I recently purchased a 7mm08 and it came with 5 boxes of Fed premium 140 gr Nosler ballistic tip and once I use all this ammo up i plan on loading 139 gr Hornady BTSP for it, now is it possible to resize the nickel plated casings with a full length die or would buying new brass be a better option? I did manage to run one casing through the die but it seemed to require excessive force
Reloading nickel plated casings?
- Thread starter 7mmAndrew
- Start date
That is not a dumb question, nickel plated cases usually require more effort from my experience.
yes a little more force and lube but the coat isnt that thick. i just resized a bunch of 308 down to 300 savage when i did that i also thinned the neck to SAAMI spec which meant scraping some of it off. i didn't measure but it's very thin stuff
I have a bunch of them in .308
The finish doesn't seem to come off in wet tumbling (only 3-4 reloads in my oldest ones however)
I don't use any extra force (dillon case lube on outside and lyman lube on the inside of necks) hornady die set.
I have found they tend to be less likely to split around the base, when they go they seem to go in the neck. I really like them, would prefer to have a whole pile of them in place of plain brass. I've taken to tinting my brass copper coloured so that I can tell which are mine at the range, it would be so much easier to just have nickel
The finish doesn't seem to come off in wet tumbling (only 3-4 reloads in my oldest ones however)
I don't use any extra force (dillon case lube on outside and lyman lube on the inside of necks) hornady die set.
I have found they tend to be less likely to split around the base, when they go they seem to go in the neck. I really like them, would prefer to have a whole pile of them in place of plain brass. I've taken to tinting my brass copper coloured so that I can tell which are mine at the range, it would be so much easier to just have nickel
Nickel cases work just fine in MANY OF MY FIREARMS. Never been an issue.
I always use a nylon case brush on "every" case neck before sizing. It is a dramatic difference on how much friction is reduced!
If I am neck sizing, I use a vial of graphite and small 7.5 lead shot. I dip the case neck into the mix and it lightly coats the inside of the case neck.
There is about 98% shot and just a little graphite added to just make the shot dusty with graphite.
When the graphite is used, the friction is nearly zero! after sizing the cases, I run the brush through each case once more.
Note: If you are full length resizing, you will need to lube the outside of the case as well.
I always use a nylon case brush on "every" case neck before sizing. It is a dramatic difference on how much friction is reduced!
If I am neck sizing, I use a vial of graphite and small 7.5 lead shot. I dip the case neck into the mix and it lightly coats the inside of the case neck.
There is about 98% shot and just a little graphite added to just make the shot dusty with graphite.
When the graphite is used, the friction is nearly zero! after sizing the cases, I run the brush through each case once more.
Note: If you are full length resizing, you will need to lube the outside of the case as well.
I load a lot of .38Spl cases and about 1/4 of them are nickeled. What I notice is that the nickel cases consistently have more drag. In particular on the expander. But the sizing die has more drag on it too. And this is despite being lubricated with a light coating of case lube.
As mentioned it's only a flash plating so the thickness isn't the issue. Instead I feel it's the coefficient of friction between nickel and the die compared to the bare brass. The nickel finish is simply stickier against the dies then the brass.
So I'm not surprised to read that you noticed this on your rifle casings.
If it's not so excessive that you need to jump up and down on the lever or the bench doesn't topple over in your lap I'd say go ahead and use them and just recognize that they are more sticky in the dies. But at the same time keep an eye on them for any wall distortion that might be due to the higher axial compression loads caused by the higher friction level.
As mentioned it's only a flash plating so the thickness isn't the issue. Instead I feel it's the coefficient of friction between nickel and the die compared to the bare brass. The nickel finish is simply stickier against the dies then the brass.
So I'm not surprised to read that you noticed this on your rifle casings.
If it's not so excessive that you need to jump up and down on the lever or the bench doesn't topple over in your lap I'd say go ahead and use them and just recognize that they are more sticky in the dies. But at the same time keep an eye on them for any wall distortion that might be due to the higher axial compression loads caused by the higher friction level.
That sounds like a nice idea. Thanks. I haven't gotten into rifle reloading all that much yet but I like the idea of a dry form of lubrication such as the graphite which can be so easily applied as the "dusty lead shot" method of yours suggests.
I've reloaded nickel cases because I had them on hand. Much harder then brass. I've noted a difference between brands ... Winchester seems to flake easier then Remington. That's just my experience. But overall I much prefer brass over nickel.
BenchrestJohn
CGN Regular
- Location
- Maple Ridge, BC
I reload 38 special and 9mm and my Dillon 650 XL loves nickle plates clings way better then brass. It can also be the Dillon FL die.
