Nickel cases?

[Zogman]

Easy to reload, similar to brass??? Anyone have experience???

[Enslow]

Never tried to reload them but they should be same.

[Zogman]

​Thanks! BUMP.

[Enslow]

I did a little reading and sounds like the nickel coating hardens faster resulting in possible cracked cases earlier then normal. So they will work fine until they crack like all brass.

[SDMF]

I’d use them if I had them and had to. They work-harden faster than regular brass. Additionally, if the nickel flakes off it can end up falling Feed rails and bolt-lug races/recesses.

[PrairieGhost]

Nickel when it flakes can scratch up your reloading dies. I had some scratches on my dies and the guy at RCBD asked if I reloaded any nickel cases.

[Mr. Stevenson]

Is there some alchemy which removes the nickel?

[1lessdog]

I have loaded 1000's of rounds of Nickle brass and have never had any flack off or had many crack. One thing I have found out is they do not Fireform as good as Brass.

[Allen]

I have reloaded several hundred nickel plated cases in 7 mm Rem Mag and 25-06. No issues with flaking of the nickel, and I probably got a solid 3 reloads out of the cases on average before the necks started to crack. Which is maybe a single reload or so less than I see out of the solid brass cases.

Because of the nickel's hardness compared to brass, I would always throw out any deeply scratched cases to protect the rifle chamber and the dies.