Question about some Brass

[tbcollins]

Just recently started reloading. Went to a range today and scrounged around for some brass. Have a couple questions I'm sure you all can help me with.

First Question: Wolf Brass (or is it brass) came across a bunch of black .223 rounds. These worth reloading? Seem a bit heavier then brass, will these cause any excessive wear and tear on dies? Can they effectively be reloaded?

Second Question: Also came across numerous calibers of Aluminum rounds. Can these be reloaded? I've personally never seen an aluminum shell. Not sure what they're purpose is or how effective they are.

[Eargasm]

First Question: Wolf Brass (or is it brass) came across a bunch of black .223 rounds. These worth reloading? Seem a bit heavier then brass, will these cause any excessive wear and tear on dies? Can they effectively be reloaded?

It's steel. Not malleable enough to be reformed. Leave it on the range.

Second Question: Also came across numerous calibers of Aluminum rounds. Can these be reloaded? I've personally never seen an aluminum shell. Not sure what they're purpose is or how effective they are.

Was it aluminum or nickel-plated?

[tbcollins]

Not Nickel they are Aluminum .357 Mag, .38 Spcl, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, but yes they are Definately Aluminum

[Chief-7700]

They are not worth the effort to reload. Take a look inside the case one flash hole (Boxer Primed), two flash holes (Berdan Primed). Berdan primed cartridges are very difficult to reload and finding Berdan primers well good luck.

Just realized that this is my 1,000 post on Calguns.

[Boots]

Just realized that this is my 1,000 post on Calguns.

Congrats Cheif! Wonder where the flashing red light and sirens are?... oh... that's for the 1 millionth post. ;~)

[Chief-7700]

Thank You Boots!

[tbcollins]

Yep, they all have 2 flash holes except for the .40 S&W, they have one. But still never heard of or seen aluminum shells. What's the story with them? They something special?

[Boots]

Yep, they all have 2 flash holes except for the .40 S&W, they have one. But still never heard of or seen aluminum shells. What's the story with them? They something special?

Blazer uses aluminum shells from what I understand. I may stand corrected, but most I've seen have been marketed as home defense ammo.

[Chief-7700]

Just a cheap way of making ammo. Does the headstamp say Blazer? Toss the Berdan primed stuff.

[tbcollins]

Tossed it all already anyway, didn't pick up but a couple handfuls just to check into it. And yes, it's all Blazer, headstamp CCI.

Thanks for the quick reply's and info.

[Lead Waster]

I believe a lot of makers that use aluminum use berdan primers so that people won't try to reload them. I have nothing to back that up other than "some guy said this once on the internet"

[SixPointEight]

It's steel. Not malleable enough to be reformed. Leave it on the range.

FUD. Wolf can be reloaded if it's boxer primed. Been there done that. Not as good as brass, rougher feel in the resizing die, but comes out fine.


Aluminum brass could be reloaded, however my experience is that it cracks very quickly. I had some crack on their second firing, and some cracked after sizing from the second firing. After that, I figured it wasn't worth it to load em.

Nickle plated works fine, though won't last as long as brass. Lasts longer than aluminum though.