nickel vs. brass for reloading

[wfobase]

new to pistol reloading. just picked up some new ammo with nickel cases.

always heard brass is the best, but does it really matter ? i mean those cases are brass, with nickle plating.

so do you load them more, less, they're more prone to crack, don't have to worry about cleaning them ... ?

all the reloads i've ever seen or bought, all had brass cases.

thanks

[ar15barrels]

Nickel plated cases take a little more force to size.
Other than that, no problems.
Treat them jut like plain brass cases.

[Beelzy]

Nickel cases look cooler but don't last quite as long as brass cases do.

[Ugly Dwarf]

I've heard they don't last as long, but I bought a few thousand rounds of nickel 9mm back in the early 90's before I started reloading. I've since reloaded them many times and haven't had any problems with case life.

My problem is loosing brass in the weeds. Nickel seems to be easier to spot.

Have fun.

[ilbob]

I have not noticed any difference. I don't sort them.

Some people claim the nickel plating makes the case harder to size, or more prone to splits, or puts more wear on the dies. I can't tell you with any certainty if that is the case or not.

[30Cal]

I've seen them split sooner at the neck (bottle necked rifle specifically).

I use them for hunting where I don't want them to get corroded or whatever, but not for general purpose.

[gunboat]

great for black powder!

[Southpaw45]

I reload a lot of 45 Colt for Cowboy Action Shooting and I have lots of brass thats nickel plated. I think they split just as much as regular brass cases do. I get one to three split cases a month and if seems to be 50/50 with brass and nickel. I got some nickel cases that were loaded so many times, that the nickel plating is almost totaly gone and they keep on going. If I was to buy more new brass though, it would be regular brass just because of the cheaper cost...

[wfobase]

how many times can you load the brass ?

under normal regular loads ?

[jwest]

You should get at least 4 to 8 reloads - but, depends on the brass, etc. Lyman's 49th Edition discusses this in detail.

[maxicon]

I've had the plating start to flake on nickel cases (.38 spl +P Remington factory loads), leaving little shiny bits around.

I've never seen that with other nickel ammo, and I've shot thousands of rounds of Gold Dot .380 and 9mm with nickel cases, so it may have been a marginal batch on that ammo.

[Full Clip]

May sound odd, but I'm using nickel cases for my Barnes bullet hunting loads in .223, 30-06 and .303.

[new cal shooter]

If your shooting 38 SPL Wad cutters at about 700-750 FPS they will last you a Long long time, 8-12 or more.