Reform federal nickel cases

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slowfire

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Has anyone ,any exoerance reforming nickel plated cartridge cases ?
I am thinking 30-06 to 8mm x57 and 9.3x57 mauser.
It seems that somewhere in my past ,I remember hearing the plating would crack.
Since the head stamp would not be correct I thought nickel cases would make them more identifiable.
I also noticed the Federal nickel 30-06 cases I weighed were a bit heavier than some Winchester and Dominion 30-06 cases by 10 grains or so ,probably does not mean much in the big picture.
Thanks
 
slowfire said:
Has anyone ,any exoerance reforming nickel plated cartridge cases ?
I am thinking 30-06 to 8mm x57 and 9.3x57 mauser.
It seems that somewhere in my past ,I remember hearing the plating would crack.
Since the head stamp would not be correct I thought nickel cases would make them more identifiable.
I also noticed the Federal nickel 30-06 cases I weighed were a bit heavier than some Winchester and Dominion 30-06 cases by 10 grains or so ,probably does not mean much in the big picture.
Thanks
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Try it and see. I would be leery of the plating material separating or flaking when you neck up from .323 to .366. Brass has some stretch in it, nickel plating not so much.
 
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i took jethunters advice and tried it. formed a 9.3 from a nickel-ed federal 30-06 case .I can not see any desegregation to the plating.
I have not fired any yet . by measure It looks like the neck might be to thick to give proper clearance . Will have to fire a couple to tell for sure.
If they turn out to thick I will probably just get some 8X57 brass to form.
 
OP, a bit more advice on forming 30-06 NP cases to 8x57.

Cut the case off longer than the desired length of the case you are forming.

Clean up the mouth edges, before attempting to resize, and anneal for ease of forming. The case wall of the 30-06 is quite a bit thicker than the 30-30, so you likely won't be able to get away without annealing, especially if the cases have been fired a few times.

Don't try to form the cases in one pass.

If you have an intermediate die to "preform" the neck area, use it to start forming the neck, which will be where most of your issues will occur.

Usually, once you have enough of the neck formed to guide the case in the 8x57 die, it's fairly easy to get the rest done from there, using lots of lube of course. REMEMBER, remove your decapping/ball rod before doing this.

Because the case walls are thicker than the neck walls should be, you will have to size the neck properly after it's formed, then turn down the necks from the inside to get the right thickness. If your chamber allows you to eliminate this step, bonus.
 
I am reloading nickel Winchester brass now but not in hi volume, an only neck sizing / partial fls sizing.

So can't help with total transformation
 
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