[Queen_of_Thunder]

Do you do anything different with nickel plated brass vs. yellow brass during the reloading process.

[JC98]

In a word...no. Load them just like you would brass.

[klcmschlesinger]

Load 'em up, and boy ain't they purty??!!
:p

[mdemetz]

You might want to clean out your sizer die after doing Nickel, as sometimes bits can flake off and scratch brass done after.

[Queen_of_Thunder]

Great. Thanks. I hope to be reloading by months end.

[Jesse Heywood]

As stated, nickel plate loads the same. The difference comes with the beating it takes during loading and firing, because of the potential for cracking of the plating.

Each time the case is worked cracks develop in the case mouth. Most are invisible to the naked eye, and are not a concern. This happens when the case is trimmed, sized and expanded. So keep these at a minimum, especially belling the case mouth.

The real enemy is high load pressure, especially in magnum and +P loads. I perform a check under a magnifier on my nickel .357 mag cases (my eyes aren't as good as the used to be). If I see cracks I either trim to 38 spl length or scrap them.

[gamestalker]

I really like nickel, especially for my carry rounds.

GS

[BYJO4]

They reload the same but wont last as long. Plus as mentioned above, as nickel brass gets older, it can leave small deposits in your sizer that will scratch up other brass. Watch for this and clean out the die if it happens.

[Reefinmike]

also note that nickel plated brass is a good bit more brittle than yellow brass so it tends to crack much faster. out of the 20,000 or so reloads ive done this year, I have never had a piece of yellow brass crack on me but I have about 50 pieces of nickel 45, 380, 38 and 357 in the scrap bin. that being said, I inspect nickel much more closely before reloading.

[blarby]

Great stuff for sorting out SD loads from the normal lot.

Also great for leather loops and long term storage in contact with porous materials- resists staining quite well.

[beatledog7]

Nickel-plate and Winchester Silvertips make some very pretty rounds. I just can't make myself shoot 'em.

[marksg]

Nickel-plate and Winchester Silvertips make some very pretty rounds.

"HI HO SILVER"

I just couldn't resist:D

[cfullgraf]

I treat nickel plated and un-plated cases the same, even load them in the same batch. I find nickel plated cases have a slightly shorter life than un-plated but no hard fast data to support that.

While not an issue with carbide dies, nickel plated cases are harder on steel sizing dies and need good lubrication. Most hand gun resizing dies are carbide these days unlike when I started reloading decades ago, but rifle dies are still steel and there are a few nickel plated rifle cases out there.

[ArchAngelCD]

I like Nickel cases better for .357 Magnum ammo because they don't stain as much and clean up faster than yellow brass. I use yellow brass for .38 Special ammo.