Brass vs. Nickel Cases

[swampratt]

Nickel cases will not tarnish like brass.
I suppose if you hunt in extreme conditions it could be of a benefit but brass will last decades in my hands before it pin holes through from the elements if it ever does.
I do not hunt in extreme enough conditions.

I have annealed rifle cases that are nickel plated.
They do NOT change colors like brass so either use tempilaq or Sharpie brand marker or the finger method.
9-13 seconds in the flame is usually plenty depending on what size case.

I would load and shoot them and if accuracy was poor and you felt uneven seating pressures during the seating of the bullets then I would explore annealing them.

During my recent brass fail test necksizing a .308 case I noticed uneven seating forces. I was not annealing.
I was brushing the necks with a bore brush before and after sizing the case.
I decided only brush before sizing and leave a little bit of roughness and this let the bullets seat more even with a bit more force to seat them.

Just pay attention when seating bullets and go slow and steady when seating not jerking the press handle quickly in other words.

Not like anyone does that.

 

[sleepyj]

I like to load my 38 with nickel cases and 357 with brass makes it easy to sort. Also nickel seems to eject better with the shorter ejector rods on my 38s.

 

[Broncos]

Nickel cases load as easily as brass I have not noticed a large change in targets or accuracy at the range

 

[turkeyrun]

I don’t wanna detail this thread completely, but I am curious: why do manufacturers use nickel cases?

Nickel doesn't corrode in leather belt loops, like brass does.

Originally, used as LE loads

 

[358norma]

I use nickel to separate loads, like others, 38spl are brass, 357 nickel. In rifle, I use to separate loads, brass with one bullet, nickel with a different bullet. One point, nickel cases don’t have the capacity of brass, the nickel coating is taking up some of the room, so I do work those loads up separately. I don’t worry about capacity loading lite plinking ammo in say my 45acp, but I do in my rifle stuff where I am pushing a little harder toward the top, and trying to squeeze all the accuracy out of it.