No aluminum for HK?

H

HighValleyRanch

New member
Why does HK say in their manual not to use rounds with aluminum casing?
From their enclosed manual:
"Caution....Use of steel or aluminum-cased cartridges is not recommended and could adversely affect safe and reliable functioning."

So no blazer or federal aluminum rounds?
 
I have shot thousands of rounds of Fed Champion aluminum case 9mm through my HK P30 in the last 2 years, it shoots reliably & accurately though this gun!
 
I kind of get the "no steel" admonition but fail to see any reason why not to use aluminum cases. I bought a new HK USP40 22 years ago and, out of curiosity after reading HighValleyRanch's post, I checked the manual for this pistol to see if there were any restrictions on ammunition use. Aside from the obligatory warning to not use reloads, there were no other prohibitions.

I'd like to hear the reasons for not using ammunition with aluminum cases. It would seem that if HK has good reasons to bar the use of same, the same reason(s) would apply to other semi-auto pistols. Like JDBerg, I've run a ton of cartridges made from aluminum through more than a few auto pistols with no ill effect.
 
Same with my VP9 manual. I ran some Blazer Aluminum and had problems strictly ammo related (was recalled by Speer).Talked to my Buddy at HK and his answer was: liability issues/covering their ass . They are not "designed" for anything but brass although steel and aluminum should not be an issue.They just have to cover it because of the product liability lawyers
 
highvalleyranch: said:
Great to hear. Just trying to understand the reasoning behind their advice. Just liability?
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If you deal with with HK customer service about trigger modifications like I once did, there is no doubt that HK is completely "lawyered-up" with owners manual warnings about everything! And the "RTM" message on my P30 is molded in on the bottom of the trigger guard, so I don't forget to read the manual!
 
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I don't get the "CYA" argument to explain the reason for no aluminum. Reloaded ammunition brings its own potential liabilities and I suppose one could argue that steel is hard on extractors but I've never read nor heard where aluminum is less safe or more injurious to steel than brass is.
 
There is the possibility of metal spalling from aluminum cases and over time this may lead to the chamber diameter being reduced. That may lead to problems.
 
But wouldn't that be true for every other semi auto, and can't that be monitored with good maintenance and cleaning each time after use?

Are we to infer that HK has tighter tolerances then?
 
You can infer whatever you want.

To me that is HK's way of saying that the pistol was designed to run optimally with brass cased ammunition. Brass is softer and expands better than aluminum or steel. That plays into the ejection and extraction process. I've shot steel and aluminum in HKs before without issues, but the ejection pattern maybe wasn't quite as nice and I've seen the cases not expand fully and more fouling get back into the workings of the pistol.
 
I've always wondered whether aluminum casings increase wear.

Aluminum metal is soft. However, the oxide layer is almost as hard and abrasive as it gets. But there's not much of it.
 
It takes a metal of equal or greater hardness to damage a given metal. Aluminum cases aren't even close to the steel in an extractor.


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It likely stems from their firearms that had fluted chambers (MP5, P7, etc). Steel and aluminum grab the flutes differently than brass, causing issues.

Good reason there. They likely held that over for the non fluted chambers as well, because... Why not?
 
My son's new HK would not run with blazer brass but did great with cci aluminum. Both 115gn.

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Just a guess but steel and aluminum cases ammo is usually cheaper and maybe more likely to cause more reliability issues. HK can advise to not use this ammo and therefore avoid customer service issues when problems or reliability issues arise.

If you call customer service I'm sure they ask about the ammo used. If you mention steel or aluminum ammo they can just point to the manual and say stop using that ammo and hopefully your problems will disappear.
 
HK seems to test their firearms pretty well. I believe they only test with factory fresh brass cased ammo and thus they do not recommend using anything other than brass cased ammo that meets SAAMI specs and if anyone has a problem with "other" ammo including aluminum then don't expect any warranty support or liability coverage from them concerning such. I think that is reasonable.
 
Interesting how this 2 yr. old thread got resurrected. I need to update my previous posts here by saying that I have shot plenty of (primarily Fed Champion) aluminum cased ammo with my P30 in the past, but not so much of late.

I still own this gun, and the slide does not lock back on an empty mag with this ammo. I’ll argue that a semiautomatic does not cycle ammo properly if it doesn’t lock back on an empty mag, but if I’m practicing tactical mag reloads it’s not going to matter anyway.
 
If you deal with with HK customer service about trigger modifications like I once did, there is no doubt that HK is completely "lawyered-up" with owners manual warnings about everything!
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All of the gun manufacturers are. This is why I never even consider the warranty that comes with the gun - they are all essentially useless if the gun maker doesn't want to repair your gun. I would much prefer to purchase a high-quality, test proven, over engineered gun with no warranty at all, but which has parts widely available.
 
Skans: said:
This is why I never even consider the warranty that comes with the gun
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There is plenty of legal stuff in the OM’s of everything we buy & use. The original retail owner of any HK firearm datecoded past 01/01/1998 has a limited lifetime warranty on the firearm. This is conditional per exclusions of liability and warranty clause in the manual. I bought 2 of my HK’s new and one used so this is all reasonable and I’m OK with it.
 
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