[CatskillGuy]

I am getting back into shooting after a long absence. All I ever remember were brass casings, that all we had. So I was surprised to see that the gunshop sold me aluminum cased .357 mags for my Big Boy X. I never even bothered to look at the box. I took a few shots with them and they seemed ok but Henry says to never use aluminum or steel in their guns. I will stipulate that brass is King, but for slow firing is aluminum all that bad?

Looking for opinions but also practical experience.

Thanks.

 

[JBelk]

Brass is the very best material for cases. Everything else is attempts at economy. All guns (but some military) are designed to shoot brass cases. Better seal, better at handling pressures, less abrasion/wear.
Brass is best.

 

[nsb]

Aluminum (and steel) stretches differently than brass under pressure. For the most part, firing the cases one time won’t cause a problem but they shouldn’t be reloaded. Some guns will have a little more difficulty extracting the fired empty and this could cause premature wear on the extractor. If you don’t shoot a lot and use them once in a while they’ll be OK. If you plan on doing a lot of shooting and/or reloading, use brass cases. In some rare cases they will stick in the cylinder of some revolvers. For myself, I avoid them.

 

[Darkker]

I took a few shots with them and they seemed ok but Henry says to never use aluminum or steel in their guns. I will stipulate that brass is King, but for slow firing is aluminum all that bad?

Looking for opinions but also practical experience.

I'm going to presume here, so take it for what you paid for it.
Brass receivers are, relatively speaking, softer than steel. Meaning if you rubbed steel and brass cases across it, the steel cases will cause more wear in the same amount of time. Related to that, Steel cases are often times coated in some form of coating, which IME, is not typically a hard and smooth substance. This means that you can embed grit and grime, and create your own lapping compound. Especially if it is gritty and not clean, that can further agitate any sealing issues with lesser quality ammo. Again flame cutting going backerds into a brass mech, isn't an ideal situation.

Shooting a few boxes of that ammo through the rifle, isn't likely to cause the decline of western civilization. Fed a lifetime of less than ideal ammo, given the considerations above; will cause faster than normal wear to occur.
For eons now, the AR scene has been filled with tales of woe for anyone who durst shoot steel ammo in their rifle. Of course not a single one of them can ever give you anything other than an anecdote, or a story about a brothers-sisters-roommate who once talked to a guy in a gas station..... I've worn several barrels, in both bolt and semi automatic rifles and pistols. The chambers were never worn abnormally quickly, but the propellant used in some of the "economy" ammo, can definitely be a little hard on the gas ports.

$0.02

Cheers

 

[Model 52]

An issue with lacquer coated steel cases occurs when the chamber gets hot enough to melt the lacquer and then a round is left sitting in the chamber. Once the chamber cools enough for the lacquer to re solidify, the round will fire but might fail to extract. That‘s a bit ironic as one of the functions of the lacquer coating is to improve the lubricity relative to steel.

Its more common in AR-15s as the chambers are tight tolerances. In former communist block countries where steel cases rust proofed with lacquer were used, chamber tolerances are more generous whether it’s 7.62x39, 9x18, or 7.62x25.

Aluminum cases first showed up about 40 years ago in CCI Blazer ammunition and they were generally loaded to lower pressure, but that’s not necessarily true today. Like steel Aluminum has less lubricity than brass so it’s possible that extraction can be more difficult with aluminum than steel, but it won’t harm your extractor, etc, it’ll just be a potential reliability issue in some firearms.

 

[Davers]

Aluminum (and steel) stretches differently than brass under pressure. For the most part, firing the cases one time won’t cause a problem but they shouldn’t be reloaded. Some guns will have a little more difficulty extracting the fired empty and this could cause premature wear on the extractor. If you don’t shoot a lot and use them once in a while they’ll be OK. If you plan on doing a lot of shooting and/or reloading, use brass cases. In some rare cases they will stick in the cylinder of some revolvers. For myself, I avoid them.

Most, if not all, steel cases have a varnish coat on them and will stick in the chamber.

 

[Jeepergeo]

The Henry company knows a lot about firearms, especially those firearms that they design, manufacture, sell, and warrant. If it were me, I'd stick to what Henry recommends for that firearm.

 

[shawnbo]

The kinetic (sliding) coefficient of friction of clean & dry aluminum against steel is 0.47. The kinetic coefficient of friction of clean & dry brass against steel is 0.44. Brass and aluminum alloys have about the same Brinell hardness, so I fail to see how aluminum cases are going to adversely affect wear as compared to brass. I don't use aluminum ammo because it's not reloadable after shooting, but I wouldn't have any hesitation to use it in any firearm in good condition, even a Henry.

FWIW, the kinetic coefficient of friction of clean & dry steel against steel is 0.42.

 

[MikeG]

Aluminum oxide

Steel vs. steel, the coefficient of friction isn't the entire story. Galling of a steel case against a steel chamber would be a bad thing, should it happen. Plus, the steel case can rust obviously so the lacquer, I suspect, is more to keep the case from rusting than anything else. But a bunch of melted off lacquer in the chamber, mixed with the usual fouling, could certainly cause issues as folks who shoot a lot of that stuff in ARs tend to find. It probably would matter a lot less from anything that fires from an open bolt.... and certainly with 'generous' chambers typical of soviet-era designs, that helps too.

Many years ago I saw an aluminum Blazer case burn through on ejection from a Smith 9mm. Probably a fluke but quite the fireball came out the ejection port.... In a fully supported chamber (ie. revolver or any bolt/lever/single shot rifle), I doubt aluminum cases are a big problem.

 

[shawnbo]

Steel vs. steel, the coefficient of friction isn't the entire story. Galling of a steel case against a steel chamber would be a bad thing, should it happen.

Agree, which is why I made no speculations about steel on steel. I use steel case ammo only in my Soviet era rifles, and for what I paid for them and the ammo, I'm not worried about accelerated wear. I'd be happy to have the time and money to wear them out!

 

[MikeG]

"steel on steel" friction (and galling) also depends not only on the exact alloy, but also hardness differences between the two parts. I would expect a steel case to be much softer than a steel barrel, but no clue as to the alloy of steel cases. Most likely something soft and cheap (as far as steel alloys go).

Stainless steels are, generally, more prone to galling.... but not what you'll find used for barrels in cheap mil-surp guns, either.

For sporting rifles, wearing them out (save for hordes of charging rodents) is more of a chore than most shooters are willing to attempt. A moot point for most of us.

 

[shawnbo]

Stainless steels are, generally, more prone to galling.... but not what you'll find used for barrels in cheap mil-surp guns, either.

Yep, the AMT Hardballer being a textbook example of that phenomenon.

 

[JCloadrup]

I've reloaded aluminum Blazer .357 just to see how they held up. You can deprime berdan primers(2 tiny flash holes) by filling cases with water and smacking a close fitting wood dowel with a mallet over wood block with relief hole. I shot a few up to 3 times before failures appeared. Not full house loads. If SHTF you can manage it.

 

[lyseto18rigu]

The Henry company knows a lot about firearms, especially those firearms that they design, manufacture, sell, and warrant. If it were me, I'd stick to what Henry recommends for that firearm.

Agree. But in fairness, biased against steel and aluminum cases.

 

[gmd3006]

... You can deprime berdan primers(2 tiny flash holes) by filling cases with water and smacking a close fitting wood dowel with a mallet over wood block with relief hole...

De-priming is not so bad. Boxer primers are tough enough to find these days - I've not seen Berdans offered in a long, long time.

 

[JCloadrup]

De-priming is not so bad. Boxer primers are tough enough to find these days - I've not seen Berdans offered in a long, long time.

I used boxer primers: CCI - 500's worked fine.