nickel or brass

[glock40sw23]

38 spl. and 357 mag. , are all silver cases nickel? how do you tell? does it make any difference when reloading?

 

[bullseye308]

38 spl. and 357 mag. , are all silver cases nickel? how do you tell? does it make any difference when reloading?

All silver cases should be nickel. Any case that is not brass should be nickel plated. As for reloading, the nickel will flake off eventually and cause problems, but you may split some before that happens. The nickel doesn't seem to last as long as the brass. The nickel was originally done to keep the chemicals in the leather from eating the brass. It was for corrosion resistance and worked well for that.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

You should get the same results with Nickel plated brass and with yellow brass. I use only yellow brass for my .38 Special ammo and only Nickel for my .357 Magnum ammo. One reason, it seems my .357 Magnum brass gets a little dirtier than my .38 Special brass and the Nickel cases clean up easier.

 

[Randy1911]

There are some silver cases that are aluminum. The have Bereden primers and are not reloadable, i.e. CCI Blazer. If they have two flash h9les in the bottom of the inside of the case, throw them away. My range is covered with them.

 

[RustyFN]

Nickel cases will be shiny and aluminum will be dull. The nickel will load the same as brass, you just won't get as many loadings out of each case.

 

[jcwit]

I have had the Nickle flake off the case and gaul into the inside if a steel die. This creats scratches in the brass cases of future resizing cases. This can be easily polished out with fine wet ir dry paper as is used in auto pody shops, just creats a bother.

Have not had this problem with carbide dies. I just stick to the brass cases.

Remember this is a scratch into the case meaning a buildup in the die and can be polished out of the die. It is not a scratch in the die.

 

[PO2Hammer]

For revolvers I prefer plain brass to handle flaring and crimping.

For autos I like nickel cases, easier to find after firing and they stay in better shape if they spend the winter in the snow. They are also slicker for feed reliability.

 

[glock40sw23]

thanks to everyone for the info. joe

 

[Steve Marshall]

I keep hearing rumors that nickel plating flakes off but have never seen it. I have many 38 cases where the nickel is wearing out. It does seem to get mouth splits quicker than brass. Here is one thing though that most never talk about: when you have to load 1,000 cases by next Thursday, nickel cases size MUCH easier due to the lesser co-efficient of friction.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

as mentioned brass lasts longer than nickled. I use brass for 'practice' rounds loaded with cast slugs- these I'll reload many times.
nickled I load 'hot' rounds with premium slugs in for sd rounds. some of these may get loaded 4-5 times but after that 5th loading into the 'practice' brass it goes.

 

[evan price]

Steve, I've got nickle cases where the nickle plating flakes off, especially in the area where the crimp is applied (all the rolling and stretching, doncha know). Once I notice that I scrap the cases because they will just flake worse. I'm blessed with abundance of .38spl cases though, so this happens rarely. I will say that nickle R-P cases tend to split a lot quicker than anything else does.

 

[jcwit]

I keep hearing rumors that nickel plating flakes off but have never seen it.

I've only seen or had it on steel dies, not carbide dies.

 

[Walkalong]

It is much less prevalent these days. It shows up sometimes in brass that has been heavily worked a few times. (Heavy roll crimps) Just something to keep an eye out for. We should be inspecting our cases well anyway, right? Tumbling will knock off any tiny problems.

I have a batch of nickle .357 brass I picked up at the range. I have been using it for testing loads. Some of it is starting to look like regular brass from the nickle wearing off in the tumbler, but no flaking.

To answer the question. No, it makes no difference in loading.