Plated rifle brass

[David Sinko]

Is there any advantage to bottlenecked rifle brass that has been plated? Specifically, I have once fired nickel plated Lake City 5.56 and Hornady .223 that is covered with their black coating, the name of which escapes me at the moment. I want to load this stuff pretty hot and I am wondering if either of these platings will be helpful or harmful. Are the platings supposed to facilitate feeding or extraction or both or neither? What exactly is the purpose? When run hot, will either of these have a tendency to stick to the chamber? I'll be shooting these in my DPMS carbine which I believe does not have a chromed chamber.

Dave Sinko

[RePete]

Stay away from nickle plated brass for reloading, as it will eventually flake and bugger up the dies and possibly the chamber.

[ricciardelli]

The plating basically makes them look pretty.

As for staying away from it, I have been shooting the same plated .38 Super and .357 Magnum brass since the 1960's, and have never had a problem...just look at it before you run it through the dies. If the plating is not "looking right", toss it out.

[anachronism]

Plated brass is more than pretty. The plating makes the surface of the case slicker & harder. The is makes the cases just a wee bit more reliable in feeding/chambering. Most of the premium rifle & handgun ammo makes use plated cases for just that reason. And because it makes their ammo prettier. But! the plating can flake off the cases if they're reloaded, and these flakes can scratch chambers, and reloading dies, as mentioned earlier. I keep all my plated brass separate from my regular cases. I sell the plated stuff at gunshows, and keep the regular brass for myself.