Regular Brass vs Nickel plated brass

Alberta Bigbore

Alberta Bigbore

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I'm a total reloading noob.

Just curious if there is issues or advantages to using nickle plated brass like ones that come with browning or some federal premium factory ammo?

Is there an advantage even using nickle plated brass in your firearm?

Thx in advance
 
I think you are better off with regular brass as nickel is reputed to be prone to crack/split, however I have reloaded many rifle and pistol rounds with nickel cases with no issue.
 
I have used nickel plated brass in many calibers and have seen nothing but excellent results reloading them. Many of the nic cases that I have used have been loaded as many as 8 times and still only a very few culls to speak of. I only use Win or FC nickel cases as I have found the RP nic brass a bit to hard and notice flaking .One nice thing about nic cases is that they require a small amount of tumbling to get that new look. I'll keep using until I see that there is better results to use regular yellow brass
 
Reloaderdude said:
I have used nickel plated brass in many calibers and have seen nothing but excellent results reloading them. Many of the nic cases that I have used have been loaded as many as 8 times and still only a very few culls to speak of. I only use Win or FC nickel cases as I have found the RP nic brass a bit to hard and notice flaking .One nice thing about nic cases is that they require a small amount of tumbling to get that new look. I'll keep using until I see that there is better results to use regular yellow brass
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I have a ####load of .38spl Win cases that have been loaded a bunch of times too, they've worked well in light reloads.... and yes look pretty lol.
 
In semi auto rifles nickel cases can (not necesarly will) feed more reliably.Some bolts actions also prefer nickel but that I think it's more of "placebo effect" rather than actual help.

I think for general shooting it doesn't really matter.For manufacturers of ammo it might mean something.
 
All my nickel plated brass goes in the scarp bin, except for 38spl and 357mag. Tried reloading some 223 and had to many neck splits, didn't bother with annealing. If you are looking for corrosion resistance it is good. Nickel is harder than brass so there could be the argument that it would wear your gun more, but would the average sportsman notice, probably not.

If you leave brass cartridges in your cowboy rig they corrode and turn green, but nickel can be left without the corrosion problem. Therefore the only thing I find nickel plated useful for is keeping the leather cartridge loops stretched out and in shape.
 
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From my own experience with reloading .38/357 the plating would fail at the case mouth and split and peel. And with standard non-carbide pistol dies this peeling and flaking plating would scratch your dies.

Bottom line, if the plated brass was free I used it "BUT" I prefer standard brass cases. And after seeing Remington and Winchester go down hill in quality I would never buy any plated cases.
My 2 cents and your opinions may differ, my experience with plated cases dates from the 1970s - 1980s.

Nickel-Plated Brass Casings: Nickel-Plated Brass Casing Ammo Explained
http://ammo.com/casing-type/nickel-plated-brass
 
Use of them in pistol and rifle are different in my experience. Pistol doesn't need trimming and in 38 spl they have lasted forever for me, 357 have split a bit earlier than brass but I still use them. In rifle I use them in my hunting loads in my 243. Normally after shot they get lost but some get a 2 or 3rd use. They do keep a nice finish on them unlike brass that dulls over time. I prefer brass but don't ever pitch them away, use them.
 
I've saved and reloaded my nickle-plated Win .38 S&W brass simply because it's hard to come across brass in this calibre. I've since bought some Starline, so as the plated stuff wears/gets lost I won't bother replacing it with more.

I've had no issues using plated brass.
 
The nickel when it starts to flake or peal off will scar scratch and destroy your reloading dies. If you do not polish all the carbon off the nickel, the carbon scars the dies not the nickel case.
 
Looks pretty
Cleans easily

You cannot outside neck ream
When the cases require trimming they raise hell with the cutter.

No splits or chipping . . . yet!

I had about 100 nickel plated brass for my 280 Remington and I still have over 90 (since 1998) but if they require trimming they will be gone.
 
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