Ruger LCR Kaboom

[Grouch]

I think that everyone is overlooking one BIG item. Blazer ammo in aluminum cased JUNK. I personally have had these cases burst,
have had hangfires and misfires. Luckily it has always happened while shooting them in a rifle and not a revolver. Mostly in 357 Mag. ammo but i feel sure it could in 38 Spl. also. Think about a hang fire while shooting double action! You pull the trigger on say shot three and you are shooting fast and didn't notice a click instead of boom , pull the trigger again the hangfire goes off while the cylinder is out of alignment of the barrel. Thats why I don't shoot Blazers anymore!

[Timothy]

As I found last year, not all Blazer is created equal.  Some of them are brass cases and I'd bet that any +P probably was as well.

I just don't like them myself but I've never had a problem in the 100 or so I've shot including some in .38 spcl.  Either way, I'll be holding off on the LCR a bit longer and stick with my little tank...

As others have noted, an SP101 makes a hell of a hammer when it runs dry!

 

Update....according to the Blazer site, the +P ain't available in brass.  I stand corrected..

[2HOW]

Ruger needs to stick with SA revolvers, and what they do best.

[twyacht]

Never had a problem with a variety of calibers of CCI Blazer ammo, but, I'll keep my M85 snubbie all the same.

[tombogan03884]

I've been using Blazer since it came out 30 years ago, neither I or any one I know has ever had or heard of problems with it. I bought Blazer Brass with out hesitation.

[Sponsor]

[Grouch]

I am not saying that the brass loaded Blazer ammo is JUNK, I'm saying that the aluminum cased stuff is. The gun shop I use refuses to sell it and I don't blame him for it! I worked at a aluminum smelter as a Plant Protection Officer for 14 years and I was told that aluminum is strong as long as it was alloyed right, but the blazer cases are probably made out of the same alloy as beer cans. The strength of the case and its stretching abilty makes all the difference in the world. Also its resistance to heat and expantion, thats why they don't put aluminum wiring in houses anymore, it gets warm and expands and then contracts more than copper wire, that in turn causes loose connections, that causes over heating and that in turn causes a fire!

[tombogan03884]

I'm referring to the Al. cased Blazer.
Funny it's been on the market for 30 (ish ) years and you are the first person I ever heard complain about it.

[fightingquaker13]

I'm referring to the Al. cased Blazer.
Funny it's been on the market for 30 (ish ) years and you are the first person I ever heard complain about it.

Gotta say, I've shot near my own weight in their .22LR and a fair few .38s with nary a hiccup.
FQ13

[m25operator]

I have shot the aluminum Blazer for yrs, usually in lost brass matches, ( that means when the case hits the ground, it belongs to the range ). The reason to do that is time, it prevents that 2-3 minutes per shooter per stage, to police brass. If you have 350-400 shooters like we do at the Glock match, that makes a big difference. Now is aluminum weaker than brass blazer, I would say yes and no, aluminum does not flow like brass in a chamber, Grouch since you only had trouble in the lever guns, sounds like the ramp portion of your barrel is too much for the aluminum to keep contained, in a revolver, the case would be completely supported. As to hang fires, I have not witnessed this in Blazer, and agreed, is a dangerous situation. As to failures to fire, I have seen a lot of this in the Glock matches, reason, cci primers are the hardest in the business, as much as I love Glocks, they have a lighter primer hit than a lot of other pistols.  I had a case of Israel 9mm carbine ammo, said on the box, not for use in handguns, the stuff was loaded hot, and I would only get 50% of the ammo to go off in my M17, even after loading them again and taking 4-5 attempts. I kept all the unfired ammo home, next outing, I brought my 9mm 1911 and my CZ75, no ftf's, even on the stuff that had not gone off initially. Our ex Glock rep, John McNally had cases and cases of the aluminum stuff, and that is all he shot.

I have friend who reloads aluminum blazer, how can he do that with a Berdan primer, he uses Lee sizing die with the unbreakable decapping pin, and punches a 3rd flash hole in it, he only shoots this stuff in his Mac10, and blazer brass is free everywhere.

[david86440]

My local range doesn't allow Blazer aluminum but I think its because they don't want the aluminum cases mixed in with the brass. They also don't allow anything with exposed lead, but that is for health reasons.

I got a couple boxes of .38 sp from a friend who didn't trust it after shooting some of it because the cases were splitting. To see if it was just his gun I tried it in my GP100 with the same results.   I'm not reloading it so it didn't really matter to me or my GP100 that the cases split..

Its not something I would buy if anything else was available, but if its all I could find I would use it.