Nickel Plated Brass For reloads
 

I put a post a few weeks ago regarding the above and some folks chimed in.

However, I was told by a friend last night that he was told by the Winchester ammo rep that nickel plated plated brass shall not be reloaded as the nickel will melt under heat and get in to the barrel and the rifling.

Any one heard the same?

Not true however there is a chance the plating will come off and ruin your dies

If that were the case wouldn't it do so upon the first firing also.

Your friend is deluded.

Have heard stories of nickel plating 'flaking off' and 'ruining' dies but have never experienced it myself.

Have reloaded thousands of rounds for different guns with no issues, but I'm sure I have just been lucky.

Was your friend drinking when the rep supposedly told him that nonsense?:sHa_sarcasticlol:

Listen to the experts here
 

I don't know what qualifications one needs to be a rep for an ammunition company but these guys here know way more.

Just BTW nickle is very hard to melt, not so brass.

I have reloaded a bunch of it over the past 10 years or so and have never had any issues.

I have got 8 firings on some nickle right now. Ive never had a problem. I think the "rep" is out to lunch.

Nickel plated brass
 

I've had the same experience. Works for me.

Well, nickel melts at 1,455 degrees C, while brass melts between 900-950 degrees Celsius, depending on the zinc/copper ratio. Probably not going to be an issue heat wise.

I have reported before - comparing Nickel Plated and Yellow Brass / Federal Gold Medal / 308 Win with moderate pressure loads ... I could rely on 11 reloads with NP and 13 reloads with YB with no split necks. My “theory” being that the NP is harder (less pliable) and is more susceptible to work hardening. I observed no visible evidence that the NP was thinning and getting into the bore. Consistency was fine so no reason to believe the NP had any negative effect.

Some pretty sharp fellas have chimed in.

My experience has been similar... no problem with nickel.

My only issue with nickel, is that it is harder on trimmer cutters.

This is exactly my experience.

I quit using them because of my trimmer other than that the necks split earlier but no real problems

x2

I reload with the nickel in my 300WM, 270WSM since 2005 and my 243. No issues yet.

If the nickel does flake off it is evident when examining cases and I would not use them further. In general it should not be a problem if the cases are plated correctly, sometimes they are not plated properly and this can happen much like chrome will peel off a car bumper if the process of plating was incorrectly done. There is no reason to nickel plate brass cases except manufacturers know the appearance of nickel plated cases will appeal to some buyers because they think they look 'Kool', but is unnecessary and useless nor does it give cartridges special powers.:) I've used nickel brass a few times when regular brass wasn't available and nickel cases were the only option at the time. Never had a problem and reloaded them over a dozen times without flaking or ruining my dies. This was 300WSM cases I picked up at the range, necked down, false shouldered and fire formed blowing the shoulder ahead to use in a 7WSM. If that didn't flake the nickel off not much else will. If nickel is flaking the plating process was faulty, if it does happen cease using them.

Having used RCBS dies to reload this nickle plated brass in the past it didnt take long to realize the pia of trying to fl size it .
Gave up trying to resize this abundant casing.
To much effort required to run a lubed shell through the dies.
Others claim to have no issues , but i have not seen any doing it.
YMMV of course.
Rob