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Nickle Coated Brass.

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14 February 2006, 18:28
Alberta Hunter
Nickle Coated Brass.
I have just bought a 340 Wby mag and need a supply of brass. I am interested in buying some 300 Wby Remington brass and necking up. I have never used the shiny silver stuff and would like som feedback on it.

Thanks

A.h
14 February 2006, 19:02
BigNate
I bought some for my .338WM and won't again. It sizes hard, and had dingle berries in the necks that had to be knocked out before starting. Nate
14 February 2006, 19:34
b beyer
I have always heard that it tears up dies, true or not I don't know.


Bob
14 February 2006, 20:24
Masterifleman
My experience with nickle plated cases is that, if you have any minor rough spot in the die, the nickle will stick to it, build up and cause galling on any subsequent cases. If you have carbide dies, it doesn't matter but, with the Weatherby round, you'd just have to try it. I have no problems with nickle .45-70 cases.


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14 February 2006, 20:51
Terry Blauwkamp
Nickle Brass is great to load once for hunting, then loose it. Repeated loading and resizing is tough.


Remember, forgivness is easier to get than permission.
14 February 2006, 20:57
Harry O
Also note that there are a lot more nickle plated cases lost to neck cracking than straight brass cases. The only reason I use nickle plated brass is when I have two calibers that are very close and I don't want to get them mixed up (for example, 38-40 plated, 44-40 brass). Other than that, I wouldn't use the stuff.
15 February 2006, 01:34
jjmp
don''t go nickel coated, get regular brass it''l save you time and money, jjmp
15 February 2006, 03:20
kraky
I'm surprised at all the negative feedback...usually this debate is about 50-50.
I've not had any trouble at all with nickel brass. I think the big thing is to trim it right away and get rid of the jagged edges. then trim often. If I do this it looks great and performs great.
I've made lots of 340 brass from 300 using a tapered expander on a redding die. I'm not sure if there would be a problem "stretching" the nickel that much in a neck up operation.
Most likely not but I've not done it so don't want to say. I do have to admit there is certainly nothing wrong with regular brass that really requires the nickel....except it "do look good"!
15 February 2006, 03:43
vapodog
I have used nickle cases to neck down to .243 from .25-06 and I have split necks often after only one firing.....not sure this would happen to unplated cases.

Other than that I like Nickel cases...much easier to clean and all other factors are good.


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15 February 2006, 10:05
Allan DeGroot
I use Nickel plated cases to distinguish the ammunition I specifically load for my Remington Semi-Auto.

AllanD


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15 February 2006, 16:30
Hot Core
quote:
Originally posted by Alberta Hunter:
...I am interested in buying some 300 Wby Remington brass and necking up. ..
Hey AH, As some have mentioned, the Cadmium(Nickle) coating is "harder" than regular cartridge brass.

I've done a few Neck-Ups and Neck-Downs with it, but was never really pleased with the end result. Seems like something always comes along to taint the end result. Might be Case Neck splits, visible plating folds/stretches or the Plating "flaking" at the Case Mouth after trimming and running into a Die.

If you do go forward with the "Shiny Cases", I'd recommend you only buy 50-100. That way if you see those problems you won't be out a bunch of money.

By the way, they will "tarnish" just like the brass cases.
15 February 2006, 17:22
Alberta Hunter
Thanks for the info guys. I think I will just stick with old faithful brass.

A.H
17 February 2006, 01:34
Alfredo Morrell
I've used nicle brass for quite some time. I had never had any problems with them. Recently I had a die that would scratch my cases. I don't know if the nickle cases had anything to do with that, but I changed to brass when it was time for replacement of my cases and bought a new die. All the other nickle stuff I have in different calibers have not given me any problems and i continue to use it. Even when I have shot groups where I have used both nickle and brass in the same group, I had the same point of impact with no difference as to which case I shot.
17 February 2006, 02:51
Hot Core
quote:
Originally posted by Alfredo Morrell:
... Recently I had a die that would scratch my cases. ...
Hey Alfredo, The scratch in your Die "might" have been due to the Nickle cases.

About 4 hours ago I started to tell AH to try a few Plated cases he found at the Range sometime. Didn't have to be 300WbyMag. It could just as easily be Necking Up 25-06 to a 30-06.

Then I got to thinking about it and before I hit "Post Now", I got to thinking about the potential for him to scratch a Die, and deleted the entire post.

Where the problem comes from is when you Trim the case which creates a sharp edge. Even if you Deburr the outside, the "edge" of the Cadmium is now ready to gouge anything it touches.

So, I'd bet one of the Plated cases caused the scratch in your Die.
---

Also meant to say that over the years I've used a pick-up load of Plated Handgun cases and never had a problem with them in "Carbide Dies". The Carbide Ring at the mouth seems to handle the Cadmium and any burrs right well.
---

Hey AH, Good decision. By the way, when you polish the Brass Cases, they just sparkle without any plating.

Best of luck to all you guys.
17 February 2006, 03:35
wapiti7
A.H.....stick with brass....brass. The nickel plated stuff sucks......wapiti7


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17 February 2006, 07:48
Dangerous Dave
Sorry Guys but I have not experienced any of the problems you mention with the nickel cases.


If your parents didn't have any children chances are you won't either.
17 February 2006, 17:30
hawkins
What people call a "scratch in the die" is actually a piece of nickle stuck to the die. If it were a scratch in the die it wouldn't leave a scratch in the brass. Nickle is softer than the die. Triming and cleaning the case mouth stops the die contamination. Nickle cases are easier to find in the grass.
Good luck!