Nickel vs Brass whats the difference?

If you have ever carried a sidearm for work, and especially with autoloaders, the nickle resists tarnishing much better than brass. With a semi-auto, I had to load (round in chamber) when arriving, and then unload at the end of shift.
If you look at available factory performance/duty/hollowpoint ammo, you will notice almost all are nickeled brass.
 
I don't have any problems reloading nickel plated brass. In fact it makes some nice looking loads when matched with Montana Gold HP's. Yes the nickel plating makes the case mouth a little more brittle causing it to crack/split sooner but I lose most of my 9mm brass anyway.
 
I never figure it out, not worth messing with (9mm reloading is fiddly enough)

On the other hand, I full agree that Nickle cases are by far the best for the carry loads.

I don't created enough to muck with, I don't find that many, so not an issue. I have about 1000 I have only cleaned so I am lifetime (for me) practice rounds.
 
Unless the process has changed, you will find nickel plated brass harder.
It's not the nickel plating, it's electro-chemical hardening of the brass.
This is about ZERO issue with pistol brass, but it might be an issue for hyper accurate rifles where you want absloute consistent results.

Keep in mind, 'Nickel Plate' ISN'T!
It's nickel-chromium and harder than your chamber or brass.
Since it's harder than the brass, it flakes off as the brass expands, contacts & is resized.
Since chromium is harder than most chambers (harder than all common barrels/chambers) it very well CAN imprint in your chamber, and even your dies. (Like the guys told you)

Nickel-Chromium IS hard enough to scratch/imprint the necks of chambers, and the necks of sizing dies.

I reload plated & coated brass, but I won't use my best dies, and I won't shoot it through my best rifles.
A .02 cent piece of brass isn't worth scratching up high dollar competition dies or match/bench chambers.
If they sneak into pistol ammo, I don't care since chamber pressure in most popular handguns won't cause issues even with flaking plating.
It *Might* scratch a pistol die, but I don't own high dollar pistol dies, and considering the circular size of most pistol chambers, I just don't get excited about it...
 
One advantage of the nickel plated brass is its natural lubricity. That's why I prefer to use nickel brass in my semi auto pistols.
 
Nickel brass has the advantage of -
- not tarnishing over time like brass
- easy way of differentiating load types
- tumble cleans much quicker/easier than brass
- goes thru sizing dies with less effort than brass

The only disadvantage(to me) is that they cost more than brass. I've seen no difference in case life with the same loads, nor have I ever damaged a die from running nickel cases thru them. This assumes using carbide dies; not the older carbon steel ones.
 
I've seen all kinds of plating jobs on cases. Some just gradually wore away and caused no problems, while others flaked badly and embedded in my old Lyman .45 Auto carbide die so it scratched every case that went through it with the same exact scratch pattern.

Nickel plating that is bright rather than dull has sulfur in it that makes it less ductile, and I've always suspected that was responsible for the flaking, where it occurred. Chromium is common in protective nickel coatings, as mentioned, with as little as 2% in some, depending on the expected duty. I asked Starline what their coating composition was, but they didn't know. They just send the stuff out to be plated and so apparently they use what the plater recommends. There doesn't seem to be a single industry standard for this.
 
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