Nickel-plated Rifle Cases

[Andy45]

Is there a reason to prefer one type over the other for repeated reloadings, say for example .308 Win for bolt action, non-hotrod loads?

[Half Dog]

I use nickel plated brass for rounds that I won’t shoot very often. Brass tends to tarnish. Reload nickel plated brass to much and you might end up with flakes of nickel in your dies.

[Bazoo]

I'm looking to come across some 30-30 and some 30-06 nickel cases for hunting. I figure they will not verdigris in my belt slide, and will overall fair better should I be in inclimate weather.

[Rapidrob]

They both will fail at the same time. Other than corrosion resistance, there are no real reasons to use the more expensive nickle plated brass.

[Kylongrifle32]

I'm kind of on the same line as Bazoo. I try to use nickel cases for my hunting rounds. My deer hunting rifle and pistol are both fitted with stainless steel barrels so silver brass with silver barrels. Just part of my OCD. Other than that its up to you on preferences. Some of my 7-30 Waters brass formed from Nickle 30-30 back in 1985 are more yellow looking in spots than Nickle looking from wear of sizing and cleaning in a vibratory tumbler.

[tdoor4570]

I use the nickel plated brass in my 300 win mag and the brass cases in my 308 norma mag that keeps them seperate as both use the same basic case. never had a problem with either.

[RU shooter]

Bright Nickel cases are easer to see and find in the grass and leaves only reason I ever perfered it over regular brass.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve never used them. I always thought they were a handgun thing for some reason. Maybe easier to extract from cylinders. Look nice going around a holster belt too.

[ulav8r]

Bought nickel once fired 30/30 from J&G in 1974-75. Wasted my money, the cases showed signs of extreme pressure. I did load them with very light plinking loads and discarded them after 1 load. Have not bought anything from J&G since.

[too many things]

if you get to reload 2 times you will be lucky most rifle will split at the neck
30-30 may last 3

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I think nickle plating was used on 38 special cases to prevent police officer's belt loops from turning green. At least that is what I heard.

[EDG]

I have about 200 nickle plated 6mm Rem cases and a few nickle 375 H&H cases. The nickle cases need to be very clean to avoid scratching the FL die since they are so hard. I have only sized the 6mm cases once but the nickle was so hard it felt like I was about to pull the rims off pulling the cases out of the die. Due to the hardness of the nickle I will not buy anymore for any reason - unless at a give away price.

Keep your brass clean and it will last many loadings - no nickle is needed.

I have USGI brass made in the St Louis arsenal head stamped SL-54 so it was made in 1954. This brass still works for full power loads and it has been formed to 3 different calibers.

[dtknowles]

I have enough for my 30-06 that they are all I use. I like them. I have loaded them more than twice and no split necks yet. They are Win brass.

I load my full house jacket bullet loads for .357 Mag and 9 x 19 in nickel brass. No problems or issues with them either except that the nickel is so thin on the Fed. brass that it wears away.

Regarding price. These are all range pickup, free to me.

Tim

[Bazoo]

Nickel cases are harder to size in 357 magnum. It's all I have in large enough batch to load in that caliber.

[Kosh75287]

That's SMART!

[NObamain2012]

No nickel plated cases for me. If the plating flakes off, and embeds in your die, it's ruined.

[Drm50]

A while back I had a Martini in 22Ackley Jet. I didn’t have form dies so I made up some modified dies to make from 357 brass. I had 4 boxes of 1x Federal 357. I used it instead of my Win 357 yellow brass. There were 7 steps in forming. Out of 1st 50 I ruined most. Second round I annealed and got about half. Switched to yellow brass and only lost a couple. The nickel cases that did form ok only lasted one shot. The necks split. You could see linear scratches in the nickel and split would follow these. I have a lot of nickel brass, some new but 30yrs old. 45/70, 222 Match, 44sp, 30/06 and 375H&H. 1x 30/30, 32/40 and hundreds of 38sp. The new brass I won’t load because I don’t need it and I think may only do 1x in the bottle necks.

[Shawlerbrook]

Prefer to reload yellow brass, but the nickel ones do stay shiny.

[John Boy]

For all of the posted reasons not to use nickel plated cases ... they go in the recycling bucket however I ever obtain them

[sharps4590]

My experience has been they don't form very well, annealed or not, high failure rate. I'm ambivalent about them otherwise. I did buy some Starline 44-40 once because that's all that was available.

[Win94ae]

I use them in my leather cartridge carriers so the leather will not cause tarnish. Works wonderfully! They also are slipperier than brass. I like using them for my hunting loads.

[Hossfly]

I got several thousand from friend in town cause he didn’t like them, 38 spl. So i use them cause they’re free, cant beat that price.

[Hossfly]

I got several thousand from friend in town cause he didn’t like them, 38 spl. So i use them cause they’re free, cant beat that price.

[wolfwing]

I use them in handgun and rifle. I prefer them in handgun and am indifferent towards them in rifle. I have necked 270 WSM down to 6.5 and up to 325 with no ill effects. I have shot the 6.5s 4 to 5 times - no cracks. They are more difficult to form, but I think they slide in the sizing die easier once formed. Lubing them is easier because the lube seems to be more uniform on the case. A dented shoulder is rare.

[3006guns]

if you get to reload 2 times you will be lucky most rifle will split at the neck
30-30 may last 3

This has been my experience with nickel.........it seems more brittle and tends to split quickly, compared to regular brass. Something to do with the plating process perhaps?

[BobT]

I have some nickel plated Hornet cases that were cut and formed to .22 Squirrel, they seem to be lasting as long as the brass ones. I have used nickel plated cases in a few calibers off and on for years and have had no issues at all reloading them.

[fatnhappy]

I have a couple thousand of them .308. They were given to as new unfurled component brass.

They’re OK but I wouldn’t pay for them. Case forming to .300 sav is more of a pain that it’s worth. You can’t turn necks.... yada yada yada.
They look nice a feed beautifully and are cortisone resistant.

[1hole]

I think nickle plating was used on 38 special cases to prevent police officer's belt loops from turning green. At least that is what I heard.

That's true. The chemicals used to tan some leathers used in cop's revolver ammo belt loops would cause brass cases to start going "green" within a few weeks.

The only reason to nickle plate rifle cases is it's marketing appeal to those who like shiny bright things.