Has anybody tried Federal 9mm Aluminum Case Ammo

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Appears to be the same as the CCI Aluminum Blazer but in a different box with a Federal headstamp (same parent company). I shot tons of the stuff back when Bush was President and Academy sold it $3.86/50 "everyday low price".

I've shot up 500 rounds of it and just bought 600 more rounds this morning. Our local Wal*Mart ammo section is pretty well stocked now, except for .22lr although they did have a decent amount of CCI "Black" 40gr for $7.85/100. Step in the right direction!

At $9.97/50 its about 2X my reloads, but I'm going through a nasty episode of low back pain so doing a lot of bending to recover my brass is not in the cards for the time being, but it is giving me a chance to catch up on my reloading.
 
My Bersa seems to like it,,,

At $10.00 for 50 rounds I had to try some,,,
My Bersa Thunder 9 UC ate it up,,,
So did my little Ruger LC9,,,
Haven't tried the CZ yet.

Reference Post #6,,,
What reason do ranges give for forbidding steel and aluminum cased ammo?

Aarond

.
 
Poor results

I bought 2 $9.97 boxes in Columbus, OH over the weekend. My son and I shot them yesterday with very poor results. About 40% FTE out of our Ruger SR9. As soon as we finished those off, we shot 100 rounds of TulAmmo BrassMax and another 100 regular brass Federal 9mm FMJ. I didn't clean the gun in between, and I don't think we had another FTE the rest of the way.

So I am unlikely to recommend them, or buy them ever again. The only thing I'd say is that it was about 38* out. Not sure if the temperature might have caused the aluminum to start getting brittle and thus not catching on the ejector as well. Maybe they would work better on a warm day.
 
I bought 2 $9.97 boxes in Columbus, OH over the weekend. My son and I shot them yesterday with very poor results. About 40% FTE out of our Ruger SR9. As soon as we finished those off, we shot 100 rounds of TulAmmo BrassMax and another 100 regular brass Federal 9mm FMJ. I didn't clean the gun in between, and I don't think we had another FTE the rest of the way.

So I am unlikely to recommend them, or buy them ever again. The only thing I'd say is that it was about 38* out. Not sure if the temperature might have caused the aluminum to start getting brittle and thus not catching on the ejector as well. Maybe they would work better on a warm day.
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Clean your chamber and this wont happen. I had the same problem after firing a bunch of steel cased ammo then switching to aluminum.

Ever since I've started firing ONLY aluminum cased ammo in my 40sw and 45acp pistols, I've had no problems. I must have fired over 2,000rds thus far. Aluminum cased ammo is the best thing that has happened to me this year.
 
Extraction issues with S&W Shield

Federal aluminum case 9mm gives me about 5% failure to extract/eject. th case is extracted from the chamber but is left lying atop the incoming round, jamming the pistol. This only happens with the Shield, all of my full
-size and compact 9mms love the aluminum stuff.
 
I haven't seen that particular brand. I've shot some aluminum cased ammo before and it seemed fine. In general I tend to shoot only brass cased ammo though my firearms as that was what they were designed, engineered to shoot (AKs would be an exception to the rule). Doesn't mean you can't.

The only exception to this rule is the shotgun shells. Most of them out there are steel with brass plating. I shoot weekly in trap league so it's high volume in terms of shells annually. I know that most of them out there are steel because we pick them up with a magnet thing that looks,like a mop. Yes, you can buy all brass but it costs a lot. The current shotgun has 6,000 rounds through it and seems to be holding up just fine.
 
I picked up 150 and put them through a couple of Glocks. They worked well enough I would buy more.
 
Back in August, I replied here, thanking the OP for the heads-up on the new ammo. it took several visits to WM to finally find some, but I've since fired it several times, in a G19 and a CZ75, and I love the stuff. It's been consistent, reliable, and accurate. I swing by the ammo counter at WM everytime I'm there, and grab a box whenever I see it, which is usually about every 3rd trip, if I'm lucky. The folks manning the ammo counter tell me it flies off the shelves.
 
Been shooting the 9mm in a Shield for 3 months. Zero failures. I love the stuff. It's wonderful to be able to relax and not have to pick up the brass when I am done. Freeing actually.
 
My Gen4 Glock 21 shoots the Fed aluminum case .45ACP beautifully, my SW1911 shoots it well also. I don't see the 9mm very often but I have a good stash of the .45 and I can get it any time I want it.
 
Sheepdog1968 ......I tend to shoot only brass cased ammo though my firearms as that was what they were designed, engineered to shoot.....
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How do you know whether they were designed to shoot brass cased ammunition only?:scrutiny:
 
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Bought 9 boxes the other day and shot five of those boxes. I noticed when cleaning up the range that some of the empty aluminum cases had their primers missing. Seems that the primers were getting blown out of the casing. Shot them in my Glock 17 Gen 4 and they were accurate. I noticed later that they are boxer primed with a good size hole, Blazers are berdan primed. Don't know why that was taking place could be loose fitting primers or possibly oversized primer holes. I did notify federal and gave them the lot number. I still have 4 boxes left. Great price and they were accurate and I had no hang ups at all. Not sure at this point if I would buy more. I have never had any problems with Blazers ever. Something to be aware of when shooting this ammo.
 
Picked up a few boxes for a relative - he wanted to shoot them in a local match since you can't pick up your brass during the match.

He reported the only problem was with his new Kahr - when he dropped the slide using the slide lock / release, he had feeding problems - other than that, he was satisfied with the ammo.
 
Bought 9 boxes the other day and shot five of those boxes. I noticed when cleaning up the range that some of the empty aluminum cases had their primers missing. Seems that the primers were getting blown out of the casing. Shot them in my Glock 17 Gen 4 and they were accurate. I noticed later that they are boxer primed with a good size hole, Blazers are berdan primed. Don't know why that was taking place could be loose fitting primers or possibly oversized primer holes. I did notify federal and gave them the lot number. I still have 4 boxes left. Great price and they were accurate and I had no hang ups at all. Not sure at this point if I would buy more. I have never had any problems with Blazers ever. Something to be aware of when shooting this ammo.
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I have never seen an aluminum hull with a missing primer(?). I have heard of guys successfully reloading the .45 ACP "beercans" but I just toss these hulls. I will continue to buy these whenever I see them.
 
I have a S&W 929 and when I dry fire it using Tipton Snap Caps it really drills the brass on those things. I was really surprised when I had a failure to ignite using the Fed Aluminum. When I look at the spent casing everything has a pretty significant dent punched in the primer, and the two cartridges that failed to fire had significant dents in the primer - they just didn't ignite.

The Rohrbaugh is a pretty finicky eater but just for the heck of it I tried to fire the Fed Aluminum in it. It wouldn't eject the cases, I fired 3 rounds and gave up - it doesn't work in the R9.
 
the case is extracted from the chamber but is left lying atop the incoming round, jamming the pistol.
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Yep, that's exactly what was happening with the R9 and the Fed Aluminum. It would pull it out but not fling it out :)
 
I've used a good bit of aluminum cased ammo and have had problems with it only in my CZ-75B--ejection issues. I've done some "research" and found that it's not unusual for the CZ75 pistols to be finicky about anything other than brass cases. Maybe the R9 is the same way.
 
Hi JDR, I think you misunderstood what I found. I had no problem shooting the ammo. It was upon sweeping the empty fired cases I found numerous empty aluminum cases with primers missing, which means that upon firing the primers blew out of the back of the cases. That's not a good thing here. The gasses are blowing back into the gun along with a loose primer which can jam itself inside the firearm. Primers are not suppose to do that. A fired primer is suppose to stay inside the empty brass or aluminum cases upon firing. This has nothing to do with reloading. These fired cases are not meant to be reloaded at all. I just want everyone to be aware of this issue that I had in my Glock 17. I did find the ammo to be accurate and it seem a bit hotter than most.
 
It will take quite a bit of convincing for me.
Problem being back in the -80s I flat gave up on the entire CCI Blazer line. This is because the boxes never seemed to hold to a consistent zero.

Most inexpensive ball will shoot to some zero; you shoot a magazine or cylinder or two, and you're good. Blazer, not so much, grouped like a Rorschach test.

I knew plenty, back in the day, would buy the stuff for "plinking." must have been at trashcans from my experience. Others must have differed, though.
 
Now I have a stash of this 9mm Fed Aluminum Case ammo. The local Wally's usually has a good stock of the 9mm, I wish they kept a better stock of the .45 ACP Fed Aluminum Case Ammo. I usually shoot several boxes of this when I drive out to one of the indoor ranges that will let me shoot aluminum case ammo. The closest LGR to where I live will not let anybody shoot this stuff. I can say that my Glock 17 cycles this ammo better than my CZ 75B does with it, but the CZ is amazingly accurate with this ammo and I'll make sure the CZ is cleaned & oiled before I shoot this ammo again with it.
 
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