Nickel Plated Cases

26 March 2021, 02:19

jackalhunter

Nickel Plated Cases

Just purchased some Nosler ammo which has nickel plated cases. To date I handloaded my own amnmo always with brass cartridges mostly Norma. would someone tell me please if fired nickel plated cases can be tumble cleaned and FL resized for reloading.

26 March 2021, 02:31

Rapidrob

Yes,and yes

26 March 2021, 03:53

df06

quote:
Originally posted by Rapidrob:
Yes,and yes

Correct answer.
I have a few rifles that I use nickel brass, to keep it easily identifiable from brass for other rifles. Some say it will scratch dies. I have not experienced that.

26 March 2021, 04:33

Hipshoot

I have reloaded some, not much and have had NO problems with it. It MAY have a smaller capacity though.

Hip

26 March 2021, 21:41

Atkinson

Ive seen some flake off in the neck, and cause problems in the chamber..The person this happened too said he solved the problem by outside neck reaming the cases, and showed me the problem and how he handled it, and his loaded case were tri colored and kinda pretty sorta!!!

My experience is they take more muscle to resize than brass, but may in fact last longer but schools still out on that and will be for awhile, as I shoot them and trim them. Case stretching seems to be less at this point.

I should have all this figured out within a year..Other than that I see no real use for them and expect them to fade away into the past as time goes by??????

26 March 2021, 22:35

jeffeosso

totally reloadable - go down in powder charge 5% or more and work back up

opinions vary band of bubbas and STC hunting Club

Information on Ammoguide about
the416AR, 458AR, 470AR, 500AR
What is an AR round? Case Drawings 416-458-470AR and 500AR.
476AR,
http://www.weaponsmith.com

26 March 2021, 23:14

Nevada Wapati

I've had the nickle flake off the casing when wet tumbling with stainless steel pins. Never had a problem with try media.

27 March 2021, 04:39

Hipshoot

The nickel plating MAY have been started with .38 spl. cases when police kept their ammo in belt loops. The plating helped prevent case corrosion and turning green.

Hip

27 March 2021, 18:25

jeffeosso

quote:
Originally posted by Hipshoot:
The nickel plating MAY have been started with .38 spl. cases when police kept their ammo in belt loops. The plating helped prevent case corrosion and turning green.

Hip

or in the cylinder, .. just FYI, kroil helps ease them out .. allegedly

27 March 2021, 20:52

ANTELOPEDUNDEE

quote:
Originally posted by df06:
quote:
Originally posted by Rapidrob:
Yes,and yes

Correct answer.
I have a few rifles that I use nickel brass, to keep it easily identifiable from brass for other rifles. Some say it will scratch dies. I have not experienced that.

I have heard the same, but have not had any flake off. I have some .38 special cases that have the plating wear off near the case mouth over time. Nickel is very hard. I find that nickel plated ammo is slipperier in the hand FWIW. Easier to drop if you're in a hurry.

27 March 2021, 20:55

ANTELOPEDUNDEE

quote:
Originally posted by Atkinson:
Ive seen some flake off in the neck, and cause problems in the chamber..The person this happened too said he solved the problem by outside neck reaming the cases, and showed me the problem and how he handled it, and his loaded case were tri colored and kinda pretty sorta!!!

My experience is they take more muscle to resize than brass, but may in fact last longer but schools still out on that and will be for awhile, as I shoot them and trim them. Case stretching seems to be less at this point.

I should have all this figured out within a year..Other than that I see no real use for them and expect them to fade away into the past as time goes by??????

I believe the purpose is to prevent corrosion, esp. in cases NPI where they are carried in a leather belt/bandolier.

27 March 2021, 20:59

ANTELOPEDUNDEE

They fire form up pretty nicely!

28 March 2021, 02:28

jackalhunter

thank you all for your replies. BTW this factory ammo that I purchased (at a discount) is 450 Rigby with 500gr Partitions.

28 March 2021, 18:40

Wildcatter

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ANTELOPEDUNDEE:
They fire form up pretty nicely!

They do! Years ago, I used some nickel plated 375 H&H to fireform to 416 Rem. Then to see how far I could push my luck, I used some of those cases to fireform up to 458 Lott. The nickel held up well to 416 but immediately started cracking off at the mouths of the 458 Lott formed cases after one load fired as such. The 416s started cracking at the mouth after 3-4 loadings but I was using a Lee factory crimp die and I think that was the culprit.

I was very surprised that nickel could be so plastic as to form right along with the brass substrate.

28 March 2021, 22:08

TomP

I use nickel plated cases for my 6x45mm so as not to mix them up with 5.65x45mm for the Mini-14, which gets brass cases. No issues with reloading...

29 March 2021, 04:27

Atkinson

I used them in Tanzania and several other countries ..I used the nickle cases for solids, and softs with brass, seemed handy but it was a cure for a non problem IMO...