Nickel Cases
- Thread starter smitty81
- Start date
Richracer1
Handloader
- May 12, 2005
- 2,138
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I think Winchester makes their own brass, be it brass or nickle colored. What you won't find is virgin Win nickle rifle cases to reload for sale. They use their nickle stuff for their own ammo. Remington makes nickle casses for reloading, in select calibers, that you can buy.
just from my own experience, there not that good. Yes they may look good but a good tumbler can clean up dirty old brass in no time, and all you have to do is keep a couple of those little absorbant packs you get in pills or with a new pair of shoes. Put one in your shell box and it will keep them from oxidizing or at least slow it down keeping them looking good.
- Thread starter
- #4
- Nov 4, 2004
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nickle is usually more brittle than brass.
JD338
JD338
From personal experience I've found that the nickel plating starts cracking and coming off after a few loadings. It may not matter one iota but it'll start separating at the base of the shoulder, after only a few FL sizings, right where the body turns inward toward the neck. Probably won't happen if you neck size, but eventually you'll still have to FL size and, sooner or later, the nickel will start peeling off.
Like I said, it may not matter at all functionally, but it looks bad.
Like I said, it may not matter at all functionally, but it looks bad.
Most die manufacturers suggest against the nickel cases as well. The plating will come off in the dies, and will screw up the integrity of your dies. I stick with the regular brass cases, and have tossed all of my old nickel plated stuff. Just my thoughts though.
-TB
-TB
rick smith
Handloader
- Apr 6, 2005
- 1,249
- 0
One of those battles that goes on forever with no winners. Most of what you read is just what others have heard or read somewhere else. I have been loading for over 40+years and have loaded thousands of nic cases and tens of thousands of regular brass cases. I still load nic cases and haven't had any problem with them, no ruined dies no ruined cutters from trimming (have done 1000 nic 357 cases at one sitting). I toss all fired brass into a vib. cleaner, nic and reg., before I start any loading. I haven't found the nic brass to be any harder to load than regular brass. The nic brass is a little harder and necks on pistol cases may crack sooner but it also cracks on regular brass. I keep reading about all the bad things related to nic brass, just haven't found any of them in 40+ years of loading. Someone posted on another site that RCBS says not to use nic brass with their dies, sure have loaded a lot of nic brass in their pistol and rifle dies without a hitch. Guess when I get another 10K of my 357 mag cases done I will send them back for a check-up.Rick.
G
Guest
Guest
Just about the only issues I have found with nickel brass is that the internal case volume is a tad smaller (which can make a pressure difference in some cases, pardon the pun), and when re-sizing, the expander seems a little harder to pull back through the case neck, probably because of the added thickness. Otherwise, I, too, have reloaded a bunch of nickel cases for everything from .38Spl & 357Mag to 243Win, without much in the way of trouble from them, and no ruined dies so far. I suspect it is like most anything, as long as you're careful and inspect cases properly before loading, you should be able to catch issues before they become a problem.
I can`t say I`ve ever had trouble with nickle plated cases either. I don`t use them for my rifle loads though as I won`t pay a premium for cases I can get unplated for less. They have been though a large part of my handgun reloading, and some have fell into my hands for rifle through friends.
The handgun cases do start to flake and crack at the mouth, but when they do the brass at the mouths of the cases starts cracking also and I am dumping the brass anyway and not reloading it anymore. The act of roll crimping is hard on any metal and is the biggest cause of this I believe. The plain brass cases do seem to last longer IMO then plated before this point is reached but that could be just assumption on my part.
I think the start of the chipping is determined by the chambers/sizers and how close to each other they are in fit. A large chamber that allows the case to expaand quite a bit, and a die that squeezes it down more then needed, will over work the nickle faster then it will the more pliable brass.
This will occure with necks as well as the case body, and anywhere the plateing starts failing is cause for discarding.
The nickle is much harder then brass on your die, and if damaged, it will scratch them if you are not careful. Then too, so will sand and other debris on your cases if left there. Inspecting our cases as we should before reuseing them will prevent these problems for the most part and either type of case should beequally exceptable for use.
The handgun cases do start to flake and crack at the mouth, but when they do the brass at the mouths of the cases starts cracking also and I am dumping the brass anyway and not reloading it anymore. The act of roll crimping is hard on any metal and is the biggest cause of this I believe. The plain brass cases do seem to last longer IMO then plated before this point is reached but that could be just assumption on my part.
I think the start of the chipping is determined by the chambers/sizers and how close to each other they are in fit. A large chamber that allows the case to expaand quite a bit, and a die that squeezes it down more then needed, will over work the nickle faster then it will the more pliable brass.
This will occure with necks as well as the case body, and anywhere the plateing starts failing is cause for discarding.
The nickle is much harder then brass on your die, and if damaged, it will scratch them if you are not careful. Then too, so will sand and other debris on your cases if left there. Inspecting our cases as we should before reuseing them will prevent these problems for the most part and either type of case should beequally exceptable for use.
Richracer1
Handloader
- May 12, 2005
- 2,138
- 117
I've been using Win nickle cases exclusively for my 270WSM. I have not had any problem with stuck cases, dies, plating flaking off, etc...... Many of the brass for this have at least five loads through them.
- Thread starter
- #13
rick smith
Handloader
- Apr 6, 2005
- 1,249
- 0
More weather resistant, easy to tell loads apart, look cool, seem to work through actions easier.Rick.
