Reloading aluminum and steel cases

[9mmepiphany]

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.

Me too...I'm up to 3k-4k now...no problem with other folks keeping your brass at matches either. Don't need to change over the progressive press for different sized primers either

Had another shooter who bought 500 once fired .45ACP cases. Almost 50% were SPP. He gave them to me and only asked that I keep him in mind if I picked up LPP cases

 

[Swampman]

how do you reload berdan cases?, i was told it was impossible without special tooling

I decap cases hydraulically using a standard sizing die that's had the decapping pin removed.

(These are brass cased Danish 7.62x63 [30-06] Berdan).

Once cases are deprimed and thoroughly dried, the process is pretty much like loading Boxer cases.

 

[roval]

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.

i collect them too though not preferentially. i have several hundred and when i run out of the LPP 45 switch to them. i haven't loaded them past few yrs as i have more lpp on hand but i have never collected or loaded aluminum or steel cases. i just keep reusing the same old brass i have and whatever new range brass i scrounge.
i am wondering for the people reloading aluminum, are they completely out of brass cases?

 

[mdi]

Nope, brass is just too plentiful..I save spp brass, and use it when I am unable to pick up my brass...only have a couple hundred, but several thousand (maybe 4 or 5) brass .45 acp cases.

Yesterday I ordered 250 deprimed and polished 380 Auto cases. A couple sites were "out of stock" of popular once fired brass, but looking around I've found most once fired cases for sale. Exceptions are 38 Special and 357 Magnum. Many years ago I reloaded some steel 45 ACP cases, noticed no major problems with my Lee dies, but IIRC just got one or two reloadings before mouth splits. That was "pre 9mm" for me and never tried any 7.62x39 and very quickly lost interest...

No need for me to try aluminum or steel cases and if brass cases became totally unavailable tomorrow I could still reload for several years with the brass I've got on hand...

 

[N555]

i collect them too though not preferentially. i have several hundred and when i run out of the LPP 45 switch to them. i haven't loaded them past few yrs as i have more lpp on hand but i have never collected or loaded aluminum or steel cases. i just keep reusing the same old brass i have and whatever new range brass i scrounge.
i am wondering for the people reloading aluminum, are they completely out of brass cases?

I just did it to see what would happen.
I still pick them up when I see them, but I'm just depriming, sizing, cleaning them, haven't been fully loading them since the initial experiment.

 

[peeplwtchr]

My first question is why introduce that level of complexity/risk? It sounds as though you may be new to reloading? No crime there, but you may want to channel your efforts into securing better brass case resources than playing with more risky loading practices. Not a slam on you, just addressing the sme questions I had once.

 

[hdbiker]

I did it once. I think they were Speer cases, .45 ACP, sized, trimmed and loaded with 5.3 grains of HP-38 and a Lee 230 grain TL Lee cast round nose bullet. They ran flawless in my Springfield 1911, no cracked cases

 

[N555]

Someone went nuts at the local indoor range with tula 45acp steel boxer primed.
So my relatively small collection of 100 to 200 tula steel 45acp just at least doubled in size. I had them shelved, was going to develop a load when I got enough of them and I had primers. The future is now.