Hardened Nickel Cases

[Finster101]

I picked up some .308 nickel cases in a batch of stuff I bought. I don't have a .308 so I gave them away. I guy I gave them to commented that they felt hard when he sized them and they do not want to chamber in his rifle. Is there a way to condition them or are they just junk? I have read you can't anneal nickel because the heat actually hardens it and makes it brittle. Any advice is appreciated.

[Fitz]

I anneal them all the time reforming from 5.56 to 300 Ham"r and to 277 wolverine I would think they would fail going up to 30 cal. for the HAM'R if there was a problem ,and very seldom lose one to a split neck but does happen on occasion .

[toallmy]

He could try a small base sizing die , or shimming his shell holder with a feeler gages.

[Fitz]

that's what it sounds like to me , he is only neck sizing brass that has been shot out of a loose chamber or he just has a really tight chamber. and needs to snug down the die to reduce headspace. If he has some
Hornady headspace gauges he could find out for sure.

[BattleRife]

I have read you can't anneal nickel because the heat actually hardens it and makes it brittle.

What you have read is baseless. The heat of annealing can do no such thing to nickel.

[243winxb]

Size with small base die. Nickel brass does not spring back on firing as much as brass. Harder to extract & size.

[GONRA]

GONRA sez to MAKE SURE to repeat any Difficult Case Sizing Job
with STP Oil Treatment for a case lube.
THEN draw conclusions!

[Winger Ed.]

The only issue I've had out of the ordinary with Nickel cases is (It might be my imagination) they seem to crack sooner.

If those came out of a rather 'generous' chamber, I'd expect them to be a littler harder to resize.
I've had that happen almost to the extreme with all the surplus GI brass that had been fired in a M-60 machine gun.

[GregLaROCHE]

Has the overall case length been checked? Maybe they just need to be trimmed.

[farmbif]

just like ed ive had same experience with some nickel plated brass, they seem to take fewer reloads before a crack will show up in them. but they size and shoot and reload just as good as any brass that's not plated.

as far as not chambering could be one of several reasons.i once had reloads that would not chamber. it made me half crazy. they fit perfect in Lyman trim gauge type ammo checker. turned out to be I had the seating/crimping die cranked down just a bit too much and it was putting a bulge in the brass that I could not see.
so if the size die is adjusted properly try seating some bullets without crimping and see if they chamber

[atr]

they do tend to split at the neck faster, but I have never found them harder to resize. When resizing I like to go part way down on the case, back it out, rotate it and then finish the resizing stroke.
I like to use them because the outsides aren't affected when they sit in a leather bandolier for a length of time.
atr

[GONRA]

atr sez: "I like to use them (Ni plated brass cartridge cases) because the outsides aren't affected when they sit in a leather bandolier for a length of time." GONRA remembers that (and marine applications) 's why Ni cases appeared in the first place!