nickel plated vs. brass???

T

Trapper Luke

New member
Alright so besides the looks whats the difference between shooting brass thats nickel plated and just regular brass? Is one better than the other?

Thanks,
Luke
 
I prefer regular brass, it's not as brittle so I get more reloads out of it. If nickel has an advantage I would say it is in corrosion, I've never seen nickel finished rounds tarnish like brass does if it sits too long.
 
I use mainly standard brass so I don't know how brittle other calibers are, but I use nickel in my 17Rem. without any problems. It almost never needs trimming and I have never had a neck split. The standard brass in 17 that I have usually need trimmed and most of the cases have had the necks split.
But like I stated, I have only used nickel in the 17Rem. and my experience with it has been really good.
 
The nickel is harder than brass like Sumrifle said, so being that it is harder, it will expand less than the brass casing when given the same powder charge.
It will usually take a higher dose of powder than the brass, but will not expand in the chamber as easily as the brass casings do.

I have tried them several years ago in my 270, didn't like using them - scraped every one I had!
 
I'm not fond of nickel for the reasons stated above; the main being that it is harder and tough on dies. Another thing that I have noticed in my '06's, the case neck seems to want to fleck nickel off when firing and the case seems to stick a little when coming out of the chamber. I don't like the flecks (for lack of a better term) as it seems if it is coming off of the neck while in the chamber, it would reason that the pieces of nickel is actually staying in the chamber. Someone chime in if I am somehow wrong about this. I will still pick brass over nic plate.
 
Amen on using brass. I'll give any nickel plated brass that I have away, free.
Guys above have stated my feeling exactly, no need repeating them.
 
I'm glad to hear this as I have some nickel .280 that I've been thinking about reloading. I won't mess with it now as I have plenty of brass.
 
the only time i have used nickel plated brass was to differentiate (whew) between rifles...2 young teenage boys had BLR's chambered in 7/08...one used nickel brass for his;the other used regular brass...same bullets but diff powder customized for each BLR...just a way to keep ammo separate.
 
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I'm not very fond of nickel also, as stated above!
Also I think nickel sometimes gives you a faults pressure readings. It seams to be slippery and I think pushes back against the bolt face easier than brass.
 
Only other thing to add is that nickle cases are pretty rough on case trimmer cutters. Not a big deal unless you're loading 22-250s in nickle, in quantity.
 
I have used it off and on for years. Just carefully examine the brass, I never had any issues, then again, I'll toss brass in a new york minute.

Ni brass will take higher pressure to a certain degree, brand new.

My main issue on Ni brass comes in reloadings over and beyond the 5th reloading where brass becomes brittle and wants to split.

Also, factory chambers are sometimes on the HUGE side. The use of standard reloading dies that size the necks way down, the expand them back up out really work hardens Ni brass FAST!

It is a good practice to spin the Ni Case between the fingers feeling for splits or roughness before it is sized.

All of this sounds a little scary, but I have loaded Ni cases so many times that the Ni plating was coming off from sizing and never ruined but one neck sizer...eyes were wide open after that.

I have shot untold thousands of 38 Special and 357 Mag in Ni Brass, never a problem.
 


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