Reloading aluminum and steel cases

I have loaded GI steel 45 cases from the 50’s several times with carbide dies, no lube with no problems. Have not tried the recent black steel cases. I assume they are polymer coated whereas the GI cases were zinc plated.
Aluminum cases are reserved for dummy action testing rounds. Since I don’t have any live rounds in aluminum, they are readily apparent as dummies.

I used to buy them by the case ($2.99/50 rounds) as they were cheaper to buy loaded rounds than components to reload.

I learned quickly to chamber, then unload and inspect the round. As the case is not as strong as a brass case and some firearms buckle them upon chambering or set the bullet back. Like this and this is new ammunition, the problem won’t get any better after they have been fired once.



I quit using it in bulk (again new and never reloaded) once I had a firing pin stop look like it had been cut by a plasma cutter.



Although it didn’t damage mine, I later had a fellow competitor tell me he had to change out the breechface before, due to erosion from using aluminum cased ammunition.

Not unlike this but he was lucky enough to have damaged one on a pistol that had a replaceable breechface vs having to get another slide.



Might be stuff to keep an eye on in the future.

I have bucket loads of brass, no reason to change.

I reloaded boxer primed .45 acp aluminum cases once just for grins. worked great... hdbiker

Interesting discussion. All I have to add, is to not automatically believe all brass is reloadable! I picked up a ton of .308 and it was Berden primed BRASS. Figured it out after bending the sizer/decapper on the first one... LOL

I guess I have reloaded a lot of steel headed shotshells. They can go a long time but the pressures are low and the plastic holds a good bit of it too.

milsurpguy said:

Yeah I'm thinking reload the aluminums once.

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But the big question is WHY?? What caliber?

There is not shortage of brass

Rule3 said:

But the big question is WHY??

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Maybe an extension of his 9mm for deer thread. Perspectives in what could be done vs what should be done.?

If you pick up the two piece Shell Shock Tech 9mm stainless/aluminum cases it takes a special die to reload those. The cases have to be pushed out of the die with spring pressure to keep them from separating the two parts.

I think I'd be more worried about them doing that in the chamber.........

Every time someone thinks they have built a better mousetrap-------------- Oh well!

FROGO207 said:

Every time someone thinks they have built a better mousetrap-------------- Oh well!

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Plus not like the question or idea has not been proposed since time began!

entropy said:

I think I'd be more worried about them doing that in the chamber.........

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Me too that's why I never tried to reload the two piece cases.

I have tried my luck at reloading aluminum & steel without much luck.
The aluminum was easy to reload but you could only get at most two reloads before the primer pocket stretched to the point it wouldn't hold a primer anymore.
The steel is a little more forgiving but only to a point. They have to be inspected much more carefully because it can break in places brass never will. Believe it or not steel cases are softer than brass. They will rip out with a grain structure that looks like sintered metal (also known as powdered metal). I had a bunch of the .308 cases that I was using do just that at the extractor rim. It hung the case in the chamber so it shut down my shooting for that range trip. I started carrying a aluminum rod with me to knock out the stuck cases on days I was shooting steel.


In my honest option you need to stay with brass cases, it's had all the bugs worked out of the process by now I hope.

Aluminum cases I load one and done. Perfect for shooting in the winter when you don't want to/can't look for cases.

I have dabbled w reloading steel 45 acp cases. I feel it is hard on the dies , sometimes it just doesn't crimp. Often yields a loose cartridge. I had one of them split lengthwise. That was the last time I messed w that.

I have reloaded aluminum 45acp and 9mm just to see what would happen. Primers went in solid on all the 45acp and I had a few loose primers on the 9mm maybe 5% had loose primers which I didn't load, set aside and removed and re used the primers.
45s were more likely to split when seating the bullet, had about 1% or 2% do that, I don't think any 9mm split when seating.
Only reloaded them once.

I reload some berdan cases, just get a berdan decapping tool.

Steel, Boxer primed pistol cases are useful for times when you're not going to be able to recover your cases. They're no harder on your dies than brass is. I've run tons of steel .45 cases through mine without any issue. On the other hand, except for Winchester's steel 9mm cases, you need to be careful when considering loading steel 9mm; some brands have steps inside the case that reduce capacity enough to make a "safe in brass" load really, really hot.

Aluminum cases are a lot more challenging though. They size fine, but they are very difficult to taper crimp. And they fail pretty quickly too. I use them exclusively for making dummy rounds - both "function testing" dummies, and loading dummies (used to verify seating depth adjustments).

...and people used to complain about small pistol primed 45 ACP.

I love small primer 45acp.
No one wants them, sometimes I get them for free, when buying it 1x fired (allegedly) is 10% to 30% cheaper than large primer and it's usually available.