Nickel Vs Brass Cases

[Tu_S]

Are nickel cases any better than brass cases? I do seem to find more cracked nickel cases than I do brass cases. I tend to separate them out of my brass cases when reloading. For some reason a couple of nickel cases in a box of brass cases just does not look right. Anyone else do this?

Thing I noticed about nickel cases is they tend to be sold with higher pressure defensive rounds, which I suppose is done since you would be carrying the rounds more and they don't tarnish like brass, although you really should be shooting the things to maintain proficiency, rotating through your inventory, instead of just carrying the things to the point they get tarnished

The nickel will be less ductile than the brass, something that causes a problem for me when reloading, where the minimum flare on the case mouth I like needs to be adjusted when switching between the two, but I'm guessing the pressure is what's causing the cracking.

 

[Roofuss]

I shoot and shoot both, but prefer brass .

 

[Greyman50]

Have shot and reloaded countless nickel and brass case since the mid 70s. Prefer brass but some nickel cases get in the mix and they are sorted out and loaded seperatey. Have found nickel splits sooner than Most brass, however have sone Fed. nickel 38 Spl case that have been around 10 years?
As the carbide vs nickel issue, carbide is “ harder than Chinese arithmetic” so nickel won’t hurt dies.

 

[jcelect]

Nickel brass

I have a custom-made revolver in 38 Super that will eject nickel brass with ease, but brass cases stick in all the chambers! This happens even when I'm shoot loads that are 1gr(NOT .1gr) below book min. load! I have tried everything to remedy this problem, but it still occurs! My final solution, buy nickel brass and shoot as much as I like!
jcelect

 

[AJ]

I have a custom-made revolver in 38 Super that will eject nickel brass with ease, but brass cases stick in all the chambers! This happens even when I'm shoot loads that are 1gr(NOT .1gr) below book min. load! I have tried everything to remedy this problem, but it still occurs! My final solution, buy nickel brass and shoot as much as I like!
jcelect

Stupid question. Since it is custom made....did you asked the maker why? Did you try polishing the chambers? A lot of Model 17 owners have had problems with the chambers on those revolvers. Most polish them to get rid of the problem. I took a .22 MOP and some jewelers rouge to mine and viola it was fixed. Chuck the MOP on a section of cleaning rod into a drills. Load up the MOP with jewelers rouge and polish each chamber. Took me about 20 minutes as I was going slow. Revolver now chambers and ejects with no problems from any of the chambers.

 

[venomballistics]

but I'm guessing the pressure is what's causing the cracking.

At one point, I plated some standard issue plain brass. You wouldn't think so, but there must be some metallurgical voodoo involved. This batch would split while the remaining source plain brass didn't.

This is far from being a deal breaker.
It's my go to for hostile environment ammo. Such as rounds that have to work after fermenting into the floorboards of ye olde battle wagon for a few years.
It holds up to this sort of abuse

 

[jcelect]

Question

Stupid question. Since it is custom made....did you asked the maker why? Did you try polishing the chambers? A lot of Model 17 owners have had problems with the chambers on those revolvers. Most polish them to get rid of the problem. I took a .22 MOP and some jewelers rouge to mine and viola it was fixed. Chuck the MOP on a section of cleaning rod into a drills. Load up the MOP with jewelers rouge and polish each chamber. Took me about 20 minutes as I was going slow. Revolver now chambers and ejects with no problems from any of the chambers.

A very valid question! ! ! I bought the gun(cheap), not had it made, and had many other problems! Basically, the gun was built too tight in all aspects! I bought a ball type polisher from Brownell's and it helped a bunch, but I was afraid of removing too much material from the inside of the chambers. The gun now runs great for bowling pin shoots, including fast reloads, if I use nickel brass. Brass cases still stick but not as bad as before the work I done!

The red dot has been changed! This was built on a 629 frame.
jcelect

 

[glowe]

I’ve read that nickel cases wear out carbide dies much quicker than brass. How true is this? I have no idea.

Checking the periodic table, nickel is 28 on the chart, while tungsten is 74, so 2 1/2 times harder than nickel. Nickel cannot touch carbide.

 

[Marksman]

Nickel brass............

The thickness of the plating is .0002" (two ten thousandths), that's the thickness of a particle of dust. As for lapping a carbide sizer die .002" #1 even with diamond compound you'd be lapping a long time. Increasing the I.D. of a carbide sizer that much, you may as well as not size. Lots of misinformation on this topic, as a retired Manufacturing Engineer I can tell you this to a certainty.

 

[Krogen]

Checking the periodic table, nickel is 28 on the chart, while tungsten is 74, so 2 1/2 times harder than nickel. Nickel cannot touch carbide.

I think you must mean something other than the periodic table. The atomic number isn't proportional to hardness. Elemental tungsten isn't the "carbide" used in dies. It's Tungsten Carbide.

 

[AJ]

A very valid question! ! ! I bought the gun(cheap), not had it made, and had many other problems! Basically, the gun was built too tight in all aspects! I bought a ball type polisher from Brownell's and it helped a bunch, but I was afraid of removing too much material from the inside of the chambers. The gun now runs great for bowling pin shoots, including fast reloads, if I use nickel brass. Brass cases still stick but not as bad as before the work I done!

The red dot has been changed! This was built on a 629 frame.
jcelect

Since the brass case still stick a bit, I would polish some more. Go slow and check often. Nice looking piece.

 

[raljr1]

I dont have enough experience to add anything about reloadability or life, but I had a Browning Buckmark 22 that would feed nickel cases without fail, but would not feed brass cases worth a darn.

 

[glowe]

I think you must mean something other than the periodic table. The atomic number isn't proportional to hardness. Elemental tungsten isn't the "carbide" used in dies. It's Tungsten Carbide.

You are absolutely correct, not sure why I picked molecular weights compared to hardness?? The Mohs scale shows hardness of the elements and minerals. The Mohs hardness, from 1 to 10, is a measure of its relative resistance to scratching, measured by scratching the mineral against another substance of known hardness on the Mohs Hardness Scale Let's try this again. The Mohs scale for nickel is 4 and 9.0-9.5 for tungsten carbide. Brass is 3.

Let me add that it is said that only diamond will scratch tungsten carbide. Rockwell hardness is a more confusing hardness measure, since there are different tests in this standard. Rockwell B for brass is 65, for nickel is 86, and tungsten carbide is 90.

 

[rwsmith]

Reminds me of Andy Griffith...

I believe nickel became popular because cartridges in leather belt loops were getting enough verdigris they would not chamber or had to be worked out of dump pouches with tools. Hopefully no one is keeping cartridges in leather for long periods.

My nickel cases are mainly 38 wadcutter brass, though I did end up with 50 280 Remington nickel cases.

Barney ("inspecting" the ancient bank guard): Those bullets are GREEN!