Nickel plated .38 brass

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Encoreman

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Hi all,a friend and I were discussing .38 nickel brass I told him I preferred yellow brass, but would load nickel, but I don't think it lasts as long. Any comments or tests anyone has performed. These are just target loads no hot stuff. One reason I ask is most of the reloaders I know prefer yellow brass. Thanks Mac
 
It's shiny. And we all know, that shiny ammunition shoots better than non shiny ammunition. ;)

Nickel plated brass shoots as well as plain brass, I have some nickel 38 Special cases that I have reloaded so many times they are brown colored.

This might be of interest as it contains test data about the lifetime of nickel plated cases

Cartridge Case Longevity
 
Funny I saw this post; I culled this badly cracked R-P case from a batch of about 200 I resized last night. It didn’t feel right when the ram pushed the case into the resizing die… easy now to see why.

C18C0610-9B43-4EC5-885E-DD03A27B53E3.jpeg

I think this one only went three reloads before giving up the ghost. I didn’t see any sign of failure on the case when I initially picked it up and put it in the vibrating cleaner but I’m sure it failed like this during firing and not just during resizing.

AJC1 said:
I am currently testing a batch of 99 federal nickel 357 cases. They are on the 6th reload and get a much stronger roll crimp than I would ever use on 38. How many loads does it take before you feel you got your moneys worth.
Click to expand...
I’m happy with ten reloads for revolver cases. I try not to hot rod my loads so I don’t think I am pushing the limit with ten.
I do have several nickel plated cases that are practically yellow, they’ve probably been loaded, fire, tumbled, processed and loaded again at least 15 times by now. Primer pockets are still ok and no obvious signs of cracking.

I also think the nickel cases are more brittle, but I like them for wadcutter loads so I know by sight what round I am loading. :)

Stay safe.
 
Encoreman said:
Any comments or tests anyone has performed.
Click to expand...
It seems to me like nickel plated brass is a little easier to spot in the grass. No difference at all in the snow of course.;)
Sometimes when we're out shooting, after I eject the empties from my revolver(s), I fling them over my shoulder - just for the exercise, and so I can stay in practice for spotting cases flung from my auto-chuckers.:p
Seriously, I think nickel plated brass case mouths split a little sooner than non-plated brass cases. But I really have no way of knowing that for sure because I just don't keep track of how many times my handgun cases have been loaded. I load them till they split.:)
 
Most of my Ni brass is 40+ years old and still going strong. Some has been shot so many times the nickle has worn off and the head stamp is hard to read. I think that mfg have cut corners so much ,that they are only concern is it holding up for 1 firing. If it does that it's done it's job. I do know all of my 40+ yr old brass (pistol and rifle) are a lot heavier wall thickness. Back then they ran close to Max spec, today min spec. So I'm going to say its going to be luck of the draw as to which will last longer. It all depends on how much care the mfg gives. I have been seeing brass split and fail on the 1st reload. And even 1st firing on new brass.

Ni is a lot easier to spot on the ground. It is needed if your going to carry in on a Leather Ammo belt.
 
I’ve got some old reloads (357) My Dad did back in the 70’s that are Nickel. I don’t shoot them for sentimental reasons. But there were about 50 pieces of brass I mean nickel cases in the box too. Most are split at the mouth.
 
Something about the nickling process must make the brass more brittle. I'm no MFG process expert, but the brass must be either altered chemically or heated. Some headstamps seem more prone, for some reason older WW Super or Super X (now WIN) and the older Remington RP cases are biggest suspects. I have a hunch that the split cases I do get are from brass thats 30+ years old. Not a whole lot of newly mfg. ammo has nickel brass....It was more common in the days of LE carrying wheel guns with individual cartridges stuck in a leather belt. Leather contact with brass somehow speeds up the tarnishing process, Nickel brass nearly eliminated that problem.

I've noticed some nickel brass fading back to brass from being cleaned and resized 5+ times.

If cases look good id load em without thinking twice. Just listen for the very distinct cliiinking of the cracked ones, if there are any.
 
I have never done a reload count but it “seems” like nickel cases don’t last as long. The thing I like about straight walled handgun cased ammo is the spilt usually happens on the press, not in the gun…most of the time.
I shoot em and reload em ‘til they split. I have no idea how many times I have reloaded some of my brass.
 
Love 38 spec nickel for every day carry. Easy to keep clean. No tarnish.

OLD, well used, 357 mag nickel brass will not spring back after firing magnum loads, hard extraction. I found this out working up loads with IMR 4227. Was firing "brass" of the same brand, vintage, no sticking. A micrometer on the case body told the story.

Brass springs back more than nickel.

Had some Nickel peel off. Hard on steel trimmer cutter head.
 
.308 Norma said:
It seems to me like nickel plated brass is a little easier to spot in the grass. No difference at all in the snow of course.;)
Sometimes when we're out shooting, after I eject the empties from my revolver(s), I fling them over my shoulder - just for the exercise, and so I can stay in practice for spotting cases flung from my auto-chuckers.:p
Seriously, I think nickel plated brass case mouths split a little sooner than non-plated brass cases. But I really have no way of knowing that for sure because I just don't keep track of how many times my handgun cases have been loaded. I load them till they split.:)
Click to expand...
Funny you say that. When everything went crazy I switched from pistols to revolvers because I don't lose my brass that way. At the indoor range I shoot at, about half the brass from the pistols goes forward of the line. 9mm brass? Ehh, who cares. 45ACP . . . wait a second. 10mm? No, this isn't going to work at all.

I don't know why, but I always set aside the nickel cases and collect them in a ziploc. Probably use them for my XTP loads.
 
Gone thru a lot of 38spl & 357 brass over the years. Never bothered with using brass only VS nickel plated. Right now I'm culling out my old 38spl brass working on a 2000 piece batch of 1x nickel plated ww wc brass.

Best 38spl brass cases I've ever used was the old 1x wcc brass that could used to be able to buy up at camp perry. It's thicker then normal commercial brass and had a extremely consistent neck tension.

Most on my 38spl/357 brass never makes it until it splits & when I do get cheep/use the brass too long it usually comes back to bite me in the butt. Culling them when they start to look warn/beat up (because they are) or when it takes little resistance to size or flare the cases ends with them getting tossed in the scrap bucket.

Used to shoot tons of 357's every year and got away from using mostly 357's and started back to 90%+ of the range time with 38spl reloads. Hence the 2000 1x piece lot and culling out the 38spl cases. Well I bought a nib 686 a couple years ago and started working up 38spl & 357 loads for it. The 1x 38spl brass shot bugholes @ 50ft.
vrmI4za.jpg

More then happy with those 38spl/6-shot groups @ 50ft with the new revolver. Started working up 357 loads an kept getting groups like these @ 50ft.
7yITG2Q.jpg

Didn't matter the powder/bullet/load, kept getting fliers. Took a hard look at the 357 brass I was using and ordered 3000 pieces of new starline brass that night. Ended up culling/tossing most of the 357 brass and putting 2000 pieces of the new starline brass into service. Sold the other 1000 pieces several moths ago on this website for what I paid for it (no gouging) trying to help others. Anyway with the new brass the fliers went away.

At the end of the day the real question becomes are you better off using a brass that cracks fast or lasts forever???? The nickel brass cracks fast but holds a more even neck tension thru out it's life. Or use brass cases that last +/- 40 reloadings and put up with fliers.

Look familiar? 25yd 6-shot groups @ 25yds using brass 44mag cases.
Odat3uD.jpg

hyV2PpT.jpg
Yup a whole pile of them with 4 or 5 shots touching and the 1 or 2 fliers.
BAyAIIY.jpg

Needless to say starline go a call for 2000 pieces of new 44mag brass 5 years ago.
 
AJC1 said:
I am currently testing a batch of 99 federal nickel 357 cases. They are on the 6th reload and get a much stronger roll crimp than I would ever use on 38. How many loads does it take before you feel you got your moneys worth.
Click to expand...

I am still loading unplated brass from the late '80s and they are doing well. I don't expect as much from Nickle plated brass as I do from unplated brass.
Most of mine has split.
Has anyone mic'd a Nickle brass that has the Nickle worn off? Is the brass thinner than and unplated case? Does the Nickle plating make up the rest of the total thickness of the case? If so I can see why they split easier.
I will have to dig one out when I get home from work and mic it.
 
Kind of a side note…

I seem to recall Hornady putting out that they were going to discontinue using Nickel plated cases for their SD rounds until supply chains are back up and running during “The Silliness”.

Found it:
https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/critical-defense#!/

Nickel cases are more resistant to tarnish and corrosion. They do have a “plus side”.
 
My unofficial, personal observations are that at least loading 38 SPL ammo and doing this for years. I reload the brass until it splits and that piece goes into the scrap bucket. Looking in my scrap bucket I found 4 brass cases split and 17 plated ones. All the brass were split at the mouth. The plated ones had 5 that were split on the sidewall with the case mouth still good. Will not go out of my way to get plated brass but will not trash it either.
 
Slamfire said:
It's shiny. And we all know, that shiny ammunition shoots better than non shiny ammunition. ;)

Nickel plated brass shoots as well as plain brass, I have some nickel 38 Special cases that I have reloaded so many times they are brown colored.

This might be of interest as it contains test data about the lifetime of nickel plated cases

Cartridge Case Longevity
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing, I had no idea handgun brass could last even close to that long! I'm cycling through my 2nd reloading of .38sp brass at what I'll call "moderate" loadings and I figured it'd start to split around the 6th or 7th reload, but perhaps I'm off by a factor of 5!
 
I started reloading 38 Special in 1969 and much of my brass was scrounged from the local police range which were 90% nickel. I have read of nickel plated brass cracking at necks, peeling and flaking nickle and overall shorter life. None of those happened with any plated brass I reloaded. Same with some 357 Mag. cases I own. Most of the time I didn't count reloadings, but I know weekly shooting for about 7 years produced none of the "problems". I now have some 44 Mag. nickel plated cases I use for my "T-Rex Killer" loads that have 10 reloads, and some 38 Special nidkel plated cases from the late '80s that have been reloaded many, many times, some so many times the nickle has worn off down to the brass. Still reloadable and shootable...

BTW; first couple of years, I used a Lee Loader, and since mainly Lee dies...

Perhaps I'm lucky or the plating on my brass was different (electro-plaring or chemical wash)...
 
Last edited:
DanK3Pos said:
@forrest r
6.0gr of Clays under a 200gr 44 Mag? That must be a comfortably subsonic load.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, that's a excellent load for the 44mag. Hard to find a 200gr to 250gr lead/cast bullet for the 44mag that doesn't like 6.0gr to 6.5gr of clays. Those loads are getting right @ 900fps out of a 6 1/2" bbl'd 629 which is a soft enough load to shoot 1 handed in that heavy revolver. But hits hard enough to use for bowling pins or anything else if need be.
 
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