Non brass-cased ammo for 9mm?

[heypete]

Greetings all,

I've been shooting pistols for almost two years now (a Glock 19 was my first personal gun, believe it or not), and have shot numerous types of ammnuition.

Of course, now I'm getting up to the point where I'm shooting so much a substantial portion of my income goes to replenishing my ammunition supply. I don't reload pistol ammo, as I'm usually quite busy, and it's simply not cost effective, what with the wide availability of ammunition, even here in California.

Prior to discovering Miwall's commercial reloads (which perform admirably, are made with name-brand components, and are extremely consistent), I used Wolf 115gr lacquer- and polymer-coated rounds to great success (though they did smell somewhat odd, but such is life).

Any experience with CCI Blazer aluminum-cased ammunition? Other than Wolf and CCI, what other non-brass[1] cased-rounds are there? I'm inquiring, as steel/aluminum/other metals are much less expensive than brass to manufacture, and I'd like to keep my practice/plinking ammo the lowest price possible. Any experience with the NATO FMJ ammo sold at Ammoman?

That said, I've been extremely satisifed with Miwall's commercial reloads; they're $10 less per 1,000 than Wolf, and are made here in California by a small business. That is pretty much a home run in my book. I'm simply asking in case Miwall stops manufacturing ammunition (possible, with the various anti-ammo bills here in California), or I move out of state and the shipping costs would be prohibitive, compared to other commercially available ammunition.

Thanks for your input!

[1] Steel casings would be preferable, as it's easier for the range to sort the casings out of the brass ones. Wear in the Glock has been negligible, even with non-brass cased rounds.

 

[Joey101]

I was going to say Wolf. But you already said "other than".

 

[CajunBass]

I've used a couple of boxes of Wolf in my Makarov with no trouble, but for my 9mm's I've been stocking up on Remington UMC and Blazer Brass 115 gr, FMJ at Wal-Mart for $5.95 a box of 50. They've had the Winchester white box at the same price, slightly less if you can find the 100 round boxes. Somebody else might know of something less expensive, but I haven't found it in steel or brass.

 

[pbhome71]

Pete,

I have shot some Silver Bear (russian steel case) in my G19. It went bang, but is not consistent (velocity seems to vary a bit.) I got it from AIM Surplus.

If we ever decide where to go for our THR shoot, I'll bring some for you to try.

 

[nico]

A friend of mine has put a couple thousand rounds of CCI Blazer with the aluminum cases through his 1911 with only a handfull of FTFs, which is perfectly acceptable for plinking ammo IMO.

 

[DR]

I've gone through maybe 1000 rounds of the aluminium cased Blazer 9mm and I've had zero problems with it. It's a little softer recoiling that WWB, the other 9mm ammo I shoot a lot.

 

[critter]

The NATO 9mm from Ammoman that you mentioned runs fine and accurately in my guns. (SIG 229, HK P7 M8)

 

[JoeHatley]

I've run a couple cases of CCI Blazer through my S&W 952. I love the stuff. Accurate, clean, and inexpensive. I've got three more cases sitting in my gun room right now...

Joe

 

[GLOCK19XDSC]

Blazer aluminum has become my preferred practice ammo; clean and reliable.

 

[goon]

I have shot the Blazer Aluminum cased stuff before through my 9mm's with no problems. Lately I have been shooting the $12 per 100 Winchester value pack stuff from WalMart.

 

[Jay Kominek]

Any experience with the NATO FMJ ammo sold at Ammoman?

I've only gone through maybe 250 rounds of the stuff, but it is fine stuff.
It is, however, really hot. I had some Olympic 9mm that I thought was hot. The NATO beats it, hands down. Lots of bang, flash, smoke curling up out of the barrel, etc.

That said, I'd buy more.

 

[Zach S]

I used blazer for a while (in .45), but quit buying it since my thompson doesnt like the aluminum cases. It ran find in everything else though.

I've seen Geogia Arms canned heat (reloaded) mentioned a few times on the board, never used it though. It seems a few bucks cheaper than the M882 at ammoman, but shipping may make up for it. I doubt its loaded as hot.

http://www.georgia-arms.com/canned_heat.htm

 

[heypete]

Thanks for your input, folks.

I am, however, curious why CCI went with aluminum cases. As they're part of Federal/CCI/Speer/ATK, I can imagine that their manufacturing costs are quite low, as they can produce things in incredibly massive quantities. Does aluminum really save that much for them?

The Russians and other eastern-bloc countries have been making steel-cased ammunition for decades, and have the process down pat. The US even used steel-cased ammo in at least World War II (I don't know about other wars), so the knowledge is there as well. I believe that steel is quite a bit less expensive than aluminum or brass, so I've always wondered why they didn't simply go with mild steel casings like the Russians do?

Also, for those of you who use Blazer stuff at the range, what do you do with the aluminum casings? At the range I go to, we just sweep them past the firing positions, and the range staff collects them at the end of the day. Can the casings be placed in normal municipal recycling bins that take aluminum cans? Are they simply thrown in the trash? Do metal-recyclers take them? I try to make my shooting have as minimal non-reversible/non-renewable impact as possible, and simply throwing out otherwise good aluminum or steel to simply be buried in the ground again doesn't make much sense to me. Same question applies to steel casings -- can they be recycled?

Cheers!

 

[GEM]

Blazer -9mm at $3.84 a box. No problems.