American Steel Ammo?

[ST911]

Independence = lots of (all?) exported ATK components, assembled overseas, reimported in that packaging you see. Confirmed by ATK.

[MGW]

Hmm, I dunno, but:

The price ($203/case) is higher than I paid ($189/case) for new brass 124 Blazer at sgammo.com in October. I realize Obama is coming for our gunz, and prices have gone up, but that seems kinda middle of the road pricing for steel ammo,no? (I'll go check sgammo, brb).

EDIT: sgammo has 11 cases of Blazer 124 at $199/case:

http://www.sgammo.com/product/cci/10...-fmj-ammo-5201

My fancy pants stepped chamber German handgun manual says not to use steel or aluminum ammo, though, so I doubt I'd use the FM Steel ammo anyway.

It might just be my luck but I've experienced terrible accuracy results with blazer brass. Shooting it out of Glocks, CZs, HK's....didn't seem to matter. Also seems to be very inconsistent from box to box. No Chrono to back up those claims though just groups.

I've had great accuracy results with Freedom reman brass ammo though. It's loaded very light but functions well in everything I've shot in. About the same price as new Blazer brass.


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[jetfire]

I had some of the first stuff to come off the line, and I liked it. Shoots nice, good accuracy, and for someone who doesn't reload the price point is pretty nice. I wrote a review for Gun Nuts: http://www.gunnuts.net/2015/12/04/fr...merican-steel/ (note: site is getting some maintenance today, please be patient)

[JonInWA]

I've had zero problems and good results with Champion Aluminum .40 with my HK VP40; I was a little wary at first (to the point of having a backup box of Champion brass cased on hand if the aluminum gave any issues during an IDPA match), but all was good throughout.

I've been concurrently pleased with their .45 ACP and 9mm, which have both worked fine with all of my platforms. The .45 ACP uses small primers, but that's been a total non-issue with my 1911s and Glock 21.

I recall that I'd read that it can become problematic in the HK stepped barrels if you don't regularly keep your chamber clean-Todd might want to stay away from it on that basis....just sayin'...In my experience of using around 100-120 rounds in an IDPA match without cleaning (the VP40 was cleaned after its previous use prior to using in the match), it was just fine.

I tried some Independence 9mm a couple of years ago, and was totally unimpressed-operationally it was ok (gun went bang with each triggerpull...), but accuracy was not good. As others have mentioned or implied, it seems to be the lowest cartridge platform in the ATK food chain. Unless they've significantly improved it in the past few years, there are better, and as I recall equally priced alternatives.

In a pinch, I might pick it over Tula, but that's about it.

Best, Jon

[LSP972]

Independence = lots of (all?) exported ATK components, assembled overseas, reimported in that packaging you see. Confirmed by ATK.

Interesting. Thanks.

Kind of like those made-in-Belgium/Assembled-in-Portugal HiPowers back in the day… makes your WTF meter peg…

.

[Jim Watson]

Interesting indeed. The first Independence I saw was CBC - Brazil.

I have to wonder if there is actually a US plant making steel cases.
Or are we seeing more of what Hornady does with Steel Match, Russky cases + Murrican bullets?

[BWT]

Independence = lots of (all?) exported ATK components, assembled overseas, reimported in that packaging you see. Confirmed by ATK.

I heard about some issues with wicked hot 5.56x45mm with pressure concerns. I had a few boxes I never touched; have you (or anybody else) shot enough to test out their other loadings?

Thanks and God Bless,

Brandon

[voodoo_man]

Necro'ing this thread...

Been seeing aluminum cased 9mm consistently 1-2 dollars cheaper than brass recently. Never shot it and don't know how it is better or worse. Some guys locally are saying it's the next big thing and most ammo manufacturers will switch over.

Opinions? Suggestions? Experiences?

[jwperry]

Necro'ing this thread...

Been seeing aluminum cased 9mm consistently 1-2 dollars cheaper than brass recently. Never shot it and don't know how it is better or worse. Some guys locally are saying it's the next big thing and most ammo manufacturers will switch over.

Opinions? Suggestions? Experiences?

I've shot about 900 rounds of 9mm Federal Champion through my Gen 4 G19 & Mk25. Recoil like mouse fart loads, but pretty accurate when compared to American Eagle(my normal range load). No reliability problems from my small sample.
I also put 50 rounds through a 1911. Couple fail to feed, but I think that was due to lack of lube on my gun..

[hufnagel]

I've got a mini-review some where on this site about it.
Short answer: it sucks. (my opinion.)

ETA: found my review: https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ions-FM9R115SN