No wonder there are such opposing views on this. We are talking nickel and folks are giving 2 cent inputs. Not a 5 cent input in the bunch. Confusion abounds. Which brings up even bigger questions. Why doesn't a keyboard have a cent symbol? Guys from England use a pound symbol---do keyboards in England have a $sign? As has been pointed out,nickel is great to distinguish between two similar sized cartridges. That's another thing I like about it. If you have sand etc embedded in your die,you are going to have a scratched case whether it's a nickel plated case or plain brass one. The main reason I tumble my cases is to remove the case lube. This ofcourse, means I do it after sizing---many tumble before sizing so they have clean brass to size--that's all another post. Nickel brass seems to need less time in the tumbler. In most terrains,I can spot my brass that hits the ground easier if it's nickel. I have used nickel brass for years and I like it better,have not had any of the mentioned problems. Well maybe so,maybe I am experiencing higher pressures and don't know it as I do not have pressure measuring equipment. I would like more elaboration of the equipment used by those that have experienced increased pressure. Is that 5 cents worth yet?

ALT-155 does it as well as 0162.

So to resolve the above issue...
�����

There's MY 5�!!

Are there any sources for unprimed, nickel plated brass? Particularly for the 7mm Rem Mag. I have searched, but most brass sources do not say if they are nickel plated, or standard...


Thanks,
ATWAR

Page 129 in Midsouth Shooters Supply, 2004 Spring Cat.

Graf's

Rule of thumb, if they don't say nickle plated, it ain't.

In addition to the others mentioned above, Midway carries nickle brass too for about $33/100.
7 mag. nickle brass

Why in the world would u want to risk damaging your dies using that stuff?

grizz,

With "triple plated chrome", which is the most common (truck bumpers, valve covers, side pipes, ect, etc, etc) the first layer is copper, then nickel, and finally chrome (hence the name). It ain't all that hard, as a knife will easily cut through it. It is an electric plating process.

Then there is "hard chrome" plating, which in my experience is done to machine ways (for wear resistance or to rebuild them back up to spec after years of service have worn off too much of the steel the way was originally made of) and I think I have seen a few hydraulic cylinders with this treatment. With hard chrome plating the chrome is deposited directly on the substrate aka steel in most cases(as I recall). It is HARD too, just like the name implies (typically ground to size, but still only a few thousands of an inch thick to begin with).

ASS_CLOWN

Electroless nickel is used for plating pistols such as Browning HPs that had it. Hard chrome is also used for a custom coating for pistols and is VERY durable.It is also used to chrome plate bores of shotguns and military rifles.

A C, having worked as a hydraulic cylinder repairman, I have some experience with hard chrome plating. Often cylinders would come in leaking because the chrome had worn off letting the steel rust, causing the seals to wear and leak. We had a chrome plater that would strip and re-chrome the rods for us. He had a tool that was actually a spring loaded magnet that he could test the thickness of the chrome with. Chrome is non-magnetic, the tools came with different weight springs that were calibrated to show the thicknesses of the chrome. He would test an area that encountered no wear and re-plate to that thickness. It was much cheaper than replacing the cylinder rod.

When machining a new rod from chrome plated stock, I had to use carbide tooling, the chrome was harder than high speed steel tools.

I just book marked this thread to put up for others to look at when this question comes up, as it always will. To take any of these posts out of context would be confusing, besides credit needs to go to the posters.

I don't think nickel plating would hide ANY "surface impurities"....... At my local Pine Plating Co., they always tell their customers: "The better the surface prep, the better the plating job." Grant.

Just my $0.02, and probably all it's worth - if that. Many years ago, Winchester (I think, it's been that long ago) only offered nickle "match" cases in .308, and .280 Rem.
I bought a new .280, and thought what-the-heck, and sprung for 100 of the nickle plated cases, to go with it. I thought it was just the bees knees! Nickle cases weren't near so common then, and they made up a dang sharp looking round. Sure, occasionally the case mouth would scrape a tiny bit of bullet jacket up when I seated the bullets, but I figured that was because I hadn't chamfered the case mouth enough. My cast loads did this all the time, if I didn't expand quite enough.
Then I had to pull some bullets from some overly optomistic loads I had run up. Nothing to do with the brass, just my combination of components.
Well, the pulled bullets looked like they had been scrubbed with sandpaper! I tried polishing the inside of the necks with bore brushes, Flitz, and even some crocus/rouge cloth. Nothing I did helped. No, I never inside-reamed any, as I never had the need. It was the "flash" of nickle, inside the case neck that was gouging the bullets. Nickle is definately harder than bullet jacket material.
I stopped using nickle then and there. Maybe things have changed, by now. I for sure don't know.
But, those of you that are using nickle cases might just pull a bullet or two, and see for yourself. Brass caes never gave me any problems, this way. The bullets might be a little "scrubbed" looking, but nothing like the others. 'Course, one could point out that the bore does a lot more than a case ever would. I just know what my impression is, and how I dealt with it.