What kind of rumors, fallacies or just BS why reloaders don't want nickel brass.

Usually it not common to find new nickel brass.

A lot premium factory ammo has nickel brass.

I think it feeds better in guns, never had any corrode, easer to find on the ground to pick-up and looks better than brass.

I have some 38 Special that has been reloaded 16 times with wadcutters, still shinny but a little dull. Even one lot of 222 Rem. thats been reloaded 8 times only neck sized, but slowly primer pockets are getting loose.

It has it's place.

I like it in my carry weapons. (straight wall)

.... and it seems to work good in hot 10mm's. Easier to extract the longer case in autos.


It does not do well with some ultrasonic cleaner solutions.

Not rumor here just my opinion.
The bold statement pretty much says why to use it.
Myself I only use nickel brass for pistols for the reasons above plus they extract easier.
Reasons for not using it is that I hardly ever have rifle rounds un-fired long enough for them to corrode. I also find them to be harder to work with. And the fact that bright, shiny brass looks just as good.

I tried to expand some nickle 308 to 338 when 338 fed was hard to come by. Cracked every neck. I quit after about 5.

I've had the nickel start to chip off after a few reloads.

Nickel brass will get harder then standard brass cases. If it hasn't been worked for awhile, it can take a lot more muscle to size a nickel rifle case then a standard brass one.

If you shoot your brass often enough and live in a low humidity environment, there is not much need for it. However I do use it in some pistols, especially if the cases may sit in leather loops for a good while.

I also like them as a visual aid, in the even that you have two very similar cartridge that can cause issues if chambered in the wrong firearm. As an example, a 6x45 can fit in a 5.56 chamber and is certain to cause problems if the trigger gets pulled on it....so if I do get a 6x45 upper, I'm likely to only load nickel brass for it...

I like it.. Never had a problem with it..

I've been using Winchester's nickel plated brass for reloads since I've had the gun built. Plating seems to be mighty thin but has not flaked and I haven't seen that it takes much extra effort to resize. So far it's worked just fine. Methinks they just may do a better job of plating these days compared to those from earlier times. Again, YMMV.
Paul B.

I like it. However it seems to eat up the trimmer cutters faster. I usually only use it when I'm elk hunting because it can get wet and not corrode. I've had some 338 win mag stuff loaded up for a long time. Still new looking... I don't know about pjgunner's post, but the 338 stuff I have is from the early 90's and it's holding up very well. It is R-P though..

Some dies get scratched badly by the harder "brass".

I have a 458 B&M, you use 300 RUM brass cut it to 2.25" then run it in full length die, so the bolt closes with little resistance, its ready to shoot. Do the same with a 9.3 B&M. They look like they came from the factory, no chips or wrinkles.

Load solids with nickel brass, soft points with brass at a quick glance when WTSHTF I know what is what.

Nickel can and does flake off and can scratch a die. I don't like it because it's harder to size and the nickel stinks when you heat it with propane torch to anneal, and you can't check the shine of the brass while heating.

Only brass I ever ran in my 38 Super was nickel with small rifle primers and ised carbide dies.

I don't dislike it, just don't see that it offers any advantages over unplated. My rifles feed fine, don't see any advantage there, and corrosion hasn't been a problem for me.

Basically the only reason to use it is bling factor, and I don't care about that.

Please send all that crapppy brass my way. Great for hunting coastal AK. Have yet to scratch a die.

i use it in every caliber i can not get lapua brass. also i use it in my 2 30-06 garands. awesome. ron

I tried to expand some Rem 300 Winchester - nickeled- to 340 Weatherby. A few were splitting along the way. Annealing solved the problem completely (and was no trouble by looking for a faint glow in a darkened room.)

Nickel brass is hard on Remington extractors

All of my 338-06 is Nickel, have never had one not form perfectly. I use it in my 375/06 Ackley also. Muddy

So is dirt. Happens when cheap materials are used...

I quit using nickel plated brass because it scratched my dies. Dunno whether it was dirt carried in the slightly rougher nickel surface or flaked nickel, result was the same a ruined die.

Seems to work fine for me but I don't have enough of it to load in a separate batch and like to keep all loads as consistent as possible. No real proof but my gut tells me that case capacity will be slightly different in nickeled brass vs. regular brass, so I only use it when I have one or two stray projectiles to use up or some reason to have a designated different load than my usual reloads. I don't find much of it at the range so I don't think it is as common as regular brass.

Scratched my Lee Collet mandrel when I was uniforming new necks





course that is probably not the hardest steel. I suspect that up inside your die where the case mouth first hits the forcing cone on a FL die, the nickel is scratching up your die and you don't know it

Also

http://www.varmintal.net/arelo.htm#Nickel_Brass

+1

I bought a bunch of nickel Win 22-250 when I started loading for my 6-250 and its a pain to anneal and seems to need it faster than unplated cases.