Nickel Vs Brass Cases

In self loading firearms, the nickel cases feed and extract somewhat better. LE duty ammunition seems to mostly be furnished in nickel cases, practice/training ammo in brass.

As many have noted above, nickel seems to split cases faster than brass. Although the degree of crimp and operating pressure might also have something to do with it.
 
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I don't reload plated handgun cases, but I have bags of them--just in case.
 
I use brass/nickel brass to denote rifle/pistol loads as my .45colt cas ammo look identical except for my rifle being 225-250 gr rmfp bullets and revolver being 200 gr rnfp bullets. I like using nickel .38 just for the cosmetics and nickel .45acp for my revolver loads. I use brass case .45 acp for my autos and pccs. Nickel will split easier than brass but so what.
 
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I have containers for different calibers of nickeled brass now. Will probably start using them for special loadings (read defensive) and use the brass for everything else. I will be separating them out as I go.
 
Now that my eyes are not as sharp and need glasses.......

I roll my cleaned cases in a old T-****. that will hang up on any split
or cracked case mouth, to let me know that it needs to be placed in the
dreaded, short timer, loading bottle, for just target loads or a final load with a max load
that will fly across my chrony or accuracy test.

+1 on the above post.
 
I like to use nickel plated 45 ACP brass because it's so much easier to find in the dirt. I started reloading 38 Special in '69 and used a lot of police range pickup brass, and most were nickel plated. I have reloaded some so many times the plating has worn off in spots and the brass shows through. I have never experienced any of the "problems" some report; never any flaking, no more mouth splits than unplated, no scratched dies. I found some .223 nickel plated cases but only reloaded them a few times for my single shot .223 rifle. I have some nickel plated 44 Magnum cases I keep separate for my "T-Rex Killer" loads (265 gr. LRNFP over a max charge of WC820). I have found no problems using nickel plated cases for 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 44 Magnum or 45 ACP, 9mm or .223...
 
Seems for me, regardless of the caliber, nickel cases often will split / crack sooner than brass. I reload both, but get better mileage out of the brass .
 
Not Hydrogen Embrittlement

stansdds said:
Nickel plated cases tend to be easier to clean and do pass through a carbide resizing die with less pressure. The nickel plating also protects the brass from corrosion. Those are the good points.

The bad points about reloading nickel plated brass is that the brass is more brittle due to hydrogen embrittlement caused by the plating process, so case mouth splits are more common and you might even get a crack along the length of the case with high pressure loads.

Also, little bits of nickel can come off of the case during resizing. You are not likely to notice this when resizing plated brass, but you can end up with long scratches along the body of a plain brass case unless you clean the resizing die after using it for nickel plated brass.
Click to expand...

Nickel plated cases are not made less ductile or prone to cracking by plating. The temperatures are too low. Hydrogen embrittlement is a phenomenon of carbon and low alloy steel weldments. Hydrogen becomes trapped in the crystalline interstices of the heat affected zone of a weldment and lowers the base metal's ductility. No such phenomenon exists for drawn cartridge brass, thank goodness. What does happen is that organic nickel brighteners cause the nickel itself to be more brittle. Brighteners obviate the need to mechanically polish plated parts to get a high luster. I've used them on fake cadmium plating (zinc) and they really work. Unfortunately the brittle plating, although only a few molecules thick, is brittle and fracture prone. The fractures induce notch cracks in the base metal, particularly when the plated part is cold worked. Here is a concise technical paper, actually marketing hype, from an industrial plater that outlines the phenomenon.

Nickel Plating of Shell Casings - Ducta-bright 7a(R) Nickel

There is little worry of nickel plating coming off the base metal substrate in a resizing die. The plating thickness is measured in angstroms and it's electrochemically bonded to the brass substrate. What it will do is dull from mechanical abrasion, making you think it has been scraped off. The nickel membrane can get pushed around at the micro level, but not enough will come off in a die to hurt anything.
 
From my experience nickel cases have a shorter life than plain brass. But when I started shooting Bullseye in the1970's Western brand .45 ACP nickel brass was highly prized by the better shooters in my area. It seemed to last forever, even until it had been fired so often you almost couldn't read the headstamp any more.

When I shot PPC the old timers said that they used nickel .38 cases because they ejected "slicker".

A hunter friend of mine gave me some once-fired nickel Winchester 30-06 brass. It came in boxes used for their high-end "Black Talon", premium bullet, hunting ammo. I figured I'd use it for prone slow fire in my M70 match rifle – since it was nickel it would be easy to keep it segregated from the other brass. After 2-3 reloads I was getting longitudinal cracks in the case body that didn't extend all the way to the shoulder or the web of the case. I wrote Winchester and explained the problem and they had me send all of the brass back to them for examination/testing. I think I sent in about 170 pieces of brass and they sent me back a bag of 50 new (not nickel) 30-06 cases. Since no explanation came back about the case failures I wrote back to find out what was wrong with the brass. I wish I had kept the reply but it was something to the effect that "we don't release our testing results" and "the nickel cases really weren't intended for reloading". Unbelievable!
 
I used nickel plated brass in my high power matches

Hello. I used nickel plated brass in my high power matches and it really helped. Almost every high power shooter is a reloader and picks up his/her brass and there always a few discussions as to whose brass was whose. My nickel plated brass was easy to spot in the grass and was markedly different from everyone else's brass. I even had shooters bringing me my brass saying "here, this is yours." I still use them and I never noticed any difference in brass life, recoil or accuracy.
 
I've used nickel for both 9mm & 38 spec.
I do inspect them when decapping and after washing and prior to reloading them. I run fingernail around opening to feel for cracks.
I also load a little lighter to put less pressure on the case.
I can get 5+ reuses. They do look great--THE SILVER BULLET
 
Hi,

Back in the mid 1970's I had the same question which is better Nickle or Brass.

I was living in Arizona at that time.

I did the following tests with 357 Magnum brass:

I bought 100 rounds of Nickle Virgin brass & 100 rounds of Virgin Brass brass.

1 - I had a pistol belt with 30 belt loops -- 10 were filled with Nickle & 10 were filled with Brass. I put the belt in an outdoor storage room in a box and left it there for a year. 1 year later = Brass had gotten much darker (corroded) and had stained the belt. Nickle no change from the day I put them in the belt loop.

2 - I loaded the remainder of the Nickle & Brass cases with 158gr SWC Cast Lead, 14,5gr 2400. I would shoot all of it at one time then reload and do it again and again. This took a couple of months, hear are the results: Nickle would crack at the mouth around 5 reloads ---- Brass would crack at the mouth around 10 reloads.

3 - I was shooting a Smith Model 27. I never had a Nickle round stick in the cylinder after firing. I did occasionally have a brass round stick in the cylinder after firing.

Today my thoughts on my tests in the 1970's.
With today's society problems:
1 - If I had some Nickle brass I would load all of it or at lease a lot of it and store it for a potential rainy day.

2 - If I did not have any Nickle brass and could get it for free or really cheap I would do the above.

Just my thoughts.
Marty
 
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This same discussion was on another forum a few years ago. So just to settle the issue for my own personal knowledge I did a test with 5 each Nickle and brass new Starline brass 44 magnum cases. I shot them in a S&W Model 69. As part of this test I measured resistance in sizing in a RCBS carbide die. Somewhere I have my notes on all this but the nickle cases started splitting after about 20 loadings. Four out of 5 had split by the 25 loading. At this point I quit. No brass cases failed in the test. I shot a mid level load of WW 231 and a variety of 240 grain cast bullets and jacketed. The same expander setting were used throughout the test.
Sizing effort was measurably higher with Nickle cases. This is contrary to a popular belief.
The results in a nutshell were that nickle cases failed first and required more effort to size than brass cases. In fact I returned the brass cases to the cache of 44 magnum cases and I am using them still. Nickle cases have a use and for that they are great. Also failing after 20+ loadings IMO is really not a fail. That is a lot of use out of a case.
If you got them use them. I certainly do.
 
Martyd presents reasonably good information that sounds reasonable and with results similar to my thought he just kept records. His advice seems sound
 
I just started reloading about a year ago, after a thirty year hiatus. I remember nickel cases failing after 3-5 reloads back then. Brass lasted 8-10. This is for 38-357mag, 44-44mag, and 45acp. 44mag and 45acp always wore out faster. I don't collect nor use nickel cases today.
 
AJ said:
Does any see in real difference in using them? Yes, I know one is silver and the other is brass in color. Does one last longer in reloading? What are the pro's and con's of these cases?
Click to expand...

The nickel plating process can make the brass brittle. Of the .38SP cases I have seen split the overwhelming majority were nickel plated.

As I understand it the only plus to nickel plating is corrosion resistance, particularly in leather belt loops.

I use nickel plated for HP loads that are going to be stuffed in a box & stored indefinitely.
 
Fishslayer said:
I use nickel plated for HP loads that are going to be stuffed in a box & stored indefinitely.
Click to expand...


That is what I have been thinking of do. Would use the jacketed bullets that I have for that purpose. Since I cast my own bullets, would use those and brass cases for more pedestrian things like target shooting.

AJ
 
Nickel for ready ammo

A while back I got some Speer 135gr GDHPSB bullets I loaded some in brass cases to test and when I had my load nailed down. I loaded the rest up in nickel plated cases for hard times. 50 rnds of it was once fired Speer +P cases. I have quite a stash of factory these in factory loads but wanted an xtra 50fps from these.......
 
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