40 S&W Case Failure

[yukondave]

I have been reloading 40S&W with a Dillion 650. I am using a SIG 229 40S&W. I am reloading SPEER Nickel Plated Cases.

Load Data

Wolf Small Pistol Primer

3.5gr Titegroup

180gr Montana Gold FMJ

1.135 OAL

Nice shooting round but after running 500 rounds of Brass 4 times, I got 6 rounds that are showing case failure. Any ideas why the cases are starting to fail?

[Cy Soto]

In my experience (though somewhat limited) nickel plated cases tend to be significantly more prone to cracks than non-nickle plated.

[hockeyfighter25]

I've found the same thing almost every time I find a cracked piece of brass it is nickel plated

[dillon]

Not unusual at all. Nickle-plated cases tend to be more brittle, have a shorter case life. Just sort them out before you waste components reloading them.

[Heckler]

Load Data

Wolf Small Pistol Primer

3.5gr Titegroup

180gr Montana Gold FMJ

1.135 OAL

Little off topic, but what kind of velocities are you getting from that load? Just my own curiosity here. Thanks.

[calishootr]

nickle while looks great, is brittle and more prone to get work-hardened faster and cases coming up with cracks sooner than with regular brass cases

I tried making some .256 win mag cases out of some .357 mag cases that were nickle, and i cracked 1 out of every 20 or so just running em thru the forming dies....

[Paul Burtchell]

I have had the same experience through the years in that nickel plated brass is much more "brittle" and will not take as many reloads prior to splitting than plain brass.

I use nickel plated brass to load my "dummy" rounds for dryfire practice. Just another way to make them look different than my loaded ammo.

BTW I use a very similar load for 40 minor: Great load:

180 Montana Gold CMJ's

3.5 Grains of Titegroup

Winchester Brass

Federal Small Pistol Primers

1.130 OAL

0.418 Crimp

Edited December 9, 2009 by baerburtchell

[marmax]

Nickle cases do have a shorter life and are more brittle. Speer cases in general have a shorter life as well because they load them a little hotter than most. Just my observations.

[NickJ]

Back in prehistory we used to nickel plate motorcycle frames. They looked trick as anything, but cracked. What we found was that the nickel plating was cracking, then cracking the metal it was attached to. I suspect that this is the same issue with nickel plated cases. Whatever the reason, their life span is much shorter than brass only cases.