A good number of years ago I lived in Western Colorado with square miles to shoot in without danger of hitting any thing that I shouldn't.
At the time, I had an original (first production) Dan Wesson .357 revolver. After sending it back to the factory for a new cylinder, I decided to see how many times I could reload nickle plated Winchester cases.
Armed with a box of fifty cases, a can of 2400, and CCI primers, I proceeded to load them thirteen times with full charge loads. I don't remember the bullet brand, but I do remember they were 158gr.
I lost one case in the resizing process by not inserting it into the shellholder completely. The other 49 lasted throughout the loading.
Did not have any problems with cracking, flaking, or splitting. The only reason I quit after 13 loadings is because I just got tired of loading the same cases..
I resized them only enough to grasp the bullet firmly, and still enter the chambers freely. Mild -to-medium crimp....
That's good info. I use my nickel cases for belt carry only and don't overuse them. I have about 50,000 brass .38/.357s so have no need to overextend the nickels. Your experiment is good to know about. Thanks for sharing.
