Bx cable

Found a small amount of bx cable first ever. So i was wondering i found some with 3 wires and some with5 wires it seems to me that 5 wire isnt common im assuming most bx is solid wire but i did find some with 3 stranded wires will it affect recovery rate? I noticed the 5 wire bx is bigger than the 3 wire. Im assuming its ali bx cause i doubt i could bend it to see the wires then snip the metal off to get the wires out without cutting them. I only probably have 5lbs bx not sure have to weigh it out looks like i got 14 and 12awg does it come in 10awg and bigger? Whats recovery on these?

Bx has wildly different recovery depending on:

• If the shielding is aluminum or steel
• If the wire inside is insulated aluminum, ICW #1 MCM, ICW %1 75-80%, ICW #2 50% or steel coax

Currently I don't buy or sell much bx wire but at my last job where I did, aluminum bx wire we bought at the same price as #2 ICW 50% and steel bx at ICW #2 35%. This was under the impression that it was all 75-80%. A contract I had a few years ago about 2/3 of the bx had 75-80% wire and most of the rest was split between coax, 50% and small amounts of insulated aluminum.

Well looks like i only got bout 10lbs with the bx beingaluminum casing and copper wire havent done it yet im gona say its 50% recovery? So id get 5lbs bare wire and 5lbs aluminum will update when i break it down fully.

Actual recovery will not be 50%/50% (wire insulation, etc.) but the value should be roughly the same or a bit better than 50% wire. Think of it like romex with the second layer being much heavier than usual