Nickel plating, fact or fictchen

[DeanoBeanCounter]

OK I've been in the army and I know how rumor control has people believing anything. Can someone confirm this true or false.
It is said that you should not re-size nickel plated brass because the nickel could chip off and scratch your die. Has this ever happen to anybody? Or is it just a story. I work with nickel plated brass all the time, have never had a problem. As a matter of fact I have some shells with the nickel plating wore almost all the way off, not chipped off.
I understand that the nickel is electroplated on and therefore cannot chip off because it is now part of the brass. Like chrome plating.
Any thoughts? Any experience?

Dean

[Guesser]

The plating can crack and flake. When they say "resize", I take it to mean necking it up or down to form a different cartridge/caliber. That definitely doesn't work with nickel plated cases. I also have plated cases that the plating has worn thin from repeated sizing and cleaning, mostly Federal. Seems Federal 38 & 357 cases have thinner plating than most others. Go on using the ones you have, I do. Just that when I buy new cases I never buy nickel plated.

[Tim357]

Years ago I sent a sizing die back to RCBS to remove a stuck case and polish the die. Steel die, btw. They took care of me but suggested I use a carbide die for nickel cases. Good advice. Haven't bought nickel cases since. They look pretty, but I'll take plain brass any day. Of course, if I get free nickel
brass I'm not too proud to use it...

[bhn22]

What really pisses nickel cases off is trimming. Once you get a cut on that case, it'll flake. Anyway, I have some 357 mag nickel brass that's over 20 years old. I used to think it was neat. I still do, but I only use it to identify special loads, like my high pressure 147 gr 9mm pin loads. If you pick up a reloaded 9mm with a nickel case in this house, that's what the load will be. Nickel cases seem to split sooner too, and probably the only reason I still have some of the old cases is because my carbide dies seem to worn much of the nickel off, and they look so shabby that I'm embarrassed to take them to the range.

[HeavyMetal]

Old Nickel cases will "fade" and I have had some that I had to look twice at to decide which bucket they went in Brass or Nickel, LOL!

The real issue with Nickel case's starts with new, never fired, or once fired Nickel case's.

Nickel is much harder than brass and if not deburred properly BEFORE being run through a steel die can scratch it severly and then tear up anything that follows!

With carbide dies your safe until you get to your expander die and then that can get chewed up.

Case in point: I bought a bag of 308 Nickel case a few years back, still shoot them by the way, and ran them through my Lee Collet size die.

I did this before any other case prep and had these case's shred the ,309 steel mandrel the neck gets squeezed against when the die sizes the neck.

Coulda kicked myself when I realized what happened! A simple deburring would have save the pin.

If you go to a gun show and find a guy selling lots of old die sets you'll usually find every steel 38 special/ 357 die set has a damaged sizing die, not so much with 45 auto but I have seen a few and one 44 mag steel sizer die.

But every steel 38 die I've seen has needed a good polishing.

These days if I get a good deal on Nickel case's I'll buy them BUT I know how I will treat them before they come in contact with any die set I own!

[gunoil]

never had probs. with 380/9/45 pistol cases.

[Walter Laich]

Old Nickel cases will "fade" and I have had some that I had to look twice at to decide which bucket they went in Brass or Nickel, LOL!

.
My 45 Colt nickel cases have been reloaded so many times I have the same problem. Did anneal all of them and since doing that have only lost one to cracks--cracked in middle, did not crack at month. The annealing was over a year ago and they just keep reloading fine.

[Big Z]

I'll take my brass, as brass.

[Reloader270]

I use .357Magnum nickel cases which is almost 20 years old. Reloaded, maybe 10 times. No problem. I us a carbide die on them. For my .270Win I have reloaded Nickel cases, but I have bought a seperate FL die for them. I do think of using a Lee Collet Die instead.

[44Vaquero]

I have never had an issue with nickel flaking off during sizing, the 38's and .357's will eventually wear off as others have said. I do not use any nickel rifle so I can't really comment on it life span.

[mold maker]

Nickle and brass expand and are compressed differently. The brass is softer and accepts working better than nickle. The nickle cracks into tiny checks and then as the brass expands, it sheds the nickle plating.
I have only carbide dies, so I haven't seen damage, but the loss of checks of nickle is a reality.
Most I've seen was on older (1970s) 38/357 brass.

[mdi]

False. I've been reloading nickel plated brass since 1969 and never any flaking. I have reloaded some .38 Special, and .357 Magnum cases enough times to wear the nickel thin in spots. I even have 5, mebbe 6 reloads (full magnum pressures) on some .44 Magnum cases and no sign of anything different than non-plated cases...

[destrux]

I have received .40sw brass that had the nickel plating rough and peeling off on several casings. I wont load it like that. When they are smooth I never had an issue.

[Mod42]

For straight walled hand gun cases I like nickel, stays cleaner and is easier to size. I have a lot of .38 SPCL that is very old and has been sized many times (most of the nickel is worn off). The dies I used for straight walled cases are are all carbide dies, don't know why steel dies are made for straight walled cases.

For rifle I do not like nickeled cases, it is because when I started loading the only nickeled bottle necked cases where proof loads, and they would turn up at gun shows once in a while. To this day I avoid nickeled rifle cases because of this.

[Bonz]

For the nickel to be able to scratch the carbide die, nickel would have to be harder than carbide. Does anyone know which one is harder ?

[HeavyMetal]

Let me clear up a Point I made that may be a bit murky:

Carbide is harder than Nickel and Nickel case's will not scratch a Carbide die.

Nickel case's can and will scratch steel sizing dies as well as any other plain steel die part such as expander plugs and sizing mandrels.

Deburr completely before using Nickel case's in plain steel die sets.

[williamwaco]

I prefer brass but I use both. - Interchangeably.

In almost 60 years of loading .38 Spec, I have seen at least one nickle case flake.
Not more than two or three.

It is possible but it is NOT something to worry about.
Load them until they crack or flake then toss them.

[Petrol & Powder]

I never used bottlenecked nickel rifle cases but I do have a bunch of 38 Special cases that are nickel plated. I don't care for nickel plated cases, they don't seem to hold up as well as the plain brass ones. Not sure why the nickel ones fail more often but they do. I ended up with a bunch so I just toss them out when the cases split. I never had a problem with them damaging dies but they are straight walled cases and carbide dies.

[BK7saum]

I've had nickel bottleneck rifle cases where the nickel cracked and flaked on the neck. Very rarely have I seen it happen in straight walled pistol cases.

Yes it is FACT.

You did not clarify pistol or rifle cases or carbide or steel dies. Nickel won't scratch carbide.

[mdi]

I prefer brass but I use both. - Interchangeably.

In almost 60 years of loading .38 Spec, I have seen at least one nickle case flake.
Not more than two or three.

It is possible but it is NOT something to worry about.
Load them until they crack or flake then toss them.
+1...

[hornetman]

Several years ago a friend gave me four boxes of new Federal Match brass in .222 Rem that was nickel plated. I did not turn the necks, and have reloaded it about 10 times with no problems. However, I am neck sizing it only in Wilson hand dies using a Redding carbide sizer button.
I have had no issues with any plated handgun ammo using carbide dies. A side issue-- My H&K P&-M8 leaves striations on some brands of nickel brass. Solution--don't use it with plated brass i I intend to reload.

[sdcitizen]

Nickel sure does put the dull on a case trimmer in a hurry in my experience.