Over the years I have been told by many reloaders that NICKLEL brass is bad for the bore of your gun. Well is it? I have been told that small pieces of the Nickel break off, and are so hard that they will damage the interior of you bore.. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks Maddog

After brass is sized several times the nickel can begin to flake off.This harder material could scratch your chamber or if it got into the bore it could possibly cause damage when the gun is fired.I do know that it seems to dull case trimmer cutters quicker than normal brass.

Every so often this question gets asked, then a war rages for about 30 posts. With people on one side saying it's garbage,(nickle that is), the other side saying it's the best thing since sliced bread and bottled beer.

I'm quite nuetral on this, in that I will use it if that's what I can get, but won't go out of my way to buy it or specify it.

I've used it a lot for loading .280's for several rifles. It sure stays nice and shiny for hunting conditions.

Some say the inside of the neck is rougher, causing undue damage to the bullet while seating. Have you ever seen what a spent bullet looks like? The bore is quite unkind to it!

Now for the flaking/hard on bore BS. It's NICKLE not CHROME! Lets not get them mixed up! Yes it's harder than plain brass, but just how hard is it? I've asked this before, no one has been able to answer without their personal opinion getting in the way! Any metalurgists in the crowd?

If you're annealing nickle cases, it's impossible to see a color change in the brass to indicate when to quit heating. If you're neck turning it looks wierd if some is taken off and some isn't. If a trimmer cutter is dulled by nickle, it wasn't hardened very well, or very well made(cheap).

I have used Nickel Brass for my 300 Wby for quite a while now. Still have my old Hornady trimmer bought in 72, cut's away still even with the Nickel like butter. Now I have really got in to the Nickel Brass to help keep things in order. Have the 280 Rem in Winchester Brass to help keep them from the -06 brass. Plus having the 7Stw For years, the Nickel Brass in the 300Wby helps me keep them 2 in order. When the Nickel Brass are brand new if you us the Chamfering-Deburring tool first then Neck or Full Lenght size how ever you do it, Then when seating the bullets they will slide in smooth and will not cut in to the Jacket. You should do the same with Regular Brass any way. Just my way of doing it

After some searching I have found that 416 stainless(the most common stainless used in stainless barrels)ranges from 190 to 360 on the brinell hardness scale depending on heat treatment.Nickels and nickel allows are listed from 171 to over 500 on the same brinell hardness scale.So depending on the individual circumstances the nickel may or may not be harder than the barrel.I have not used nickel brass myself but a friend does use it and I have seen it begin to flake off some of his casings after several loadings.He is the one that complained that his cutter seemed to dull faster as well.

stubblejumpers hardness figures were good info,and relative to your question. 10 minutes ago I finished resizing and priming 80ea. 243 cases. 60 were Win. brass and 20 were RP nickle plated brass. I use Bardhl as a lube so I noticed only a little diference going in. bring the case out over the expander was a different story. The nickled brass was noticeably harder to extracate.Ergo there must be a ware difference roger