Tell me about Nickel Brass...?

[Sasparilla Groz]

Should I use it or not?   Let me know what your experience says.  I have accumulated a bit and I am wondering if I should use it.   Your help is appreciated!

[Rancho Roy]

The nickel plating process make the brass more prone to split. Works great in your gun belt as they won't corrode like brass will in contact with leather. 

[Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971]

I use it in revolvers.  If it splits it doesn't affect my stage times.  My revolver ammo for Bordertown and EOT will all be loaded in nickel-plated brass.  I expect many will split.  (I expect fewer than a half-dozen reloads before splitting.)  BTW, the nickel plating helps protect the brass from corrosion caused by black powder fouling.

[Rancho Roy]

Good Point....Any match with "Lost Brass" I should be using the thousands of Nickle 38s I have......Thanks!

[slow poke gear]

We reload them till they split,  they do seem alot more prone to splitting so case checking is important.

[Old Man Graybeard]

I use the nickle plated in Handgun ONLY. Starline is the only thing I use in rifles

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

You should not use it.   I'll be happy to take that non standard stuff off your hands.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

I use it all the time

[Rip Snorter]

Nice to clean, handle, and store.  It does crack a bit more so you need to pay attention.  I keep brass and nickel separated.

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

My personal experience has been - load them and shoot them. Yes they are more prone to case mouth splitting but you should be checking your cartridges every time you reload them. If there is any sign of a crack they go into the recycle bucket, same as the yellow brass ones with a small crack. I agree with Mr Canby, I usually get about 5-6 reloads out of them, perhaps 10 or 11 in yellow brass. If you are that worried about them cracking in the rifle just be sure your inspection is thorough, same for your yellow brass. If you aren't checking your brass carefully, well a split in either pistol or rifle is on you not the brass.

Regards

    

Gateway Kid

[Cypress Sun]

I finally used up all of the nickel brass that I had by using them in lost brass matches (rare any more to see them), side matches and what limited practice I used to do. I mark my brass so that I only get my brass back at a match, anyone else's that ends up in my returns stays on the table or in the basket. No nickel for me.

[Assassin]

Nickel plated brass splits more frequently due to two unlike metals that expand at different rates. Lower pressure loads will not expand nickel cases as much as all brass, especially in cold temps, I've observed 150 fps variations thru a chronograph. So, don't try to download nickle in cold weather.. Once a certain pressure is reached it makes little difference. I use it in pistols, never in rifle.

[Sasparilla Groz]

Thanks all!  Good to know’

[Jeb Stuart #65654]

The size of your chambers has a lot to do with splitting.  I only use nickel in my revolvers, which are  USFA's and the chambers are very tight, I only have one or two split cases per 1000 with my guns.

[Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646]

Federal seems to be the most resistant to splitting. R-P the worst

 

Imis

[High Spade Mikey Wilson]

Had too many that split when fired. Okay to use in a pistol, but I wouldn't use them in my rifle.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

All kidding aside, I do have, and use, some nickel brass.   I don't do anything different with it than regular brass.  I just use it till it splits.  Since it tends to be more expensive, I don't make an effort to purchase empty nickel cases, but it I acquire some at random, I use it.  I have a lot of .38 Special, some .357 Magnum, (which ironically, are the only calibers I reload for that I don't use for CAS) some .45 ACP, and exactly 1 case of .45 Colt.  I always seem to recover it. 

One other caliber I have some nickel brass, and the ONLY one I have had an issue with, is Winchester .38 S&W nickel brass.  If you load this brass with a standard .360" bullet, but case expands just a little bit and the cartridges will not chamber.  So for that brass only, I load the cartridge with a hollow base .358" bullet.  Since the bullet does not seat as deeply in the case as the .360's I use, I made this round for either my black powder, or "hotter" loads that approach the British .38/200 loading for use in me Webley and S&W Victory model revolvers.   Remington nickel brass does not have this "problem."

But that's the ONLY application where I tread nickel brass in a different way.

[Crusty Knees]

13 hours ago, Sasparilla Groz said:

Should I use it or not?   Let me know what your experience says.  I have accumulated a bit and I am wondering if I should use it.   Your help is appreciated!

 

Nickel brass in my revolvers are fine.  But, two types of cases I won't use in my rifle are:  Cases with a deeply impressed cannulure.  Or, nickel-brass cases.  Even with good inspection, one case that splits can ruin your stage, or your day.  

Good brass cases are cheap insurance.

[Warden Callaway]

Many years ago, brother-in-law and I went together and bought a mass quantity of nickel 357 cases. We were shooting handgun silhouette and thought we could pass some off on our fellow shooters and make good on our investment.   Between the time we got it and back to range,  an article came out in a magazine saying nickel cases would wear out reloading dies. Nobody bought any.

 

I discovered the hard way not to mix nickel and plain cases in a wet tumbler mix with Lemi Shine.  Turns the brass green.  Upper tray all brass. lower tray mixed. 

 

 

 

 

[Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator]

18 hours ago, Rancho Roy said:

The nickel plating process make the brass more prone to split. Works great in your gun belt as they won't corrode like brass will in contact with leather. 

RR is correct and it is excellent for separating loads.  Sassy know if it is nickel it is probably black powder.  I use it for BP pistol loads.  I also use certain color bullets to differ her loads from mine. 

[Warden Callaway]

2 hours ago, Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator said:

RR is correct and it is excellent for separating loads.  Sassy know if it is nickel it is probably black powder.  I use it for BP pistol loads.  I also use certain color bullets to differ her loads from mine. 

When I started loading 38WCF,  I deliberately bought nickel brass so not confuse it with the 44WCF I already had.

 

 

[Red Oak]

I too only use nickel cases in my revolvers for matches, not because I've had a split issue but because more experienced shooters at the match advised me that nickel cases are prone to splitting and that would be disasatrous in a magazine tube resulting in lost time etc..  I don't prep or load nickel any different than brass cases but I do use the nickel and brass along with bullet color to segregate my loads. Now, i have some nickel brass that was from my grandfather's reloading gear, that I've loaded multiple times and I know he had already loaded multiple times, they have yet to split and they've been reloaded so much the nickel is "washing" off.  YMMV

As other folks have stated already, inspect your brass.  

[Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655]

I try to shoot nickel for 45 colt when I go to the range and fire 45s and 44 mags makes it much easier to separate brass by color than caliber.  Have a bunch of .38 and .357 nickel cases, I shoot mild loads and have not had a case split yet!

[Lead Monger]

I have a couple thousand Starline nickel plated 38 special cases I’ve been using for years. Some of it is eight years old. Sure it splits, just like plane  brass cases. I loose more cases in the grass and gravel than to splits. I have one lot of nickel brass head stamped (DT) that has been cycled so many times the plating is almost completely rubbed off. Still shoots good and when I find cracked cases they get tossed, no problem. I run them through a rifle without fear because I wet tumble and every single case gets inspected before reloading. Nickel plated 45s are great for BP load identification as well.

[The Rainmaker, SASS #11631]

I use nickel for my reloads off the belt. As has been mentioned, it does not corrode in the leather like yellow brass will. I also like that it seems slicker through the action (my experience). I check them very carefully for splits and never run them through the wet tumbler; I'll either dry tumble or just wipe em down a bit. I only use them with smokeless as well. As with any cases, check them before you load them for abnormalities and run them through a case checker after and you'll have no probs.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I use em for my pistols only. I also like filling up my gun belt with them also cause they look cool!

[Griff]

Some 35 years ago when my wife started shooting a pard gave her about 5,000 pieces of .38 Spl brass, as he was getting on and getting out of the game.  A lot of it was nickel plated, lots worn so thin the brass was showing in places.  Some of it was even large primer stuff (all nickel plated).  I loaded it all for her, never segregated it and it all worked fine.  When she passed away, we still had a gallon and a half bucket of empty brass, maybe a couple hundred of the large primer stuff.  I been loading it as use it when I shoot her guns.  It never seemed to crack or develop splits more than the brass stuff.  But, I think these cases are from the '60s & 70s, so it might be different than newer stuff.  The large primer stuff is now only loaded with BP and kept segregated.  

[Texas Jack Black]

 Use it up this is a powder puff game I use what I have some of the Nickle brass has been fine for 30 years.

Once again not rocket science