School me on nickel plated cartridges

[JFrank]

Why not use them for bottlenecked cases?

We have a box full of once fired, personally I don't like the memory factor compared to brass.
Reminds me of grumpy old men that just wont cooperate.

 

[AckleymanII]

I have used a LOT of Nickel brass on 243 Win, some 270 win, some 7 Rem mag, when I found it at an inexpensive price. These are hunting rounds, brass is easier to find in the grass when ejected. Most of the time, the loads are pretty warm especially in the 243 Win and 7 Mag. The primer pockets opened up or I lost the brass In 5-7 Firings, the brass was usually toast, one way or another. The main issue, I got a deal on the brass because nobody wanted it.

If there is a problem, it is where the neck will split. So, the solution is simple, inspect your cases, like you should be doing, anyway. Know your numbers:

Chamber neck dia
Sizing dia on your Full length and neck sizers with out the expander ball
Dia that the neck is expanded to after your expander ball yanks the neck back out
Loaded round dia

Those 4 dimensions above will give you some idea on what you should expect on brass life, Ni or otherwise.

I always shot the NI brass in Rem or Browning factory barrels, even BAR's, never had a problem sizing...predator and deer rifles...no match chambers, again, watch for split necks.

One thing on brass memory I learned years ago, keep your ammo fresh...brass creeps. Owning a body die and small base body die for use on loaded ammo where the brass was not NEW is a must when you are keeping loaded ammo for 5-15+ years after hit has been loaded in cases that were fired multiple times. I have had problems with brass expanding to where it will not chamber in Rem 700 chambers, sized with RCBS and Forster full length sizers, when it was loaded, 5 years old! Prudent to cycle the ammo through the rifle to ensure smooth chambering prior to hunting, you will get over the hurt Pride when the bolt will not close on 10-20% of the loaded ammo. Also prudent to remove the firing pin from the rifle prior to cycling through the rifle. Two people I know have shot holes through their in the house, a shore nuff man cave trophy shot.

SPJ's "brass memory" is valid, keep your ammo fresh, Nickel or std.

 

[K22]

Why not use them for bottlenecked cases?

There are more difficult to size than brass and can get stuck in the die easier but in todays crazy component shortages I wouldn't rule them out. Just make sure you lube them thoroughly.

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

I've never had a problem with nickel plated brass, in fact, I believe that it extracts a little easier. I had a Sig 1911 that would occasionally fail to extract unless I used nickel plated brass.

I have experienced this with revolvers where I had some loads that were hard to eject spent brass from the cylinder but nickel plated cases ejected very easily.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

They are much cooler than plain ol' cooking brass, but you must wear camo and sunglasses and have a heavy metal band playing when you shoot. ( but only if you are YouTube)

 

[divingin]

My experience was with straight-walled pistol brass. I found it split sooner than unplated brass would.

I was told (don't recall by who - this would have been back in the 80's) that range dirt and such could be a problem sizing as the nickel was harder and would tend to embed the stuff in sizing dies, but I always tumbled brass prior to starting the reloading process, so that wasn't an issue.

I don't recall ever finding any differences in the process using nickel vs unplated brass. It all worked the same.

 

[DGP4]

I like it because it is so much easier to clean and stays nice. Frankly, I have never had any flaking problems with it. It is a bit harder to resize but not hugely so.