Aluminum shell 9mm

I saw some at Walmart this weekend and they were $3 than brass per box. I don't reload, are these OK to use in an SR9 or should I stick with brass? The gun is mainly used by my wife in her women's shooting league.

Shouldn't be any problems. Aluminum cases have been around for a long time - CCI (Blazer) and Federal both make it. Occasionally you'll hear about somebody having problem with a round or 2, but you'll get the same thing with brass or steel.

I use it in my 9mms and my 45 acp no problem at all

Thanks guys. Somehow I've never run across it before. I guess we'll give them a try since it's only for target shooting and cheaper.

Could the same be said for steel?

I don't like either.... just ain't natural.....

Taterman said:

Could the same be said for steel?

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The problem with a lot of steel cased ammo is the lacquer coating used to keep it from rusting. It can rub off on the chamber walls, particularly if they are hot from rapid fire, and cause extraction and feed problems. It works but you may have to do more cleaning then usual.

I have shot a lot of Federal Aluminum and never have had a problem.

Ruger should eat anything. Still if you're looking to save money, reloading with lead or plated bullets is the way to go.

I have shot lot's of aluminum cased 9mm and have never had a problem.
I don't shoot steel cased ammo in anything.

I have shot countless boxes of cci aluminum cased .45 and 9 mm in my sr9c, SR45, and 1911. It shoots great. The only thing is that some indoor ranges near me don't like people to shoot it, because it can not be recycled/reloaded/resold.

Thanks guys. I picked a box of 50 Federal 9mm with aluminum shells for $9 and change. She'll try them out next time she shoots (Wednesday I think).

I've not had much problem with the steel cased ammo other than they are a bit more sooty than other ammo types.

I used 150 rds of federal aluminum cased 9 in my p95 yesterday for the first time , worked great. At 8.99 a box its a deal !

I have shot Blazer aluminum cased .380 in the LCP with no feeding or extracting problems at all.

And this surprised me a little bit because I suspected that there would be feeding problems due to aluminum sliding over aluminum during the feeding cycle. The co-efficient of friction is somewhat different than brass on brass.

Feeding concerns is why I always use nickle plated factory ammo in by carry gun. 8)

Noticed a lot more of this for sale lately. No problem in Ruger Center fire pistols from my experience. It is worth noting that owners of the PC carbines should avoid this aluminum cased ammunition. Cheap does not equal good for your PC. :shock:

Thanks guys.

I shoot the aluminum stuff almost exclusively...never a problem. For almost 20 years I used the steel case Wolf ammo in my P90...never a problem.

I've fired a fair amount of Blazer from 44Mag down to .25acp. A couple years ago I shot up a 30+ year old box of .25acp in a Tanfoglio GT27 .... worked just fine.

Well she just shot a box of 50 through a cleaned gun (SR9). She had one stovepipe, but no other issues.
She usually doesn't have any FTF, but I guess they're worth another try.