45 ACP reloading

[M1911a1lvr]

Try berrys bullets manufacturing.

[OM44]

I, too, found several .45acp casses with small primers. Several respondents
on another forum replied that the cases are able to be reloaded, with the
small primers of course. The small cases primers are supposed to be "Green"
ammunition. Politically correct, I guess.

I have no use for them.

[jg1967]

I have a question for you reloaders. I noticed Wal mart is carrying some 45ACP ammo made in Russia w/ steel casings, are these reloadable? I always heard they weren't.

Short answer no they can not be reloaded.

Long answer, I heard that THEORETICALLY you could reload steel ammo but the effort needed to make sure it's up to specs would be so high it's simply isn't worth it. Maybe one of the long time reloaders can elaborate on that?

[pytaz]

I would not use the Russian ammo. I bought 2 boxes and they are dirty enough that they caused jams. I had to take my Glock30 completely apart to get it to work correctly again. I would stay away from them.

[Providence Ranch]

Without special (i.e., expensive) equipment you cannot reload steel cases. First, you will break your deprimer pins, as they are designed for the boxer prime format, with a single flash port in the center of the primer pocket. Steel cases are usually berdan primed, which means two flash ports side by side in the primer pocket. Look inside one, you'll see. But worse than that, if you actually manage to shove a spent steel case into a resizing die, you will end up shipping your die to RCBS or whomever to get it out. Even carbide dies. They are laquer coated, and filled with pure evil.

Blazer cases are boxer primed, but made of aluminum. You may be able to resize once, but aluminum is MUCH softer than brass, and deforms at the first chance. Most reloading resources out there strongly recommend against reloading aluminum cases.

That said, I am a brass hound as well, as finding sources of cheap (free) brass for reloading makes the whole process about half the price. I recommend that you carefully inspect each and every case after cleaning, looking for any abnormalities. Case mouth cracks, signs of overpressure, primer pocket deformation, primer pocket size, scratches, dents, dings, etc. Be picky. You and your gun will thank you.

I found in my reloading experience that brass for the 7.62x39mm comes with large and small primer pockets. Don't know why, but you have to be willing to inspect each one, and make sure before you start trying to force a large primer into a small pocket. All bad. Go slow, be thorough, be safe.

[G50AE]

That said, I am a brass hound as well, as finding sources of cheap (free) brass for reloading makes the whole process about half the price. I recommend that you carefully inspect each and every case after cleaning, looking for any abnormalities. Case mouth cracks, signs of overpressure, primer pocket deformation, primer pocket size, scratches, dents, dings, etc. Be picky. You and your gun will thank you.

A brass retriever might be better.

[Providence Ranch]

Always so helpful, G50AE. How can I ever thank you for this priceless advice?

[firelooker]

Short answer no they can not be reloaded.

Long answer, I heard that THEORETICALLY you could reload steel ammo but the effort needed to make sure it's up to specs would be so high it's simply isn't worth it. Maybe one of the long time reloaders can elaborate on that?

/ Thanks for all the info I hadn't bought any of the russian ammo but was curious about it since it was so cheap.