A nickel Question About Nickel

[GameHauler]

Getting ready to load up some 357 Mags
and was wondering what is the advantage of Nickel plated?
I have about 1000 pieces of 357 brass and was thinking about
using the Nickel brass for the hollow points for the security rounds
I want to load up.
Is it OK to tumble the Nickel Brass?
Thanks Guys for putting up with us rookies
Mike

[KRP]

It won't discolor like plain brass will.  If you need to shoot somebody neither they nor you(hopefully) are going to care what the case looks like.

[stimpylu32]

GH

The nickel will tumble just fine , I have found over the years that the plated cases tend to be a tad more brittle so they will not take as many loadings as the non-plated , also the nickel will start to flake off after awhile and can scratch the dies if your not careful .

Other than that they load and shoot just like the non-plated . I too like to use the nickel for a way to tell my HOT-SD loads from the standard plunking loads when using the same bullet .

stimpy

[dpe.ahoy]

I have several tousand pieces of 357 cases, both nickel and brass.  Can't say I have found much difference in them.  If they get a split neck, toss em and don't worry about it.  I guess they clean up quicker in the tumbler is about the only difference I can tell.  DP.

[mjbgalt]

ditto to what stimpy said.

i use only plain non-plated brass for that reason, i have also heard of people ruining their dies because of the plating flaking off.

-Matt

[Lloyd Smale]

I usually get about half the life out of nickle brass as i do good non plated brass. I use alot of it because ive had alot of it given to me and ive bought it cheap as once fired brass. I would never spend money on new nickle brass though. What i use it alot for is shooting competition. I just cant make myself get down on my hands and knees like some of the competitors do and recover my brass. So i use my nickle and just let it lay. One more advantage to it is it doesnt turn green like brass will if left in leather belt loops or cartride holders. I have leather cartridge holders for most of my guns and leave the with ammo in them next to my defense guns so if i need to grab a gun quickly i can easiy grab them and have extra rounds. I know speed loaders would be quicker but the leather cartridge holder are flat when stiuck in my pocket so they dont print like a speed loader will. I guess my thoughts are that if i ever had to actually use a gun id probably never get in a situation as a civilian that i would shoot enough that id have to reload anyway. But if i did id at least have some ammo. After all this rambling id have to say that nickle brass is junk in my opinion.

[Graybeard]

My experience with nickel plated cases seems to differ from that stated here by most.

I've used them in .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .45acp (when I shot that wimp), and 7-30 Waters extensively and in some other handgun and bottle neck rifle cases. I've yet to see the nickel flake even tho almost everyone says it does. I've seen it wear so thin you could barely tell the case was once nickel plated but what was left was still hanging as tough as ever but I've never seen a single flake come off a case.

If they die sooner than non nickel cases I've yet to see it. I've got .38 and .357 Magnum cases that have been loaded many dozens of times even to the point that little nickel is left due to wear not flaking and yet they still are in use and doing fine. I've never yet lost a nickel plated 7-30 waters case and have no clue how many times some have been loaded.

Based solely on my personal experience and ignoring all reports by folks I've read over the years I can tell no difference in the useful life of nickel plated versus unplated cases. Your mileage may vary but I'm one who seldom pays much a attention to rumors and tend to try things out for myself and then go on what my own personal experience shows me. Put me down as a non believer of the rumors about nickel plated cases.

[woodchukhntr]

Mainly, they look better.  I have had the plating flake off.  I imagine that is from over expanding and crimping, since the portion of the case that is merely sized never flakes.

[john keyes]

I've loaded pistol brass too many times. the only thing that happened was the primer pockets wouldn't hold primers anymore.

[Tom W.]

What GB said. I like to use it in my 7mm Rem Mag. I did try to use some "several times fired" plated brass to fire form cases for my 30-06 A.I., some of them worked, some of them didn't. I don't buy the stuff because I'm a cheapskate, but never had any trouble loading it at all.

[PaulS]

When I started using nickle plated cases I found that they split at the neck after three loadings. The brass cases have gone through more than ten loadings without a sign of splitting at the neck. Once they split I trimmed them down to 38 spl. length and load them as 38s. They seem to be very happy at that pressure level.
I use the same dies for both cartridges so it has nothing to do with working the case mouths. I load very near maximum loads in the 357 using H110 and 140 grain bullets. In the 38 I use HS-6 and mild loads. The difference is in the pressures generated by the charge. I have since used only brass cases for the 357 mag without any problems.
The plating process does, in fact, make the brass more brittle. It is prettier than the brass, especially if you keep cases in a leather belt loop but if you keep your ammo in boxes like I do the plated cases are best used on low pressure applications, in my experience.
a side note, I have never used plated brass in any of my rifles. I tend to think that as long as I have a choice I never will.

[rifleman]

I've never had any of the above mentioned problems with nickel plated brass. I've used it in my 223 and 243 without a hitch whatsoever.

Dave

[Ifishsum]

I've only scratched one die, ever and that's the one I used to load up some nickel plated .30-06 cases that a friend gave me.  I never noticed anything flake off, but after sizing a quantity of those cases it started putting two light scratches on every piece of brass resized.  Could be coincidence, but I now avoid nickel plated rifle cases because of it. 

Straight wall pistol cases I'm not picky at all, and I actually prefer nickel plated .45 Colt cases when loading with black powder, and because I have a cartridge belt for .45 and they don't turn green if I leave them in it.  I've picked up a lot of .38 special and .357 magnum plated cases and loaded them, I do seem to get split necks a little more often with the plated ones, but they're certainly not problematic.  I always use carbide dies with them anyway, and the plated ones do size easier.