Anyone remember these ?

joepistol

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Yes.. According to info I found online, a guy in Illinois was upset the ammo producers wouldn't sell components to reload ammo, so he started importing components, selling them under the Alcan name. He started with shotgun components, (primers / powder / wads) then added rifle & pistol. components as hs business grew. Very popular in the 60's -early 80's. Supposedly the components came from Bofors, a munitions company in Sweden .
S&W actually bought Alcan & kept selling components under than name until the early 80's. One story I read was the Bofors plant had a fire that destroyed it & that ended the Alcan line.

.I believe I have some of their powder too.. Don't recall where I got the primers or powder, but I know I've had it for years.
If/ when I find it, I'll post another pic ..
 

Bob Lee

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Yes.. According to info I found online, a guy in Illinois was upset the ammo producers wouldn't sell components to reload ammo, so he started importing components, selling them under the Alcan name. He started with shotgun components, (primers / powder / wads) then added rifle & pistol. components as hs business grew. Very popular in the 60's -early 80's. Supposedly the components came from Bofors, a munitions company in Sweden .
S&W actually bought Alcan & kept selling components under than name until the early 80's. One story I read was the Bofors plant had a fire that destroyed it & that ended the Alcan line.

.I believe I have some of their powder too.. Don't recall where I got the primers or powder, but I know I've had it for years.
If/ when I find it, I'll post another pic ..
Are the cans of powder squaty, kinda square with rounded edges? I think they were red, yellow, and maybe black. I was like 10 yrs old then, and I'm 69 now, so my mind can be a bit hazy.
 

Bob Lee

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View attachment 28467
This is what I found in my stash.. I'd read online that they sold their powder in 8 oz., rather than 1 lb. containers... guess that's true.
A cardboard body with metal top & bottom.
I must be thinking of another powder. I remember those cans though. My dad had a Herters turret press, and also a Herters shotgun shell reloader. Man I wish I had them now. He was supposed to send me his reloading stuff after he moved to Texas, but it never happened. I miss him.
 

cxm

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I was told the ALCAN primers were made by Fiocchi... possibly a second supplier after the Swedish primer maker burned.

In the early 1970s I used ALCAN primers exclusively... they seated very smoothly, were very consistent and a bit cheaper than the big three suppliers. During the past few years I have been able to get Fiocchi primers and have been pleased with them as well... same as with S&B primers.

FWIW

Chuck
 

joepistol

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I tried some of the Alcan primers from boxes in my 1st post..they worked fine. Loaded a batch of 45'swith them. Tried them @ my range, all worked, had no misfires.
During one of the 1st primer shortages I experienced, I ran out of primers, and eventually found some Fiocchi. They worked just as well as my usual CCI's, Winchesters, or Federals. Thought it was strange that they were packaged in trays of 150 instead of 100, as I recall.
After getting caught w/o primers, I made steps in the future that the same issue wouldn't happen to me again.
Eventually, primers became available. When a seller would put them on sale, or offer free Hazmat with X amount purchased, I'd buy a supply.
Did this several times. I'm not a high volume shooter, but enjoys hooting when I want, as much as I want, in whatever caliber I own..
I made it a point of building up my stash of components in the cals. I own. After 1 shortage, I bought some Tula primers..they too worked as well as any other brand. Haven't tried S&B primers.. but I would, if needed.
 

dennishoddy

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Ponca City, Ok
I tried some of the Alcan primers from boxes in my 1st post..they worked fine. Loaded a batch of 45'swith them. Tried them @ my range, all worked, had no misfires.
During one of the 1st primer shortages I experienced, I ran out of primers, and eventually found some Fiocchi. They worked just as well as my usual CCI's, Winchesters, or Federals. Thought it was strange that they were packaged in trays of 150 instead of 100, as I recall.
After getting caught w/o primers, I made steps in the future that the same issue wouldn't happen to me again.
Eventually, primers became available. When a seller would put them on sale, or offer free Hazmat with X amount purchased, I'd buy a supply.
Did this several times. I'm not a high volume shooter, but enjoys hooting when I want, as much as I want, in whatever caliber I own..
I made it a point of building up my stash of components in the cals. I own. After 1 shortage, I bought some Tula primers..they too worked as well as any other brand. Haven't tried S&B primers.. but I would, if needed.
I think it was during the Clinton years, primers became very scarce and expensive. I was starting competition shooting at that time, having to stop because there was no ammo and no reloading components. .22 ammo was non existent unless one wanted to pay scalper prices.
I made up my mind at that time that situation would never happen again.
When primers finally came back on line and the price got to about $3 per 100, I went nuts ordering and started shooting competition again.
When .22 got back down to .04 cents a round, another buying spree went on. I'll never lack a supply of .22 RF.
My minimum stock was 10,000 primers, no matter if it was SPP, Large Rifle, Benchrest, and so on.
When the stock got down to 10K, another 10K was purchased. At the time I was shooting well over 1000 rounds a month in pistol and rifle, so had to reorder every few months.
Now that primers and powder are once again in short supply, I can still go out and shoot without worrying about it. The competition days are over, but still enjoy banging lots of ammo at the range and seeing how far out I can shoot with pistol and rifle.
300 yards on 12" steel using a 9mm German Luger is the best so far, twice in a row with witnesses. :cool:
 

joepistol

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.." 300 yards on 12" steel using a 9mm German Luger is the best so far, twice in a row with witnesses. :cool: "
this is impressive. My club range is ltd. to 100yds. , but is fairly close ( 15 mi) & easy to get to, so I don't go elsewhere to shoot.
While I'd like to try shooting 200-300 yds..my eyesight & skill might disappoint.. :(

I believe it was the Clinton era when I also ran out of primers, (1st time it happened to me) & I had to really search to find any.
Also think that's when I tried Fiocchi & Tula primers.
 

BobT

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My first reloading experience was with a 20 gauge Lee Loader and Alcan AL-5 powder, I bought everything I needed to load including the Lee Loader, 100 new hulls and 25 lbs. of shot and was still out the door for less than $30.00. This was sometime around 1970 and I've been handloading ever since.
 
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