19 May 2005, 05:03
BAShooterWolf aluminum cases
I picked up from the range a lot of .40S&W Wolf cases.
Curiously they are grey, dark grey. When I tried to clean them I realised they were made of aluminum.
Well, they were reloaded at least one time.
Please let me know if someone has experience about reloading these cases.
Which are the risks if I resize and reload them one more time?
How is the failure mode of this cases made of aluminum?
Are they dark grey because it is necessary to heat them at high temperature each time they are fired?
Thanks for your help
BA Shooter
Dark gray is probably corrosion.
They should not be reloaded. They are Berdan primed, so special decapping and priming is required.
They are brittle. The aluminum will not handle the stretching and compressing of a resizing operation like brass does.
I think the old ones were Boxer primed, and I know of a few who reloaded them with decent results in .45ACP and .38spl...but those are low pressure rounds and less likely to have catastrophic results from a failure.
Brass is cheap to reloaders...beware false economy!
IMHO, of course!
20 May 2005, 04:21
tmoore4627CDH is right. The aluminum cannot stand up to the expension/pressure stress of reloading and will crack easily because of it. Wolf ammo is definitely nice and cheap, but it is also corrosive and like CDH said, Berdan primed. These factors along with the fact that it can't be reloaded makes me by bulk from the big manufacturers (Rem., Win, Fed) every time.
22 May 2005, 18:05
BAShooterCDH , tmoore
Thanks for the advise.
Actually, they are Boxer primed, but, I do not know how many times they were reloaded.
Most probably with one reloading they became useless.
Thanks and regards
22 May 2005, 19:38
chargerAluminum=work hardening= cracking=no no
23 May 2005, 04:41
El Deguelloquote:
Originally posted by CDH:
Dark gray is probably corrosion.
They should not be reloaded. They are Berdan primed, so special decapping and priming is required.
They are brittle. The aluminum will not handle the stretching and compressing of a resizing operation like brass does.
I think the old ones were Boxer primed, and I know of a few who reloaded them with decent results in .45ACP and .38spl...but those are low pressure rounds and less likely to have catastrophic results from a failure.
Brass is cheap to reloaders...beware false economy!
IMHO, of course!
I have reloaded some of the Wolf .45 ACP cases, but they are lacquered steel, NOT aluminum! Also, bre advised that all Wolf ammo now being sold in the U.S., at least, is NONCORROSIVE. The .45 ACP cases are Boxder primed, and take standard Large Pistol (.210") primers.