new Federal 9mm Luger ammunition, aluminum cases?

[matt85]

I was at the store today picking up groceries and decided to pick up a couple of boxes of 9mm Luger for plinking. they had Federal 115gr FMJ for $10 a box so I picked up two without really looking at the box. well I got home and took a look at the new ammunition and its got aluminum cases?! if that wasn't bad enough the cases look like cheap junk that Russians wouldn't even sell us.

now ive never heard any thing good about aluminum cased ammunition and didn't know that any one but Blaser was using them. from what ive seen aluminum cases are about two steps below Russian steel cases.

well I cant return them and im not sure I trust them so I figured id see what you guys thought of them. any one have experience with Federal aluminum cased ammunition?

-matt

 

[Velo Dog]

I was at the store today picking up groceries and decided to pick up a couple of boxes of 9mm Luger for plinking. they had Federal 115gr FMJ for $10 a box so I picked up two without really looking at the box. well I got home and took a look at the new ammunition and its got aluminum cases?! if that wasn't bad enough the cases look like cheap junk that Russians wouldn't even sell us.

now ive never heard any thing good about aluminum cased ammunition and didn't know that any one but Blaser was using them. from what ive seen aluminum cases are about two steps below Russian steel cases.

well I cant return them and im not sure I trust them so I figured id see what you guys thought of them. any one have experience with Federal aluminum cased ammunition?

-matt

No experience with Federal brand aluminum cases but, I have found the Blazer brand to be quite consistently accurate, in a Stoeger brand Luger 4" .
Might be needless to say, but for other readers new to reloading, aluminum cases are not intended for reloading.

 

[JimP]

I haven't shot any of the Federals that you mentioned but I have shot a lot of the Blazer ammo with no problems.

Well, I can say one problem......They can't be reloaded so when you pick them up at the range they just go into the trash instead of the reloading bucket.

 

[CAustin]

I've used the Blazer ammo for plinking around as you say your going to do Matt85 with no problems at all. Just can't reload the stuff but it works fine and it's not so costly.

 

[Rob404]

Same here no problem with aluminum in various calibers

 

[Royal27]

I've shot roughly 5K through my Gluck and probably 3.5k has been Blazer. It is accurate and feeds well. I've had exactly one jam and to my recollection it was real brass.

If you don't reload I don't know why anyone would pay more for plinking ammo.

 

[Grumulkin]

Actually, gentlemen, as long as they're Boxer primed, you can reload them; you just won't get as many reloads as you would with brass.

 

[Bullthrower338]

Matt,
I've shot a ton of Blazer from 9mil to 44 mag, never had a problem with it and would not hesitate feeding it to any semi auto handgun. Only firearm that may have "issues" with aluminum case ammunition is a MP5 sub gun due to the dynamic extraction that HK's are famous for. I have not even seen the federal ammo yet, but it is American made ammo and the lawyers wouldn't let it hit the shelves if there were safety issues. Shoot it up and let us know how it shoots!

 

[Nyati]

I have used Blazer without any problems, not target ammo though !

 

[Steve Steyr]

Grumulkin, don't know of the Federal aluminum loads but the CCI Blazer stuff, at one time at least, used an odd-sized Berdan type primer that was proprietary and not sold to the public. This prevented reloading, which was CCI's intent.
I have shot CCI Blazer ammo for years. Never a glitch. It has always been as accurate as anything else I've used.
So to matt85-you shouldn't run into a problem using the Federal stuff and I doubt it is two steps below Russian steel, which isn't all that bad as a cheaper alternative to brass, except from a reloading standpoint. Good luck with it.

 

[matt85]

Matt,
I've shot a ton of Blazer from 9mil to 44 mag, never had a problem with it and would not hesitate feeding it to any semi auto handgun. Only firearm that may have "issues" with aluminum case ammunition is a MP5 sub gun due to the dynamic extraction that HK's are famous for. I have not even seen the federal ammo yet, but it is American made ammo and the lawyers wouldn't let it hit the shelves if there were safety issues. Shoot it up and let us know how it shoots!

its funny you should mention that... my 9mm is a AA 89K (MP5K-PDW clone).

most of the issues ive heard of involving the aluminum cased cartridges were failure to extract and failure to eject.

-matt

 

[Saul]

its funny you should mention that... my 9mm is a AA 89K (MP5K-PDW clone).

Oh we have to see some pictures of that baby!!!

On the topic of the ammo, if it is anything like Blazer, it should work fine.

 

[gizmo]

I've shot fed 9mm aluminum before. It's good for plinking, the powder is a little dirty but it works fine.

 

[matt85]

im reading on the another forum that aluminum cased ammo has had some splitting problems in fluted chambers.

i suppose ill find out this weekend at the range.

-matt