Fire forming nickel brass

[conrad427]

I dont buy very much factory ammo and dont keep up with what is available.

A trip to the store yielded some Federal Premium .25-06 with the 117 Game King. They were the cheapest rounds they had so I bought a couple of boxes to sacrifice for my 25-06 Ackley project.

Got them home and the derned things are nickle plated.

Does the nickel stuff fire form like non nickle brass? Any problems with it? I doubt I could take it back, so I guess I will run it through my improved chamber anyway. Just thought I would ask.

 

[ants]

For fire forming, sure. I don't like necking it down, but fireforming larger worked fine for me.

Lots of guys say nickel plated brass cracks and splits sooner, I don't happen to experience that.

But no matter, you didn't make a bad purchase. It works just fine when I fire form in my chambers.

 

[conrad427]

Thanks a lot Ants. I have used some nickle .223 brass before, it always seemed a little sticky in the die and harder to chamfer. Thats why I was worried.

I have 25 loads ready to try. 57 grains of R-19 in Hornady cases with a B tip. Been too busy farming to work with my new rifle!

 

[conrad427]

Another quick question.

I have a FL Redding set that my gunsmith gave me with the gun he built.

Would it be worth my time to get a neck die or just set the FL die to size the neck a bit?

 

[SmokingFrye]

I have fire formed nickel plated brass for my 6 mm Ackley without issue. As for the die set, you could go either way. I usually FL size mine, but there is little that occurs in this process with Ackley rounds. Because PO Ackley took the taper out of the case body and the shoulders at 40 degrees, brass flows minimally, reducing and change in shape during firing. You probably will do minimal trimming as well because of this. That'd be a sweet cartridge when you're done!

 

[cfullgraf]

Once in a blue moon, I form 6.5x54 Kurz Mauser cases. At one time, I used some Federal nickel 308 Win for the parent case.

The cases formed fine except case life was shorter than when using brass cases.

But, the neck of the 6.5x54 gets down into the body of the 308 Win so it is what I would call a somewhat extreme re-forming.

For a long time, I used the full length sizing die for forming the cases. I finally bought a forming die for the cases and it is a bit easier on case.

 

[Slamfire]

I fireform all my new cases by lubricating them with grease, oil, etc, and fire them that way. This is a practice that a Bench rest National Champ recommends. I don't have his book, but bench rest shooters spend a lot of time and effort trying to get a few perfect cases. The lube prevents the case from adhering to the chamber, it slides to the bolt face and the shoulders fold out. This prevents sidewall stretch which will cause case head separation. It also results in a case perfectly formed to the chamber without any case stresses.

I have done this with 500 nickle plated 308 Win cases. I have shot these cases at 600 yard mid range matches and 1000 yard matches. I have shot a number high master scores with these nickle plated cases at 600 yards, one a 199. I am a terrible wind reader so my 1000 yard scores are not that good.

 

[ants]

A trick for neck sizing is using your full length die and backing it off a turn or two or three (whatever seems to work best).
It sizes the neck but the shoulder and body don't reach far enough into the die for contact.
That's the original 'neck sizer' before they invented Neck Sizing Dies.

 

[Patocazador]

I got more split necks when fire-forming .257 AI and 7x57 AI with nickeled brass. I still did it but checked them thoroughly before using them for hunting loads.