Fried Chicken Blowout Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) Over the last week I got to shoot and then had the pleasure of working the Noveske Area 2 Multi-Gun Championships in Byers, Colorado. The match was amazing and all the great shooters were amazing to watch and learn from. This was a "lost brass" match so we as the RO's, got to keep the brass shot on our stages. As a result we got some good chuckles out of what we found related to reloading. I think the most striking and worrisome is there was one shooter who appears to have been reloading Blazer Aluminum 9mm cases. Not sure why this was done. Maybe a complete lack of knowledge or maybe on purpose in an effort to not "waste" brass at a match where you were not allowed to retrieve it. Besides the damage to the cases as an indication of reloading, in person there's a definite look to the case that it's been through a sizing die. We were not able to ID who the shooter was or even what squad they came from. But I figured I'd get to word out and maybe they would notice the post. If this is a common and safe practice please let me know. Maybe I'm just missing some new high speed ninja reloading trick. But from my knowledge this is not an acceptable or safe practice. Please post up your opinions and experience with this subject. The photos below are just a sampling of what was found. We didn't find a single one that was not cracked. Untitled by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr Untitled by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr Edited April 10, 2013 by Fried Chicken Blowout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 These are Berdan primed? Where did he find the special decapping and repriming equipment, let alone the primers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fried Chicken Blowout Posted April 10, 2013 Author Share Posted April 10, 2013 These are all Boxer primed. It was brought to my attention after we found these that Speer switched to Boxer primed aluminum cases recently to unify their primers across lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Phil Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Holy Cow! No, in fact HOLY CRAP!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.E. Kelley Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I would call it as you have but with this… They still are Berdan primed? Correct? That takes real effort using an extraction tool, or hydraulics, or the caveman… punch a center flash hole in them to get the primer out. Beyond that I use a bunch of Al cased ammo and I have experienced "flame cutting" or more correctly gas cutting of cases and chambers with factory ammo. Those lots were exposed to the manufacture and are to my knowledge long gone. or are they? These cases look far more severe than mine looked for splitting. Hmmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.E. Kelley Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Great, the Boxer Berdan answer given while a slowly type! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fried Chicken Blowout Posted April 10, 2013 Author Share Posted April 10, 2013 Holy Cow! No, in fact HOLY CRAP!! Pretty much... And if you look close by zooming in on the center case that has the huge crack... There's a separate little crack that was venting gas just above the rim that eroded the rim some. Pretty impressive stuff. I wonder if this cases any chamber erosion over time or what. We shot about 200 round of pistol during the match. I would have like to know if there was ejection issues as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregflier Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) I was scrounging brass after a USPSA competition in Virginia a few weeks ago and saw the same thing. Every case was split and most had even worse erosion in the "unsupported" area then the middle case in the photo. I had always wondered what would happen if someone reloaded aluminum cases. Greg Edited April 10, 2013 by Gregflier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaster113 Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I've always wondered what would happen if you reloaded Blazer aluminum cases and here's the answer! holy sh*t Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prebancolt Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Don't The Aluminum Cases Have NR On The Head? People Havent Figured Out What It Means?...Just Wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fried Chicken Blowout Posted April 10, 2013 Author Share Posted April 10, 2013 They do have NR on the head. But hey, if you're gonna reloaded aluminum cases, why would a little stamp stop you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titandriver Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) Looks to me like a guy could get one more loading out of them before running into real problems! Edited April 10, 2013 by titandriver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retarmyaviator Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) Darwinism at work, in this case the potential to thin out the already shallow gene pool of the individual that thought this was a good idea. Edited April 10, 2013 by retarmyaviator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fried Chicken Blowout Posted April 10, 2013 Author Share Posted April 10, 2013 Looks to me like a guy could get one more loading out of them before running into real problems! That's what I was thinking... As long as it will still hold powder and a bullet... Game ON! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 These are all Boxer primed. It was brought to my attention after we found these that Speer switched to Boxer primed aluminum cases recently to unify their primers across lines. I was under the impression that the aluminum Blazer line deliberately used Berdan priming specifically to avoid the temptation to reload the cases, saving the company from explaining in court why it's not their fault that Johnny blew hesself up 'cause he can't be bothered to (or can't) read the "nonreloadable" labelling on the box. I'd say Speer dropped the ball on this one (though it's still, IMHO, Johnny's own doggone fault). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNsTeR Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 speechless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebg3 Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Why is everyone so amazed at this? Looks like the reloads worked, just can't reload the cases again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 When the aluminum cases first came out I reloaded one, just to see what would happen, it didn't look anywhere near as bad as the above, but I decided it wasn't worth the effort. Or worth the risk if you tried to load one more than once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrdog Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I Googled "Blazer Aluminum Primers" just to see what was out there... There's plenty of foolishness from people who have reloaded them. Here's my favorite from another (unnamed) forum site: "The only practical reload I've found for them is to drill out the flash hole to 1/8", push them into a 1/2" cake of parafin, stuff a magnum primer in them and shoot them in the garage. I wasn't willing to sacrifice shootable brass for quick draw practice. If you try it, make sure you have a sturdy backstop. Wax bullets will play hell on sheetrock. And I shot a mouse in the garage with them once." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Neill Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Those cracks appear to originate from corrosion. Aluminum corrodes with small pits going into the material - unlike brass that corrodes across a larger surface area. The two types of cracks we commonly saw when I was with CCI-Speer were straight line cracks and jagged cracks. The jagged cracks - such as sen in the photo - came from the small pits being connected. The straight line cracks came from scratches of other damage to the case. In and of themselves, the aluminum cases can withstand being reloaded. The reasons not to reload them come from the sizing die scraping through the protective coatings on the case, exposing the base aluminum - which can then corrode. Also, the internal volume can be very different than brass cases, meaning the powder charges may not give the same results. Resizing dies are designed for brass, and the springback displayed by brass. They may or may not work well with aluminum with its different springback rate. When they started changing to Boxer primer pockets some years back (some 6 years now, or so) I thought it a mistake, but then, they didn't ask me and I no longer worked there at the time. The Berdan primers were specifically to deter reloading because of the above reasons. I suspect I understand why they have changed, but I don;t agree with the change. The problem with shooting them, and experiencing cracks is damage to the chamber - and breech face - but the chamber damage is the killer. Looking at the photo it seems almost certain that the person that shot them has had damage to his chamber. I understand that components are hard to get and expensive, but I have no intention of shooting reloaded Blazers - damaged guns cost even more. I was also against their naming the brass ammunition "Blazer Brass" too, since i felt it would confuse things more. Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlockCanMan Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Can't blame a guy for wanting to save his good brass. Looks like I might have to give it a try. Loosing brass at a sanctioned match hurts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babaganoosh Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 That guy was like.... You aren't getting MY brass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RePete Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 I know guys that reload the Blazer aluminium cases, but only once. I WAS going to give it a try but stopped myself. I thought about the laqueur being damaged during resizing and what that would do to the chamber. Then I thought is it worth it? The answer was NO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowShooter Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Someone on the AR-15 site has reloaded Steel Case .223 ammo. "Just to prove it can be done". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdogg Posted April 11, 2013 Share Posted April 11, 2013 Glad the story isn't any worse "Shooter sent to hospital..." Those spent cases have danger written all over them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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