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skibik
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 5 January 2008 |
| Location: | Badger, Minnesota USA |
| Posts: | 23 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | none |
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Posted: 13 October 2008 11:36 PM |
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Since everyone has been so helpfull with the last couple questions that I have posted, latest was questions about the 454 Casull and the .45 Colt, I thought I would post another. As noted before I only have about 7 to 8 months experience loading rifle cartridges and no experience with handgun. I don't think I will have any problems. My question has to do with the case itself. I placed an order for 500 rounds of ammunition (.45 Colt) from Georgia Arms and it just arrive today. I opened the ammo can it come in and it happens to nickel plated ammo. Since this company is similar to Black Hills and they remanufacture this ammo I would gather it is reloadable. Now for my question, is there any advantages to a Nickel plated case a over brass case? I was wondering about the case life compared to brass.
Thanks,
Dean Skibicki.
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hivoltfl
HB Life Member
| Joined: | 10 January 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 128 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 14 October 2008 12:41 AM |
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I load both, I have never had any problems, it does seem to me that the nickel cases are a little more brittle but they make a good looking loaded round>
good luck with them the 45LC is a fun round.
Rick
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Dirtkicker
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 3 September 2007 |
| Location: | High Plains |
| Posts: | 350 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 14 October 2008 02:20 AM |
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| In my experience the nickel cases are definitely more "crisp" than brass. You will probably, over time, experience a far larger proportion of split cases. The main advantage to nickel cases is their resistance to verdigris when carried in a leather cartridge belt.
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SCSlim
HB Life Member
| Joined: | 2 May 2008 |
| Location: | Boise, Idaho USA |
| Posts: | 257 |
| Photo: | [Download] | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 18 October 2008 07:49 PM |
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My experience with nickel-plated brass is that it tends to crack sooner than "normal" yellow brass does. I generally avoid them, although I do have a few hundred rounds in various calibers that I've loaded or reloaded that I shoot now and then. They just don't seem to like being fired and re-sized all that much. I've especially noticed that in .38 Special, not +P, but standard loadings. They tend to develop full-length cracks without warning, making for sticky extraction. I've also seen the nickel plating peel off after a couple of reloading cycles, like the skin of an onion - an interesting effect.
They used to make metallic cartridges out of copper. I found some such (a Henry rimfire and a pile of .38-55's) way out in the boonies where Oregon Trail emigrants probably rode out to hunt back in those days). Those old cartridges were, of course, filled with black powder and held to much lower pressures than modern ammunition, and (at least with the rimfires) the cases were not likely to be reloaded.
Brass is a pretty unique alloy - ideally suited to use in cartridge cases. It tends toward work-hardening, but that can easily be remedied to a large extent by annealing. I'm pretty much sold on it in its current form. Nickel plating makes a good looking round, a number of manufacturers use it (Hornady, Speer, etc.) for their defensive handgun loads, and it doesn't seem to discolor over time like yellow brass does, but I'm just not a fan when it comes to reloading it.
Last edited on 18 October 2008 07:52 PM by SCSlim
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skibik
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 5 January 2008 |
| Location: | Badger, Minnesota USA |
| Posts: | 23 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | none |
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Posted: 19 October 2008 01:01 AM |
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Just shot up a few rounds of the nickel plated ammo. Since my dies come in yesterday I decided to try my hand at reloading the Colt round. I ran a short batch of reloads and headed to the pits to fire some of those nickel plated rounds that I purchased and those reloads. After returning home I decided to try and reload those nickel plated ones I had shot up. First thing I noticed is that they are harder than brass. They are harder to resize, trim and deburr, but the rest of the reloading seems the same. I just hope I get some life out of those cases as I really didn't want to buy brass. Thanks for the help and happy shooting everyone.
Dean.
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