About annealing nickle-plated brass: Lacking factory .458 WinMag brass and wanting desperately to shot a new rifle, I took 50 range pick-up R-P 7mm Rem Mag nickeled brass cases and carefully annealed then by holding the neck/shoulder area in 600 degree melted lead then dropping into room temperature water. These were loaded with 10 grains of Unique and then filled to the case mouth with Cream of Wheat cereal. They fire-formed perfectly, only loosing two cases to splits. The nickle plating on the neck area looked a bit rough and less shiny, but it was still there. These cases have been reloaded several times at "trapdoor" .45-70 power level with cast bullets with no problems or case loss to splits. I don't use them for full-power .458 Mag loads but they work fine for reduced lead practice rounds and being thinner, seal better at reduced pressure.