swap primers, dump in some powder and a bullet, and go again indefinitly. but i guess i can live with brass ok. it is a LOT better than the old school muzzleloading thing!

[Bwana]

Yes, it can be done. I have done it several thousand times. If you want to know how, pm me.

[DGV]

how does one deprime a berdan case anyway? just curious

[Bwana]

Well, I could explain that; but, it's not really necessary for this thread.

[jcwit]

I did an ecperiment a couple of years ago reloading both Alouminum and Steel cases with boxer primed cases. Reloaded 10 cases of each 5 times each. Mild loads, not low loads, not high loads, mild loads, 45 cal. ACP with 228 grain rd. nose cast bullet. Experienced NO cracks, splits or anything, they loaded and shot just like brass cases.

With all that said, do I recommend it, NO, way to much .45 cal brass available. See Mike in Colorado if you need brass.

[geargnasher]

Is Mike doing mail order now?

Gear

[jcwit]

Looks like it, check out his posts in Swaping & Selling. Decent prices.

[lwknight]

Tons of aluminum cases? Isn't aluminum worth like $1.00 per pound?
That could be some bucks!!

[S.R.Custom]

how does one deprime a berdan case anyway? just curious

More out of curiosity than anything else, I made some lightweight carry ammo for the .44 Spl Charter BullDog. Labor intensive, but it worked great. With the aluminum cases & 180 grain bullets, my carry ammo was about 1/2 the weight of brass cases and heavier bullets. Figure about a 50% failure rate due to splitting at firing. As to how...

First you size the case without the decapper pin. Then fill the case with water and raise it briskly up into your expander die... You'll want a bucket under your press to catch the water. And some WD40 to get the water out of the press ram when you're done.

Regular boxer style primers work well, too, if you first remove the anvil post from the case with a dremel tool & burr. Depending upon the size of the two Berdan flash holes in the case, you may need to use rifle primers to avoid excessive primer flattening. Also, don't tumble the cases prior to using; just wipe them clean before sizing, and use plenty of case lube, even if you're using carbide dies. You don't want to scratch the laquer coating on the case unnecessarily. The laquer keeps the cases from corroding and pitting.

I would not do it just to save on losing brass cases, but for those instances where you just "have to have" your favorite recipe in the lightest possible ammo for carry, it works nicely.

[mroliver77]

The .45acp cases I salvaged were boxer primed. There were two types though.One looked liken a normal boxer case while the other had a "bar" across the bottom of the primer seat to keep primer from pushing through. I used the normal looking ones with standard loads and had no problems. Like others I use them for shooting in an environment where case loss is heavy.
Jay

[2manygunz]

In my younger, more foolish days, I had the same train of thought. i.e. "free casings I won't mind losing". After loading about 2 boxes of very mild 9mms, I went to the range. Figured this is great. No real problems loading, nearly the same as real brass.
On the second clip, I discovered God likes me. Odd sound, weird recoil impulse, clip left the gun, and grip fell out from under my hand in small pieces.
The up side is that I only needed new grips,(& undershorts) and the stinging went away in about an hour. Then I had to break the rest of the ammo down to prevent anyone else from using it. Nice to know God is watching, but not the way to find out.