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Demil-ed Blazer aluminum cases

2638 Views 18 Replies 5 Participants Last post by cetmesofnh, Aug 3, 2016

cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · Jul 31, 2016

Has anyone recharged these cases? I'm asking about the pulled down cases sold thru American Reloading. I purchased 500 of the 44 Mag cases. My plan is to load them fairly stoutly, with cast or polymer coated cast bullets, for hunting thru my Marlin 1894 44. Some may be trimmed back to 44 Special length, to allow heavier bullets to cycle thru the action. They will be loaded to 44 Mag levels, though.
Of the 500 I found a dozen cases I am suspicious of. In the bottom of the case there is a reinforcing rib, or some other structure. The two flash holes of the Berdan style of ignition used in these cases are usually on either side of the rib. This particular dozen has the holes in that rib, so I am suspicious of the hole. If it doesn't pass all the way thru the primer may not ignite the powder, or sufficiently to prevent a secondary burn in a now obstructed bore.
So if you've had experience with these cases, and used ones with improperly located flash holes, how did things go? Any issues with unreliable ignition?
I've got an inquiry in to CCI thru their website; I was just curious if anyone has been thru this yet?

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cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 1, 2016

As an update

I went back to the American Reloading, and checked to see what other aluminum cass they had. Turns out they have four or five other calibers, however in studying their photos, it seems the 45 ACP cases are in fact Boxer ignition. I thought CCI used Berdan ignition to preclude reloading.
I'll be waiting on CCI's reply, and purchasing more cases for field use.
Anyone else have anything to add?

Equalizer_2

· #3 · Aug 1, 2016

cetmesofnh said:
I went back to the American Reloading, and checked to see what other aluminum cass they had. Turns out they have four or five other calibers, however in studying their photos, it seems the 45 ACP cases are in fact Boxer ignition. I thought CCI used Berdan ignition to preclude reloading.
I'll be waiting on CCI's reply, and purchasing more cases for field use.
Anyone else have anything to add?

They have aluminum cases that use the Berdan priming and brass cases that use the Boxer priming and both are called Blazer. It could be that they just put in the wrong picture.

CaptGrumpy

· #4 · Aug 1, 2016

CCI Blazer does make a brass case that is reloadable.

cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 2, 2016

Am I confused...

Not trying to be argumenatative, but take a look at the website linked here...

http://www.americanreloading.com/en...new-federal-primed-aluminum-cases-250-ct.html

I think it's a Boxer primed aluminum case, but I could be mistaken....

Equalizer_2

· #6 · Aug 2, 2016

These are listed being Federal and AR has a disclaimer that to their knowledge aluminum cases are not reloadable. I know that I have reloaded nickle plated steel .45 cases with a TW 55 headstamp and I didn't know they were steel for multiple reloadings. I was doing this in the early to mid 1970s and had not heard of steel cases at that time.

What I am trying to say is that these aluminum cases MAY be reloadable a time or two. It would be interesting to find out.

bedlamite

· #7 · Aug 2, 2016

While aluminum cases can technically be reloaded, they won't last, and it's a PITA. It's really not a good idea. I did it with one case to win $20 on a bet, but only because I had a partial tray of berdan primers. On the second firing (first reload) of a 38 spl CCI Blazer, the case started to split at the crimp.

cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 2, 2016

One time only

Well, I don't know if I was plain enough, but these would be for a one shot and done use, as the manufacturer intends. The calibers these cases are in are too common to risk firearms or fingers.
My original question was about those cases with holes in the reinforcing rib. I have no issues reloading the obviously correct casings. They are in the loading work up que. Again, going back to my original posting, I was curious if anyone had encountered the mis-aligned flash holes, and what their experience had been.

bedlamite

· #9 · Aug 2, 2016

cetmesofnh said:
I was curious if anyone had encountered the mis-aligned flash holes

Are you familiar with the difference between boxer and berdan primers?

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cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 2, 2016

Oh, and the linked to cases plainly state the cases are LPP, which to me means Boxer priming. So if I hear from CCI I can engage them further about the various types of ignition systems used.

cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 2, 2016

In reply to your question....

I am well acquainted with the differences. I know Berdan was an American military officer, I think, while Boxer was a Brit.
I've converted some RUAG GP-11 cartridges from Berdan to Boxer. That is all 7.5 Swiss, of course, and before I was able to obtain Prvi brass in that caliber. And before I learned RUAG made Boxer primed GP-11 cases, or is rumored to have.

Texas Hog Man

· #12 · Aug 2, 2016

cetmesofnh said:
Has anyone recharged these cases? I'm asking about the pulled down cases sold thru American Reloading. I purchased 500 of the 44 Mag cases. My plan is to load them fairly stoutly, with cast or polymer coated cast bullets, for hunting thru my Marlin 1894 44. Some may be trimmed back to 44 Special length, to allow heavier bullets to cycle thru the action. They will be loaded to 44 Mag levels, though.
Of the 500 I found a dozen cases I am suspicious of. In the bottom of the case there is a reinforcing rib, or some other structure. The two flash holes of the Berdan style of ignition used in these cases are usually on either side of the rib. This particular dozen has the holes in that rib, so I am suspicious of the hole. If it doesn't pass all the way thru the primer may not ignite the powder, or sufficiently to prevent a secondary burn in a now obstructed bore.
So if you've had experience with these cases, and used ones with improperly located flash holes, how did things go? Any issues with unreliable ignition?
I've got an inquiry in to CCI thru their website; I was just curious if anyone has been thru this yet?

why don't you just toss the dozen cases you are suspect of? they shoulds be cheep enough to just discount them ---why chance them for hunting ammo?

cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #13 · Aug 2, 2016

That may be the end result

TX Hog Man that may be where they end up. However I am far enough behind I don't have an issue waiting on a reply from CCI.
Lemme set up a photo hosting account, and I will show y'all what I am talking about.

cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #14 · Aug 2, 2016

2

A picture is worth a thousand wordss

So here you will see a dizzying picture of an arrangement of the Blazer cases. Look into the bottom of the cases and you can clearly see the rib bisecting the bottom, and the typical arrangement of the two Berdan ignition holes on either side of it.

And this photo shows the cases I am writing/asking about....

In this second photo look at the casing at the 3 o'clock position. It is normal. Compare it to the others.

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bedlamite

· #15 · Aug 2, 2016

Yep, berdan. Not worth it. Recycle bin.

cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #16 · Aug 2, 2016

The Federal Connection.....

Maybe I knew this before, but Federal is part of the CCI family, or vice versa. I think its all under the Vista Outdoors label. So while the cases I ordered were Blazer, and the linked cases are Federal, they are equivalent. And to reiterate from my initial posting, I am recharging cases that were de-mil-ed, not cases that were fired. I will use these once and done. As specified by the manufacturer.

cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #17 · Aug 2, 2016

So I just spoke to CCI

And Justin was totally unaware anyone was selling demiled cases. I had him visit the American Reloading website, and drill down to the aluminum cases listed. Since I have 44 cases, he looked at the 44 listing. He read the pulled down aspect, and commented the cases won't hold projectiles because of the nature of aluminum. He said they make them undersized, and force the bullet in. But once the bullet is removed, you won't be able to repeat that. The hoop strength is gone.
We discussed the dozen I thought were wonky. He said I was welcome to try a couple of the more gooder ones, but he doubted they would hold bullets. He said a single shot weapon, such as a Contender, where I could seat the bullets into the lands may work, but he was thinking not. I asked about the dozen, and he said they lot tested their ammo, and if there was an issue, they scrapped the lot. They sold them whole, intact, to a guy, who disposed of them in a manner he knew not. After this Justin now knows what becomes of them.
And to tie up all the loose ends of this thread, he said they stopped the Berdan ignition a while back, so these cases are definitely dated. With NR marking, they feel that is adequate to keep folks from re-using them.
So, now to contact American Reloading, and see what they say about it all. I wonder why they sell them at all if they can't be used as ammo components?

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Texas Hog Man

· #18 · Aug 2, 2016

personally (just me) I would never buy de- milled aluminum cases...AR does have the disclaimer : WARNING: PLEASE INSPECT EVERY CASE PRIOR TO USE.
American Reloading, LLC assumes no liability for any defective or marred products and all products are sold as-is. Please have adequate education and training to load live ammunition and, please, apply a lot of common sense and logic to loading. Loading live ammunition is dangerous. Improperly hand-loaded ammunition can cause serious personal injury. Hand loading should be done only by a competent adult, and only after proper instruction. Additionally, safety glasses should always be worn when loading ammunition. Since hand-loading operations are beyond our control, American Reloading, LLC disclaims all liability for any damages that may result.

Have you tried seating a bullet into these cases and then crimping them as they should be crimped? You could be getting the "legal disclaimer" from Justin as they don't want any liability with de-milled cases ----I wouldn't load them HOT for hunting as you stated you might do in the first place with those aluminum cases as I bet you won't find any printed load data for aluminum cases to begin with, and I would have no idea on how much pressure they could hold---Just my 2 cents though

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cetmesofnh

Discussion Starter · #19 · Aug 3, 2016

After speaking with Justin I tried inserting a poly coated 240-is grain SWC into one of the cases just using finger pressure. The SWC is sized 430, and just barely started into the case. So I am intrigued to see how things will go on my press.
And it'll certainly be a work up slowly process. You are definitely correct about the lack of data. These cases may get relegated to low level 44 Special pressure loads, for young relatives to shoot.

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