I've never shot the Federal nickel-plated bullets, but I've shot and still do shoot a lot of cupro-nickel jacketed bullets because I have a lot of them on my shelves.
There are two golden rules shooting anything that's loaded with cupro-nickel- or nickel-plated bullets.
1) Clean thoroughly every 15 to 20 rounds
2) Clean thoroughly every 15-20 rounds.
These bullets aren't for shooters that want to shoot 100 shot strings or only want to clean when the accuracy drops off due to fouling.
I find that once the accuracy starts to drop off due to fouling, then I've waited too long, and cleaning is going to be an extended chore.
I looked at their video and how they plate the nickel, which is very thin, almost measured in microns, but nickel is "sticky" almost as sticky as copper.
I opted not to purchase any of those "bullets" at that time, not that there were any available for reloading anyway, that I could find.
If you can find any of these bullets in "component" only form, before you decide to purchase/load/shoot look very carefully at how to clean the fouling which will happen. It's much more tedious than any copper foul I've dealt with.
I purchased a lovely Mannlicher Schoenauer, chambered for the great 8x68 cartridge from a fellow who told me upfront that the rifle shot really well for the first couple of boxes he loaded then he could never get it to shoot well again.
I bought everything he had for the rifle, bullets, brass, dies. He had 500 cases he had bought on special order from a European supplier because the brass just wasn't available in North America and that was the minimum order that would be filled. There were also two boxes of fired cases from factory loads.
When I got the rifle home, the first thing was to inspect the bore, which looked great when using the naked eye.
I borrowed a borescope and the reason for the inaccuracy showed up right away.
The Cupro-nickel had built up against the side of the rifling in lumps. They were smooth and polished from repeated firing and maybe cleaning with abrasive compounds.
I was used to cleaning this type of jacket fouling and had done rifles this bad before. The work was cut out for me and honestly, I wasn't looking forward to this job.
The really bad thing with Cupro-nickel fouling is that it will adhere to the barrel metal and when it's removed, it will take some of the barrel steel with it.
This issue can and often does indicate that a barrel will never shoot well enough to be acceptable again.
I was lucky with the Mannlicher. The fouling had to be removed electronically, it had welded to the barrel steel, which made it impossible to remove with normal cleaning solutions or materials, however, when it was finally removed electronically, there was very little viewable damage to the rifling.
I used that rifle as an Elk/Moose rifle during the mid eighties for a couple of seasons, until someone came along and just had to have it at any cost.
Those 196 grain bullets at 2800fps were devastating, when placed in the boiler room and stood up extremely well on shoulder joints, often penetrating both joints and exiting the far side.
r-j, I know you're knowledgeable and likely have the equipment to clean that fouling but IMHO that nickel plating doesn't do anything to enhance the performance of any other well-constructed bullet.
I suspect its main reason for application is to reduce copper fouling. What they don't tell you is that the nickel fouls but it is almost impossible to see with the naked eye and even though the bore looks clean, it's still fouled.
It's like fishing lures that are made to catch fishermen's wallets, rather than fish.
I'm not saying the bullets won't perform well, because from what I see in the video, they should do very well. I just don't believe the nickel plating does any more than add bling.
RJ
