So I Nickel plated the entire Cartridge?

[Dave IL]

I did the best plating job on this but i thought it would be fun.
These are Sig .38 Special, so far my favorite round for .38 special. Yes, I am newer to the dynamics of shooting, but they look kind of cool? I hope they still fire, i'll find out later this week, maybe. And the plate was really thin.

Thought I would share. Thoughts?

 

[Brasky]

What purpose are you plating them for?

 

[Dave IL]

What purpose are you plating them for?

Just because I can. If i did it right they could be for showcase or whatnot, but yet still be a live round.. more fun than anything else. I've done fun things like horse shoes and car parts, but this just seemed fun.

 

[DWalt]

Unless you are set up for plating, it's cheaper and easier to buy them already plated (if available). Nickel plating chemicals are not cheap in small quantities, but the process itself is fairly simple. I have nickel plated some brass rifle cases, a long time ago, but they didn't turn out as bright and shiny as yours. A battery charger can be used as a power source. I have seen how the ammunition makers do it, it's called barrel plating. As I remember they were plating about 50K pistol cases at a time.

 

[Dave IL]

I have all the equipment, rectifier, prep chemicals, solutions, blasting cabinet. Just hard to find something worth working on i have my plating down to the hundredth of an amp. I have a 6 tank gallon, been learning over the last couple years when i have time.

 

[sigp220.45]

I didnt do the best plating job on this but i thought it would be fun.
These are Sig .38 Special, so far my favorite round for .38 special. Yes, I am newer to the dynamics of shooting, but they look kind of cool? I hope they still fire, i'll find out later this week, maybe. And the plate was really thin.

Thought I would share. Thoughts?

I like it! You should do some .45 Colts and hand them out like the Lone Ranger!

 

[Dave IL]

I just need to find out if they arent duds, due to the chemicals, if not i may have a speciality market eh

 

[foxy320]

got a 38 special round that was given to me by a New York State Trooper in the 1960's that is nickel plated. It was one of 12 he was issued by the dept. that he carried in a cartridge carrier on his duty belt

 

[THE PILGRIM]

You mean like this?

 

[scattershot]

Who was that masked man?

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I was beaten to it but I also had Lone Ranger flashbacks when I saw that cartridge. Thanks for posting it!!!

Maybe you would get better results if you Nickel plate the bullet before you seat it. Still cool though...

 

[lebomm]

PILGRIM:
I was a Vulcan Senior Gunner my last year in the army. I recognized your "Lone Ranger" round right off.

Larry

 

[jake1945]

Really cool! If you market them, what would be your price?
Maybe plate them without primer and powder?

 

[scooter123]

I would be concerned about the effect of the plating on the barrel. Based on the lack of any real wear that I've seen on common nickels for over 50 years I suspect that Nickel is a metal that approaches Steel in hardness. Think about it, my Dad had a silver dollar he carried every day since returning from WWII and by 1985 it had worn to the point where it was a silver disk with some waviness on both sides. Look at a Nickel that has been carried for 50 years and you can still read the date because the impressions are still relatively crisp.

Just saying, don't plan on shooting too many of those "sliver bullets" or you may have to purchase a new barrel.

 

[Dave IL]

I would be concerned about the effect of the plating on the barrel. Based on the lack of any real wear that I've seen on common nickels for over 50 years I suspect that Nickel is a metal that approaches Steel in hardness. Think about it, my Dad had a silver dollar he carried every day since returning from WWII and by 1985 it had worn to the point where it was a silver disk with some waviness on both sides. Look at a Nickel that has been carried for 50 years and you can still read the date because the impressions are still relatively crisp.

Just saying, don't plan on shooting too many of those "sliver bullets" or you may have to purchase a new barrel.

I just did a few of these just to see how it would work out, I think it would be more of a novelty, but they would still fire.

I read about the possible effects of Nickel on a barrel, so for purposes would not put a very thick layer on it to avoid such damage. Could be cool for showing off in a display case or some of the Beauty shots i see people have on the board.

In this case i didnt have the current up high enough and the solution was a bit cold. I was able to wipe it right off the top with a little metal polish and just my hand.

So it was a nice thin layer that shouldn't cause any problems, However i wouldn't go shooting boxes of them at a time, just something nice that still "functions".

 

[fredj338]

Something else to consider. The bullet now has plating binding it to the case. This could increase pressures as the bullet has to break that seal. Kind of like gluing it in place.

 

[SPEEDGUNNER]

If you are worried about werewolves you will need to SILVER plate them...

 

[Dave IL]

Something else to consider. The bullet now has plating binding it to the case. This could increase pressures as the bullet has to break that seal. Kind of like gluing it in place.

Not too sure about that, right at the crown on the casing you can see a little bit of copper at the crimping area, which actually means the solution could not plate there because it was sealed with a glue or clear sealant.

I know what you are describing, but in THIS case seems to be ok..
i plated two different threads once and realized they should have been connected, now they dont thread.. need a good brass brush to fix that i think, but this looks decent..

the tank was cold when i did this and some are cloudy, i was just doing it as an initial experiment. hopefully they fire.. i will find out eventually..

 

[franzas]

If you are worried about werewolves you will need to SILVER plate them...

lol I thought about making some of these for fun. A 158 gr mold would drop ~146 with silver.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

A while back I got the bright idea of making silver bullets.
The 'plan' was to melt WWII Silver Nickels and Pour into bullet molds.
Then I would gift them to folks who might need to shoot zombies and such.
But didn't have the 'heat' to melt the silver.