1st time loading nickel cases. ?'s

No . no difference, They are still brass just nickel plated. I give all cases a little spritz of lube. Makes sizing easier. I use Starline Nickel for 10 mm,

New Starline is gonna be a little tighter which is good.

MFInc said:

Does nickel have any tendencies that brass doesn't when sizing, belling, seating?

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Yes. Nickel plated brass tends to flake (sending very hard nickel flakes down the bore), and the cracks in the plating act as stress risers that may lead to case mouth splitting slightly earlier than bare brass cases. The effect is small, so you'll probably never notice.

On the other hand it doesn't corrode nearly as fast, and it's shinier. No change in reloading practices are indicated.

IF you have a carbide sizing die, you won't need to lube them at all, just be sure theyr'e visibly clean.. I LOVE nickled pistol-caliber cases!!!!

I put the nickle ones in a different box until I get 50 or 100 then load them with hollow points, just like my fancy carry ammo. It's more fun and thats about the only difference

When carrying your Sunday best BBQ gun, nickle cases are a must. Anything else is like wearing a suit without tie.

Nickel is slicker and splits before regular brass does IME.

One step I do with new nickel brass is to inside chamfer the case neck. I did not do it on some new 300 Savage brass and scarred up the bullet jacket. Figured this might make them less accurate so I now inside chamfer them.

You don't need to do anything different with nickel cases than you do with brass cases. I personally think nickel is harder and fails a little sooner than brass but we're talking 8 or 9 or more loadings. Load it up and shoot them.

If your range has white gravel, they are invisible when they hit the ground.

eventually the nickle plate may flake off.

and they seem a little more brittle

I lube all my Nickle brass so it doesn't "pickup" (galling) in my carbide resizing die. Once die starts galling with Nickle fouling it's a bear to get out of there so the dies quit scratching the cases.
A simple shot of One Shot, or other lube stops this from ever happening. It's just an easy precaution that doesn't hurt anything.
If you don't load Nickle very often you will probably never have a resizer foul out with Nickle.
I load my share of them and I'm not into replacing perfectly good dies.

jeffreybehr said:

If you have a carbide sizing die, you won't need to lube them at all...

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I was going to say, that is not my experience. Lube (either by lube pad or spray) seems to keep the nickel from coming off in flakes.... which can hurt a carbide die. Thus, lube with nickel plating, at least IMHO, is a requirement even if you chose not to lube with plain brass.
.

I use Nickle 38 special brass for my Model 52 Wad Cutter loads. No special treatment, other than tumble clean/polish after shooting, if used in carbide dies
I’ve loaded this batch of 1000 perhaps 20 times or more. Split case mouths are the only limitation on use and attrition is slowly wearing down the lot.

However, and this isn’t my experience, a buddy and some here have reported scratched dies from nickel brass and won’t use them.