I was just de-priming once-fired Remington.45 Colt nickeled brass and noticed flaking inside several case mouths. I've reloaded lots of nickeled cases of different calibers before and have never seen this. I discarded the flaking cases as a safety precaution. Have any of you ever observed this before? Could those flakes cause pressure spikes?

You will find occasional bad batches of nickeled brass. It's probably a defect in the cleaning (pickling) of the brass before plating. I wouldn't worry about it. Barrel steel is still a lot harder than any copper or nickel flakes you happen to shoot through it. As for causing pressure spikes, that is mostly speculation. You would have to have a badly fouled bore or bore obstruction to get significantly higher pressure spikes.

Thanks, John Traveler! Even after all these years, I am a very cautious handloader. It was only a few out of a hundred, but I was concerned.

Back when Rossi was selling a lot of M60 look a likes I bought one in 3" and nickel. One shot, just one shot from a normal factory 38 special round and the nickel came right off. I called the gun shop that I bought it from. He said bring it back and I did. They took it back and gave me another, no problems at all, but still didn't have it long.
That's WAY off topic but my only experience with nickel plating coming off!

quote:

Originally posted by john traveler:
You will find occasional bad batches of nickeled brass. It's probably a defect in the cleaning (pickling) of the brass before plating. I wouldn't worry about it. Barrel steel is still a lot harder than any copper or nickel flakes you happen to shoot through it. As for causing pressure spikes, that is mostly speculation. You would have to have a badly fouled bore or bore obstruction to get significantly higher pressure spikes.

No adverse problems noted with reloading these. Have seen this internal flaking for years. I prefer non plated brass for reloading as case mouth splits occur aren't as quick to appear.

More than likely over expansion due to large chambers or undersized brass. The brass expands but the nickel doesn't as much. Same thing happens with nickel rifle brass in a mil-spec headspaced long gun.

I've seen it too. Not a problem.

I rarely load nickel brass anymore. Here is why: Every time you crimp nickel brass, especially roll crimps for revolvers, you degrade the edge of the case. Common sense tells me little pieces of nickel plating get carried down my barrel every time I touch off one of these rounds. Nickel will scratch a steel barrel over time. I've never seen any real advantage to nickel cases over brass regarding ease of chambering. I've always wondered why they nickeled brass to begin with. One of those solutions to a non-existant problem, IMHO............just my 2 cents!

But it looks cool!!!!

Actually, the nickle cases have a sigificantly higher level of lubricity, come out of the chamber easier after having been fired.

Besides there is no other way THE LONE RANGER could get SILVER BULLETS!

I have NEW Remington nickelled brass which is flaking on the inside.
I believe the original purpose of nickelling was to prevent corrosion of cases that were stored in the cartridge loops of gunbelts. Vegetable-tanned leather tends to turn exposed brass green quickly.

quote:

Originally posted by andyo5:
I have NEW Remington nickelled brass which is flaking on the inside.
I believe the original purpose of nickelling was to prevent corrosion of cases that were stored in the cartridge loops of gunbelts. Vegetable-tanned leather tends to turn exposed brass green quickly.

Yes, you are correct.

Funny you should mention this... I had new Remington nickel plated .45 Colt brass and on the first firing the nickel plating blew off in large flakes on the outside starting at the case mouth and working its way back. My Bowen Redhawk is dimensionally perfect so sloppy chambers can't be the cause. The loads were relatively light. I don't believe excess crimp had anything to do with it, and I have used a heavier crimp on literally thousands of nickel plated .38 Special and .357 Magnum cases without experiencing this problem even once. I attribute this problem to the Remington brass.

Dave Sinko