Annealing nickel plated handgun cases?

Charlie

Charlie

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I have a bunch of nickel plated 45 Colt cases I got from an estate. I loaded up some of my regular Cowboy loads in them, tried them yesterday, and had several split cases. I think the cases had been ridden hard and put up wet. Would annealing the cases help prevent more splits? Does annealing work with nickel plated cases?
 
Should work, give it a try.

Edit: but you won’t get the oxidation color change, so best to use a method that measures the temp and time.
 
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I reloaded the batch of cases after I annealed them and shot them today. I had no splits in 35 cases. I had previously had 3 split cases in 38 rounds of that batch of cases. I suppose annealing may have made a difference. It is hard to tell.
 
I've always heard that reloading nickel cases was difficult becuase of a brittleness factor. I've still kept all of my once fired nickel 9mm cases in hopes of giving them at least a second load, but I've held off until I could research further. When I've asked this question elsewhere the guys always said that if you have brass to why mess with what works...
Sure seems like the brittle thing bit @Charlie before he annealed. I don't have proper annealing equip. and a torch seems a little imprecise when the cases won't change color like brass will.
I've also heard that the chrome might flake off in the dies and score them.
Thoughts ?
 
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I have always preferred brass cases because of splitting and flaking I have encountered with quite a few 357 Magnum nickel plated cases. I think I will put these plated 45 Colt cases on the back shelf and just use the brass cases I have. I think some of these cases have been loaded so many times the plating is almost worn down to the brass. Even if the brass is no good, I got a good deal on 800 usable lead bullets
 
Timfoilhat said:
I've always heard that reloading nickel cases was difficult becuase of a brittleness factor. I've still kept all of my once fired nickel 9mm cases in hopes of giving them at least a second load, but I've held off until I could research further. When I've asked this question elsewhere the guys always said that if you have brass to why mess with what works...
Sure seems like the brittle thing bit @Charlie before he annealed. I don't have proper annealing equip. and a torch seems a little imprecise when the cases won't change color like brass will.
I've also heard that the chrome might flake off in the dies and score them.
Thoughts ?
Click to expand...
I have many nickel cases that are pretty much worn down to the brass. I don’t find the cases to be any more subject to splitting than brass. I have had the nickel flake off of some, mostly with higher pressure loads, but not a lot and the stuff is soft enough that it doesn’t hurt anything.
 
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