38 special nickel case issue

HIGHRPM

HIGHRPM

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Hi everyone, I have run into a new issue for me and need some guidance. I was reloading a batch of 38 specials, brass and nickel cases , and everything was going smoothly as normal. I finished seating the bullets with everything going fine. I changed my single stage press to the factory crimp die and was getting ready to run them all through. The very first nickel case I picked up felt "off", so I inspected it closely only to find a 3/8 inch split from the mouth. I then went and inspected all the rounds and came up with a total of 6 split cases, all being nickel. I chose to finish my loads with the crimp die and again noticed something I have never had before. All the rounds with the standard brass cases ran through smoothly, but the nickel cases all felt like I was trying to resize an oversize bullet, every one of them . ??? The absolute only difference from all my other loads was that the bullets were powder coated, but they were all ran through a sizing die to bring them back to proper size, and the only cases effected were the nickel ones. Anyone else run into this ?? HELP NEEDED !
 
The only nickel cases I bell the mouth with a 3 die set are star line 44 40 and they split all the time at the case mouth I lose some every reload not so with the brass. Bottleneck rifle nickel cases split too. Cure is don’t buy nickel cases
 
When I was shooting PPC , nickel cases after only a few mild reloads would split in the body of the case.
They are much more brittle just plain brass cases. The nature of the beast.
 
I get the odd nickel plated case that splits and then I have some that are so old and reloaded so many times that they almost look like brass cases now with the nickel worn off almost down to the web.

Auggie D.
 
Auggie Doggie said:
I get the odd nickel plated case that splits and then I have some that are so old and reloaded so many times that they almost look like brass cases now with the nickel worn off almost down to the web.

Auggie D.
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Ditto. The nickel ones do seem to last fewer reloads. And I feel some pride every time I load a nickel case that has almost reverted back to brass finish.
 
Nickle is hard and is a plate process . I screwed with a couple thousand 38 cases they don't size well and primer seating is a pain. I scrapped them all and made a few bucks at the recycle dealer great deal because I got them for free. A few hundred brass 38 cases will last you a long time don't stress yourself dump the nickel
 
I use nickel cases is for my old 8mm-06. I use necked up 30-06 cases in nickel so there is no mixing 30-06 and 8mm-06. I do have a fair supply of 38 nickel cases as well.
 
I don't crimp the 38 special brass. My 38 spl loads are light target loads. It has little recoil and the bullets stay put. The less you work it, the longer it will last. As well, I've reloaded lots of 38 spl with split nickel cases and they actually work just fine. Even with splits long past where the base of the bullet rests. Call me crazy, but I shoot them until they are really split far down.
 
Good experiences, BUT, none have attacked the issue of the nickel case being very easy to bullet seat like the plain brass but very rough going through the factory crimp die while the plain brass went through perfectly. Being all the powder coated bullets were sized, I could not understand why ???
 
I went to exclusively using nickle .38sp cases for my cowboy action shooting at specific clubs even though I had an ample number of brass cases on hand. I'd found that I was losing significant numbers of cases each match (ie wasn't getting them back between stages or at the end of a match). Once I went to the nickle cases the problem stopped. They were just easier to identify and recover. And yes . . . The nickle cases fail at a higher rate than my brass cases but I still came out better off.
 
I find Win nickel cases to be thick walled(ie bulge), hard to size and split quickly. My federal nickel brass don't bulge, size easily and last forever.
 
Man I sure have a different opinion of nickel coated .38 than most here. I have loaded well over a 100,000 nickel .38 cases since 1974 and have had to throw a handful or so away in all those loadings ...and I crimp HEAVY and have at least 3 different brands of dies and notice no difference in the final loaded round, the only difference I notice is the sizing die on the Dillon dies have a wider mouth for progressive press feeding. Probably the first 20-30,000 rounds I loaded were not on a 5 hole Dillon so they were seated & crimped in one pass.

I do have some uncoated brass casings and have had a few of those crack but not noticably more or less frequent than the nickel
 
HIGHRPM said:
Good experiences, BUT, none have attacked the issue of the nickel case being very easy to bullet seat like the plain brass but very rough going through the factory crimp die while the plain brass went through perfectly. Being all the powder coated bullets were sized, I could not understand why ???
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As has been noted the nickel cases are more brittle (i.e. less malleable) than brass cases and therefore will require a little more effort to resize/factory crimp. Also, unless your bullet diameters vary (and they should not if you are sizing the bullets) and your cases are all uniform (same wall thickness & internal volume) all the factory crimp die is doing is essentially swaging your bullet diameter smaller which will not help your accuracy. If the rounds chamber without hanging up you`re wasting your time factory crimping them. Except for my Model 52 semi auto loads which I roll crimp to aid in feeding I have gone to simply taper crimping my 38 special revolver loads. Taper crimping is more forgiving when you get cases of varying lengths (which you typically will) and also works the case mouths less which will reduce the case mouth splitting issue which is more common with nickel cases.
 
Ted Dent has it right taper crimp is best way shot 1000's nickel and only time you had a prob was when the nickel or brass was just plain tired and time to go to trash
 
My nickel 38 special cases seem to be holding up well after many reloads. I use plated Campros, rather than lead bullets. For HB wad cutters, I use only brass since I have to flare them more to get the lead bullet to seat. Brass stretches a lot more than nickel.
 
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