Curious Swaging Question

[nun2kute]

Seen a lot of different material discussed here. copper tubing, copper tubing end caps, Al. flashing, pop/beer cans etc. etc. etc. along with lots and lots of pictures of home made bullets/boolits. But I have yet to see a bullet swaged with a nichol case. So how do you treat Nichol cases. Nobody tried this yet, or did I just miss it ? Would the Nichol flake off in the manufacturing or maybe the barrel ? Is it just not worth the effort ?

Not asking out of any need or want. It just occurred to me while scrounging range scrap, I got quit a few in 9, 40 and 45 auto in my collection, and I wonder what would happen if ...

[jrdztech]

If you mean nickel, the case it's harder than brass and difficult to work with..

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[mold maker]

The only ones I tried were well used and toward the end of their usefulness as cases. They (40 brass into 44JHP) had been over polished and sized many times. When annealed and reformed the nickel plating turned loose from the brass and flaked off instead of stretching. The thus formed bullets were not acceptable. I may have caused the separation by using abused brass , but the same thing may have resulted with 1x fired. The work involved and the possible damage to my dies and barrell precluded any further use of them. YMMV

[Sasquatch-1]

There's just too much yellow brass laying around on the ranges to use nickel. Also, some one will correct me if I am wrong, but I think the nickel could be a detriment to the barrel over time.

I better duck now because I am sure the incoming is on the way.

[clodhopper]

There's just too much yellow brass laying around on the ranges to use nickel. Also, some one will correct me if I am wrong, but I think the nickel could be a detriment to the barrel over time.

Very succinct.
Nickle platting is slick, and hard,
Some people say that sizing the brass makes the plating crack because it is not as flexible as brass. Flakes of plating could cause unneeded wear in expensive dies and barrels.
I don't know if it's true or not, because my focus is on shooting.

[jsn]

Varmint Al has a web site and stated, well, you can read it yourself in the middle of his reloading page:

http://www.varmintal.com/arelo.htm

[DukeInFlorida]

The Nickel on cases is electroplated onto a brass case. The nickel plated cases are especially designed for law enforcement use. The plain brass cases on a sweaty officers hip for six months would tend to oxidize, and could cause a malfunction. The nickel plating, which resists the oxidation (take a look at some old 1950's nickels), isn't as stretchy as plain brass, and would yield less than desirable results. As a test, I tried some. The attempts to "anneal" the nickel plated cases were even worse than the non-annealed.

However, I decided to keep the nickel plated brass for my own CARRY AMMO, knowing that it won't corrode on my hip. As has already been said, there's enough plain brass around to suit the need for jacket material.

So, be happy for your inventory of nickel plated brass. Nickel is softer than the tool steel that your dies are made from. As long as you properly clean them ahead of time, your nickel plated brass will reload wonderfully.

And, just for the record, I disagree with some of the Varmint Al comments about nickel plating. It is NOT "as hard as sandpaper". And, he also suggests that it is as hard as chromium plating. That is also not true. What is true is that "normal" chrome plating is done thusly: The part is first copper plated, then nickel plated over the copper, and finally a very very very thin coating of chromium is plated over the nickel. So, while nickel is involved in the chrome plating process, the nickel itself is NOT harder than rifle barrels or harder than the steel used to make resizing dies. There is NO chromium involved in the nickel plating of brass cases, either rifle or pistol. His discussion about pulling a bullet from a brass case vs pulling a bullet from a nickel plated case....... the bullet in question is much softer than either the brass case or the nickel plating. You can't jump from that to nickel being as hard as steel or chrome plating. Just 'taint so. Sorry, Varmint Al

[reed1911]

I concur; however, the issue with the nickle flaking off and scratching a die is indeed and issue. Not so much that all nickle cases will do it, but it will flake and if it does so and gets between the case and the die it will leave a mark..


Another point, the much loved Winchester Silver Tip HP handgun bullets are nickle plated.....We also used to use soft steel with a nickle plate for ammunition WW-II era. No issues with shooting them.