I have never messed with them or tried to reload them but a coworker of mine has around 100 nickel cases that he has accumulated from his hunting club range. They are all Federal brass from their hunting line of ammo still in the original boxes and plastic sleeves. Can these cases be reloaded or should he just toss them?
- Thread starter Maelstrom
- Start date
Load them up just like any other. They feel a little slicker in the hand, but will load up fine.I like them if i want to easily distinguish one load from another. Say brass with 180 partition and nickel with a 150. This way if they get mixed up, the can easily be sorted.
Depends. The nickel coating can crack and begin to flake...that stuff will severely scratch your dies. Be careful. I use the nickel pistol brass, but only load the rifle brass for hunting.
Like FNP said. keep an eye on the nickel cases. Especially around the case mouths. If the plating starts to split and / or flake off, separate it. It seems they are more prone to splits and cracks after having been trimmed and the bare brass exposed under the nickel.
Thanks guys for the info. I will probably be the one doing the reloading for him at first. He is still collecting components and equipment. I may suggest to him that they be used only for hunting rounds to keep them easier to identify like roggom does. Is the coating strong enough be annealed and tumbled with stainless steel media or will it flake off to easily?
I have both annealed and tumbled in walnut, but mine is Hornady match brass (from TAP ammo). It has not flaked, but wears a little. Just throw a few in with your other brass and see how they fair. Sounds like they are once fired, so should have some life in them.
They are all once fired. After everyone got done sighting in before hunting season last year he went behind them and collected all the brass then grabbed empty boxes to put it in. He wants to reload these for this year and collect more cases if he can.
As I related before...I've had .270 Win and 7mm Rem. brass flake and scratch before I realized the condition. I have one batch of .357 Plated cases that have in excess of 12 reloads with no signs of peeling. Another batch of .45 Colt cases is peeling after the 2nd reload. The pistol won't scratch my dies because I use carbide insert dies. I'm afraid that the peeling of the rifle dies might scratch my dies and my chamber. Just inspect them carefully.
Hi O Silver away
