Range brass

[alanwk]

Looking over the pile of range brass collected, I noticed a few were silver colored, almost chrome looking. I assume they are aluminum. Can these be reloaded or are they trash? Thanks.

 

[bihj]

The chrome looking brass is nickel plated. You can treat it like your other brass. The dull silver colored cases are aluminum. Toss them.

 

[Jim Watson]

Most "silver colored" cases are nickel plated brass; often used for high end ammo.

 

[Cliff6]

.....and of course, with range brass, always run a magnet over the brass. Some "brass" is just brass washed steel and sure looks like brass.

Cliff

 

[mdi]

Aluminum cases can be reloaded, but should they? Alum. cases have a very short life, sometimes just one reload before they split, crack and lose neck tension. I tried some 45 ACP, don't remember the manufacturer but they were Boxer primed ( 45 is fairly low pressure and brass lasts for a very long time, many reloads) and got one reload and case cracked on sizing and a couple had no neck tension, couldn't properly resize. Just my experimenting...

So far cartridge brass is the best material for ammunition cases. I've tried reloading aluminum and steel cases, (I have one stainless steel 2 piece case I looked at, ain't gonna try reloading that!) but mostly not worth the time and effort...

 

[Jim Watson]

(I have one stainless steel 2 piece case I looked at, ain't gonna try reloading that!)

Those take their own dies, are apt to come apart in a regular sizing die.

 

[N555]

I reload aluminum but I don't recommend it.

 

[Thomasss]

There are lot of odd ball type cases included some that are steel but look just like nickel. Nickel handgun cases are nice to reload and shoot because they last a very long time. Their primer pockets eventually expand too much to function properly or hold the primer tight. I don't load nickel rifle cases because they are very hard to correct neck tension.

 

[lightman]

A lot of us including me load and shoot a lot of range brass. But you can find a lot of interesting and sometimes useless stuff.

Like the others have said, the shiny silver is probably nickel plated and loads like any other brass. The dull silver is probably aluminum and most of us throw it out. Steel cases often show some rust and some steel cases appear green. It would pay to run a magnet over all of it.

Also, there is no real way to know its history so a close inspection is a good idea.