Blazer Ammo

Blazer aluminum cased ammo works great, gets the job done an i have never seen evidence of the aluminium cases doing anything to my guns
 
Years back when I was shooting competition I was burning up a lot of CCI aluminum case 40 S&W ammo, it was cheap practice ammo and saved me from doing a lot of reloading.
Then one day during practice I had one of the aluminum cases rupture, I still have the case in my shop.
The bad part was the rupture gas cut the breech face on the slide and the chamber in the barrel.
It ruined both beyond repair so that was the end of me shooting aluminum case ammo.
Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
Hunter Customs:...The bad part was the rupture gas cut the breech face on the slide and the chamber in the barrel....
Click to expand...
Doesn't that exact same gas make it down the barrel without damaging the gun?

I would love to see pics of what gas damage from one round can do to a chamber.:rolleyes:
 
Dogtown Tom, that same gas that is a propellent in a barrel becomes a blowtorch when directed out of a small split against steel. Look at a piston out of an engine that suffers from a damaged or stopped up injector. Same effect.;)

I have shot a considerable amount of Blazer with no problems. Aluminum cases split, but so does brass or steel.
 
Back four years or so ago, I shot a bunch of .44 Spl through three different revolvers (200 gr Gold Dot in aluminum cases, sold by Blazer).

Worked fine in two, cases stuck repeatedly in the third. I no longer own a .44 revolver, and that is the extent of my experience.
 
dogtown tom: Doesn't that exact same gas make it down the barrel without damaging the gun?

I would love to see pics of what gas damage from one round can do to a chamber.


dogtown tom,
To answer your question about gas damage to a barrel. All barrels receive gas damage. Have you ever heard of throat erosion?

However as Ben Towe said when that hot gas is directed through smaller orifices it has the intensity to cut like a torch.
The case that ruined my slide and barrel has several small splits and holes in the web area and extractor rebate of the case releasing the hot gas to cut the chamber in my barrel. The pattern cut in my barrel chamber matches the holes and splits in the case exactly. The releasing gas also melted away part of the case head allowing the hot gas to cut the breech face of the slide.
Again the cut in my slide's breech face matches exactly the part of the case head that was melted away.
I don't have pictures of all the parts envolved in this and I'm not going to waste time taking any.
However if you ever get up this way stop by the shop, I'll put the barrel, slide and case in your hand so you can learn first hand what gas cutting can do.:rolleyes:

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
Yes I contacted CCI so they would know what happened and gave them all the information they wanted.
I don't believe CCI owes me a new gun, however replacement of the two ruined parts would have been nice.
I still have my original parts and the aluminum case.
Oh yea, CCI wanted me to send them the blown case but I opted to hang on to it.
Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
I have a S&W model 629-4 with a 3in. bbl. that I load with CCI BLAZER 200 gr. .44spl. GDHP. for HD. I think this is the best load available for HD. in .44spl. :)
 
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Have had 45 LC Blazer get stuck...

After seemingly over-expanding in a Judge. FWIW, it will stick a tiny bit in a .357 Mag S&W I shot too.
 
I've had no problems with Blazer in my .44 Redhawk. HOWEVER, I have had extraction issues with it in my .45 Colt Redhawk...the extractor star would not budge the fired aluminum empties. I finally had to use a pencil to poke them, one-by-one, out of the cylinder. :confused: Go figure.
 
I've been told not to use the aluminum cased ammo in lever rifles because the extractor can grab the rim and pull it right off the case and then you are in big trouble.
 
I've shot a lot of 9mm Blazer with the aluminum case. Haven't had any problems with ot what-so-ever. I still have a couple cases left from when Academy was selling it for $3.86 a box and I stocked up.

I've never had one split, but aluminum oxide is a very hard abrasive. Could that be the difference between a brass or an aluminum case splitting when it comes to gun damage?
 
We fired Blazer ammo for qualifications for years at my Agency without any issues, both in Revolvers and Pistols.

Since then we were fortunate enough to build an indoor range and now only shoot frangible ammo indoors.

But, I still purchase Blazer ammo when it is on sale. However I tend to only buy brass now because I'm trying to be more "Eco-Friendly".
 
I've personally fired at least 10,000 rounds of aluminium case Blazer 9mm FMJ (either 115gr or 124gr) through my pistols (Glock and Hi-Power primarily). I can't remember any ammunition-related issues off the top of my head, though I'd have to check my shooting log to be sure.

I have noticed that the cases aren't as slick as brass and some pistols seem to have feeding problems as a result. And of course like a lot of training ammo, the Blazer is a tad pit underpowered; but even with an 18lb recoil spring in the Hi-Power, I have no trouble cycling Blazer.

This is still my preferred "best value" 9mm ammo for training and shooting. I haven't used it in other calibers so I can't say much about those.
 
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