[JellyJar]

Over the years I have seen that certain calibers almost always come with nickel plated brass cases. I believe that this is because there is a chemical in tanned leather that reacts to brass and causes it to corrode so that if carried in loops in gun belts it could ruin the ammo. Is this true?

If it is true then how come we never see any of the older "cowboy" type calibers come in nickel plated brass? Or is it that they do and I have just never seen any?

:scrutiny:

[Sport45]

Starline (http://www.starlinebrass.com/nickel.php?osCsid=3a9efc93cde947d165dfe463aa6006b0) sells nickel plated brass in most all handgun flavors. I've picked up nickel .45 Colt at the range as well, but not very often. I don't recall offhand what the headstamp was.

[Oro]

I believe that this is because there is a chemical in tanned leather that reacts to brass and causes it to corrode so that if carried in loops in gun belts it could ruin the ammo. Is this true?

Yes, true, brass will start to corrode faster than nickel in leather loops. But this is true of most all situations - nickel is less reactive, period.

how come we never see any of the older "cowboy" type calibers come in nickel plated brass?

Because it wasn't used then, and "cowboy" ammo isn't carried in leather loops THAT much. It also takes a long time in the leather to start the corrosion, so you have to be out in lots of weather and leave the cartridges in them for a lengthy period.

I have a 1/2 dozen reloaded .44 special in a leather loop carrier that have been in there for almost two years. No corrosion, real corrosion, just some dulling. If I carried it a lot in the rain or damp, I'd need to be more careful. So it isn't THAT big a deal.

[SaxonPig]

38 Super ammo uswed to come in nickel to separate it from 38 ACP which was in brass. The Super is the same size but loaded much hotter than safe for the old ACP guns.

Then a few years ago the nickel cases were gone and they were in brass. I clocked some factory super ammo and found they had down-loaded it to 38 ACP levels making the nickel as a safety feature unnecessary.