plated brass longevity

[irnsite]

Some disparaging remarks have been made concerning plated brass. My experience is as follows. After an average of 7 reloading I found no flaking, very limited case length trimming required, in fact the only reason for tossing brass has been enlarged primer pockets after 6 reloads. These are Remington .308.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Biggest issue with plated is cracks due to hydrogen embrittlement. They occur at the case mouth. I usually keep them separated for inspection, but they can be mixed with unplated. They do clean and polish nice.

 

[gamestalker]

I actually load quite a bit of nickel plated brass, and I find it last about as long as my yellow brass. A good example is 7mm RM, I average about 10 - 12 loads with either, no real difference in longevity.

GS

 

[243winxb]

357 mag brass vs nickel

I am having an extraction problem with 357 mag nickel brass thats been fired many times, same load till now. The orginal loading was 2400-13grs. 164gr cast lswc, mag primer. Load reduced to 12 gr & nickel still sticks. Comparing fired Rem. brass vs nickel, shows less spring back of the nickel. The fired brass case is smaller by .001" to .0015" and extracts normally. Being a straight walled cartridge, very little spring back seems to be the problem?? Chambers have been cleaned. Case length checked. Web measured. Loaded rounds of both nickel & brass measure the same diameters before firing. Had some other Rem. where the nickel plating peeled/flaked off.