I’m committed to shooting wheelguns for my two remaining major matches this year, which sort of puts me in a world of hurt for .45 ACP ammo. I need at least 500 rounds of practice ammo for next month alone, but at current prices, that puts me in a situation where I’m looking at shooting steel or aluminum cased ammo out of all my guns.
I’ve run some Wolf through my 625 without any issues – all the rounds went off like they should, and I only started to see sticky extraction after about 100 rounds, which was solved with a pass from my bore snake. My concern here is if anyone has ever encountered any issues running high round counts of steel cased ammo through a revolver? I wouldn’t run Wolf in a semi-auto because I’d be worried about beating up the extractor, but it seemslike there’s less possibility for damage running it in a revolver. So, I put the question to all of Gun Nuts Nation (you see what I did there, pdb?) if anyone has experience with lots of steel cased rounds in a 625.
On a side note, I picked up a box of Blazer ammo the other day to try it out, mostly because the aluminum cased ammo scares me a lot less than steel cased stuff. I noticed something when looking at the rounds – the Blazer .45 ACP rounds I have use small pistol primers as opposed to standard .45 ACP rounds which use large pistol. I wonder why they do that?
Well they are berdan primers that might be it.
I’ve also had good luck with Acme, the last price list I have 45 was $42.45 a hundred
The Wolf and Tula ammo I’ve looked at is all non-corrosive Boxer primed stuff. I don’t think they use the Berdan primers on ammo shipped the US any more.
What sort of prices are you looking for? FOS is $200 for 500 rounds of reloaded brass.
About $150 for 500 rounds of .45 ACP.
Since good .40 was tough to find, I ran about 2K rounds of wolf through my Glock. It was dirty, but worked ok…
My extractor is seems fine.
I recently ran 1000 rounds of blazer at a class along with another 800 rounds of mixed brass ammo.
Over 4k rounds this summer and I think I had 1 or two stoppage due to a bad magazine, which is now a practice magazine.
Really, I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill…
The Blazers have berdan, with the Alum case they don’t want people reloading
If you save your brass (easy with a revolver) then you might be able to sell it and recover some of the expense.
Gotta agree with Joe – Caleb you could reload too…
I’m sure you’ve got a ton of resources to show you how to do it right – Farmer Frank, Tam, etc…
As others have mentioned, the Blazer Aluminum are not meant to be reloaded, so they have Berdan primers and some other oddities to ensure that one doesn’t mistakenly reload them. Blazer Brass is only slightly more expensive, but is reloadable.
As for steel case in a revolver, I have no experience…but I’ve had zero problems shooting steel cased ammo out of semi-auto rifles and pistols (ARs, Glock, and Springfield XDs). No noticeable extra wear: the extractor steel is far harder than the case steel.
Is Blazer Brass even marketed as such anymore? All I’ve seen that WAS Blazer Brass has transitioned over to Federal. Just a random question.
I have had so many negatives experiences with Wolf ammo that I give away all the stuff I’ve been sent over the years for use in articles, so I’m a poor one to ask about that shit.
I like aluminum case Blazer ammo and usually buy quantities of it whenever I can find it at a good price, especially in 10mm Auto. In some calibers it seems to be loaded ‘hot’.
Caleb, since you’re shooting high round counts in competition regardless of the caliber YOU JUST HAVE TO START RELOADING!!!! You will achieve a number of things by doing this:
1. You’ll guarantee a ready supply for ALL your competition needs.
2. You’ll shoot a more consistent level of ammo in terms of the semi-auto operations (ONCE you’ve settled on a load that you prefer in each of your chosen calibers)
3. You will shoot cheaper and therefore more.
4. You will also save a lot of personal time and can concentrate more on your shooting skill development…
As for the equipment, I recommend nothing but Dillion equipment. A 550 to start with, although I’ve never owned one (I have a RCBS Rockchucker and a Red one). If you’re shooting a revolver A LOT, then I recommend their Square Deal – B. It will do everything that’s needed and you will thank me in the long run. I don’t like the Square Deal B in auto pistol cartridges that require a good taper crimp like the 9x19mm, but I think for you it will work well in .45 ACP.
Of course your ultimate goal is the Dillion 1050. I have one and have owned it for years. It is everybit as GOOD as what everyone says it is. It is not cheap, but in my case it has paid for itself many times over. Both in ammo reloaded and in time saved.
A good progressive reloaded, once set up properly, and with everything adjusted to your preferences will SAVE you time and money.
Just my 2 cents worth…
All The Best,
Frank W. James
I hate WOLF, and won’t use it in any of the firearms that I want to keep (all of them). I even tried to shoot some through my Kalashnikov — which it was practically designed for, and it wouldn’t cycle it well either, and that thing eats anything. Before I knew what crap it was, I bought a thousand of 9mm and .223 from a work associate (some friend). I’ve since stored it in an airtight container and am keeping it for S.H.T.F., O.C.A. (Obama Caused Apocalypse) or zombie invasion — as a last resort once all else is dried up.
I don’t have any experience with the WOLF brass stuff, however, so I cannot speak as to the quality of it. Maybe it’s better than the steel.
I read some where that you should not look at reloading as “saving” money but getting more shooting for your money. Reloading is a hobby in-it -self and is not for everyone, even people who are really into guns and shooting. If you start reloading just to “save money ” you will probably be disappointed.
I found I didn’t save money but I did shoot more once I started reloading. And it allowed me to create rounds impossible to buy. Like tracers and AP for .300 Win Mag. As the Power Factor for “Major” decreased I adjusted the ammo to track. And I could reload cheap hollow points for the bowling pin matches.
I read some where that you should not look at reloading as “saving” money but getting more shooting for your money. Reloading is a hobby in-it -self and is not for everyone, even people who are really into guns and shooting. If you start reloading just to “save money ” you will probably be disappointed.
Got to agree with that, but Caleb is shooting, what, 2K rounds a month in matches and practice? I think he’d probably save $$ over the long run…
Caleb, seriously dude, take a look at reloading, I use a Dillon 650 and once it’s set up (which really isn’t that hard) all you do is crank the handle and put a bullet on top of the case, get an automatic case feeder and all you do is crank the handle! Check out youtube…
I’m in the the UK and it makes my shooting 1/3 the cost, which means I shoot twice as much and still save money. It may be cheaper than that your side of the pond… In an hour you can make 500 rounds no problem, some people are even faster than that.
Check out this site to work out how much you’ll save!
http://10xshooters.com/calculators/Handgun_Reloading_Cost_Calculator.htm
Reloading isn’t for everyone.
I’m not saying either of these characteristics are attributes of Caleb but I wouldn’t recommend reloading to people that do not pay attention to detail or people that have short attention spans.
To be frank, I’m pretty good with attention to detail. However, I have a lousy attention span.