# Aluminum cases and nylon



## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

I have several boxes of Blazer bullets with aluminum cases. I bought them because they were available, inexpensive, shoot pretty well and I don't reload handgun ammo anyway. I have not had any problems wilth them until Saturday. I have more of these rounds than anything else so several months ago I loaded my 357 Mag. revolver and ammo belt with them. The belt I use to carry in the outdoors is a black synthetic fabric woven belt with cartridge loops. Saturday my family went out for some shooting. I hadn't shot my 357 for a while so I shot it. The first gun full of ammo that had been stored in the revolver for several months went perfectly. But then I reloaded with ammo from my belt thinking I should recycle it. When I went to pop out the empties they were jammed in extremely tight. I had a very difficult time extracting them and all 7 of the cases were split. I reloaded with some fresh ammo again Blazer Aluminum that had been stored in the box. They fired and extracted perfectly with no defects. I loaded rounds from my belt and again all seven split and were extremely difficult to extract. The only thing that I can think of that might cause this phenomenon is that somehow the aluminum reacted to the fabric in the belt which weakened the cases. Has anyone had similar experience? Anyway it might be an important safety tip. Don't store aluminum cased ammo in synthetic containers.


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## fishreaper (Jan 2, 2014)

The only thing that I can come up with is that as the belt got cold it shrunk more dramatically than the aluminum would have naturally, resulting it flexing the aluminum. If it got warm, then cold, repetitively, constantly putting stress on the aluminum, I could see it splitting if it suddenly felt the force of a handgun.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

This one is a head-scratcher. I'd love to know what is going on. Hopefully DallanC can shed some light on this.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Flattered, but I have no idea... I've never owned aluminum case ammo so I have zero experience with it. I have a hard time thinking nylon could squeeze a case hard enough to damage it though.

-DallanC


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I would almost say that the ammo got wet while in the belt and the aluminum started to deteriorate.


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## HeberHunter (Nov 13, 2014)

This one is a head scratcher for me too. The closest thing to this that occurs in aluminum is galvanic corrosion. That is when two dissimilar metals such as steel and aluminum cause one or the other to corrode. But, the interesting thing is that Nylon is used as a corrosion inhibitor between these two metals. So, theoretically your Nylon belt should actually act as a corrosion inhibitor. My second thought is that they may have gotten moisture on them and corroded because of that. Aluminum is very sensitive to corrosion and typically has an aluminum alloy coating on it to alleviate this. I am pretty sure Blazer Aluminum would be an alloy to cause this not to occur. The Nylon belt could have allowed the aluminum to trap some moisture and cause it to corrode. Either way, it is odd that this is occurring.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

HeberHunter said:


> This one is a head scratcher for me too. The closest thing to this that occurs in aluminum is galvanic corrosion. That is when two dissimilar metals such as steel and aluminum cause one or the other to corrode. You're right. I know aluminum corrosion too well. I deal with aluminum nearly every day. But campfire said the aluminum cases in his steel cylinder fired fine. That's where the galvanic corrosion would have occurred. But, the interesting thing is that Nylon is used as a corrosion inhibitor between these two metals. So, theoretically your Nylon belt should actually act as a corrosion inhibitor. My second thought is that they may have gotten moisture on them and corroded because of that. Aluminum is very sensitive to corrosion and typically has an aluminum alloy coating on it to alleviate this. I am pretty sure Blazer Aluminum would be an alloy to cause this not to occur. The Nylon belt could have allowed the aluminum to trap some moisture and cause it to corrode. Either way, it is odd that this is occurring.


I'm with you HeberHunter, I'm still scratching my head. I'm thinking there's something missing here.


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

For whatever it is worth. I do not store my gun in the holster on the belt. When not in use I store the gun in a leather/sheepskin case under the front seat of my truck where it is more accessible. I store the belt including the ammo in the belt rolled up and stuffed in a synthetic fabric pouch behind the back seat of my truck. There it would be subjected to some extremes of temperature but the cartridge loops are made of an elastic fabric. I doubt that there would be enough pressure to damage even aluminum cases. I have worn my belt and gun in wet weather but always under a rain jacket and my shirt. So it may have been subject to some dampness but not extremely wet conditions and each time I have been in very wet conditions with it I have routinely wiped off the gun including the rounds in the gun and the rounds in the belt and allowed the belt to dry thoroughly before replacing the rounds and putting it away. On inspecting the belt after the fact I discovered aluminum colored residue on the belt side of the cartridge loops that cleaned quite easily with water and a small brush and all the cases that split split lengthwise.. The belt is a very common black synthetic fabric belt either Uncle Mikes or Black Hawk I cannot remember which. My gun is stainless steel but as mentioned the rounds that were stored in the gun fired and extracted perfectly with no defects. I had problems only with the rounds in the belt.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

With you saying that there was some residue on the belt loops I would still think that there was some moisture in the equation. When aluminum is in contact with moisture and it starts to oxidize it will leave a deposit and as thin as those cases are that would be my guess of what is happening.


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## HeberHunter (Nov 13, 2014)

I agree with Critter. Avoid moisture with the aluminum cased Blazer ammo and you should be good to go. (I wrote a really long reply going into a bunch of stuff but it errored out while submitting. :-x This is my summary.)


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## Azar (Oct 21, 2014)

Interesting. I didn't know aluminium oxidized. Good to know.


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