Reloading question about casings?

Question

Is there any difference between nickel cases and brass cases other than aesthetics? The price per 500 is only 7 or 8 bucks. Do the nickel cases give more loadings than brass? Will the brass wear out sooner if loaded to +p pressures vs nickel cases?How about standard saami pressure? Thanks for your help.

EDIT: R posted a link to some kind of game, not interested in toys or games, please stay in the kiddie section while grown ups are talking.

Answer 1

Nickel is supposed to be a little slicker to feed in the magazine. I never noticed a difference there or in the dies. It's also hard, and even though it's only a thin plating, it predisposes the cases to more cracking in the necks. I've just about quit using the stuff. Maybe if you annealed the shiny nickel ones every time, they'd crack less, but what a pain that would be!

Answer 2

For rifle cases they will wear out your reloading dies in a hurry-I discard any I find. They also flash in the sunlight for hunting situations-Not a good thing. As for pistol brass, nickel cases are superior. You will gain additional loadings out of nickel brass and the tension to hold the bullet uniformly lasts longer than brass. As for pistol case resizing, if you are using any of the carbide resizers then you will have zero problem in wearing out these dies.

Answer 3

The big differance is the fact that nickle is harder than Brass. The brass and nickle have different rates of expansion and contraction. Some guys I know say to never reload nickle brass because it can scratch your dies. It also will not last as long because soon all that expansion and contraction form shooting and resizing will cause the nickle to fail. I for one am not a fan of nickle brass. They look nice and all but they are more brittle than plane old brass.

Answer 4

I reload with nickel cases for ammo I intend to keep in a leather ammo belt as was stated they don’t tarnish like brass. I found that my 06’ round left in my leather ammo belt would tarnish so bad that they wouldn’t chamber in my Rem 06’ well and left nasty residue in the action. Same with my .44 ammo left in my western gun belt. I live in a Maritime environment with very high humidity here, any brass left in contact with tanned leather would be green as grass in a week. And cleaning that off was a pain.

Answer 5

I've had some start flakeing off around the mouth after a few loadings in 45-70 now like jim A said I only use them if I'm going to carry them in a leather loop belt.

Answer 6

Nickel-plated cases do not tarnish as much, and are easier to eject after firing, and seem to go through my dies with greater ease, I use carbide dies so lubrication is not an issue.

I generally put up my heavier loads in nickel-plated cases.

Doc

Answer 7

'R', you've been reported. If I was your dad and you said that to me, I'd smack you pretty darn hard. I stopped talking to my sister for several months because of her linking me to outwar nonsense.

The nickel plated casings will usually last a little longer, and people say that, for clean cases, you don't have to lube your dies. I don't know if I'd stop lubing my dies altogether, but it's something to consider for die, as well as chamber, wear. I don't know that a nickel plated brass case would last any longer, but either case should last a while if prepped thoroughly; trimming and chamfering your necks. Only sizing the neck will help a little on case life, as well, so avoid full resizing dies if it's possible.

Answer 8

Nickel Cases will provide smoother ejection. They tend to bind less in the chamber after they have been fired.

In a self defense or competitive application, this small difference can be important, even if it just improves your self confidence.

Answer 9

Nickle doesn't tarnish as fast. I use brass for my standard .25-06 loads and nickle for the varmint loads.

Answer 10

i believe nickel plating provides better lubrication for feeding and ejection and corrosion Resistance