Reloaders Beware! - Shell Shock Technologies NAS3

G

Grey_Lion

New member
I'll pick up just about any piece of brass on the floor of a range as allowed.

I recently picked up a bucket of range brass and came across something different I hadn't seen before - ( see attachments )

I was processing brass in my Lee - take one down, pass it around - put another in - remove the old primer - next...... pretty standard stuff -

That is until I hit one of these lovely SST S3 2 part brass jobbers.....

The case promptly came apart - the powder container sticking solid in my de-primer die and the so called nickle plated aluminum head coming right off....

30 minutes later I had my de-priming die apart and had pounded out that damned powder housing......

So I went out and tried to find who came up with this beauty and why and what they were selling -

Came across this review - https://www.americanrifleman.org/ar...ologies-nas3-cartridge-case-6plus1-challenge/

Sales points are a lighter more modern case and more reloads (if you buy their reloading gear as it does nasty things to standard reloading dies)

The manufacturer's site claims 40 reloads are likely possible.....

The manufacturer also claims the lighter nickle plated aircraft aluminum base won't corrode under normal use.....

Well - if you look at the two attached images of the 2 pieces of S3 brass I had sitting in my garage with my other brass awaiting processing, the no corrosion claim is total bunk - plenty of corrosion on those 2 shell heads.....

"NAS3 cases consist of a solid nickel-plated aircraft aluminum case head paired with a proprietary nickel-enhanced stainless alloy cylinder."

The review seems to like the brass but I will be watching for this crap and promptly smashing each one I come across as dangerous garbage.

If the plated aluminum head can corrode so easily sitting inside my garage, what's it going to do in a mag under field conditions with moisture and sweat? As easily as the head separated from the rest of the jacket, I can easily imagine squibs and blocked barrels taking place in a firearm as the head is extracted in a shot, the powder hull stays put and the next round tries to chamber....
 

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However, AL doesn't corrode the way ferrous metal do. It basically oxidizes to that dull grey colour and stops corroding. That looks like how ferrous metals rust. Crumbling.
 
A solution looking to find a problem that does not exist

note they are pistol rounds. Anyone ever have stretch or loss issues with pistol rounds? I have never trimmed a pistol case.
 
You might want to save and sell them....they cost a pretty penny and require special , expensive, dies to reload . I don't see this item taking off in the reloading world, why would someone pay extra money for this and walk off and leave the "special " cases on the floor....maybe because they weren't going to reload them ?
This idea is going to go the way of " New Coke "
40 reloads may be possible but I can get 20 reloads with standard brass cases and regular dies.... I usually loose them in the grass before they wear out.
Gary
 
Aluminum ideally stops corroding when its oxide layer forms, but in real life, like the aluminum trim around my bathroom shower stall, it can bloom to a crumbly white oxide form accompanied by pitting underneath. An alkaline environment like soapy water can promote that. I'm going to guess the nickel plating on the aluminum in these cases was corrupted. It may well happen during firing that the harder nickel plate develops micro-cracks. If the case then is exposed to soil that isn't pH neutral, the blooming corrosion will start and go right through the little cracks. These cases may require dipping in a corrosion inhibitor as soon as they are recovered after firing.
 
I don't have that problem as I inspect all my brass (or hybrid cases). I don't understand how one can pick up a case and not see it is radically different than any other case manufactured today...
 
It's surprisingly easy if you are doing large batches. When shooting volume (about 750 rds of 45 Auto a day per person in a get-together with friends) we looked at every case we ran through the tumbler and into the 1050 case hopper and still one or two steel cases would get past us every day. We finally got smart and got a magnet. Still had to sort the aluminum stuff out, though.
 
Interesting. I picked up about 20 of these last year, simply because the company had previously stated quite emphatically that they were NOT reloadable ... and I wanted to see whether it was marketing or due to lack of strength in the crimp that holds the two pieces together.

As Grey_Lion also discovered ... Yes, it was the crimp.

You might want to save and sell them....they cost a pretty penny and require special , expensive, dies to reload
Click to expand...
Nah. If corroded, they're junk.

And, the dies?... Really not that bad, when looking at it from any perspective other than, "I can get regular 9mm dies for $30."
For 6x45mm, I have three different sets of dies. One of those sets was $130. All together, I'm sitting on about $250 worth of dies for a single cartridge (not counting a case gauge, trimmer tools, etc.). It's the same thing with .243 Win. Every .243 that I have owned has had a chamber that required the cases to get 'special attention' in some way, and has resulted in an assortment of dies that would cost about $280 to replace (even figuring for half of them being on sale - not regular prices).

And, of course, they're specialized dies made in low numbers. Have you ever dealt with obscure or unpopular cartridges that might require dies in a similar category?
I have. They're never cheap. Lee .577-450 Martini dies, for example, typically run about $100 per set; and they're usually the cheapest option available.

Have you ever ordered custom dies? Same story. They're far from cheap. My last set of custom dies was 'discounted' because I didn't have to send in a new reamer drawing or set of fired cases, because they had made two previous sets for other people. I still had to pay over $300 for a basic 3-die set.
 
gwpercle said:
You might want to save and sell them....they cost a pretty penny and require special , expensive, dies to reload .
Gary
Click to expand...

They don't cost a pretty penny. Actually, they are less expensive than brass cases.

https://www.shellshocktechnologies.com/shop/cases-reloading-tools/1000-unprimed-9mm-nas3-cases/

They don't pull apart when fired.

They're easy enough to reload with the special sizing die. The flaring die is optional with some reloading systems.

They're light weight and magnetic, which could allow some users to pick them up without bending over.

Here's a review on reloading them...

https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2018/6/27/handloading-shell-shock-technologies-nas3-cases/
 
Crazy Strong Cases in Reality

I don’t know what happened to your corroded cases, but I watched a guy do a stress test on these cases....loading +++PPP+++, if there is such a thing. He basically loaded the crap out of these and fired them, then reloaded over and over and over until he induced a failure. If I remember right, he loaded 15 times at powder charges that could only be called dangerous...all to make his point. Of course he used the $90 special dies by S3, knowing that standard dies will destroy these cases, corroded or not.
I lose so many standard cases, as I shoot indoors, that I’ve considered buying these, and bringing a shop roller magnet to the range to recover the “brass”. However, as with probably everyone else, I’ve waited to see if other, experienced loaders were trying these out. As a newbie, I’m not ready to be first.
 
Just out of curiosity I purchased a box of NOVX 9mm ammo that use the Shell Shock cases with a 65 gr polymer/copper bullet. I only fired a few into wet magazines and the bullets did not expand and the "wound channel" wasn't much different than a FMJ fired at a higher velocity (NOVX claims 1,800 fps). I know the bullet was designed to work best in flesh, but I have no gelatin to test that. I have a magazine of the NOVX ammo loaded for my 9mm house gun and I'm fairly confident it will do what the mfg says it will do.

I will not reload these cases as "normal" sizing tears the case apart and I don't need/want special dies as long as I have about 1k regular brass cases on hand and I can take home 50-100 more than I bring to the range...
 
To Uncle Nick's point - this was a large batch of 9mm range brass I was de-priming before tumbling. Had it made it past this point in my procedures, I'd have inspected it coming out of the tumbler when I sort by head stamp. So this is like step 0.a...... - and it failed .... I'm totally there with you mikld - inspect every piece..... As for holding onto this and selling or trading it on - no way - I consider it dangerous and won't do that. As it's bi-metallic - you can't even recycle this stuff - it's just bad news.
 
Grey_Lion said:
As for holding onto this and selling or trading it on - no way - I consider it dangerous and won't do that. As it's bi-metallic - you can't even recycle this stuff - it's just bad news.
Click to expand...

It's not dangerous. It simply requires different dies to size and flare.
 
It's a "different packaging concept" designed to lock in their customers to their equipment.... kind of like Keureg coffee cups - and I don't use those either......
The sales point of a lighter shell case, imo, is a load of hooey.
Pretty much anything made "more better" is something I will always look at with suspicion and this one coming apart in my die and causing me grief quickly tipped my opinion of their idea south of bad.
 
I found some that I picked up as a novelty.
If they want to sponsor Team Mediocre with ammo, cases, trick dies, and a magnetic sweeper, I am with them. Otherwise, a novelty on the shelf.
 
Aluminum ideally stops corroding when its oxide layer forms, but in real life, like the aluminum trim around my bathroom shower stall, it can bloom to a crumbly white oxide form accompanied by pitting underneath. An alkaline environment like soapy water can promote that. I'm going to guess the nickel plating on the aluminum in these cases was corrupted. It may well happen during firing that the harder nickel plate develops micro-cracks. If the case then is exposed to soil that isn't pH neutral, the blooming corrosion will start and go right through the little cracks. These cases may require dipping in a corrosion inhibitor as soon as they are recovered after firing
Click to expand...

I hear what your saying but If I found these in my range pick up I would dip them right into the garbage can.

It's different. I don't like different.
Click to expand...

I don't either.
 
There a was a time, not that long ago, when cuprous metals prices were climbing rapidly. It is still this way in much of the world. Wireless phones became ubiquitous throughout the developing world because copper wire and copper pipe is ripped up by scavengers nearly as fast as it is laid down. Last year my church had 6 A/C units destroyed by thieves scavenging the copper tubing. My point...many manufacturers were looking for non-brass cases...nearly all of which are NOT reloadable, and thus, Berden primed. Steel, Aluminum, Ceramic...all being promoted as a cheap alternative to that unreasonably expensive brass. It got so bad that the quintessential “penny” is no longer made of copper...but zinc with a copper jacket, more like a t-shirt.

http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/copper_historical_large.html

Check out the 5 year price of copper...which is currently dropping due to many factors, one of which is the slowdown in China’s (and other Emerging Market) economy.

Shell Shock came upon a different solution...cheap metals and alloys that CAN be reloaded, albeit with an expensive, proprietary sizing die. Not only were they (and are) cheaper than brass cases, they can be loaded to +P levels for the price of cheap brass, and I’ve seen the videos proving that point.

While they are derided as a novelty today, due to “not worth reloading” 9mm ammo prices, they are a long-term, and viable solution to a past and future problem IMHO. I am not a reloading expert...just 9 months under my belt, but I am pretty certain that these will become commonplace in the future, if I’m wrong I’ve lost nothing, as I still haven’t bought any of these cases, loaded ammo, or specialty dies to work them. But I’m curious enough about them to consider trying them.

Thus...anyone wanting to part with their picked up collection of these novelty shells can feel free to send them my way. If I get enough to make it worthwhile I’ll even buy the spring loaded dies and test my hand at loading them. Heck, I’ll even keep you all updated in a new thread, assuming you’ve even put up with my drivel this long.
 
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