Why do so many shooter dislike reloading nickel plated cases

[tackstrp]

Why do so many shooter dislike reloading nickel plated cases. I often see commenst that seem to express a dislike .

thanks just curious .

[1Shirt]

Don't know about others, but in my experiance it is due to neck splits/cracks, sometimes after the first reloading. This is true for me even with only neck sizing.
Pistol cases not quite as bad for revolver cases as for rifle.
1Shirt!

[fatelk]

My understanding is that the plating process tends to make the brass a bit brittle. It looks nice and won't tarnish, but usually won't last for as many reloads before cracking.

[Cherokee]

I don't dislike nickel plated brass, I have a lot of it, even in 5.56 (223), and have no problems with it - with the lone exception being RP nickel plated 32-20 brass. A lot of my nickel cases have almost worn the plating off from reloading and still it goes on.

[btroj]

Cost. That's the main thing to me.
I find nickel plated handgun cases to be harder to find on the ground. They seem to hide better.

I don't so much dislike them, I just don't buy them. Don't see a need.

[MT Gianni]

A lot of the worn coating ends up on the sizing die reducing the diameter in one spot and making it easier for a case to split. An unevenly sized case does not hold pressure evenly and the expansion in that spot will cause failure. Yes we make sure that our dies are clean but why put something into them that will come off and is cosmetic only?

[Inkman]

I load em in .45 ACP and shoot em. They just get mixed in with the rest of the brass, loaded and shot. Most of it is/was just range brass scrounged from the ground. No biggie for me.

Al

[JohnH]

The short of it is that nickeled brass will develop stress cracks before plain brass does, therefore it has a shorter reloading life.

The long answer... the nickeling process heats and hardens the brass rendering it less ductile. It can't be annealed after the nickeling process, this will destroy the nickel finish, the purpose of which is to prevent corrosion in the chambers wherein the brass fails completely on firing or fails to extract. If the most disappointing sound in the world is a "click" when you expect a bang, the most disconcerting feeling in the world must be having a firearm that is inoperable in the middle of a gunfight because it cannot be reloaded. Nickeling was a solution to brass corrosion as a result of being carried in high humidity environments. Brass left in leather loops in such conditions exhibits corrosion very quickly, the tannites in the leather accelerate the problem.

[plainsman456]

I shoot them in pistols all the time but when reloading for a Browning lever chambered for the 270 Winchester they seemed to be to slick to hold on to the barrel wall.I loaded some brass cases at the same time and had no problems at all with them.
As well as having more neck splits than brass cases.

[Sonnypie]

Do you know why Sheppard's have black sheep mixed in the herd?
For count.
1 black sheep per 99 regular sheep = 100 sheep.

So I use the nickel plated ones the same way. If I see 5 nickel plated ones in a pile of my brass, there are _ _ _ pieces of brass in that pile?
*
*
*
*
*
(answer: 495)
(Because 5 of them are nickel plated)



When I had a nice Ruger Redhawk in 44 Rem. Magnum, I had a nice black leather rig for it. And 30 chiny nitchel plated cases in the cartridge loops.
A handsome rig it was!

[Southern Son]

I have only limited experience with nickel cases in 38 Special. I got rid of all the nickel ones after a little bit of the nickel plate came off a case and got stuck in the sizing die. It ehn left a pretty good gouge in the side of the other cases that were going throught the die (but not in an easy place to spot). I ended up with about 40 cases with a gouge in the side. The gouge was deep enough that some of the cases split along the gouge after only one or two more firings.

[ku4hx]

Via the salvage department at my post-retirement employer, about ten years ago I bought about 20,000 Federal once-fired 40 S&W nickle plated cases. True once fired because they were the result of our security force's training and qualifications.

I've loaded a significant number of them multiple times (3-5 I guess) and had zero problems. I have had the plating flake off in years past so I know it happens. Cracking? Don't know since I tend to be quite conservative on the numbers of loads per case.

But the thing is, I bought them for $4 per box of ~2,000 so I wasn't worried. When I DO buy once fired cases, I buy non nickle plated. Why tempt fate? But if all I could get was the nickled stuff I'd buy 'em, load 'em and shoot 'em for as long as either they or I could still make it happen.

[beex215]

i dont mind nickel at all. i actually like them better due to its ease of cleaning and its looks. they all load the same to me.

[casterofboolits]

Many moons ago...1974/1975 I purchased 1,000 once fired 44 Mag cases, half of whih were nickel.

The problem I had was nickel deposits on my carbide sizing die which caused vertical scoring on the cases. Luckily, my father did the polishing for the tool company we worked for and he polished the inside of the die and soaked it in penetrating oil. Never had another problem. After that, I had him polish out all my carbide size dies.

Kind of soured me on nickel cases and I sold them to a guy who made key chains.

[white eagle]

I use it to form 280 A.I cases from standard 280 Rem.
the only issue I have is as has been stated neck splits
but I junk them and move on

[Lizard333]

I find they split at the neck, so I don't get as many reloads out of them. If I find them on the ground I use them. I use them a lot with my self defense loads because I don't shoot them. My normal brass I shoot more often. Works well.

[beagle]

Been shooting nickel plated .38s and .357 Mags for years. Grew up around the LE community and they almost exclusively used nickel stuff as they tended to not corrode when carried in leather carriers.

My only major complaint is that they do tend to fail earlier than brass cases. Cause? Maybe the heat used during the plating process or the harness of the plating. .357s are really bad about this.

They do tend to be harder on dies because of the flaking of the plating but I occasionally polish my dies out with a wooden dowel and a electric drill. Tends to remove the gunk and embedded grime.

Rifle calibers tend to be harder in this respect than pistol calibers.

Several years back a friend sent me a bunch of tin plated cases from proof rounds in .45/70, .30/30 and .38-55 and .44 Magnum. These things are first rate if you can find any and polish up nicely and don't exhibit the characteristics of nickel plated brass.

I've loaded and shot thousand of nickel cases in my career. Worth the effort in my opinion./beagle

[Rocky Raab]

Like several other posters, I've had a sizing die ruined by tiny flakes of nickel. Handgun cases get flared and crimped; rifle cases get trimmed. BOTH produce tiny flakes of nickel plating that then embed in the die (even carbide). EVERY case you size after that will get scratched, gouged or even cut by that flake of nickel. Worse, the die can't be fixed.

No more nickel for me.

[jwmprock]

The nickel flakes off and scratches dies, reason enough to junk 'em.

[justingrosche]

I use nickel cases for my 357 magnums so they are easy to to sort from 38 specials after a trip to the range. I get a few splits occasionally.