Can You Anneal Nickel Brass?

[Freebore]

I have a rifle that just shoots really well with Nickel Brass (Fed). Unfortunately after contacting Fed they do not sell just the brass in 7mm-08, they have their Premium at 54 bucks a box which has Nickel plated brass though. Norma, W-W, Rem don't perform half as good.

The only cases I have are showing cracking in the necks of some cases. Just curious if anyone has ventured down the annealing road for Nickel plated brass. I am a firm believer in annealing and do so on all my unplated brass.

[alf]

Originally Posted by Freebore

Just curious if anyone has ventured down the annealing road for Nickel plated brass.

It anneals like "regular" brass.

[Freebore]

I've always used 'color/timing' in the flame. I tried for some color and it did not change so how do you know where you are temp wise..tempil stick?

[woods]

Varmint Al's Handloading/Reloading Page

[Derek M.]

Originally Posted by woods

Varmint Al's Handloading/Reloading Page

I stopped using Nickel plated cases due to that article a long time ago.

[Freebore]

Thanks this is what I needed:

Note: "that if you anneal your nickel plated necks, you are hardening the nickel plating. It can be harder than many alloyed steels before you anneal and can increase is hardness as much as 2 fold by precipitation hardening". I have over a dozen loadings on them I guess it explains the high neck tension too.

Guess I'll buy some Fed factory Nickel ammo....you gotta give them (the rifle) what they want if you want a shooter.

[Kevin Thomas]

Kevin,

A slight correction here; your rifle doesn't shoot nickle plated brass really well, it shoots that particular batch of nickle plated brass very well. Nothing magic about the nickle, and it's not making the rounds shoot any better or worse, per se. I'd be willing to bet you that the brass you're using right now, simply measures well, and is uniform in neck thickness and concentricity. That's why it shoots well. The nickle plating is a fairly irrelevant issue that's clouding up the water here.

Use good brass, prepare it properly and whether it's nickle plated or not, it will shoot.