Blazer, ugggh

D

Doug.38PR

Moderator
People have told me that they absolutely will not use Blazer in automatics because 1 they are dirty and 2 they jam up the gun.
I'm a revolver man though and I used to get Blazer .38 special all the time because they were so cheap like $6 a box. Recently I cleaned the revolver out after using Blazer. I ran a cloth cord with brass bristles in the center through the barrel.......and found shards of aluminum metal, dirty powder, and all kinds of crud ripping off the rifling of the barrel. I thought it was burned off fragments from the gun and that I had ruined it. Filthy filthy round. Never will I fire it again. Those can't be healthy for ANY gun :barf: ....I can see why gun ranges don't generally like them.
 
While all of that might be true... the big reason that ranges don't allow it is because they can't sell or reload your once fired empties and hate picking through the brass to separate it. ;)
 
I must be in the minority, I've had no problems with Blazer ammo. As for it being dirty, I thought it was rather clean? Could be because I primarily shoot all kinds of stuff in my FAL's, AR's, and AK's rather than just handguns all the time. For my own personal history, I've run 9mm through my Ruger (OH NO!) P89, .40S&W SA XD 40, .45 acp SA 1911, and .357/.38 through my S&W's; all without problem.
 
Doug,
Somebody has been lying to you. I'd stay away from them. And if they are not lying to you, but believe it themselves, then they consider themselves an X-Purt and I'd stay away from them.

Jungle Work
 
Somebody has been lying to you. I'd stay away from them. And if they are not lying to you, but believe it themselves, then they consider themselves an X-Purt and I'd stay away from them.
Click to expand...

Lying about what? Blazer jamming guns? I've been told by a dealer and by a friend of mine that because of the weak aluminum catridge, the cartridge tends to expand more and cause jamming in autos. Is that not true?

The first time I used Blazer, it didn't seem particularly dirty. However, the last box I shot did exactly what I just described with the aluminum shards and dirt and mess that brushed out of my barrel. It was absolutely caked in there and had to brush it through several times to fully get it out. This was not just suit and burned powder, this was grunk and filth. This is the experience from the Revolver.
 
Is that not true?

No, it's not True. Any revolver gets dirty when shot.
I've shot a ton of Blazer in Semi Auto and Revolvers with no adverse effects.

Of course it's cheaper than most other ammo and the average gun shop/range owner doesn't like it as well as the more expensive ammo.
JMHO

Jungle Work
Also, remember that gunshop/range owners never lie.
 
I've been told by a dealer and by a friend of mine that because of the weak aluminum catridge, the cartridge tends to expand more and cause jamming in autos.
Click to expand...

That doesn't square with my experience either. I don't shoot a lot of Blazer now that I'm into reloading, but I still shoot it when I'm outdoors with snow or tall grass underfoot and I don't want to go looking for brass. I've never found it to cause more jams than other ammo I've fired. Maybe in some autos that are more finicky about ammo that may be an issue.
 
Blazer, Mmmmmmm :)

I buy 9mm aluminum at Academy Sports for $3.89/50 rd box. I haven't had problem ONE in any of my nines. I just wish I could get .45 that cheap.
 
CCI Blazer is very clean burning. I would advise against the use of it in autoloaders because of the possibility of the rim being ripped off during extraction.
 
I never had problems with Blazer in 9mm or .357. Just got half a case of .45 ACP 230gr. FMJ @ $8.17/50rnd box. Plan to see how much my Kimber likes it as soon as I can. :D
 
I guess I was wrong. Everyone seems to agree. However, I know the last time I used Blazer in .38 special I scrubbed out shards of aluminum in the barrel of my gun. (At first I thought the gun was damaged) but it was aluminum from the cartridges. I don't mean a few specks either. This was visible and scattered all over my clothes. What could have caused this?
 
Doug,

I'm not sure what you were seeing on your clothes and in your barrel, but if there were shards of aluminum from the shell casings, you should have noted the damage to the shells when you were unloading them.

If you're talking about tiny pieces that's one thing--and nothing to be concerned about--but if you're talking about pieces of any significant size, you should have seen the damage on the cases at the range.
 
The theoretical disadvantage of aluminum casings is not that they expand more, but that they are not as elastic. A brass casing expands to the dimension of the chamber during firing to provide a gas seal between the cartridge and chamber, so there is no blow back. It then contracts back to something close to its original size. The aluminum does not spring back. This was why copper casings also failed, they jammed in the bore frequently to the point they had to be pried out. This caused a lot of union casualties in the civil war. Aluminum does not have the problem to the degree copper does, but in some tight or dirty chambered guns, it would have a tendency to stick or fail to extract more often. Particularly in a clean gun, the difference is usually not noticeable.

Mike
 
PMC Blazer Ammo

I am a hard-core reloader. Blazer or other aluminum rounds (if there is any) is a cheap target load. I have never shot them through my wheel gun, but I do know you can't reload them. I don't use it, period. My opinion only is that you get what you pay for.
 
No problem with Blazers here either - in either my semi-autos or my revolvers. I shoot a lot of reloads though, so my Blazer experience is fairly sparse!

Doug - as for the aluminum shavings in your barrel - is it possible they came from an aluminum cleaning rod? I know I've seen that a plenty.

Doesn't make sense it would come from the rounds, but stranger things have happened...
 
Doug - as for the aluminum shavings in your barrel - is it possible they came from an aluminum cleaning rod? I know I've seen that a plenty.

No, I wasn't using a cleaning rod. I dry cleaned it with one of those (I can't think what you call them) Long cloth cords with brass bristles in the center. You run it back and forth through the barrel and cylinder chambers. Just drop the lead cord down the barrel and then yank it with the cloth and bristles the rest of the way through. Sometimes with cleaning lube or oil on it if you want.

It had to have come from the cartridges :confused:
 
You get what you pay for...

For you guys that shoot for accuracy, try reloading ,if you don't already. There is nothing more rewarding than your own creation placed in betreen the eyes... hahahahahahahahahah.
 
A boresnake.

The cleaning rod shavings was just an idea. Could very well be a bad batch if it was the ammo then. Try another box of a different lot # and see if it is as bad...
 
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