Aluminum or nickel?

[Froogal]

I stumbled across some empty .45 acp shell casings. NOT brass. Head stamp is N 100 and maybe R? I've never seen this before. Can they be reloaded? Or should I just toss them? I have only 3, so it's not a big deal either way.

[DeaconKC]

They could also be steel, so try a magnet on them. If not steel, weigh em on your reloading scale and compare to one of your brass cases.

[Froogal]

Hadn't even thought about them being steel, but my magnet proved that they are not. I'll do the weight test later, when I am at the reloading bench.

[wildman1]

Nickel will shine more than aluminum. If in doubt scrape the base of the case and if its nickle the brass under it will show thru.
wM1

[Froogal]

Pretty sure they are aluminum. I weighed a brass casing and then weighed one of the mystery casings. Mystery casing weighed basically nothing. I tossed all 3 into the scrap bin.

[Professor Marvel]

CCI puts out aluminum cased "practice" rounds. These are useful
for those times when you are not allowed to collect your brass,
such as certain ranges, qualification, etc.

yhs
prf mumbles