Aluminium cased ammunition

[froggy]

VM , so the only benefit is the weight of the case ?

[DW58]

The French issued aluminium blanks for a while before they went over to plastic ones - AFAIK the plastic blanks still have an aluminium head. i.e. the extractor groove and primer pocket etc.

[Mattnall]

I used to shoot CCI 44mag with aluminium cases in my old Desert Eagle. It used to throw the case back to the beginning of the week.

[froggy]

Interesting, I did not realised. As far as I thought, and I am no expert in the field, the only French cartridges with aluminium cases were for training "reduced shooting / ballePlas" with plastic bullets and "propulsion" ones for launching "spuds" (ie: anti-tank and anti-personal) grenades ?

[Laurie]

So far as the old CCI pistol ammunition was concerned, weight wasn't exactly an issue given the intended usage and customers. This initiative was cost, aluminium being much cheaper than brass at that time - I assume it still is even given the vast increase in industrial electricity costs since the '80s.

They were only meant to be fired once and to deter reloading were Berdan primed. An old boy I knew who never threw anything out that could be recycled reloaded them (.38 Special) as a matter of routine having handloaded Berdan primed brass cases for decades, and got all his mates' Blazer 'brass' too. I think he got three or so resizings / firings before they split. Not that cases splitting on firing would bother him unduly - I'd seen him have 10 or more case separations in a day's shooting on Strensall with .303 !!

[spikedueller]

Yes for Blazer cost was the primary factor although by the time it got to the UK the cost savings weren't huge. As I recall 50 rounds of brass case Winchester was £7.50 for 50, Blazer being £6.50 for 50.

I'd heard stories of people reloading them but I thought they'd made the primers a unique size to discourage this. You still have needed Berdan primers of some sort, converting to Boxer would have been a bad idea as you would have to punch through the central reinforcing bar at the base of the case.

A friend had a Star PD at the time that had a "custom" feed ramp, brass cased 9mm bulged alarmingly, the two rounds of Blazer put through it burst, the second round blowing out the mag and blowing the grip screw in two. Aluminium just doesn't have the ductility of brass so reloading it would be chancing your arm. It did say non reloadable on the boxes for a reason....

[Laurie]

A friend had a Star PD at the time that had a "custom" feed ramp, brass cased 9mm bulged alarmingly, the two rounds of Blazer put through it burst, the second round blowing out the mag and blowing the grip screw in two. Aluminium just doesn't have the ductility of brass so reloading it would be chancing your arm. It did say non reloadable on the boxes for a reason....

I wondered about that at the time (not reloading, my friend was as mad as a barrel of frogs and just lived dangerously!, more the issue of the 1st firing in some pistols). Revolvers yes OK, but some semi-autos which were known for giving little support at the 6 o'clock position in the chamber back-end would have worried me with thin alloy cased ammo. Since then, the .40 S&W has appeared with stories about factory brass cases bulging alarmingly just ahead of the extractor groove ......

[saddler]

I have the following non CCI Blazer items.

A clip of 7.62 Tokarev adaptors I believe used in adapted TT pistols for training cadets...

I used to have a couple of said clips.....well, the carrier rounds at least.
Twas the very reason the bargain .22 TT33 "Sportowy" pistol was a bargain! (£40, posted to my door)
Insert .22lr cartridge into carrier. Repeat until all 8 are loaded.
Fill magazine & fire 8 rounds.
Spend 20 minutes looking for the empties....repeat process.
Ignore mutterings & giggles from other club members "Now worrafeckazzeeegonanbought..."

Aside from the carriers I thought the Sportowy was cracking...just it used a concept that was too outdated to make it more functional/practical

[Odd Job]

Not just cases, but some ammunition had aluminium jackets. The Winchester Silvertip in .32 ACP comes to mind.

[saddler]

Think I've got a couple of aluminum 12-bore cartridges.