Federal Aluminum 9mm sucks

VTski4x4

NES Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2012
Messages
2,114
Likes
4,493
Location
North Shore MA
Feedback: 2 / 1 / 0
Picked up 200 rounds of Federal aluminum case 9mm at Walmart a couple weeks ago, and just got around to shooting it this morning. All I can say is wow, I’m disappointed even for range ammo. All rounds were fired out of a Glock 19 Gen 4 that has 500 flawless rounds down the pipe before shooting this crap.

had 2 FTFs
had 3 FTE
had 1 failure to go into battery

i thought it would be a great deal at $.17/round to plink with, but I’ll never buy I will never buy it again.
 
Agree on all fronts. Shoots super dirty too. That whole $.01/round I saved really feels like crap now. Live and learn. I had a new shooter with me today, so it was nice being able to do a little training on clearing malfunctions etc.
 
Have not have any of the mentioned problems and I've put about 2000 of the aluminum 9mm through my Gen 3 G19.
 
I haven't used it for quite awhile but never had an issue with it through a Glock 17, 2 19's and a 26. Maybe they changed the recipe?

Is your glock completely stock? I had a couple of issues with my glock 26 sporadically (with all ammo). Come to find out, it was an aftermarket mag release beating the sh!t out of the mag catches and causing the mag to poop out the grip while firing every now and then.
 
At 189.00 delivered for 1k rounds of Brand name Brass these days next time buy Brass. But like you said, you have learned a few things out of it. I do see people at my range shooting Fed Aluminum and the last time was out of a Hi-Point Carbine with zero issues.
 
I use aluminum out of my Glocks without an issue, especially at practice for steel plates. I have also seen people have issues with WWB brass ammo because it's underpowered, so it's not just an aluminum case issue.
 
I use aluminum out of my Glocks without an issue, especially at practice for steel plates. I have also seen people have issues with WWB brass ammo because it's underpowered, so it's not just an aluminum case issue.

Seems like a lot of federal / WWB is underpowered now a days. Have some old federal aluminum that runs good


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Bought it a couple times, many years ago. Had similar problems and never bought it again.
 
At 189.00 delivered for 1k rounds of Brand name Brass these days next time buy Brass. But like you said, you have learned a few things out of it. I do see people at my range shooting Fed Aluminum and the last time was out of a Hi-Point Carbine with zero issues.

Yup. The price difference is so small it makes no sense to shoot steel or aluminum IMO. If you were getting steel or aluminum for $5 a box then maybe it's worth the hassle? Lol.
 
Yup. The price difference is so small it makes no sense to shoot steel or aluminum IMO. If you were getting steel or aluminum for $5 a box then maybe it's worth the hassle? Lol.

Picking up your "brass" in the snow when its 10 degrees out is not fun.[wink]

There's at least one good reason to have some steel cased pistol ammo around.

I won't use aluminum cased ammo.....but steel? All day every day if necessary.
 
I have shot several thousand rounds of Federal Aluminum cased 9mm with no problems. I will admit that when brass cased ammo is close to the same price, then I do buy the brass. But for a while the Aluminum cased ammo was significantly cheaper, and I was happy to get it.

When I see a semi-automatic that is picky about ball ammo, it always makes me concerned. I have seen people report that their gun is 100% reliable except with Federal Aluminum cased ammo, and I have seen other similar complaints the about Winchester White Box. Usually the response is "Just avoid that ammo and stick to the brands that work 100%." This advice is reasonable, but it is also not fully satisfactory.

When someone tells me that their pistol is 100% reliable with ammo X, but has issues with ammo Y, then I am not concerned if there is some clearly discernible difference between X and Y. For example, if the power of the round, the bullet shape, the case rim shape, or the cartridge overall length are different, then feeding or extraction issues may be understandable.

But if X and Y are indistinguishable, yet one works and the other doesn't, then I become concerned that some aspect of the pistol is very close to the limits of its working tolerances. And there is a risk that normal wear will lead to more failures sooner than later.
 
I understand your point. I’ve shot Blazer, WWB, Federal American Eagle, and Federal Hydra-shok, all before this aluminum. No issues at all with any of the other rounds.
 
...I had a new shooter with me today, so it was nice being able to do a little training on clearing malfunctions etc.

Did you have any malfunctions when you shot it? If they all happened when it was new shooter's turn - there might be nothing wrong with your ammo.
 
Did you have any malfunctions when you shot it? If they all happened when it was new shooter's turn - there might be nothing wrong with your ammo.

Yes, I did have 2 fte/cycle. I wasn’t counting the issues he had, as I watched him limp wrist twice, and hold the slide back while trying to chamber a round.
 
I have never had problems with aluminum. In fact, I kind of liked the Blazer aluminum. Was actually inexpensive hollow point, as opposed to "ball" round nose FMJ type stuff.
 
I've experienced a number of problems with factory ammo . . . bent lip of case at bullet .38Spl (WWB), .223 with factory installed primer upside down (Wolf), etc. (numerous but don't recall details). QC seems to be the problem with the cheaper stuff.

I've shot 1000s of 9mm Fed Aluminum 115gr with no problems in various guns. One gun ejects many of the cases straight back to my forehead (only with Fed Aluminum) . . . all other brands eject "normally" (to the right). So I don't shoot Fed Aluminum in that gun.

Wolf steel gave me all sorts of problems in 5 different 9mm handguns and my 1911 (.45) so I refuse to use any steel ammo in my handguns. No other brand has given me problems with those same guns, each of which have been shot multiple thousands of times.

You learn what works and use that vs. those that give you trouble.
 
Thanks for the insight/advice, Len. As a fairly new (couple of years) shooter, I consider this kind of wisdom and experience invaluable.
 
How much are you really saving using aluminum over steel? For 9mm, like literally 1 cent/rd? Even brass is commonly found at 20 cents.
$.03 per round according to his post and yours :)

I bought a case of aluminum at $7.99 a box with free shipping from ----- a few weeks ago. No problems with it.
Please do not mention on-line places that ship to the DPRM in this forum and edit it from your post in case a mod misses it.

This sort of post is like waving a red flag before the AG.
 
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Aluminum cases belong in the trash can and not the brass bucket.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.
 
Back
Top Bottom