FEDERAL Aluminum case ball ammo suitable for Defense ammo?

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mr bolo

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has anybody noticed the Federal aluminum case economy ammo from Walmart to be a little on the weak side? would you trust it for DEFENSE use?

I was shooting some yesterday in my M1911A1 45 auto and it seemed kind of weak? and I had a few jams like the slide wasnt cycling back strong enough to cycle a fresh rd

it worked OK before, but this time or maybe this box was under loaded from previous batches Ive tried.

part of it could have been the magazines I was using

my new MECGAR 7 rd magazine worked flawless

a couple of older GI M1911A1 contract mags jammed.
 
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I've used Federal aluminum .45 and 9mm out of 2 Colt 1911's, plus a Hi power and BDA. It cycled flawlessly -- in fact I mixed in a bunch of brass cased that also ran perfectly.

.02

David. :)
 
FEDERAL aluminum

since it seemed kind of lightly loaded , I probably wont be stocking up on this type of ammo, I could also feel the recoil in the web of my hand felt weaker than my home reloads.
 
I wouldn't buy it to use as a defensive round but for the price as long as it cycles the slide it's fine for practice. I just picked up 2 of the 100 round boxes of the 9mm for $41 and change and I've been shooting the .40 Aluminum as well.
At least it's cleaner than the Remington UMC ammo which I stay away from now because it's so dirty.
 
They will stop an attacker out of a short barrel pistol as much as a defense load will.
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They won't expand quite as much but is that little bit of expansion going to make a difference? Probably not though I'll still take it. To me the bigger question is it going to extract and eject as reliably? To me brass or nickel plated brass expands better and the extractor claw gets a grip on the case better, improving the extraction and ejection process. Defensive ammo in my experience is also loaded more consistently and the pistol cycles better as a result.

If that's all you have by all means go for it. To me the premium for the defensive ammo isn't just expansion, and for those other reasons I'll pay the extra. Now good brass cased FMJ is better imo.
 
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Two things...

I wouldn't use a mecgear 1911 magazine for any SD work. Get some McCormick mags, they are kind of economical for good 1911 mags.

Second... I wouldn't use any ammo that had any misfires/misfeeds like you described. Were it not for that, I would say use that ammo for SD. I'm okay with 230 ball ammo in 45 being used as SD. Its big around enough to leave a good mark, but I would still prefer a good JHP round like winchester ranger or federal hst.
 
I wouldn't use anything that wasn't 110% reliable.

Anything that will go bang 100% of the time in ANY situation would be better and preferred to anything that causes hang ups. Hence the reason they added a forward assist on the m16. Too many gi's getting lost because of malfunctions

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
I prefer Winchester white box, it may cost a little more but it's better quality

than aluminum or steel cased ammo :)
 
After noting that some aluminum case ammo showed obvious setback after being chambered only once, I will no longer use aluminum case ammo for anything other than range ammo.

It's been fine at the range, but I don't consider it to be suitable for self-defense and would never use it in a situation where a round might reasonably be expected to be chambered more than once.
 
And bears have been killed with .22s...
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+1

While ball/FMJ ammo can technically kill, today's modern tactical JHP loads are ridiculously more effective in stopping the attacker RIGHT NOW vs waiting for them to bleed out over minutes or even hours from FMJ.
 
I found a box of speer lawman 200gr fmj flatpoint i am saving for a rainy day, i have some hollow points, but a flat pointed bullet causes more tissue damage than round nose projectiles, while allowing a straigher line of penetration and greater ability to penetrate skulls.

As for blazer aluminum, I have very little experience with .45, but shot a couple hundred of the 10mm 200gr load, which was fairly hot.

Dont use any ammo for defense that doesnt work in your gun. I recommend Sellier & Bellot, it is brass cased and can be had for $15 for 50 and is very good high quality ammo, never an issue with it in any caliber
 
would you trust it for DEFENSE use?
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Only as a last resort. Premium HP ammunition ( Gold Dots, Critical Defense, etc) will always be my first choice.

The only time that I might consider using FMJ or ball ammo in a defensive gun would be if it was of a marginal caliber ( 22LR, 32, 380 etc.) and I was concerned about achieving sufficient penetration.
 
mr bolo said:
has anybody noticed the Federal aluminum case economy ammo from Walmart to be a little on the weak side?
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I've never used the Federal aluminum-case .45, but I've used the 9mm version, and it doesn't seem particularly stout.

However, I've noticed that inexpensive practice loads from American companies tend to be loaded a bit on the weak side, probably to avoid damaging people's firearms, under the assumption that since it's a practice load, buyers won't care about a few more FPS or FPE. :)
 
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